I've been looking around for solutions to several problems I'm having with
Outlook. It is an inflexible program, and unless you know how to code VBA,
want to spend hours and $$$ on reading online articles and have the patience
of Job, this program is NOT for you. And if you DO decide to spend some time
learning the program, get ready for a STEEP learning curve...WOW! Never have
I encountered such an unnecessarily complex program.

Unless you are comfortable entering all of your precious contact data into a
program you CANNOT change or rearrange later, do NOT use Outlook for contact
management.

Yet another example of Microsoft's monopoly ruining its software. And tech
support / answers to slightly advanced questions are simply non-existent
(unless you want to pay some ridiculous fee for questions that should be
answered because you are a registered user of the product).

Want a good contact management software? Use ACT 6.0: more versatile, more
powerful and INFINITELY easier to use. Extremely disappointed, Microsoft...

mdodge wrote:

Want a good contact management software? Use ACT 6.0: more
versatile, more powerful and INFINITELY easier to use. Extremely
disappointed, Microsoft...

I don't think Outook was ever designed to be a contact manager. That's like
faulting a Mack truck because it doesn't perform well at Le Mans.
--
Brian Tillman

It's spam.

/ Pazuzu

"Brian Tillman" skrev:

mdodge wrote:

Want a good contact management software? Use ACT 6.0: more
versatile, more powerful and INFINITELY easier to use. Extremely
disappointed, Microsoft...

I don't think Outook was ever designed to be a contact manager. That's like
faulting a Mack truck because it doesn't perform well at Le Mans.
--
Brian Tillman

I think the problem is that Outlook, though not designed as a contact
manager possibly, has just enough in it to raise expectations, but not
enough to meet them

I do find Outlook is lacking when it comes to managing my contacts, but
don't need a full featured contact manager.

Plus of course to most more casual users (which in my mind includes many if
not most small business owners), a PIM, which I think Outlook would class
itself as, is really no different to a contact manager. Contacts are
personal information, and so a Personal Information Manager should be able
to manage them!

I don't subscribe to the OP's opinion of Outlook as a waste of space, but do
think it's a very powerful e-mail client with contacts, tasks and calendar
as poor relations. There are many many things that Outlook allows you to do
with e-mails, which are not possible with the other item types for no
apparent reason. Examples would be flagging multiple items at once, search
folders, and dragging items to tasks to create a task (I can do that with a
contact, but it insists on creating a task to be assigned to that contact,
which is pointless for 99% of small businesses, rather than using the
contact as a link and subject in a task for me).

Mark

"Brian Tillman" wrote in message
...
mdodge wrote:

Want a good contact management software? Use ACT 6.0: more
versatile, more powerful and INFINITELY easier to use. Extremely
disappointed, Microsoft...

I don't think Outook was ever designed to be a contact manager. That's
like faulting a Mack truck because it doesn't perform well at Le Mans.
--
Brian Tillman

It's too bad that you didn't explain how Outlook fell short of your expectations. Someone with a similar scenario might have learned something from your post if you had.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"mdodge" wrote in message ...
I've been looking around for solutions to several problems I'm having with
Outlook. It is an inflexible program, and unless you know how to code VBA,
want to spend hours and $$$ on reading online articles and have the patience
of Job, this program is NOT for you. And if you DO decide to spend some time
learning the program, get ready for a STEEP learning curve...WOW! Never have
I encountered such an unnecessarily complex program.

Unless you are comfortable entering all of your precious contact data into a
program you CANNOT change or rearrange later, do NOT use Outlook for contact
management.

Yet another example of Microsoft's monopoly ruining its software. And tech
support / answers to slightly advanced questions are simply non-existent
(unless you want to pay some ridiculous fee for questions that should be
answered because you are a registered user of the product).

Want a good contact management software? Use ACT 6.0: more versatile, more
powerful and INFINITELY easier to use. Extremely disappointed, Microsoft...