Calendar software

[m_s]

I would love to see a donationcoder.com review of the best calendar/pim software (calendar being the most important aspect for me), but in the meantime, could people offer me opinions and experiences of what works best for them?  Have been using Outlook 2003 for a few years, but since I've just bought The Bat! on the back of this site's review - and I think it is a brilliant piece of software! - I would like to ditch the bloatware and find a good standalone calendar.  I've used Sunbird for awhile on my other computer, and that looks promising, but it's got a way to go before it could replace Outlook for me.  So please let me know what you're using and what you would recommend most highly.  Thanks!  (I am new here, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place - please forgive me if not!)

[mouser]

someone else just asked me today for us to do a pim review.
make sure you vote in the running poll of what to review next - it's highly determinitive:

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=482.0

[zridling]

I've never been very satisfied with current calendar software. It seems you get an either/or where either it has good calendars and prints them well, but its interface makes it clumsy to add notes and appointments. Or you can add notes, but the calendar interface is limited, ugly, and offers poor printing options.

[m_s]

The best I've seen so far is EssentialPIM, but with that you can't print in color, which is a drag for me - but a posting on their forums says that that is in the next version, which is currently in beta testing...

[zridling]

I have a few suggestions here, with Calendarscope providing the most pure "calendar" options, notably print ones. But it doesn't pretend to be an actual PIM like EssentialPIM Pro. Not sure if it fits in the category, but check out the ITSD Organizer by AltStone. For quick note-taking and appointments, it's very effective, and with tons of keyboard shortcuts (my bias).

Note: WinOrganizer is coming off the list. It announced an upgrade more than seven months ago, and still hasn't delivered it. It also doesn't have any calendar views.

[m_s]

No irony intended, but: I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!  I love your site, and it is where I have started from... From being a big fan of EssentialPIM, I did a bit more testing with Calendarscope last night, and I think this might be the one for me.  You might have seen on another thread that I am thinking of doing a review for donationcoder.  What do you think of Timecalendar?

[jpfx]

Although a registered user of essentialpim, I find the program very superficial. For instance the to-do list is in alphabetical order no matter what precedence or due date is set.
The calendar doesn't even show 'to-do's and to my mind there should be 3 calendars: previous, current and next month, or whatever you want to show.
The clock is plain ugly, imitating an LED display... what for? There's no choice either and military time (which I prefer) shows with 'am/pm'.
Much as i hate Outlook, it takes a lot of beating. And, to be honest, either Agenda or Pocket Informant on an M$ PDA are so far ahead in terms of features and presentation. If only they didn't sync only with Outlook.
But I did want something small, fast and effective for a PC and in the end I'm disappointed with epim.
I have the usbkey version which through no fault of it's own adds lethargy to the equation.

[zridling]

My biggest gripe with EPim is all the wasted screen space. ms, I downloaded TimeCalendarLE, but I can't add notes to any event or task! Apparently you have to buy the full version? Ah, I hate that. Let me know if I'm wrong as it's a nice piece of software.

[jpfx]

After perusing zaine's site I noticed that TexNotesPro comes with a copy of CalendarGem which is more what I wanted (if a bit too heavily themed for me). What an excellent suite of programs!!
Now if only there was a 'ContactGem'. Contacts seem to be conspicuous by their absence.

[m_s]

I'm just downloading that now - it looks good on their website.  Must say that I think the contact management in The Bat! is pretty good (it was shifting from Outlook to The Bat! for email that prompted me to want to drop Outlook and explore other calendar options). 

jpfx: there is a beta of EPIM 1.6 out now, which at least allows you to turn off the clock.  I would really like it if the whole layout were more configurable - I don't like where the mini calendar is on the right, but there's nothing you can do to move it...  Also, EPIM runs quite heavy - it sits at around 20 meg even when it's shrunk to the tray, whereas Calendarscope comes in under 2 meg.

zridling: I've trying the full version of TimeCalendar at the moment, and it's lightweight and quick and nice to look at, but for me it's hobbled by not being able to synchronise with PocketPC - Calendarscope can do this, EPIM has it in development.  Also, like the current version of EPIM (but not the beta) it only prints in black and white.  The author of TimeCalendar told me he is about to launch a completely new version, so maybe it'll be able to sync and print in colour then.

[elpresi]

Hi all,
reviving an old thread here ;-)

I personally don´t need a full featured email-calendar program such as Outlook.
In a calendar application I do want the following:
1- iCal Import/Export
2- PPC sync
3- ability to layer/toggle multiple calendars

Epim and Calendarscope are nice but neither can "layer" multiple calendars the way free Sunbird (and TimeCalendar?) does. According to Epim's forums such a feature might be implemented in the Pro version ...

So AFAIK it seems that only Sunbird has all my desired features. Does anyone have experience syncing Sunbird to PPC (or WindowsMobile, especially v5) with either KCal or FinchSync?
http://www.finchsync.com/index.html
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=15603
Incidentally FinchSync can apparently also sync Thunderbird contacts (that's what I use) to PPC, so that would serve my sync needs.

Any comments?

[namaskar]

I've never been very satisfied with current calendar software. It seems you get an either/or where either it has good calendars and prints them well, but its interface makes it clumsy to add notes and appointments. Or you can add notes, but the calendar interface is limited, ugly, and offers poor printing options.

I most agree with you .always it has this or that dificient  and incompleate functions.am  i right?

[namaskar]

pay more close attentions to what you have mentioned obviously above .

[elpresi]

Sunbird 0.3 final is getting closer,
and Sun will develop a Thunderbird/Sunbird based PIM for OpenOffice:
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/calendar/

[superboyac]

This Calendarscope is the best program there is for a pure calendar, but I absolutely hate its price.  It's $40 for a freakin calendar program.  That's way too much.  That's more than most file-manager programs that do way more.  On top of that, I believe you have to pay for major upgrades.  It's frustrating the hell out of me.