Best full PIM software?

I used Now-Up-to-Date for years, and really liked it. The only reason I use iCal now is because there are easy tools for publishing calendars which others can use well.

Peter,

At this point you should see iCal and Address Book as repositories for data that meets a universal standard (vCal and vCard) that allows the data to be shared and interacted with other apps in a predictable manner. Apple had chosen (thus far) to put together very simple and limited applications to access that data. Address Book is more useful than iCal IMHO. With that in mind, ultimately you'll want a PIM that live syncs with the iCal and Address Book data. As of right now, no one has a PIM that does this completely. Given that, here are some suggestions:

Palm Desktop for Mac gives you all the same (though implemented differently) functions you mentioned above, and all is very well integrated within Palm. However, there is no integration with iCal or Address Book and it doesn't look like Palm is going to improve Palm DeskTop for Mac. Many of us wish they would but Palm seems to be having bigger problems to deal with. You can however export (and import) vCal and vCard data and export everything else. If Palm worked for you before, it might be the right (free) solution for you now, at least until someone else comes out with something better. (And it might even import your old data).

Chronos developed something that was very close to Palm Desktop (and more) but they let it sit for years. The good news is they are coming out with a completely rewritten replacement (SOHO Organizer). StickyBrain is a good Chronos product and should give hints of things to come. But many of us are waiting...

OD4Contact offers some integration with iCal/Address Book but they have more work to do. They too have an update pending which hopefully will make more progress toward a complete PIM and integration.

JumSoft's Process and EconTechnologies' DayChaser are also options with a pending updates. These are both very good but still fall short; Jumsoft promises to tone down their interface.

LifeBalance works for some foks but it too needs some updating IMHO, but it works for a lot of folks. It is mostly a calendar program.

All that said, I use iCal, Address Book, StickyBrain and keep all my old data on Palm DeskTop for now. I expect Chronos' new product will meet my needs, integrating with iCal, Address Book and StickyBrain, as well as importing Palm data, hopefully leaving me with just one app to serve as a PIM. All this after an extensive search for the "right" tools (including OmniOutliner, NoteBook, NoteTaker, Devon, Nova, Inspiration, etc., etc.). I may also use either Merlin (by Project Wizards) or iTaskX for project management. Both of these have updates coming and my choice will largely depend on how well they "fit in" with the work flow and other apps.

Hope this helps.

DB

Oh yeah, one more option is DayLite by MarketCircle. It is a more robust app designed for enterprise use more than individual and it's price and support reflects this. The right app though for some folks.

Brook,

Thank you for the detailed - and well researched - notes and tips. Would you mind elaborating on how you are utilizing StickyBrain along with iCal? Or rather how you are dealing with tasks / to-do's? (From what I can tell thus far it looks like this is not the strength or purpose of StickyBrain.)

It seems like iCal is starting to drag with even a moderate handful of to-do's. From your experience would you recommend relying on iCal for managing to-do lists (along with supporting notes)?

I am trying to implement an organizational system akin to "Getting Things Done" (which uses a number of non-date specific tasks lists) and I've gone through what seems like a gamut of tools in trying to set up an effective / simple system for working between my Mac and Palm.

After much tooling around I've ended up back with Address Book, iCal, and MarkSpace's Missing Sync / Memo Pad application. Now that iCal's to-do list ability seems debatable I'm back to the drawing board.

Any further insights would be appreciated. Thanks again for sharing.

That's Dancing, or Mr. Brook 🙂

My method is not my ideal; that's why I'm anxiously waiting for Chronos.

I use iCal mainly for events and scheduled tasks. I try to keep that task list short because it can't be well organized IMHO.

I use StickyBrain mostly because it gives me more levels of sort and easily lets me attach some things that are relevant to tasks. It also can be a repository of those some ay thing without cluttering my task list.

SB also allows me to "Add to.." notes, which is sort of like an alias. It wasn't meant for tasks but a) it works pretty well as you can manually order notes within folder, and b) I expect to move my work to the new chronos organizer when it comes out (I hope it is good).

SB is also a good organized dump. It seems to fit well with the manual GTD system. You can even have folders for places and dates, which allow you to add or move notes from other folders.

I'm not any more sophisticated that that, mostly because after all the searching I didn't find the ideal. So I'm getting by with what's available for now, but not wanting to invest too much until I see what is coming down the road. Lots of stuff supposed to be here any time (now until late fall).

