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Introduction
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Free personal information management (PIM) programs for PCs seem to be a dying breed. Many are being replaced by web-apps, often in conjunction with other cloud-based services, and by apps for smartphones and tablets. [See more below under Web-based PIMs] A comprehensive PIM might include personal notes, a journal, contacts (address book), calendar and events, task and project management, email, and even more. The option to schedule repeating tasks, strangely missing from many PIMs, is a key feature of any PIM for me. If your needs are basic, there are some simple programs that might fit your needs. |
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Discussion
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PC Applications
EssentialPIM is another full-featured PC application. It 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 tasks though, but by creating all day repeating tasks (which are essentially appointments) you can effectively create a repeating to-dos which begin before the day grid. Evolution for Windows has been removed from the PIM category because is has been an orphan product for over two years, with no continuing development. (Evolution for Linux is still viable.) Palm Desktop has been removed from the PIM category for the following reasons: It is an orphan product, from an abandoned product line. Many users have reported troubles, particularly with recurring tasks. |
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Related Products and Links
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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: Most new PIM apps are offered in conjunction with cloud-based services. 37 Signals provides one of, if not the best cloud PIM suites. Of course it's not all free. I use their free Highrise contact manager in conjunction with the Toodledo task manager for my simple PIM needs.
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. ToDoList is the task manager I use. I particularly like the flexibility of repeating tasks that it provides. Tasks can be divided into trees with as many sub-tasks as you like. ToDoList provides a place for live URLs, notes and priorities. You can even color code tasks. It was developed by a coder who obviously uses it in his own work. ToDoList is quick and simple to use, and there is a portable option. [more] 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. 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. ReminderFox for Firefox is a handy new extension that manages todos and dates, including recurring events and tasks. |
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Comments
I have Time & Chaos version 5.6.10 working on two (2) Windows 7 (64bit) machines.
Works great!
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.
Thanks for the report Anonymousfortunecookiedough.
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.
@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
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 :)
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.
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.
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.
OK, I'll look again Anonymouse. Thanks
Thanks for catching that Anonymouse
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.
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.
I installed Pimero server on my Win7 x64 system so that I could use their ipad util on my ipad2. Well after installing Framework.net 4 I had to reboot the computer in order to get the server admin to start up properly. Pimerio on the desktop started up ok but then I could not shut it down. I had to force shut it and the server app disappeared and the service refuse to restart from Services. Uninstalled the software.
I believe the sync function is disabled in the free version. At any rate, that use is beyond the scope of use that this review envisioned.
The software won't even run properly on my Windows7 x64 never mind syncing. Did you test this software on Win7 x64?
I have Palm 4.2.1 on my mac.
Suddenly all my data has disappeared and the user shows: NONE
It also says Hot Sync Manager cannot be found.
I had connected the computer to my IPad -- I wonder if this has anything to do with this ---- How can I solve and restore data??
[edit] Email address removed. we do not provide individual support here in the comments. Please post details of your issue in our forum.
I think another aspect of PIMs that should be critically evaluated for this category is how well each allows users to modify recurring events.
Most people that are going to use a PIM to organize their lives, are going to be using recurring events in their calendars. Inevitably those events will need to be modified at some point. Some people, like me, make changes to every instance of a recurring event (marking a meeting complete, including some key points from that meeting, etc). When a user does this, it becomes impossible to make changes to the event series without altering past individual events. Want to change the end date for the series? Change the meeting time for the *rest* of the series? You can't. Not without losing all the changes you made to your past events.
This is an Achilles-heel of even many paid-for PIMs, including some of the paid-for versions in this category. Search the web a bit and you'll find out that Outlook is notorious for it. I've been using Essential PIM Free for a year and a half now, made some forums posts, and I still can't modify a recurring event without losing data. I've even found errors after exporting my database and opening it in he same program. Appointments in the wrong spot, things missing.
The EPIM folks there seem to be aware of the problem, but are unable to fix it, similar to Microsoft's issue with Outlook. Apparently Palm, Lotus Notes, iCal and others know how to do it right. I switched from Sunbird to EPIM, and now I'm thinking about switching again. This is after loving EPIM so much that I was thinking of shelling out dollars for a lifetime license of the Pro version.
