It's almost the end of the year again, and this is when I get the itch to organize... besides, I'd like a project to break in the Mini I'm hoping Santa will send my way.

As a city councillor, I'd really like a way to have (or readily access) all my emails, paper correspondence (scanned to .pdf), MS Office files, phone messages (.wav files from Vonage), notes on conversations, etc. from within a single application. Ideally, I would be able to pull up all info on each contact as I need it, and be able to record/add to that contact's file quickly. Some level of sorting and ToDo functionality would also help.

I've done some initial research on CRM applications but nothing has jumped out as an obvious answer. I notice that most apps now tap into Address Book. With a contact list of potentially 12,000+ individuals, is that a reliable tool?

Part of me wants to dust off my old copy of Filemaker 7 and go at it, but I just don't think I have the time.

Anyone know of any good candidates? Of those I have seen, Contactizer looks the most interesting - any feedback on this?

Well, I'm not sure that one application will do all that you wish for...if you find one I'd be happy to try it as well...

that said as far as organizing notes,pdfs,mov's etc I have been very happy with a little app called Together, Reinvented Software - Together 2.0 for Mac OS X - Keep Your Stuff Together, Find It Again Instantly (http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/) its fairly inexpensive and has served me well for keeping a slight handle on juggling 10-20 projects at once.

-s

It's almost the end of the year again, and this is when I get the itch to organize... besides, I'd like a project to break in the Mini I'm hoping Santa will send my way.

As a city councillor, I'd really like a way to have (or readily access) all my emails, paper correspondence (scanned to .pdf), MS Office files, phone messages (.wav files from Vonage), notes on conversations, etc. from within a single application. Ideally, I would be able to pull up all info on each contact as I need it, and be able to record/add to that contact's file quickly. Some level of sorting and ToDo functionality would also help.

I've done some initial research on CRM applications but nothing has jumped out as an obvious answer. I notice that most apps now tap into Address Book. With a contact list of potentially 12,000+ individuals, is that a reliable tool?

Part of me wants to dust off my old copy of Filemaker 7 and go at it, but I just don't think I have the time.

Anyone know of any good candidates? Of those I have seen, Contactizer looks the most interesting - any feedback on this?
(begin of shameless plug...)

Daylite

(end of shameless plug...)

Okay you want more information. Daylite can handle all of what you've described, price is reasonable ($189.95) and integrates directly with Apple Mail. It can also sync with Address Book and iCal.

Document files (i.e. MS Office, etc.) can simply be dragged and dropped onto a Contact's record to produce a link. This includes .WAV files (I'm a Vonage user as well). When you double-click on them in the Contact's history, the applicable application will launch and the file will open.

It can also be set up for multiple users but it doesn't sound as if this is a requirement for you.

Thirty day trial version available at Marketcircle (http://www.marketcircle.com/downloads/dps.html).

If you have any further questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you.

I haven't seen anything does everything you are asking for but I think you're going about it the right way. Throw the wish list out there and scale back if you need to. There are a couple of applications that I suggest you take a closer look at:

Daylite: The #1 Business Productivity Manager for the Mac (http://www.marketcircle.com/daylite/) - I am currently auditing this one for a couple of clients and would be happy to report back what I find.

The other to look at is Bento - http://www.bentotrial.com - This one I am not familiar with yet but like you I have some experience in Filemaker so it's intriguing.

B/

Just as a follow up, Bento is Leopard only so keep that in mind if you decide to trial it - B/