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Free or cheap CRM / PIM / wiki that imports and exports vCards with pictures? Suitable for film production?

Josh Coe — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:47:28 -0800

Is there a free or cheap shared PIM that imports and exports vCards with pictures? Preferably something suitable for film production? I need a PIM-sort-of-software for my web-based team to keep track of a database of actors. Additional functionality would be nice such as keeping track of projects (I've been looking at something like Chandler as a group task organizer, but an all-in-one option would be nice) and managing email campaigns (via a less complex clone of SugarCRM perhaps), but the necessity is the actor database.

I found Smibs Doorbell. It seemed perfect. I like the way it's organized by Contacts, Tasks, Groups, and Opportunities, but it exports vCards without pictures, which would be a dealbreaker if we outgrew it.

I'm a graduate student, so $20 per month is way out of my price range. $5 would be possible; free is better.

I wouldn't mind a hack-like solution. I even tried Google Apps. I thought we could manage email campaigns via Google Docs, and maintain the actor database in Google Spreadsheets, but the pictures don't go inside a spreadsheet cell but rather hover above the entire document.

I thought about using Wordpress. I tried Chris Wallace's Gallery Pro theme, but the functionality wasn't quite what I was looking for. Now I'm looking at WP-CRM or Celtx as possibilities. A wiki like Pimki seems intriguing but I haven't wrapped my head around whether that would meet my needs yet.

I'm using Mac OSX Leopard with WinXP Parallels, and my admin has a PC. I have Mediatemple hosting, so I could host it there. The company would manage multiple film projects at once.

Any suggestions on what CRM / PIM / wiki platform we should use?

Outlook, the iPhone, and me

shallowcenter — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:15:34 -0800

Hey, iPhoners, how have you set up your personal information management system? Santa (aka Mrs. Shallow Center) left a shiny new iPhone in my stocking this year, and I'm trying to figure out how to configure my calendar/contacts/task list. My last smartphone was a Moto Q running Windows Mobile, which I synced to Outlook on my PC. I'm seriously considering migrating the Outlook info away from a specific piece of hardware so that I can make changes whether I'm at my PC in the home office, on my MacBook in my local coffee shop, or noodling on the iPhone while I wait for the movie to start.

Here's what I'm considering:

* Calendar: GCal
* Contacts: GMail
* Tasks: Remember the Milk, perhaps? Since I have GMail open all day, this would put my tasks right in front of my nose, and RTM now has an iPhone app.

I'm open to suggestions for any of this, and that's where you guys come in. How do you do it? Thanks!

Which PIM is best?

leotrotsky — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:53:40 -0800

Using a Mac, and finding iCal, Mail, Address book disjointed. What are your recommendations for an all in one PIM? Chandler? Airset? The Google-plex? What has worked for you?

What's the best portable and self-contained PIM (Personal Information Manager) I can run on my USB stick / thumb drive?

katala — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:41:55 -0800

I need to find a way to keep all of my various bits of information handy in one application on my USB drive - things like notes, to-do lists, addresses and project information - and would be very grateful for any recommendations or help you can give me :) ! I'm happy to pay for the right software so paid or free options would both be great. What I'm looking for is something that is... - Self contained: must run on, or from, the USB stick and not* require a webserver or apache to work (browser-based apps are fine if they meet this criteria) - Easy to use - Secure (a login would be ideal) - Searchable - Has checklists for my to-do items - Has the ability to write freeform text for project info / notes Do you know of a portable PIM or similar application that would fit the bill? A huge thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out :)! * Web servers, wiki's and Wordpress (so many w's!) are out of the question sadly since my work computer is in serious IT lockdown and I can't even change the apache port.

Help me pick the best business producitivity management tool(s) for my consulting practice! (Not Daylite)

healthyliving — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:14:49 -0800

Hello MeFi peoples, I am trying to find the tool or tools to run my sustainable business consulting practice, which I started in August, and I've been going a bit nuts with too many choices. I've been looking all over, and am getting near hits, but all "not quite there"s. Highrise sort of works, but has some quirks that that it doesn't hit the mark, and it's missing some of what I want to do. Daylite looks interesting, but no...well I'll explain below. Basecamp, same thing. Copper, ditto. Help me find the needle(s) in the haystack! To give some background, I am a sustainable business consultant who at the moment works solo. I imagine I'll be collaborating with others on some projects, but not necessarily regularly, not as the same company, and definitely not in the same office. I work on a Mac, from my home office. I imagine in my business I'll be working on site at some places.

I asked a friend who knows me well for advice. They said get a tool that works for the near future, that as my business unfolds, it will become clearer what the needs are then, and that I’ll have the funds to take action on any new tools needed. I asked about Daylite, and they said it would be ok, but their sense is there’s something that will work even better, last me longer. I named off others, like Basecamp (doesn’t work enough how I think/work, they said) Copper Project, Contactizer. All No.

