Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with contactmanagement

Best Windows Contact Management for iPhone

wts111 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:09:16 -0800

What is the best Windows based contact management program for the iPhone? I am looking for a fully functional program to load on my PC that syncs well with my iPhone. Do not want to spend much money. Have used Outlook in the past but was too clunky. Apple has Me.com but is a Saas model and I have to repay every year for usage. Desired features are calender, email, contacts, etc. I am also using 1st gen iPhone. All help appreciated.

My address books are pwning me!

mccxxiii — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:10:46 -0800

How can I keep track of all my people across several computers? I'm flailing around unproductively trying to keep track of all my people and their ever-changing contact info.

My current system is like this:

I use a Dell/Outlook/BlackBerry Enterprise Server setup at work and a Mac/OS X/Address Book setup at home. I also have a Gmail account and an LG VX9800 cell phone that stores phone numbers.

Right now I have a personal "master list" in Mac Address Book, a work "master list" in Outlook, a more robust e-mail list in Gmail (given that it automatically saves any e-mail that you send to), and a list of phone numbers saved in my phone. I find myself updating the same information in two or three places every time something changes.

I wouldn't mind having all work and personal contacts in one place, but I must continue to have both the BB for work and the separate, personal cell phone. I can't really afford a new personal cell phone right now, but if something absolutely fabulously useful and efficient were to exist, I would find a way to buy it.

My fantasy contact management system is:

* web-based, so it is accessible from any computer/platform. (Running on my own server space is OK but not necessary.)

* able to receive imports from my datasets that currently exist.

* able to sync with my handheld devices OR export easily into something that does. (e.g. export into Outlook and then I will sync the BB there.)

* not free -- I don't mind paying if it's less likely to disappear on me or ignore customer service.

* not so expensive that I can't afford it. I want a consumer-level product, not a business-level product.

* not going to spam all my contacts. (I'm pointing at you, Plaxo!)

* back-up-able, so the web-based app doesn't eat all my data and leave me contact-less.

The pessimist in me doubts that what I want exists, but maybe someone will surprise me with some software that I don't know about. Even if I can't reach perfection, can anyone suggest incremental improvements?

Extra Credit Question: As an interim step, I might at least try to get all my Mac Address Book data into Gmail. I can't imagine that Gmail's going to disappear on me. Can I import data into Gmail in bulk, or would it all have to be typed in?

shareable contact management solution?

nerdcore — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:18:01 -0800

I'm looking for a shareable/collaborative Contact and Calendar Management program. I work for a small business but we have a lot of contacts to manage. I've been using Highrise but honestly, the lack of several key features is getting to me: calendaring function,editing people/tags in batches, etc. My boss is leaning towards exchange server, I am hoping to find a better, more inclusive solution. My boss doesn't want to pay a monthly fee, but is cool with buying something on a 1 time basis. The things we need most are:

- A good contact management system with the ability to tag/group people into different categories, and the ability to add notes to people.

- A shareable calendar with tasks/meetings/whatever which can be linked back to a client.

Browser or desktop based solutions are good. An ideal solution would probably be something browser based which we could install on our own server. Pony-filter wishlist items include: ability to send bulk emails to specific groups and project management functionality with time tracking and milestones.

Name that Palm app...

mutrux — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 07:10:58 -0800

Years ago I used a piece of software for the Palm OS. It allowed one to enter contact information into a text area, in any order. Then with the click of a button, the contact information you had jotted down would be sorted into the correct fields in the Palm address book. This is particularly helpful if you are writing down contact information that someone is providing over the phone. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this software. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please reply!

Contact Management Recommendations?

valleys — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 10:35:44 -0800

Recommendations for good, easy-to-use, hopefully free contact management software? We used to use WP8's address book for contact management. Through various upgrades it no longer works and WP12 appears to just want to use Outlook. I've never used Outlook and would prefer not to go there.

I still have all the WP8 data and could extract it from what appears to be a number of relational tables, probably using Excel.

Do you have any recommendations for contact management software that is preferably free (or relatively inexpensive) and easy-to-use? We need to be able to have multiple tables (e.g. suppliers, customers, volunteers). Hopefully it would import from the Excel files that I end up creating from the old data. It must be able to print envelopes - either a single one, or all from a table - with a return address.

Data requirements are pretty basic - Name, address, phone, email.

We have Access but I don't have any experience using it, though could probably figure it out. However, my brief look at it so far didn't reveal an easy envelope-printing method. Did I miss it?

Bonus points for something that can import directly from WP8's .db files.

Any free or cheap online contact managment software for business?

Bjkokenos — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 16:04:40 -0800

Does anyone know of any good free or cheap online contact management software? I would like to keep track of when i have talked to a certain contact and possibly as Rss feed or email reminder system to remind me to follow up with contacts.

Contact management web application?

monju_bosatsu — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:27:12 -0800

Can anybody recommend a good, free, preferably open source php-mysql contact management web application I can install on my own server?

Help me find contact management software

croutonsupafreak — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 23:04:11 -0800

Contact management software filter. Help me find the perfect program, inside. At work, I communicate with many people every day, sometimes about several subjects with one person. I file typed notes and e-mails on my computer, save voice mails, file faxes and mail and keep notebooks filled with handwritten notes.

Is there any contact management software I can use, where every time I communicate with someone I enter the subject or subjects discussed, the time and date of the conversation, and the place where my notes or whatever are stored? I'd then like to be able to search for a subject, and have everyone I've talked to on that subject pop up. Then I'd like to be able to click on a person and see where my conversations are stored. If I search for a name I want to see the contact info for that person, plus all of my previous contacts.

All I've ever used is Outlook and as far as I know Outlook is basically a glorified Rolodex. I'm hoping this mythical software is easy to learn and configure. Cheap or free would be nice, but I'm not that naive.

Contact database recommendations?

karmaville — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 15:26:58 -0800

I need recommendations for a contact database [details forthwith]. I am a one-person outpost for a larger non-profit. A large part of my job is volunteer and business recruitment requiring multiple contacts (phone, email, fax, direct mail) and I am losing track of whom I talked to when and where. I need a general contact database that will track contacts and create call lists and reminders.

I have used Telemagic in the past and want something similar but hopefully free/low-cost. I tried the Outlook/Access route and wasn’t happy with the interface or options, but that may be due to my inexperience in creating it. I am using Win XP, Office 2000.

Advice and previous experiences appreciated.