Harmon.ie enables Microsoft SharePoint collaboration from email client

Social email firm Harmon.ie will launch in the UK on Wednesday with a number of updates to its software. The service was previously available only to US customers.

Harmon.ie 3.0 allows business users to read and edit Microsoft SharePoint documents from within their email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes.

Customers can view a list of shared company documents in a Harmon.ie sidebar on the right side of their email window, and can collaborate with colleagues on the document content in real time, without leaving their browser or sending emails with attachments back and forth.

"Collaborating within the enterprise is not an easy task," said David Lavenda, Harmon.ie vice president of product strategy.

"Many business users select SharePoint for document sharing but often they find it difficult to to use. Harmon.ie is a collaboration tool aimed at every business user struggling with SharePoint."

An update to the Harmon.ie software will allow business users to see details of colleagues who last edited SharePoint documents.

"Harmon.ie allows users to see what everyone in their organisation is working on and who last updated what," said Lavenda.

The latest update to the software will also let users IM colleagues from the sidebar, and give status updates.

Harmon.ie is priced at a one-off $125 per user, or on a subscription basis at $50 per user per year.