They’re bad with names sometimes, but she said she got the hit that it might be something/some company that starts with “Ser...” she also got that it may be a series of interlocking tools, rather then one. She had me search on the web, name off what I saw, and these were the maybes, that I in looking at them didn’t get that they would be it:

Zoho 1st Manager Teamspace Goplan Vertabase

When I told her this, she said that Daylite might be it, that there is the possibility that what they may have in mind isn’t something that I’ll recognize/believe I’m capable of using yet.

~~~~

That said, I'm looking for some thing or things to do the following:

Manage my contacts, and be able to associate emails, files, and tasks with them, make them actionable, rather then just another name/company I have on file.

Have a calendar that I can visually see what I (and future collaborators) are up to

Organize tasks and steps around projects

Day to day tasks, not necessarily around a project (as in not all geared to group collaboration, projects. It covers the “me” things.)

Invoicing, time tracking

Something to associate the various components of my business together, so information doesn't just get lost in the void, in a place where it's not going to get action taken on it.

Be able to collaborate with others on projects, but not require them to have a specific computer platform, or buy expensive software, since we may not work together more then once.

+++

That's what I want to do, and here's the qualities I want in the tool(s) I use:

Computer based (no handwriting for me)

Friendly, human interface, rather then cold, hard, mechanical

Geared to the creative/business minded, but works on a practical level

Preferably web based (to allow easier, more malleable collaboration, without need for others to have the same software/platform)

If software based, still allows for others in projects that don't have software to get meaningful, actionable information to work on the project.

Mac style interface, as in well designed aesthetically and functionally, intuitive to use, robust in features, and useful ones at that.

Mac tool integrated, or at least open to any mail client, not Outlook/MS Project/etc linked/dependent. I do have MS Office (Word, Excel) so that’s fine.

~~~~

So that’s what I’m looking for, I look forward to your suggestions! I imagine for invoicing that I could use Billings, but if your suggestions incorporate it in some other tool, fantastic!

Whittle down my Palm to a Thumb?

bartleby — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:40:13 -0800

Cross-platform, portable PIM? Not wearing a winter coat anymore, I find my Palm T|X is larger than I want to carry. XP at work. OSX at home. Lots to keep track of, want to keep in sync both places.

So I've been using a Palm T|X with Palm Desktop in both places. There are some small hassles in differences between the Palm software for each OS, but they're manageable.

But lately I've been using a flash drive for PortableApps a lot, and finding that it's pretty cool, and it might be a smaller, easier to carry alternative to carrying the Palm back and forth every day. I'm finding that I don't update it on the fly as much as I thought I would, so just a portable PIM would work fine.

BUT...PortableApps doesn't work for OSX.

SO I either need

a) a portable app that's cross-platform (I can handle not being able to use the rest of the PortableApps functionality on OSX as long as I can drill down to a usable PIM app on the flash drive somewhere)

OR

b) a way to run the Portable Apps suite on OSX without spending tons of time/money on Virtual PC, etc. (The Mac is PowerPC, so no Parallels, dual-boot, etc possible.)

OR something I don't even know about yet, that y'all can suggest.

Anyone?

P.S. A piggyback on this - I could probably be convinced to keep carrying the Palm every day if I could find a way to use my Palm to watch the videos I get from my Mac's Democracy player. If there's a way to watch Ask a Ninja on my commute, it might be worth the bulging pockets.

Help me reach Gmail / mobile / desktop sync nerdvana

mjbraun — Tue, 01 May 2007 08:06:21 -0800

Please help me come up with a solution for automatically syncing Gmail, GCal, my desktop client and my mobile in one big data orgy. Currently I'm hosting my domain (email only) with Mailstreet and I'm relatively happy with their services and support. However, the siren song of "Gmail For Your Domain" has me entranced.

I'm in the market for a new mobile, and I'm looking at either a Blackberry 8800 or a Nokia E61i (when it comes out). Regardless, I want the full wireless sync of not only my email, but also my calendar and contacts (notes too, if possible). I can get this through Mailstreet if I sign up for the Blackberry service, but it's not cheap, and the storage space is limited (100Mb).

So I was wondering how I can set up automatic synchronization between my desktop PIM (I use Entourage, as I like having one app with all the data consolidated), my mail host, and my mobile as with the BES.

This sounds like something that Funambol would provide, but I'm not clear on the Gmail For Your Domain integration aspect.

The end goal will be I can add a contact on my mobile, and it just shows up on my desktop a few minutes later (the same with email, and calendar items). If I have to pay for Exchange, so be it, but I'd prefer to get away from it if possible.

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!

What is the ultimate cell phone?