Palm's defunct desktop seems to be the only piece of freeware that can manage this feat. As a legacy product, that is *very* disconcerting. I might have to revert to my old-school datebook, if these software designers can't seem to get things right. Troubleshooting the program becomes more trouble than it's worth!
Does anyone else know of a fully featured (non-defunct) program like EPIM, that can "split" the series of recurring events properly, therefore avoiding most of these problems?
FYI for those thinking about using Palm Desktop, the 6.2 version is newest and prettiest, but it lacks some of the stated functionalities that can only be found in 4.1.4e/4.2 and earlier.
Namely:
>6.2 DOES NOT have repeating To Dos/Tasks.
>6.2 also is MONOCHROMATIC; you cannot make events different colors; they all appear gray, similar to the color-scheme for the window.
In test driving this PIM, what I really miss compared to current PIMs (like EPIM) is the larger memo section that basically is like a tiny word processing program with a tree-structure for notes. I had no idea how much I would use this feature until I started using Sunbird a few years ago.
Everything else is at least as functional, as the newer software, though not as pretty. You can even put pictures in the Contacts section, which I was impressed with.
Also, I can verify that 4.1.4e does work on Windows 7 (install as administrator), though, I'm testing it on Win7 "Starter" (rather than HP/Ultimate) via my netbook.
Something else that should be noted about using Palm Desktop is that the file formats used make it difficult/nearly impossible to get data imported/exported.
.Dba is a Palm proprietary format, and .vcs is the old .ics. There are some converters that can attempt to put each of these in .csv or .ics, but it seems like a bit of a crapshoot. Expect to have missing events, events at the wrong time, etc.
Issues with import/export are probably one of the biggest reasons not to switch to this program, in my opinion. Though, I'm finding it extremely tempting, due to the presence of repeating tasks and ability to correctly handle edits to repeating events!
In light of the thoughtful comments here and previously, and the fact that Palm Desktop is an orphan program, it has been removed from this category.
Any PIM's that have a Desktop Component, AND an Android Component AND can be installed as a Cloud Component on one's OWN website domain? Sort of like a private Cloud?
I'd like to get away from the other sites like Google, MSLive, Apple etc., from hosting my calendar & notes, my PIM info, as I have my own website. I don't need to share it with anyone else. I can do this by exporting & uploading files but doing so via an Android app would be great vs. and Android FTP app. I do appreciate the convenience of Google Calendar on my Android phone. I just don't like Google anymore.
I really like EPIM, but they don't seem to want to make an Android app to allow it to sync with the desktop version or have it installable on my website.
The only free PIM server solution I've ever run across is the one from the "Chandler Project" (which seems a bit moribund). As you might expect, there's no Android "component" for it. You might get a more hopeful answer at our Freeware Forum. Good luck.
I'm not sure if you are in search of a desktop, mobile, or web-based PIM - but CloudPIM (listed above under web-based PIMs) offers the ability to modify a recurring series without overwriting all events in the series. You can choose to modify all occurrences after a particular date, or you can overwrite the entire series if you wish. If you are more inclined/prefer to use desktop PIMs this doesn't help your cause, otherwise I think its a decent solution.
Appreciate the suggestion, Karen.
I'm not into keeping any of my data, but especially private details about my life that would be in my datebook, on the web/cloud/someone else's server, etc.
Some company out there besides Palm, really needs to figure out how to do this correctly. It's a major shortcoming of pretty much every desktop-based PIM available, free or fee-based, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one that finds it exceedingly frustrating!
just started using Gqueues and I love it. very simple yet effective. Thanks for pointing it out. so many task managers are too complex. some are missing essential elements
Nice to hear that you like it gtexas. I took another look at GQueues and I see that there is now a GQueues app for Chrome.
What does everyone think of www.dayviewer.com is it worth checking out? anyone used it?, seems to do some group based stuff according to the help page.
Vueminder has a freeware version that is better than all listed above.
I'm not sure the EPIM - Android comment is correct. I think that currently EPIM contacts, notes and tasks all sync to an Android counterpart and EPIM calendar syncs to the Google/Android calendar. I think EPIM is working on coming up with its own Android calendar. Then, it looks like EPIM desktop and EPIM Android will function like Outlook and Windows Mobile (not Windows Phone).
Have I missed something here.