software suggestion, please

[susanj]

Hello,
I'm looking for a simple small business database program.
The business I work for has a big, messy paper binder of addresses and it's time that we get with the times.
Outlook Express is not an option for us - the head secretary hates it.
It should be easy to use, allow us to search for someone by name and call up their number/address and also allow a search of a group by category (ie. we'd enter everyones job title for example, then later search for all the 'teachers')
That's all it's got to be.
File Maker Pro, for example, does too much and is an unnecessary expense.
Can anyone make any recommendations?
Thank you

[jcnoernberg]

MS Office Professional will give you Access which might be overkill, but it will also have Excel which will do everything you need to do... it wont be pretty on the eyes, but it will work.

[deddard]

would something like ACT! be appropriate (it's a client contact database system)?
I've not used it myself, but it seems to be pretty popular for client lists etc.

[Cam]

MS Office Professional will give you Access which might be overkill, but it will also have Excel which will do everything you need to do... it wont be pretty on the eyes, but it will work.

Instead of MS Office Professional, why not try http://www.openoffice.org/ ,which is free? I downloaded it for viewing and working with one particular file type [Excel], and am not sure what all the features are, but it did the job, without having to buy Office. Several years ago, when I downloaded the program and had questions, the technical support was really good, and fast!

[Paul Komski]

You could use the windows address book since it can be accessed directly and not necessarily via OE or Outlook. If you dont want to use the default address book (found under Accessories I think) just search for a file with a .wab file extension and copy and paste it to a place of your choosing and then create a shortcut to the copy.

Excel, as mentioned, could make a singe table as a spreadsheet but in the end its gets a bit messy to use as a database and easy to screw it up when sorting and grouping. Access is not that easy to use if you are not used to it but would be my choice. I think OpenOffice is great but my only real fault with it is in fact its database support.

If you do have everything in an Excel spreadsheet, such a sheet can be imported or directly linked to a number of databases including Access.

[classicsoftware]

I would vote for ACT. You can get the OEM versions cheap enough and you can share the data across a network