Looking for alternate Contact Manager / Address book, that syncs too.

[Capt'n Morgan]

I'm glad I foudn this forum! I'm a Pocket PC newbie, and I'm thrilled because I can do so much more than I could with my Palm PC, but I just need to find the right software to accomlish it with.

So my situation is that I needd two different contact managers, because I have multiple personalities. ( :D and :evil: ). Actually, I have two computers, and two jobs. So my main job uses outlook, and I plan on syncing outlook with the default calendar, task manager, and address book. But I have a second job and a social life, so I'd like to maintain a second address book, for those contacts.

HOWEVER, I don't have to have to enter all that information through the PDA... I'd really like to be able to enter it through the PC, and sync it with the PDA. And I don't think I can use Outlook as the desktop client to sync with, since Outlook already syncs with the built in contacts.

Any thoughts as to how I can go about this?

If that's not asking too much, this might be. Ideally, I'd like it to have the data in some sort of a common format (mlx, xls, csv) so that in the event that the PDA dies or is lost, I can export the data out of the desktop app, and import it into something else.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

This is a pretty unique request. Normally I'd say to just use one Outlook database and then use the power of categories to separate your contacts based on where they fit in, but with two different computers, this may not be feasible. You can certainly sync your Pocket PC with two computers but I'm not sure how your PDA would react as each computer would likely be a unique Outlook database.

Outlook is the de facto desktop client involved with your synchronizations. If you were able to consolidate onto one Outlook client, then the Outlook database would also serve as your PDA backup.

[Capt'n Morgan]

Thank you for the response.

Someone else suggested the categories, but I didn't like that, because when I click on "To..." in a new mail message, I get ALL my contacts. It doesn't appear that I can filter by the category in that view.

I found a great application that allows me to use my keyboard to enter data, so I don't particulary mind anymore if I can't sync. I'd be satisifed with entering the bulk of the data that way, but I still would lilke to be able to export the data if I had to.

I've installed a couple different contact managers, but they all seem to read off of the same database of contacts. I notice that when I enter data into one, it appears in the other. I'm certain that when I sync my main contacts with outlook, I'll have all of those appear in those apps also. So ultimately, if I find a decent contact manager that DOESN'T link back to the main contact llist.... I'll be a happy man!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Good luck and let us know if you find something. In my experience, all contact managers you find will store their data in the same database. The only other altnernative would be to use another program that wasn't specifically designed for contact management. One application that comes to mind is ListPro, which is a highly customizable notes/lists application where you can add and customize multiple fields and do all types of sorting on them. ListPro db files are stored in the My Documents directory, so their always backed up with every sync (assuming you do file sync).

Even if you don't end up using ListPro for contacts, there are a million other potential uses for it. It's one of my most valued applications.

BTW, I forgot to mention... Welcome to Pocket PC Thoughts! :D

[Capt'n Morgan]

Thank you for the welcome, and the idea.

I have ListPro installed, but hadn't started using it for anything yet. I'm going to try it out for my contacts list, as you suggested. Especially since you are confirming that the other contact managers seem to feed off of a central contacts database.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I have ListPro installed, but hadn't started using it for anything yet.
Don't let its simple appearance deceive you... that is one powerful application!! You won't regret learning to use it!

[Sven Johannsen]

Another possibility is one of the Database programs available for the PPC. Contacts is after all just a DB. HanDBase is a fairly popular one and has a desktop component that it syncs with. Initially it would just require defining the fields you want in each record, and maybe a little layout manipulation. They also have a fairly extensive library of pre-built databases. It's likely they have something you could use, off-the-shelf, or customize just a bit.

Another one that is very easy to use, but not as powerful as HanDBase is Data on the Run. It is specifically designed to use the available .cdb file format, which is syncable to an Access DB on the desktop. You can run it on it's own though.

A final option would be SprintDB, which is a fairly full featured DB system for the PPC. If you are comfortable with Access, it's not much of a stretch to work with SprintDB. Might be overkill for this though.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Yes. Great point. A DB solution could work extremely well here also... especially with the ability to create your own custom forms for input or access.