Upgrade testing

[mufka]

I'm testing out whether I want to upgrade from ACT 5.0 to ACT 9.0. I've noticed two things that I'd like to change. The first is that the menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.) is black and I cannot see the words (File, Edit, View, etc.) until I mouse over them. Is that normal and can it be changed? The second is the "group sort" option. In ACT 5.0 you had a pulldown at the bottom right of the screen and you could just click it to sort into groups. Is that gone now, can it be found?

A separate question is that now that ACT runs on SQL, is there a way to create an easy export so that I can import the data into MySQL? Or better yet, have it sync directly with MySQL?

Thanks

 

[GLComputing]

For the menu issu, have a look at

http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/14401

With ACT!5/6, the button at the bottom righ allowed you to select a group, is that what you mean?

No, there is no "simple" method to sync with MySQL, although a developer could create something like this for you.

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[mufka]

Yes, the "select a group" button is what I'm referring to. Does it exist in the new version?

 

[GLComputing]

No... because you can have many more groups, and nested sub-groups, this is no-longer a possibility

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[Storyteller]

Hello mufka,
I have just done the upgrade that you are (ACT! 5/2000 to ACT!9) and I have some comments:

- Navigating through the groups is not as easy. As Mike said there are more grouping options so there are multiple clicks to accomplish a group lookup
- Do you use Outlook or ACT! POP3 for email? I have found that the emails I sent via ACT! POP3 have *.DAT extensions and since I have switched to Outlook for email I need to use Notepad to read these older emails.
- On a tangent, I have noticed that since I have switch to using Outlook for email I actually spend less time in ACT! as I spend most time in Outlook.
- I have noticed that ACT! 9 appears to run slower than ACT! 5/2000. The current machine I have is Intel Core 2 Duo (2.3 GH) with 4G Ram (800Mhz) with RAID 0 which is significantly better than the 1.4Ghz I was using with ACT! 5/2000
- There are a number of other "enhancements" that I am still working with and I am still undecided on them
- I do like the ability to have Company records and then have contacts associated with them. This is a departure from the 1 contact 1 record system.

The reason I updated was to have ACT! ready for a possible Vista upgrade and the sale price was too good to refuse. Otherwise I would have stayed with ACT! 5/2000 as it was working for me.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Michael

 

[GLComputing]

Mufka:
* Re .DAT - are these emails sent from ACT! 5 that you're talking about?
* I also use Outlook, and ACT!'s ability to record the sent emails to the contact is a great function
* Re speed - you should make sure your Swaf File is 8GB (based on your specs) - dbl the RAM or min of 2GB is my spec. ACT! 9 speed can depend a lot on the HDD speed. I recommend 7200rpm as a min, 10,000 rpm is better. This is more important than the processor

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au