• Stronger Outlook Integration including on the fly email history recording across multiple databases, quickly attach emails to contacts, use of Outlook Rules to attach email history to contacts and much more.

• Enhanced and efficient Lookups that will help you search for key contacts quicker and easier.

• The ACT! Scheduler now available within the standard ACT! by Sage 2009 product, enabling the automation of important periodic database maintenance and housekeeping tasks also includes the ability to schedule hourly.

• Simplified and more efficient database synchronisation by simply double clicking on the remote database file, ACT! by Sage 2009 will do everything else for you, including a Sync view that will keep you up-to-date on what it is synchronising and the progress.

• Save time and space when taking backups by excluding attachments.

• 64Bit Operating System compatibility for Windows Vista, Server 2003 and 2008 platforms, and support for the Mac Safari Browser in ACT! Premium for Web 2009.

In detail...

Outlook Integration Improvements 

ACT! integration with Outlook Rules

You now have the option to use Outlook Rules, combining all the flexibility of Outlook Rules with a custom action to record e-mail messages in ACT!. This “power user” feature enables you to manage e-mail messages received in your Inbox automatically, based on the criteria you set in Outlook Rules.

Change the ACT! database on-the-fly

Outlook integration users can now change the ACT! database on-the-fly when they create ACT! contacts from an e-mail message or when they attach e-mail messages to ACT! contacts. This gives users additional flexibility by changing databases that will be used.

Change the ACT! history option on-the-fly

Outlook integration users can now select the ACT! history option they want recorded for Outlook e-mail messages to ACT! contacts, quickly and easily, directly from the ACT! history type drop down in the Outlook new e-mail message window. This allows users the flexibility to record the entire message back into ACT! for some messages, and decide not to record history at all for other messages.

Quick Attach

Quickly select any number of e-mail messages and easily attach them to contacts in your default ACT! database. Messages are automatically matched to contacts on the e-mail according to user defined preferences. You can even specify that contacts be created if they do not exist in ACT!.

Ease of use – E-Mail

E-mail addresses are displayed as hyperlinks within the Notes preview pane so when you click on the e-mail address, a “send e-mail message” window opens with the e-mail address automatically populated in the “to” field, making it convenient for you to communicate.

Ease of use – Outlook Integration: Calendar Integration

One-click calendar copy - Copy your ACT! calendar to Outlook or your Outlook calendar to ACT! with just one click by accessing the calendar copy option directly from the main ACT! toolbar. The setup process has been simplified. You only have to set up your preferred dates to copy as well as the copy direction. If you don’t want to use these settings, you can change them on-the-fly every time you copy your calendars.

Ease of use – Outlook Integration: Setup

Setup Assistant (previously Getting Started Wizard) - Configuring the ACT! e-mail client and/or e-mail integration with Outlook for new users is easy using the streamlined ACT! Setup Assistant. Using non-technical terminology, the ACT! Setup Assistant walks you through each of the steps necessary to properly configure your e-mail integration settings and consolidates E-mail and Calendar setup and configuration in one place in ACT!

Note: The ACT! tab in Outlook has been removed. This tab was used in previous versions to set the history type preference for recording messages sent in ACT!.

Ease of use and User productivity – Search Capabilities

Lookup Improvements

ACT! Lookups have been streamlined to better meet your search needs, enabling you to quickly find data of interest. The Lookup dialog has not only been simplified, it has been enhanced with powerful search capability:

·         Lookups are based on additional search operators enabling you to find what you are searching for based on only part of the name or title. For example, when searching for contacts with manager in the title, you can simply search on the word “manager” and find all titles with that word such as sales managers, IT managers, and so on.

·         You have the option to switch entities like Contact, Group, and Company, giving you the flexibility to modify your search without having to start the Lookup from scratch.

·         Access to the Advanced Queries option is located in the main Lookup screen. The last lookup you performed will carry over so you can define your search even further without having to exit your current lookup

Lookup Previous

Quickly view your most recent Contact lookups with the redesigned “Lookup Previous” option containing the last several lookups you conducted. These lookups are categorized by: the lookup type, a time-stamp, and how many contacts were found by the lookup. Next time you are multi-tasking, you can get back to the Contact lookup previously conducted with ease.

Multiple characters type-ahead

Enabled multiple characters type-ahead in drop-downs where field selection occurs, like Sort, Scan for Duplicates, Copy Fields, Swap Fields, Replace

Ease of use and User Productivity – Calendar Management and Calendar Printing

Create an ACT! activity from an Outlook e-mail message

Easily schedule ACT! activities from Outlook e-mail messages when you receive an e-mail requiring any type of action, like a follow-up meeting or task, so you can stay on top of your responsibilities and maintain valuable information in ACT.

First Name for Multiple Contact Meetings Viewable At-a-Glance

Quickly determine who is included in the activities you have scheduled by hovering over that activity on your calendar and viewing the name of the first contact listed and a “+”: indicating activities with multiple contacts and/or users, not just “Multiple Contacts.”

View Activities for Teams Larger than 10

View the activities of all your team members, even if the team is larger than 10, to better understand the level of activity and types of activities your team has scheduled.

NOTE: This feature is applicable to ACT! Premium only.

Calendar Filters Applied on Printouts

Filter your calendar and then have those settings retained when printing your calendar. All filters are retained including type, priority, date range, and users. This eliminates the need to re-set your print filters to match your ACT! calendar filters.

Contact Names on Monthly Printouts

Easily see who is included in your upcoming meetings by viewing the contact names associated with any activity you have scheduled in ACT!, right there on your monthly calendar printouts.

Quick Print Selected

Now you have two ways to perform a Quick Print. Print the entire view or select “Quick Print Selected” to print only the selected contacts, groups or companies from the list.

Ease of use and User Productivity– Synchronization with an ACT! remote database 

Simplified Installation of a Remote Database

Installation of a remote database has been significantly simplified, reducing the number of clicks required by approximately half. You no longer need to work through various menu options for installing a remote database. All you need to do is open or double-click the ACT! RDB file, click “ok”, and ACT! does the rest, including prompting for an initial sync.

Streamlined Sync Progress Bar

Know exactly how your ACT! sync is progressing with the streamlined ACT! sync progress bar, including five steps with easy-to-understand terminology. You can see the length of time it will take for your sync to complete and determine which sync steps completed successfully. 

Ease of use and User Productivity – Database Functions and Automation

Option to Exclude Attachments from Backups

Reduce the size of your backup files by excluding attachments from ACT! database backups, allowing your backups to complete more quickly, particularly if you have a large number of attached documents.

Hourly Time Options for Automating Important Tasks

New time options are available for automatic calendar copying, database backups, and database maintenance in the ACT! Scheduler, giving you the flexibility to automate these functions multiple times a day with the hours you specify. Set automatic functions to occur first thing in the morning, during lunch, and just before heading out for the day, or with the exact criteria you indicate.

Automate Important Tasks

Automate important tasks, including automatic calendar copying, database backups, and database maintenance in ACT! using the ACT! Scheduler. This keeps your database up-to-date, safe, and secure throughout the day, without manual updating.

NOTE: This feature is new to ACT! only as ACT! Premium Solutions already have this feature.

Quick Info for Logged-in Users

View the name of the logged-in user, the date and time of the last login, and the user’s ACT! security role by mousing over the username included in the lower right corner of the screen. This eliminates the guesswork for ACT! administrators while configuring ACT! on other team member’s computers.

If you are considering an upgrade to ACT! 2009 (v11) from ACT! v6,7,8,9,10 or any other Contact Management software application, please Contact us and request a data sheet that is appropriate to your situation or to seek further advice.