EssentialPIM

Interface & Features......
The current version that I am reviewing of EssentialPIM shows a home screen called 'EPIM Today' giving you details of what is in store for you on the current day. On the left is the icons that take you to the different areas of the PIM as well as buttons on the right to immediately insert new material in the different sections. The center of the window gives you all of your information, and there is an adjustable calendar at the bottom, right that has all days within the month containing information shaded. Here's a pic:

Of course like any other program, EssentialPIM has a tabbed options area where you will be making general setting to suite your needs. Here's some pics of the options window to give you an idea what can be set:

There's a nice selection of options showing especially the fully adjustable auto save and the backup features.
Once you've had a chance to look over all of the data showing in the opening window, you can enter one of the specific areas. Clicking on the 'Schedule' icon opens up a nice, clean planner area to enter in all of your schedules and appointments. Here's a couple of pics showing the different layout options available:

The first pic is the monthly display and the second is for one week. Also available are daily and yearly listings. As you can see, the windows are clean and easy to read. I really like the preceding and following month dates showing in the current months display, filling the whole month's calendar. Clicking on these dates will automatically bring you to that month. Clicking on the 'add' button brings up the following window:

This window gives you lots of options for your data including start and end times, the duration of the event, priority, a window for text, adjustments for a reminder of the event, and whether it should be repeated and at what intervals. Easy to read and easy to use!

Next, we have the 'To-Do' area, where you get to keep a constant listing of all those tasks, big and small, that we all have to do. This window gives your tasks listed in your order preference which can be set by clicking on the adjustable field titles. Theres even a check box which will strike a line across the tasks as you complete them. Here's a pic of this window:

Here's the window for inserting your info into the 'To-Do' area:

Next up is the 'Notes' area. Arranged in tree format, you can add notes and folders all over the place, even notes within notes, within more notes. The editor for your notes, at the bottom of the window, gives you lots of nice adjustments and additions such as full font features, color changes, indents, bullets, etc. Here's a pic:

Last, we have the contact area. This feature can hold TONS of information about your personal or business contacts. The upper half of the window gives you the listing of all of your contacts and the bottom half gives the in depth information of the highlighted contact above within four tabbed pages. Here's a pic:

and here's a pic of the insert window for placing your contacts on the list:

Of course, there's more to this program than information. Other great highlights of EssentialPIM are the excellent sorting and searching functions that each section has, importing from MS Outlook and Express, printing functions and import/export data. All information is password protected right from the opening screen and encrypted for security. There is also Drag and Drop support, and EssentialPIM is available in quite a number of different languages.

Does It Work.....
EssentialPIM does an excellent job of keeping all my information neat and organized in a nice small package. Having the program minimized to the task bar is very handy when I'm doing business. All information is just one or two clicks away. I especially like the tree format for notes, keeping all information entered in a nice, neat package. The program is fast loading and fast closing and of course, the automatic backup is an excellent highlight.

Problems......
I have a very minor complaint which really isn't worth mentioning. In the notes area, I would like to have the icon for the directories different from the ones which actually have notes in them. As it is now, every note entry looks like a directory.

Uninstall.....
The program is uninstalled in the usual manor through the 'add/remove programs' area of the control panel, or from the program listing in the 'start' area. You must delete the directory manually.

In Closing ..........
This program is a keeper and will be on my system for quite some time. I suggest that if you have quite a number of individuals to keep in touch with or quite a list of things that need to be accomplished, or even if your a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, I suggest you download EssentialPIM and give it a whirl. You might be surprised!

Buzzy

EssentialPIM by EssentialPIM Ltd.	Home Page	EssentialPIM is a no frills personal information manager utilizing a notebook, contact manager, scheduler, and a to do lister guaranteed to keep all of your info neat, handy and organized.
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