Contactizer Pro 3.1.2

Reviewed by Wayne LeFevre

Getting Started

I was very excited to start using Contactizer Pro 3. After using Daylite, I thought that this simpler product with a lot of robustness was just what I needed. It seemed to do everything that I wanted. A fantastic Contact Manager, a great task manager, a descent calendar, and a Communications Center that brings it all together. What more could you want?

After bringing over my contacts and calendar, I was ready to get to work. I started with the contacts. You can add a number of fields and group contacts together in a much better and more intuitive way than with Address Book. Under each person, you can keep track of the Tasks, Events, all communication, any attachments and even maps. You can wort these in any number of ways, put them into groups much easier than Address Book. It’s nice to be able to find all information about the contact in one screen, (including how to say their name phonetically?) All of the new fields and information automatically sync to your address book the next time you open it, and whatever you change in Address Book will update the next time you open Contactizer Pro. It’s a nice system that works well.

The next main screen is Tasks. The Task Manager shows all tasks by any filter you like. From all tasks to complete, tasks in process, etc. The tasks are prioritized by Priority, Due date, percent done, type and so on. It’s extremely easy to see what tasks are repetitive, due, have alarms, overdue and percent done. Tasks can have Events, communications such as e-mails, file attachments and invitations connected to them. That definitely is one of the coolest parts of the program.

The next main screen is Tasks. The Task Manager shows all tasks by any filter you like. From all tasks to incomplete, in Process, etc. The tasks are prioritized by Priority, Due date, percent done, type and so on. It’s extremely easy to see what tasks are repetitive, due, have alarms, overdue and percent done. Tasks can have Events, communications such as e-mails, file attachments and invitations connected to them. That definitely is one of the coolest parts of the program. The integration of tasks with e-mails and files. They will not sync with iCal, but it’s a nice easy system.

The next main screen is the Event Manager. The calendar. It will initially grab information from your iCal, but that will be the extent of it talking with iCal. From then on it is silent with it’s OS X brother. There has been much discussion on the Objective Decision website on iCal syncing. The companies decision on syncing is basically it will not sync right now, and that’s that. I’m not sure if they have any future plans on syncing in the future, but they do have some interesting discussions on their forum boards about the proposal. You can read all about it at http://objective-decision.com/forum. Again, the filters are fantastic, and can show only the filtered object like iCal. Events can also be linked to tasks, events, communications, files and invitations.

When I first wrote this, I was using 3.0.3 version of the software, and it is now up to 3.1.2. There are a few enhancements that I should expand upon here. For one, iCal will sync, but only through Apples iSync technology. It’s a hit or miss, that for me, missed entirely and wiped out my iCal. Now, they say on their website, “Syncing with iCal is not our top priority since Contactizer Pro is meant to replace your iCal usage. We think that using 2 calendar application in parallel or at the same time is not handy or efficient.” I have got to disagree. For one, there are many other programs, not the least of which is sharing that will only work with iCal. I suppose if everyone used Contactizer Pro, that would not be a problem, since it shares with itself on a local lan quite nicely. Even our local schools offer iCal sharing for sporting activities and even homework activities that you can subscribe to, but only for iCal. Now, If it was able to talk to iCal, I wouldn’t even need to open iCal, but again, the company does not think that this is important. In a business environment, however, it would probably work great where you would not need iCal.

The last main screen is the Communications Center. Here is were You can see all communications In or Out with your contacts, and will show the linked tasks, events and communications. You can split it out into Chats, e-mails, faxes, mailings and phone calls. You can find communication by person, or date. Selecting on a person will show all communications with that person, including the entire text of the e-mail. Communications also includes the ability to send e-mail forms within the program, including merging documents and having templates.

I mentioned before that the inclusion of tasks with communications with files was really made this application outstanding. You can have access to all your incoming e-mail from the communications screen, take that e-mail, make a easy task and event from it, and tie the whole thing in with a file attachment. I even use it for my workflow. I will receive a request to review a product, I create a task with it, then create an event that shows when the review is due, and ties in the actual review document in it into one package. Everything I need concerning that e-mail and review is right there for the asking. Nice.

What’s not to like?

Well, this one is a tough one. I like Contactizer Pro. I like version 3.1.2 even more. Unfortunately, I don’t use it to it’s fullest. If you bring up the help menu, version 3.1.2 now brings up an actual Contactizer Pro help menu, unlike the earlier version that labeled the minimal help as OD4Contact 2. Like I said before, the help is minimal and there is no tutorial for the program at all. Objective Decision has been promising for months that they will be posting some training videos on their site, but as of now, there still is nothing. A few screencasts would go a long, long way in explaining how to use the application to it’s fullest. Communications with their staff has been great, and they seem to have answers for any of your questions, but my questions far outweigh what could be answered in a single, or even a few, e-mails.

Conclusion

Contactizer Pro 3.1.2 is a good PIM, that if you could learn to use it properly, could possibly be a great PIM. If there was a way to learn how to use the application like it should be used, I definitely would take advantage of it more often than I do. But for now, it’s an expensive calendar, address book and to-do list, but they work together fabulously. Now, if it could truly take the place of iCal, that would be it for me.