14 DAY TRIAL // Contacts are everything in our society. I believe that we are dependent with one another. The list of my contacts includes almost everything about that person. From name, address and phone numbers to notes about them. There are lots of softwares capable of doing this for you. The one I elected for this review is called Open Contacts. To be frank, its name appealed to me, and I was curious to see what it is all about.
The software is developed by Fonlow IT and they released it for free on the market. Unlike other softwares I have reviewed, this application is designed strictly for contact adding and editing. All the other softwares I've been going through were primarily organizers.
The program installed in a snap of the fingers, but when I saw the main application window, I was not too charmed by its looks. The colors just did not match. But I soon found out that, due to the flexibility of the software, the colors of the interface were changeable.
The application consists of a couple of layouts that can be edited by the user. The preset ones are called People, Companies, Compact and People and Companies. We are going to talk only about the People layout, because the rest of them follow the same principles.
In People layout, the default main application window consists of four stand alone compartments, all of them designed to be moved wherever the user wants, minimized or even closed. They are the Edit Person, Categories. Initials and People.
The Edit Person window is extremely flexible (just as the entire software) and, if the user is not content with the default fields, s/he can edit, delete or add new fields.
The user can switch between two modes: Demo Data and Live Data. The first mode is nothing else but a demonstrative address book the user should look at as a model and realize how the software can be used.
The Categories section is structured by default with three ?submenus?: Friends, Relatives and Business. The user can modify these categories and add some of his/her own, or edit the default ones. This can be done by accessing the Tools menu in the toolbar. Choose Modify People Category and go into the Manage Categories menu at the bottom of the dialog box.
The options found here include adding new categories of contacts, sub-categories, deleting or renaming the current ones.
The Initials window will display the initial of the first name you type in the Name field. Thus all you have to do is click on one of the letters and all the contacts beginning with that letter will be displayed in the People window.
Concerning the Categories window, the user can store different contacts for each of the sections listed and, by choosing one of them, only the names attached in that category will be displayed. The Edit Person window allows you to add all sort of info about one person. Thus the user can store details like email, web address, chat ID, and even add a photo for the contact. These are just a few samples of what you can link a contact to.
The best feature of the software is in my opinion its ability to establish links between different contacts and between friends and companies. This feature is absolutely amazing as in a complicated contacts database you get to make connections between different entries. Thus you can link a certain person to a company and type the link between them.
Each entry of your database has a section where you can enter brief notes about that contact. And if the space provided by the software is not enough for your needs, than you can edit them in a larger editor just by using the Alt+M keyboard shortcut.
In order to attach a number of contacts to a certain category, the user has to select first the persons in the list (Shift and Ctrl selections are supported) and then click on the category button in the lower part of the People window and check the desired box.
In the Reports menu the user will find some very useful options, like exporting to CSV/Excel, to vCard or to HTML and in the Tools menu s/he will find the importing options (from XML, MS Outlook, Eudora, etc.)
The Good
The flexibility of the software is one of its strong points. And the linking between the different contacts (be they companies) is also a feature worth mentioning.
I had a bit of a problem with the software and I cried out for help in an email directed towards the support address. The answer came pretty fast and provided the necessary guidance.
The Bad
The software is not too easy to work with. At a first glance, one would say that it is very easy to deal with all the options and the features, but practice proves you different. The application seemed a little "bureaucratic" and it gave me a feeling as if I was beating around the bush.
The Truth
If you want to compare the options and features of a real contacts manager, then this is a very good calibrator to take after.
The features are just great, but maneuvering the software seemed to me just a bit overwhelming. It is a shame when the application has numerous possibilities, but harnessing the program is such an obstacle. And the Help menu was not too helpful. I understood by myself most of the works of the program, but for a certain problem the answer came from the developer.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
