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Looking for a Decent Contacts Manager

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J-Mac:
Anyone like to recommend a contact manager for personal use?

First of all, I am not using Outlook so please don’t bother recommending it. Gmail's contacts are terrible IMO. Google insists on adding any address I Send mail to, plus they require me to add any contacts that keep getting sent to spam, so it is always cluttered up with crap I don’t really wish to keep as contacts. Postbox, which I am currently using for email, has a really lousy address book. Can't add much in the way of details, minimal sorting/filtering, and if a contact has only address or phone number but no email address it cannot be added. I have a free Highrise account but that is actually very limited also. Wouldn’t help if I paid either - the interface/layout is just not that good IMO.

I have looked at a few stand-alone programs: Efficient Address Book and Contact Wolf. Anyone familiar with either? Or any others you know of that are good specifically for managing personal contacts? What I want to do is fairly simple:


[*] Add contacts with ability to add details, like spouse, children, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
[*] Able to add notes and if possible, links to associated files.
[*] Ability to slice and dice the data in many ways.
[*] This one I have had difficulty finding: Ability to print the address book without having to print them as a series of separate cards.
[/list]



Thanks for any ideas.

Jim

steeladept:
Never heard of either of them, sorry.  I have heard good things of PIM though.  I never used that either, but I did look at it when I was looking for a good electronic organizer.  I don't recall the exact issues I had that prevented me from using it - probably something to do with integration with whatever PDA I was using at the time.

Another thought is Thunderbird.  It is primarily an Email app, like Outlook et. al., but perhaps it will fit the bill?  Never used it either, BTW.  Outlook has always fit the bill better than the alternatives for me.

*EDIT* I guess the reason I couldn't find it was I was forgetting the full name.  PIM was referring to EssentialPIM and the link points to a comparison between the free version and the paid version for those interested in seeing what it offers.

steeladept:
Just rereading about EPIM and an added bonus is it will work with your existing GMail account information (as well as Palm, Windows Mobile, and Outlook).

J-Mac:
Just rereading about EPIM and an added bonus is it will work with your existing GMail account information (as well as Palm, Windows Mobile, and Outlook).
-steeladept (June 14, 2010, 03:32 PM)
--- End quote ---

Are you still talking about Essential PIM? Oddly enough the Efficient Address Book developer also has Efficient PIM, Pro and Free versions. That would be easy to get the two mixed up! I have seen people mention one or the other of those PIM programs but I couldn't say whether it was Efficient PIM or Essential PIM now. Too close for comfort - looks like one might be named to mimic the other. Just don’t know which, though.

Regarding T-bird, I won't install that while I am using Postbox. Postbox is developed by the guy who initially developed T-Bird for Mozilla and I would think the Address Books are about the same. Equally BAD!

Thanks!

Jim

superboyac:
Ah!  one of my favorite subjects.  I actually joined this forum initially because I was looking for addressbook software.  Unfortunately, addressbook software are considered outdated today because everyone just uses whatever is on their email program, and more accurately, whatever they use for their cell phones.  Most people are fine with just having their contacts on their phones.

here are the threads that talk about this.  Even though these are old threads, the software mentioned hasn't changed.  My favorite that I still use is Handy Addressbook.  It's the best of the bunch.
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1898.0
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1155.0
Addressbook Shootout

Despite what those threads say, I am currently using Handy Addressbook as my contacts manager.

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