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Best Free PIM

Updated 19. October 2011 - 22:22 by philip
 
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  Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide
Introduction

There are countless personal information management (PIM) programs. ;-)

A comprehensive one might include personal notes, a journal, contacts (address book), calendar and events, task and project management, email, and even more. One of the critical components for me is scheduling repeating tasks, something that is strangely missing from many PIMs.

If your needs are basic, there are some simple programs that might fit your needs. Otherwise, you'll need a program that includes all the elements that are important to all you.

What about web-based PIMs? 37 Signals provides one of, if not the best cloud PIM suites. Of course it's not all free. I do use their free Highrise contact manager in conjunction with the Toodledo task manager for my simple PIM needs. Toodledo has a nice comparison chart, which shows how it stacks up against many of the popular web-based task managers.
Discussion

Full programs

Palm screenshotPalm Desktop is designed specifically for use with Palm devices but works perfectly well all by itself. It's an excellent full function PIM -- if you think Microsoft Outlook without the email client you'll get the general idea. Naturally a few things such as "Synchronize" don't work without an attached Palm device but most functions work just fine.

Note 1: It's becoming more difficult to find the download page for Palm Desktop. You'll probably find it by searching for "Desktop" under support.

Note 2: This is a YOYO (you're on your own) product. Now that HP has acquired Palm, there are sure to changes in the status of Palm Desktop. The new webOS products -- Veer, Pre -- are effectively on a new platform, putting the old Palm products  in "legacy status".

Note 3: The most reasonable reading of the Palm Desktop EULA is that you are allowed to use Palm Desktop as a stand-alone program on a PC, but you are prohibited from using it to sync with something other than a Palm product. There's a more detailed discussion in one of the comments below.

Pimero is a new entry in the free PIM category. It offers the full range of PIM functions -- appointments, events, reminders, tasks, contacts, email, and even webfeeds -- and an attractive, well-organized user interface. It's a modestly crippled version of an actively-maintained commercial application. I think it would be an efficient program to use. The commercial version offers very nice data export, but there is no way to export your data from the free version. You cannot create repeating tasks either if that's important to you.

EssentialPIM is another full-featured alternative. It also does many of the same things as Outlook and can import your Outlook data and/or Outlook Express contacts as well. There is no way to schedule repeating to-dos, but by creating an all day repeating "task" (which is essentially an appointment) you can effectively create a repeating to-do which begins before the day grid.

Evolution for Windows has been ported from Linux to Windows. Evolution is a full-featured PIM, whose main feature is being a free alternative to Microsoft Outlook. It can syncronize with several protocols, including Microsoft Exchange. Evolution is a comprehensive PIM (and it takes a while to load). Like many PIMs, it has no good way to schedule repetive tasks, which rules it out for me. That is not a problem for many users.

Related Products and Links

Other full-featured PIMs:

PIM Xtreme would be a good choice if you want to tinker with the program interface, and the way that tasks, events, and contacts are organized and interconnected. It also has a calendar, notes, and a "Today Panel" that gives you a nice overview. PIM Xtreme has a build-it-yourself user interface. Tasks, events, contacts, notes, etc., have their own window pane, and you size and arrange them to fit your needs.

Web-based PIMs:

  • Two categories at this site, Notepad / Notebook / Notes Organizer, and Reminder / To-Do List, which includes Toodledo, list several web-based PIMs.
  • Toodledo in conjunction with the Highrise satisfies my basic PIM needs. I find the way Toodledo lets you organize tasks fits me to a tee. Toodledo has a nice comparison chart, which shows how it stacks up against many of the popular web-based task managers.
  • GQueues is another nice example of an online task manager.

Simple programs:

If your personal information management (PIM) needs are basic, there are some simple programs that might fit your needs. Which one depends on whether you need task and event management, contact management or both.

QuotePad is a nice little task manager that makes a splendid replacement for sticky notes. I've wanted something like this ever since the Internet came along. It docks at the top or side of your screen in a small 3 pixel line waiting to pop up a reminder (they can be repeating), or for when you want to add a note or reminder. What I like best is capturing a bit of text from a webpage as a note, along with the URL of the page I'm on, just by using a keystroke. It's a Windows program, and I'm running it on 64-bit Windows 7.

