BEWARE - Disappointed, Outlook is NOT a good contact management sy

[mdodge]

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...

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

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

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Brian Tillman]

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.

 

[Pazuzu]

It's spam.

/ Pazuzu

"Brian Tillman" skrev:

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.

 

[Mark R Penn]

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