What software do any of you use for contact management (address book) and diary or journal notes?

I have some things on an older version of ACT and want to upgrade. One thing I have wanted that ACT does not do is to cross reference contacts and histories. Say one has contacts a to z. ACT lets you print a history of activity for any one contact. But say you want might contact a,b and c on case 1,2 and 3 and d and g on only case 2 and case 4 and x,y and z on case 11 or whatever. I'd like to be able to print a history by case showing the various contacts of by contact showing various cases. Examples: soil scientist a and lawyer b work with you on different cases or on one case you work with any number of people. I know how to program this from scratch but don't want to.

What programs allow up and downloading from Palm Pilot or other PDAs?

Reply to post by Scott Cullen, on November 17, 1999 at 17:03:05:

I use a system built with FileMaker, that covers all those bases. But it requires a lot of time to build from scratch, so I understand your reluctance to do that. Since I don't use other commercial products, I can't comment on those.

As to palmtop connectivity, check out the various web sites that support those platforms and offer software. There are several that can be interactive, but it may be tough to find something that does it all (other than FileMaker on the Mac, that is )

Reply to post by Scott Cullen, on November 17, 1999 at 17:03:05:

I'll expand this thread a little. There seem to be established protocols for collecting field observations. Licensed surveyors have always had their bound books. Forestry Suppliers catalog lists an environmental field book that satisfies "EPA requirements for legally defensible" notes. So we have the same question that we have discussed concerning digital camera images. What pitfalls are there in taking notes directly to a digital device? How has the surveying industry for example addressed this as they moved to "total stations" and other direct capture devices?

Reply to post by Scott, on November 17, 1999 at 17:03:05:

Scott,

In the case of surveyors, the "electronic fieldbook" dumps to a file and can be printed with a date stamp, and a time notation for every datapoint entered. In many ways it's more detailed then a bound fieldbook (which most surveyors still carry as well)