UK's Kalender is a simple calendar program from Denmark with nice task and event (no provision for contacts) management. It is easy to learn how to use UK's Kalender. It passes my acid test for PIMs by having a variety of ways to handle repeating tasks and events.

Kurlo and Open Contacts are contact management programs (address books). They both provide space for extensive information about your contacts. You can also use Kurlo to send email messages directly, and Kurlo also has a delayed email sending feature.

The Lightning extension for Thunderbird integrates calendaring features directly into Thunderbird. The combination gives you contact management, email and calendaring all in one window for better work flow.
Quick Selection Guide

Pimero Free Edition
7
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Well organized user interface. Full range of PIM functions. Easy to use.
You cannot export your data from the free edition. You cannot set up repeating tasks.
http://www.pimero.com/en/index.php
http://www.pimero.com/en/download_redirectFree.php
2011 R3
30 MB
Free for private use only
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP / Vista / 7; Installs Firebird, and .Net 3.5 if required
Palm Desktop
5
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
An excellent full function PIM, much like Microsoft Outlook without the email client. Track expenses for multiple categories and in different currencies and quickly export them to Microsoft Excel and Word. Many users of this website like it.
Palm is a fading "legacy" product line (see Note 2 in the Palm discussion above). It requires 250 MB hard drive space for installation. Not that that matters much these days. :-)
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb2/na/deviceselector/page_en.html
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb2/common/article/32859_en.html
6.2
72 MB
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 7 / Vista / XP / Media Center Edition 2005
EssentialPIM
5
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Another full-featured PIM. Does many of the same things as Outlook and can import your Outlook data and/or Outlook Express contacts as well. Small file size.
Supports repeating tasks (events), but not repeating to-dos. May have trouble with multiple email accounts -- see comment on Thu, 06/11/2009.
http://www.essentialpim.com/
http://www.essentialpim.com/?r=download
4.24
1.5 MB
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Windows XP, Vista and 7
Evolution for Windows
4
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Full-featured PIM. Free alternative to Microsoft Outlook.
No good way to schedule repetive tasks.
http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/
http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/download.htm
2.28.2-1
34 MB
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP / 7

Evolution for GNOME (Linux distribution) is at http://projects.gnome.org/evolution/

 

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Comments

by fernman (not verified) on 25. November 2011 - 13:24  (83875)

PIM Xtreme, which you mention in "Other full-featured PIMs", stores your data in MySQL server, rather than in a file on your computer. This means you can not use it offline, you must have an internet connection. From my point of view that lessens its usefulness severely.
by Anonymouse (not verified) on 23. October 2011 - 12:37  (81988)

Pimero Free Edition is not unrestricted freeware.

On their website, it is clear that you are not permitted to use the free edition for business use.

http://www.pimero.com/en/editionen.php

Please update the article to reflect that.

You may also want to re-evaluate if this software still holds the freeware award if you are not able to use it in a business context.

Thank you.
by philip on 23. October 2011 - 16:50  (81999)

Thanks for catching that Anonymouse
by Anonymouse (not verified) on 23. October 2011 - 12:28  (81986)

Please note that EssentialPIM does have a portable version from the developers:

EssentialPIM Free Portable 4.24
29 Jul 2011
7.18 MB
EssentialPIMPort4.zip

The link can be found on the homepage.

Please update the article to reflect this.

Thank you.
by philip on 23. October 2011 - 16:48  (81998)

OK, I'll look again Anonymouse. Thanks
by Australia (not verified) on 20. October 2011 - 3:54  (81763)

Pimero looks like a fine program. But thank you for informing readers that it requires NET Framework. I prefer standalone applications. I dont want to install any additional Frameworks that potentially slow down my Windows Startup :)
by Anupam on 20. October 2011 - 6:57  (81768)

Its a myth that .NET frameworks slow down the computer, or even the startup. I have all .NET frameworks on my computer... 2.0, 3.5, 4.0. My computer experiences no slowdown, and starts up fast.

.NET frameworks provide the base for programs to build and run on them. That's their purpose.
by dagwood (not verified) on 17. September 2011 - 16:40  (79795)

Check out etm (http://freshmeat.net/projects/etm/). It's free, cross-platform and supports recurring events and tasks using simple, plain text data files.
by philip on 17. October 2011 - 21:09  (81620)

@dagwood, Thanks for the lead. I see that etm is a nice task and calendar management app, with simple project management as well. It offers most of what I look for in a PIM.

etm is evidently fast and efficient. But it does not have a conventional user interface. Interaction and item entry is requires the use of keystroke combinations. They are logical, but there are many of them, and you need to know virtually all of them.

