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Jason Parker
Get organized! Try my favorite free PIMs

Jason Parker
Contributing Editor, Downloads
Monday, July 7, 2003
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Remember when keeping track of your schedule and contacts required lugging around a book-like paper calendar? And remember how, eventually, you'd run out of room for appointments on busy days and the address book would become worn and illegible?

These days you can avoid these annoyances by using a personal information manager (PIM) on your computer. These programs not only let you save a nearly endless amount of addresses and phone numbers, but they also let you track appointments, schedule meetings, and in some cases send e-mails directly to coworkers and clients from within the program.

Here are two of my favorite free PIMs--one for the PC and one for the Mac.

Contact Plus Personal is loaded with features and customizable menus to keep track of all your contacts. You can create multiple databases for different categories of contacts, such as home and business. Each contact has extensive, customizable tabbed menus that contain addresses, phone numbers, and other info. You can also create more personal menus to include, for example, the name of a contact's spouse and children--or anything else you want to keep track of.

Contact Plus integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Word and WordPerfect for quick letter writing. It's also easy to send a letter to multiple contacts at once. This is technically an ad-supported version, but the only ads are for the paid versions of Contact Plus. The ad's very unobtrusive--it almost looks like it's part of the title bar. I recommend this program for both home and business users. (Free/Windows)

iCal for Mac OS X integrates with your Apple Address Book and makes keeping track of appointments and contacts a snap. The interface is divided into three panes, including a monthly calendar view, a current week view, and a To Do list. Getting contact information is easy: Just click on the People window, and you'll see a list of all the names from the Address Book. Scheduling a block of time for meetings and appointments is as simple as clicking and dragging the desired amount of time onto the appropriate day on your calendar.

Like everything Apple, the simplicity of iCal's design makes for a great user experience. It doesn't offer the extensive customizable menus of Contact Plus Personal and it doesn't integrate with word processors or your e-mail program. However, I found that iCal's ease of use and Address Book integration more than make up for it. (Free/Mac)

If you're looking for a way to manage your appointments and contacts in an efficient manner, download one of these apps. You'll be surprised at how smoothly your days go.

What's your favorite PIM software? TalkBack to me!

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