Hope that helps. Ask if more specific questions. Good luck.

Dancing Brook,

Thanks again. I'll have to play around with SB some more. But if I understand it correctly SB only syncs up its information as Memos (or Notes) to a PDA as opposed to To-Do's / Tasks, right?

Out of curiosity have you gotten any specific sense as to when Chronos' new organizer might come out?

Best,
Clayton

Sadly yes re SB notes and Palm (at least that's what I understand). You might SB forum for more info. I gave up on Palm for now.

I'd seriously look at Palm DeskTop Mac as a holdover if you want good Palm compatibility. I'd be curious what your observations would be re the pc vs mac versions. I don't think you are going to find a more compatible solution for now, unless you go to LifeBalance (which has it's downside). There is no reason to assume Chronos won't support Palm in SOHO-O as they did in their older PIM, but one never knows.

This is all we know about Chronos' SOHO-O and SOH-No : http://www.chronosnet.com/About/PR/sohoOrgNotes.html

Here is a more specific thread dealing with SB and Palm. I agree I don't think it is your best solution. But then again, if your goal was to keep the Palm uncluttered... I sometimes drag SB Notes to iCal to schedule them so this might be a way to get SB to Palm
.

Oops. Here's that thread: http://discussions.chronosnet.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=153

And one other thing. I've essentially duplicated my SB folders in iCal, allowing me to keep some sanity. Of course I can only go two levels deep in iCal.

Great! Thanks again.

I'll check out the link. I haven't played around too much with Palm Dekstop yet since I was reluctant to run everything through it (like Calendars and the like) but maybe there's a mixed solution that would work. I suppose there's also Entourage as well - are you aware of any specific pros/cons of going with either one of these apps over the other?

I guess I'm also still tempted to try and manage the to-do's in iCal. I've tried to scan these boards and have seen mixed reviews. Would I be inviting disaster to put this much faith into iCal?

Thanks again Dancing Brook, you've been a great help.

Best,
Clayton

around the time of 10.2 i used entourage, which has its project center, etc, etc.
its nice.
however, after 10.4 tiger came out, i found that Mail+Address Book+iCal met enough of my needs so i went totally with these native mac solutions. the above combination iSyncs nicely with my sony ericsson fon.

however, i, like everyone else, feels there is a strong need for a native mac solution to the missing components: an integrated Project Centre kind of place where i can house and interactively link all my related info, in a standards based way.

I have tried sticky brain twice and have dropped it twice. i applaud chronos for going as far as they have, but we need an apple system wide solution.
I only hope that we dont need to wait until intel macs come out. although i think we might need to wait for just that.

Azamino is spot on. I'd love an Apple solution like the old Claris (later Palm)Organizer with todays integration standards and Project Management. We'd have a gem.

Clayton (BTW: my son's middle name), I'm not sure why you hesitate with Palm as a hold over. The trade off (vs iCal) is Palm lacks syncing with iCal and Address Book (not that iCal offers much in the way of syncing with AB). On the other hand, Palm offers internal integration. Both solutions are free. If iCal can work as is for you (with its limits you have read elsewhere in this forum) then iCal is probably the best choice for now. The lack of depth and integration keeps me from wanting to use it. Of course I loved Palm DT and have kept it active because I never found anything better. (makes me wonder why I don't just stick with Palm; the reason: only one level of tasks, like iCal, and only 2 categories to sort the chaos; I loved Pam's integration but nit it's lack of task depth, the only thing that I wish it had before now; now I wish it had Project abilities and iCal, AB and Mail integration; it apparently also needs to communicate withthe windows world, but it never mattered to me).

I do wish Apple would step up to the plate again but I'm not holding my breath, partly because I know they could have stepped up long before now, and because I don't think Chronos would be developing their SOHO Organizer product if Apple was going to undermine it with their own integrated app (and I think Apple would have let them know as they are investing a lot of time and money; this isn't a simple widget).

If you want to try StickyBrain, go through the entire manual. Or just wait for the replacement from Chronos).

I've been hearing very good things about web-based project management solution Basecamp. Not knowing your exact situation, a web-based answer may or may not be sufficient.

..k

Not to put basecamp down but all web based means no info if no web, and genearally means a subscription program (ie cash cow).

It's not putting basecamp down - it's pointing out in what situations the software works best. The downside you point out can be a killer for some, although on the other side of the coin, it's accessible from any machine on the internet.

..k