They wouldn't be hard to learn over time if you want to go to the trouble. My mind is already cluttered with keyboard shortcuts for Windows, Firefox, and other programs, and emt is not an app I'd select when there are more conventional alternatives
by Anonymousfortunecookiedough (not verified) on 17. September 2011 - 5:22  (79763)

I found this PIM: Esy Planner
http://web.tiscali.it/esysoft/

It is fairly nice, freeware, handles recurring events perhaps better than any other, it contains a budget component, etc. BUT it's not complete nor polished per se. Does it have audible alarms? Can you categorize events with different colors?
----
So, desirable components from my perspective are:
email, contacts, calendar, tasks/to-do, notes/memos, quotes(daily activity, like on many paper 1-day-at-a-time calendars), budgets(manage your budgets per week/month etc.,

also, encryption-capabilities or password protected at least, organize events into categories via custom colors, organize tasks into folders/sub-folders, import/export of icalendar formats(etc), audible alarms, recurring events, tabs, and should sync with other calendars perhaps.

To boot, it has to be freeware, should be non-abandon-ware/legacy, and not resource-hogging cause of bloat from included file-managers, password generators, etc... but then again you may think it's better suited in a PIM than in a browser?

Hope this helps... oh yeah, Kontact (or the primary calendering compent of KOrganize) can be ran on windows with KDE for Windows.
by philip on 17. September 2011 - 13:15  (79789)

Thanks for the report Anonymousfortunecookiedough.
by MarshalK on 12. March 2011 - 3:30  (67814)

I have been searching for a replacement for my Palm desktop 4.1 for a few years. Although there are a lot of decent programs out there, I cannot find any that allow you to share calendars and color code the activities by categories (a very important feature). This feature allows me to schedule an on-site visit (in yellow for example) an internet based session (purple), schedule a DR appt (personal - blue) so I can see at a glance what my day looks like. Once I finish a billable task I will then change the color to Green to indicate it was invoiced. Aside from outlook, all the other software either do not allow color coding (including the newest Palm desktop ver 6 - which stripped away ALL colors) or they require you to have a different calendar for each category - a real pain when changing categories. 15 categories (each a different color = 15 different calendars).

Sorry to ramble on but this is a seemingly simple and useful function that is not available in any of the packages (free or paid) I have found. Actually that is not quite true, it is available in some packages but a 3 user system would cost upwards of $700. A lot to spend to replicate the Palm desktop which I agree, deserves top billing and was shamefully destroyed in the last few years by the developers.

Any insight would be welcomed
by hsmom5 (not verified) on 15. March 2011 - 17:26  (67956)

If I understand what you are saying correctly about colour coding tasks by categories, and then easily changing the colour on them, you can do this in EssentialPIM.

Appointments can also be set as different colours.
by Tech guy (not verified) on 1. February 2011 - 2:00  (65600)

It should probably be noted that the Mozilla Sunbird, standalone calendar project has been discontinued. (it ended around mid or second half of 2010)
That was the calendar I used to use. :(

They have focused all calendar development effort into the Thunderbird Lightning product.
by philip on 1. February 2011 - 12:54  (65623)

Duly noted Tech guy. Thanks. I'll remove the reference.
by Drongo on 19. January 2011 - 15:22  (64850)

I would like to mention EZ Organizer from Applied Micros Pty Limited. It is freeware although they do ask that you donate if you find it useful. I've been using it, and previously the older version which was known as XDesk95, for about 14 years now.

It is quite simple and basic, but it has a calendar, sticky notes, alarms, a tree type notepad complete with a mini spreadsheet, an RPN calculator, and can be used as a rudimentary address book as well in a single interface which normally uses under 2 meg of RAM. The setup program is only 559 kb and installed it is only 1.5 meg not counting the user's data file which is kept in the program folder.

