Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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91 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Major Step Backwards, August 31, 2004
The new version of ACT! 2005 is a significant disappointment. It should be avoided. The new program removes a number of attractive features that existed in ACT! 6.0, crashes constantly, and is no longer user friendly.
For example, in 6.0 if one wished to add a contact to a number of groups and subgroups, the steps were relatively simple and easy to complete. The contact menu item would be designated. In the drop down menu, the group membership feature would be selected. A list of groups and sub-groups would appear. The user would then click those groups to be added and/or deleted, click okay, and be brought back to the contact screen.
In the new version, 7.0, it is no longer possible to follow this series of steps. Now one clicks on an item called add contact to group. A partial listing of groups is shown. Another item must be selected to get the full list of groups and subgroups. Only one selection can be made and no deletions can be performed at this point. Then a group screen appears. This must be discarded to get back to the contact screen and then the process must be repeated for each additional group add wanted. What took three easy steps now may take 12 to 15.
The fact that so many steps are demanded eats up available memory. Thus, after performing a number of actions the program will crash. If one works on it long enough setting up desired functions the program will constantly freeze and crash. Memory usage which was poor in version 6.0 is now a disaster. It is impossible to believe that this program was ever beta tested.
This is only one of many examples of program changes that make this ACT! 7.0 more difficult. For example, one can no longer edit contacts in the contact list screen. On a simple lookup the program keeps adding unwanted screens requiring more keystrokes and stimulating more crashes
Do not expect help from either of the manuals the company publishes. They do not even treat with any of the issues mentioned here. Also be aware if you spend a few hundred bucks to buy the access to technicians, you will wait 45 to 60 minutes to reach one. Then the technician will indicate that the program was changed to eliminate key functions.
If you purchase the Standard version you cannot even find out how many contacts are in a group. Sending e-mails has become more complex.
Get the picture. This program is self destructing and charging customers hundreds of dollars to do so. Buy it if you are a dyed in the wool masochist
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54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Slow, sloppy & ??slippery??, September 8, 2004
Another reviewer speaks of taking a minute & a half to load on an old machine. My 2+Gig with 500Mb RAM is also sloooow to load. I was upgrading (?) from v5, which is no great shakes, either, but I stuck with it because the Goldmine reviews were underwhelming. Some of the features that didn't work at all in V5 now work, but not properly (such as field names and sub-groups). On the other hand, importing from DB5 required that I use V5 then V7. V7 simply refused to import the data. That is as far as I have had time to push to now. Hope not too many more traps await me. Especially hope the crashings do not come.
Absent a major change of heart by management, I cannot imagine ever buying another edition of ACT! It is pretty good software for 1989. Trouble is, this isn't 1989. I recommend you pass on this ?upgrade? It is slow, remains sloppy to use, and the customizing screens tend to slip away before you are done making the feeble changes that are allowed. Sigh!
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A significant upgrade but ..., September 3, 2004
I downloaded this the day it came out. I use the previous version 6.03 approximately 5 hours a day. I was hoping that the two features I wanted most (tracking of incoming email & searchable email)were included in this upgrade. Well the email is now searchable but there is no recognition of incoming emails other than that they show up in your inbox. If you desire a product that tracks your (email) communications with others and allows you to simply look at a 'contact' and see the activity history then look elsewhere. You will have to MANUALLY ATTACH EACH INCOMING EMAIL TO ITS CONTACT. Like my 4 year old who speaks but does not listen so to does ACT 2005.
Also, ACT! 2005 takes about 20 seconds just to start up compared to <1 second for ACT! 6.03 (1.4GHz, 768Mb Centrino). I had to re-install the previous version after un-installing ACT 2005.
Buy the CD or download the product and try preferably on a spare computer, not your primary. Too, ignore the conflicting information about downloads not being returnable, they are and return it within 30 days if not satisfied.
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