Open Thread: What Do You Use to Store Contacts?
May 21st, 2008 (10:00am) Judi Sohn 22 Comments
Sarah sent us an email:
Can you make a suggestion for a program to store contacts? Currently, my clients and I use Gmail Calendar for appts, Gmail for email, but there’s no good Google product for contacts.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Sarah is right. There’s no good Google product for contacts. Google has made some improvements to how one manages personal contacts in Gmail, but there’s no way to share/update contacts among groups.
Personally, I find it incredibly frustrating that in Gmail, I can neither merge two contacts into a single entry (one may have the right phone number, one may have the right email address) or sync contacts between different accounts. Are the barriers all about privacy concerns?
What are the best alternatives? Plaxo (which doesn’t sync Gmail contacts)? Soocial (still in private beta)? BigContacts? Highrise? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
22 Comments Post your own comment
RJ says: May 21st, 2008 10:20am
I use the Zindus extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6095 - for Thunderbird. I also manage my gmail through IMAP in TBird, as well as my Google Calendar and RTM tasks which I have in both Gmail and TBird. Everything works great and Thunderbird makes duplicates, merging, etc. much more manageable.
Jason says: May 21st, 2008 10:58am
Plaxo is an option. However with the Comcast buy-out, perhaps you don’t want to be in that boat.
John says: May 21st, 2008 11:36am
I’m using Plaxo because it used to include the LinkedIn sync - which has now gone. The wireless sync with my WM phone is useful but I’ve also noticed that GooSync (which I use for GCal Phone) now has contacts that purport to sync with GMail contacts?
When I tried the beta version some months back it wasn’t very good at all, anyone tried this latest version?
With the changes at Plaxo I’m increasingly tempted to jump ship.
Laura says: May 21st, 2008 12:12pm
I used to use highrise but their poor excuse for search made it totally useless. I often wanted to search for someone based on part of their company name or some detail about them in a note and with highrise you’re just SOL unless you remember someone’s full name or full company name.
Now I use contactizer pro and sync using .mac (which was a confusing headache to set up, but is now running smoothly). Contactizer is fantastic for organizing contacts and actually has the ability to search every field. And it uses apple’s address book so the contacts are automatically synced to your ipod or iphone.
Kevin says: May 21st, 2008 12:18pm
I have been using the basic Plaxo service. Now that I have a Mac I let it sync and then manage my duplicates via the Mac address book. My contacts are synced between Outlook at work, Mac address book and gmail (using syncman).
If Comcast screws up Plaxo I will be searching for a new one.
Kevin says: May 21st, 2008 12:20pm
…and so far Plaxo is doing well syncing my calendars.
Todd Sieling says: May 21st, 2008 2:27pm
Google seems to consider contacts as implicit data, built up through a number of applications but never managed as such. This has some big advantages working across their various services, but it can really bite people in the butt like it did when Google Reader decided that anyone you’ve ever talked with can see shared items.
For me, I like Address Book on the mac because it syncs to my ipod nicely and to dotmac.
Ivan V. says: May 21st, 2008 5:28pm
Personally, I’m waiting for someone to build something on top of Google Apps. That would be kick ass.
Sfmitch says: May 21st, 2008 5:34pm
I am using (and really like) Apple Address Book.
Mike Rapin says: May 21st, 2008 6:23pm
I agree with @Sfmitch, Apple’s Address book does the trick for me, especially since I can sync it with my phone via bluetooth.
Lawrence Salberg says: May 21st, 2008 9:09pm
I’m surprised no one mentioned GrandCentral, which is technically a Google App. When I get a new contact, they go into GrandCentral, Gmail, QuickBooks Online (if a client), and for some folks, LinkedIn and/or Facebook. It’s exhausting.
Emad says: May 21st, 2008 9:17pm
How about outlook and entourage? By far the best calendar, tasking and contact solution and a hosted exchange account costs under 10 bucks a month. it will sync all your machines and your phones (and your iPhone too) and you can access it online on all browsers including mobile.
I use google apps for email (free) and hosted exchange for synced calendar, tasks and contacts ($6.95 a month).
Ivan Blatter says: May 22nd, 2008 12:36am
I tried a lot of web-apps (Plaxo, Highrise, BigContacts, GMail etc.) but I was never really happy with them. So I used Outlook because the synchronization with my mobile phone worked without a problem. But I don’t like outlook.
Then I bought a MacBock Air and since then I’m a big fan of Apple and the Adress Book of Mac OS X. The integration with other apps and the easy synchronization (via bluetooth) with everything (mobile phone, iPod, other apps) is fantastic!
Nick C says: May 22nd, 2008 5:15am
I like Highrise but you really have to re-think the way you work to get the best out of it. The key feature is that you can forward emails to it which then creates a contact or subsequently a task/meeting or whatever based on that contact.
What would be great is a way to seamlessly merge updates to a contact between Highrise and other apps like Gmail or Outlook.
Talking Books Librarian says: May 22nd, 2008 10:28am
There is nothing I’m currently using that I like for contacts, so am definitely interested to see other responses on this one!
Nina says: May 22nd, 2008 3:46pm
We were using Highrise but outgrew it. We now use ACT!
Adrian near Seattle says: May 22nd, 2008 5:42pm
Am looking forward to (hoping for) Google to seamelessly merge Grand Central with GMail contacts and integrate with GCal, etc.
Any word on this? I thought I read something…
Marshall Huwe says: May 23rd, 2008 12:09pm
I use Highrise (which is getting better all the time. Search, for example, has been much improved) and Apple Address Book. I have accounts at Plaxo, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., but my master record is Highrise and Apple Address Book
@Stephen Productivity in Context says: May 25th, 2008 8:30am
I use HighRise HQ and I like it a lot. The task feature is pretty cool, for tickling follow-ups and such.
Alex says: May 25th, 2008 11:44pm
I use Gmail contacts. Since it’s been redeveloped it has pretty much everything I need. I tried Plaxo and Netvibes, but I like it all in the one account. For those who use Gmail and outlook, you can sync accounts from Gmail to Outlook now. You can also sync Gmail with Thunderbird and Sunbird for calendar and contacts as well. Just a quick Google can help you find this.
Riccardo says: June 2nd, 2008 1:34pm
For Contacts (and for Calendar too, yes!) I use http://www.airset.com
It can be synchronised with my Palm, and goes on SSL (https).
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