TheNewWazoo — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 09:08:29 -0800

Help me find the perfect convergence communication device (i.e. phone!) to make my nerdlife complete while I'm (endlessly) on the road. Hours upon hours of searching have turned up naught and I'm getting desperate. I'm a one-man travelling road show, and so I'm always looking to converge. I'm hooked on my BlackBerry's PIM functionality, but I need more! I have some nifty wireless BT headphones, and want to be able to play music (A2DP/AVRCP) from a removable media card while surfing the intertubes EDGE or even 3G-style wirelessly (bluetooth tethering) from my MacBook, charge it using USB, not miss my email (push or frequent pulls, no size limit please), and be able to put it in airplane mode when I need.

The Motorola Q looks like nearly exactly what I want, but it's not GSM. The iPhone? Sure, but good luck unlocking it, and it's not here yet. I've broken down enough to say that cost is no longer an issue.

I'm also open to "creative" solutions - PDA + some sort of mobile skype + bt headset + SDIO mobile data card? (Does that even exist?).

PIM Database?

limon — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:20:47 -0800

My boss wants me to gather 5,000 or so business contacts into a searchable database, which will then be used to create email distribution lists according to particular queries. Preferably Open Source, but proprietary is also OK. Any recommendations?

Outlook PIM alternative for desktop/smartphone sync?

tirade — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 11:08:26 -0800

I have an Audiovox SMT 5600, which runs Windows Mobile 2003SE for Smartphones, and I'd like to sync calendars/tasks with my PC. This is normally done in Outlook, but I'm a Thunderbird user. Is there a desktop PIM/calendar/tasks package that can sync with a smartphone? I don't really need to sync email - I don't have a data package anyway. I'd rather not have to buy Outlook 2003 - I have 2002 but it doesn't seem to compare well with Thunderbird. I'd like to stick with Thunderbird, but unless I've missed it there's no way to sync Moz Calendar/Sunbird/Lightning as of yet.

Thing is, as I said above, I don't really need to sync my email - so is there some really brilliant XP desktop app that can work as a personal organizer for calendars/tasks/etc and sync painlessly with my phone? Or do I just have to suck it up and sell out to MS?

Using Wiki as PIM for Masters Program

signal — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 10:41:06 -0800

I am beginning an Masters program in August, and am looking for a general PC-based information-managing -visualizing solution, perhaps a Wiki. I would like a system which will allow me to save and organize my papers, ideas, links, etc., for reference and as a visualization of my mental processes.
I am thinking of using a Wiki as a PIM, and have looked into Instiki, so far. I like it a lot, especially for its simplicity and elegance, but find it somewhat limited in terms of images and other media.

Basically, my ideal solution would have:

- easy editing and cross linking, internal and external (hence the wiki angle)
- good looking output
- user-based permission system, so if I need to work on a project with somebody else I could set up an area of the wiki that they could access/edit. Basic editing should be simple, for the same reason.
- considerable geek-cred, standards-compliance, etc. One of my themes will probably be semantic-web-2.0-insertjargonhere, so the PIM should be part of this.
- backupability, in case my computer catches fire, I would like to be periodically backed up.
- robustness, stability, extensibility and any other positive thing ending in “bility”.

The Masters is in Architecture, so aesthetics (both visual and logical) are important. Ruby- or Python-based would be good, as I am looking to learn both languages in the near future, and will probably be using either SketchUp with Ruby, or Blender with Python, and it would be interesting if I could hook the PIM directly into a 3d environment of some kind. Plus, PHP is ugly.

Has anybody done something like this? Experiences, recommendations, etc., are welcome.

address book software with mapping function

jessamyn — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 07:34:09 -0800

I am trying to find some software that exists in my mind, but I don't know if it exists in real life. I want a way to represent the people in my address book as dots on a [US] map, somewhat dynamically. OSX or web-based. Free or cheap, not subscription-based, though I would pay more for the exact right app. I travel often and tend to ask the same question over and over again "Who is near where I am going to be?" Since I often drive places, the question expands to the more complicated "Who is on the way to where I am going?" What I'd like is a way to keep track of people's contact info in some sort of address book that would allow me to see where they lived on a US map. Currently, I do this with a map on paper and a magic marker. This may be the best way, but then again it may not.

- Ideally this software could then BE my address book, so it would hold other things like phone numbers, birthdays, whatever. It could have one big freeform text area, that would be fine.
- Ideally I could import data into this from my existing address book as CSV or tab delimited data.
- Ideally I could look at a big US map, or a map for a specific state.
- Maps don't have to have other features like county lines, roads, etc.
- Doesn't have to be more specific than zip code level, I can do street maps myself some other way.

I assume salesmen use something similar to this for managing contacts, but I'm not even sure I know what something like this would be called. Also the mapping feature is essential, not optional. Does such a program exist?

How can I sync my Palm Tungsten C with Mozilla Calendar on Windows XP?

sanitycheck — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:54:57 -0800

I want to sync my Palm Tungsten C with Mozilla Calendar (running on Windows XP). I know there's no conduit for Mozilla Calendar, but since it stores stuff in ical format I figure there must be *some* way to do this. Any ideas? Alternately, can anyone recommend a good Windows PIM that can sync with my Palm AND publish an ical?