It's still being developed, with the most recent version updated in April 2010. EZ Organizer is available at http://appliedmicros.com.au/ and the download page can be found under the "PCTools" heading.
by philip on 19. January 2011 - 20:13  (64871)

Thanks for the tip Drongo. I took a quick look at EZ Organizer. It was easy to install, but you also need to install WinHelp32.exe from Microsoft for Vista and Win 7 before you can read the rudimentary Help file.

It's a rudimentary PIM, with a rudimentary interface. It would become easy to use after you've discovered and used the user controls by creating tasks, notes, etc.

If your needs are simple, and you are good at discovering how to use programs through trial and error it could serve you quite well.
by Dominica (not verified) on 4. December 2010 - 17:02  (62027)

I need a PIM that is on my computer, but will also sync with a program on the web. I have tried Famjama and Famundo, but my internet connection is to slow to make these usable (satelite internet). I have palm on my computer, but when I want to access my information from a different computer, I can't . Got any ideas?
by Arthur (not verified) on 7. November 2010 - 2:22  (60837)

Thank you, this is great. But, you see, what I want I cannot find, namely, the ability under contacts to create a group (which they all probably do) and then to create sub-groups, like sub-folders if you will, which I have not found one to do.

Of course, I may have missed it completely but it's what I want..

All helpful suggestions gratefully receieved.

Regards.
by Arthur (not verified) on 7. November 2010 - 12:25  (60849)

Don't try and work it out at 3:30 am, get some sleep first.

Extreme PIM does it nicely.

Regards
by wildweaselkeeper on 5. November 2010 - 17:51  (60809)

Chandler Project up and running just fine; link two posts down.

Palm Desktop; does anyone know which files need to be backed up? My entire To Do List Vanished between yesterday and this morning. Thank you.
by wildweaselkeeper on 5. November 2010 - 20:36  (60815)

Never mind about how to backup Palm Desktop; I figured it out.

File\Export

Duh Me!
by nanswim (not verified) on 19. November 2011 - 15:54  (83548)

How did you back it up? I have a new computer and cannot sync my palm anynore cause it does not sync with a 64 bit computer. I was thinking of backing it up onto an external drive and then somehow getting it onto my new computer.
by philip on 5. November 2010 - 19:39  (60811)

Chandler activity shifted to a re-architecture phase under Chandler2. I haven't seen evidence of further action after the flurry in 2009.
by wildweaselkeeper on 1. September 2010 - 4:34  (57075)

Palm Desktop 6.2 current download page: http://kb.palm.com/wps/portal/kb/common/article/33529_en.html#windows

[Moderator's Note : Direct link to exe removed. Please do not post direct link to files. Post the link to download page instead.]
by Bruce_Fraser on 22. August 2010 - 4:41  (56503)

The Chandler Project seems to have finally died.
There were news items about its coming demise back in 2008 (example: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9847739-16.html).

But as of today at least, the website is no longer responding: www.chandlerproject.org.
by philip on 22. August 2010 - 14:48  (56523)

Thanks Bruce. Chandler is still syncing with the online database, but the website is still dead today. I'll check again in a couple of days, but I expect I'll be removing Chandler from this category.
by Bruce_Fraser on 7. September 2010 - 17:58  (57417)

Update as of September 7: ChandlerProject.org is working again.
Sorry for the false alarm.
by Anonymouss (not verified) on 15. August 2010 - 19:10  (56083)

After a lot of research and comparison (it took me a day!) I decided to use 2 programs combined. First I don't like to use any clouds, so any web-based applications are not for me. Also I don't care much to integrate my email applications with my PIM. Thus, the winners are:

For emails (to replace Outlook Express):
- Thunderbird with lightning (not sunbird)
More than enough for email things!

For all the rest PIM things (to replace Outlook):
- Essential PIM free
More than enough for a Contact manager, Calendar and Task Manager!

Both can import/export contacts/calendars to several formats which makes them compatible to mobile devices, compatible with each other and easy migration if need be. EssentialPIM has a portable version too which allows me to bypass any clouds. For email there's always the online inbox for distant work ;)
by philip on 21. July 2010 - 23:30  (54705)

Comments here -- the page you're on now -- should relate directly to software that fits the title, "Best Free PIM".

Gizmo's Freeware Forum is a better place to get help for specific problems. More editors watch the forum, and you'll get excellent support there.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/freeware-forum/
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/general-computer-support/

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