technology > computing

(MORE)

BUSINESS
Playing for Iraq's jackpot

Coke & smoke bite Dow

Sun Microsystems posts tiny profit

(MORE)

MARKETS	4:30pm ET, 4/16
DJIA	144.70	8257.60
NAS	3.71	1394.72
S&P	10.90	879.91

SPORTS
Jordan says farewell for the third time

Shaq could miss playoff game for child's birth

Ex-USOC official says athletes bent drug rules

(MORE)

All Scoreboards

WORLD
U.S. spies 3 potential nuke sites

U.S.
10,000 refugees from Burundi coming to U.S.

ALLPOLITICS
Foley will name alleged abuser

LAW
Stunned relatives pack Iowa courtroom

ENTERTAINMENT
Rock 'n' roll genius getting his licks at 80

HEALTH
Seafood benefits outweigh risks, government says

TRAVEL
Machu Picchu can wait

CAREER
A well-balanced 'Day on the Job'

(MORE HEADLINES)

MAINPAGE
WORLD
U.S.
WEATHER
BUSINESS
SPORTS
POLITICS
LAW

SCI-TECH

SPACE
HEALTH
ENTERTAINMENT
TRAVEL
EDUCATION
CAREER
LOCAL
IN-DEPTH

EDITIONS

CNN.com Asia
CNN.com Europe
set your edition

Review: Info Select 6 can organize your life

From...

January 29, 2001
Web posted at: 5:04 p.m. EST (2204 GMT)

by Matthew Newton

(IDG) -- Think of anything you need to sort, categorize, remember, or otherwise keep track of, and Micro Logic's amazing Info Select application can organize it. No other personal information manager lets you collect so many different kinds of information in one searchable space.

Version 6.0 of this long-lived app (it's been around since 1986) works with Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, or NT, and adds plenty of new features for advanced users while reducing the learning curve for newcomers. Alas, it costs $150 ($50 more than the previous version) and retains some rough edges too.

A PIM unlike any other

Info Select doesn't look or act like your typical PIM. Its main interface is reminiscent of Windows Explorer: The Selector, which appears in a pane on the left side of the application window, shows a tree of the all the items in your Info Select file. A pane on the right side of the window displays the contents of the Selector's current item.

IDG.net INFOCENTER

Related IDG.net Stories

Features

Visit an IDG site

IDG.net search

What kinds of items am I talking about? Text documents with advanced formatting. To-do lists. Simple flat-file databases for your contact lists (or almost any other kind of list). Calendars with detailed appointment lists. Linked Web addresses. Info Select can add almost any piece of data to your collection.

You can designate any item as a to-do entry or as a "Tickler," which sets off an alarm at a date you set. For example, you can store an entire project proposal, complete with an outline, images, and a contact list of participants, and attach a Tickler to it that will remind you to submit the proposal next Wednesday. If you're sending that proposal via e-mail, Info Select can take care of that too. New in version 6 is support for POP3 and SMTP Internet e-mail. You can set up single or multiple e-mail accounts and import your settings from Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Messaging, or Netscape Messenger. Your e-mail application's inbox gets its own branch in the Selector tree. Incoming messages are grouped by sender, and you can filter them or reply to them automatically.

Version 6 packs many other new features and functions as well. It includes a limited group-editing feature that shows revisions in documents. It also gives you the ability to scan documents directly into Info Select: The program fires up your TWAIN driver to acquire an image, and then sticks the image into your Selector tree. Info Select also supports connectivity with external databases via Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)--a standard way to access databases. A new encryption feature gives you a choice between two encryption algorithms: an internal, DES-based algorithm and Pretty Good Privacy (if PGP is installed on your PC).

This version also offers improved support for syncing with Info Select for Palm Organizers, a $70 companion app released last April.

Everything in its right place

If it sounds like Info Select adopts an "everything including the kitchen sink" approach to organizing information, you're right. But its interface gives you a place for everything, and helps keep everything in its place. You can arrange and categorize items in several different ways, and an outstanding search tool is always at the ready. And if you feel overwhelmed, now you can select a different Skill Level, which will hide many of the advanced features until you're ready for them.

Even though Info Select's ability to organize and interrelate so many different kinds of information is nothing short of awesome, it lacks the polish you'd expect from an application with a list price of $150. The blemishes range from the minor (inconsistent references to "e-mail," "Email," "E-Mail," and "E-mail") to the downright annoying: You can color-code Calendar appointments on screen, but they always print in black, even when you send them to a color printer. The Selector contains a Recycle Bin, but the Delete command doesn't move elements to it. Deleting single items is undoable, but deleting multiple items is not.

Finally, I expect printed documentation when I spend this much. There isn't any, and the rudimentary online help doesn't always jibe with this new version. For example, to create what the help file calls a "Selector Tickler," you're instructed to "choose Tools, Tickler, Create." There is no such command. In fact, to create a Selector Tickler, you must choose Tools, Tickler, Add Calendar Tickler.

Despite those minor flaws, I find Info Select invaluable, and one of the few unique software products on the market today. (Five minutes after trying it for the first time, I wondered how I was ever able to tie my shoes without it.) But it's probably best for you to decide for yourself whether it's worth its hefty price tag. A 60-day demo is available from PCWorld.com's Downloads section (link below). Give it a spin, and see if your inner electronic pack rat is satisfied. (Users of earlier versions should back up their Info Select data files before trying this new version.)