Looking for a Simple Database to Track My Work

[flasher40]

Hello,

When I was doing freelance magazine writing in the late '80s and early '90s, I used Q&A as my database and loved it for keeping track of what were my article ideas, whom I had sent my ideas to, what the results of the submissions were, etc. Q&A is no longer supported, and the old copies that are out there don't work very well with newer computers. Its replacement, Sesame, is expensive. Can anyone recommend a simple, Windows-based, flat database that is either free or inexpensive (say, no more than $50 or so)?

I've used Microsoft Access in the past and can use it for this application, but I find it to be less intuitive than Q&A and more complex than I really need.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[mmerlinn]

Check the programs in your computer. Most computers come with a very simple database program, sometimes standalone, sometimes integrated with another program.

mmerlinn

http://mmerlinn.com

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[johnwm]

OpenOffice

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[jrbarnett]

If you're just looking for free form data storage, why not use Notepad (or Wordpad if you need more advanced formatting abilities).

John

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Sorry, falsher, as I think you did not get very satisfiying answers here so far. Open Office has an integrated databse and is free, true. But that is like answering with what harddrive to store media files when asked what media player would be recommended.

I don't ever used Q&A, but as far s I researched it and sesame, why does do you not add 30$ to your budget and buy the personal edition of sesame as download only version. As far as Lantica Software says it is able to convert Q&A databases and so you don't start from scratch and can convert your database structures and data.

How much time did you spent on creating these Q&A databases, isn't it woth 80 $ to save these efforts and continue, or don't you care about that and welcome a new start?

You can get very many databases for free: mySQL, SQL Server Express, whatever. But that would just be the data store, no frontend forms, no easy way to create or extend forms and the fields needed in the backend database, like you were used to with Q&A.

If I were you, I'd get Sesame Personal Edition Download Only for 80$, be able to convert and save much of my work of the last 20 years. Are you sure you want to save 30$ and redo all the work from the last 20 years to create the database and enter or convert all the data?

Bye, Olaf.