TechHit, inventor and purveyor of “Outlook utilities that save you time,” as well as other various and sundry utilities and add-ins for use with your e-mail, social networking Web sites and operating systems, has recently released its QuickJump software, which is a way to “quickly” (now) navigate to Windows folders.

Sounds simple. Why is that important? Well, think of how many folders and subfolders you have on your computer. If, rather than clicking through/drilling down to subfolder number nine to get to the document you need, you could find that subfolder more immediately, by typing its name, or a form of its name, and by clicking on it first, rather than ninth, so that it opens to reveal your document . . . wouldn’t that be easier? If you could do that, you’ve just added some typing, but have saved yourself, not only, 8 clicks, but also the time it takes to search among what may be a vast number of subfolders to get to the one you need, too. Wouldn’t that be nice? Well, that, in a nutshell, is what QuickJump does.

The term “in a nutshell” was practically invented for QuickJump--my apologies to those purveyors of same-named law school guides that I never bought. (“Look at the size of this bloody great big nutshell.”) The phrase, “So easy, a child can do it,” (or, a caveman lawyer) was also invented for QuickJump. Once you have set up QuickJump (a download and adding directories to be searched as you wish) it is literally a three-step process to get to any subfolder on your computer, as follows: (1) Hit Control + Shift + J to bring up the QuickJump menu; (2) Begin typing a folder name; (3) Click on the folder when it appears, to open it. That, my friends, is beautiful in its simplicity. Watch this video to get the Quick How-to.

Beyond the simplicity, there are a few other potential advantages related to the use of QuickJump. Obviously, it can be a real time saver, while flying through your folders and subfolders, especially if you’ve adopted a complicated tiering pattern. This is an especially useful tool for attorneys who have many matters pending and closed and likely have all those matter files and matter subfiles organized ad infinitum on their computers. But, beyond the obvious uses, one further feature that I really like is that you can create a new folder or subfolder at the QuickJump dialog box. Another is that you can utilize QuickJump out of the “File Open” and “Save As” boxes in Windows applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), so that you can find your documents and save your documents more quickly by navigating immediately to specific folders to do so. This sort of maneuverability is heartwarming, especially to those of us who are anal retentive: Now, I can create as many tiered folders and subfolders as I want without spending a million clicks figuring out where I set myself up to have to go next . . . That is, if I wasn’t OCD, as well, and didn’t like counting the clicks so much . . . But, I’m learning that using QuickJump will allow me more time to count other things, like the minutes I’m saving using the product. And, beyond the ease of use and nifty, time-saving subfeatures, the price is right. You’re only paying $29.95 for the download at full price.

The effectiveness of QuickJump is hard to argue against, if not impossible, to argue against. It does one thing, and does it well. It quite simply works. It truly saves time and effort. Unless you really love corn mazes (no, not maizes), you’ll really love QuickJump. My only quarrel is with what it does not do . . . yet. I’m sure the program developers are oneor more steps ahead of me on these requests, but I make them nonetheless. It would be nice be able to drill down, search far beyond folders and subfolders, to documents within folders and subfolders. The program currently only works with Windows. So, at present, Mac and mobile users are largely out of luck. But, these are not reasons to avoid the program, if you are a Windows user: to say that a program could be improved is to say that a program exists. You’ll find QuickJump nonetheless helpful, even while waiting for the second iteration.

But, don’t take my word for it (God, I love d "Reading Rainbow"): See what these unpaid and unaffiliated commentators have to say here!

And, if you like QuickJump, you may like some other TechHit products, as well, including Outlook faves SimplyFile (for e-mail categorization/folder management), EZDetach (automated e-mail attachment removal and save) and MessageSave (e-mail archiving).

Thanks to Andrew Gorman, the Massachusetts Bar Association ’s Education Coordinator, for testing this product with me, and for relaying his impressions, which were useful in producing this article.