Pocket PC for ACT! Options 

How old do I get my ACT! database and calendars onto my Pocket PC?

Three choices are available for you to get transferred and synchronise the information on your ACT! desktop PC to your Pocket PC based PDA such as Compaq Ipaq, Toshiba and many other units.  The three choices all have their pros and cons and we detail a brief series of points below to assist in deciding which is the best option for you.   

Option 1 & 2 - ACT! Link for Pocket PC & CompanionLink 

ACT!! Link for Pocket PC is the official and approved Pocket PC link program provided by Interact! Commerce the makers of ACT!!.  For your information however it is also effectively very similar to the Companion Link synchronisation software as both programs were actually made by Companion Link.  In fact the pros and cons for both the ACT!! for Pocket PC and the Companion Link for Pocket PC program are pretty much identical with one difference which will be highlighted. 

For info on both programs go to:

• Pocket PC Link - details and a features tour

• www.companionlink.com  

Pro's 

·                     Simple to install

·                     relatively inexpensive

·                     does not take up much space on the Pocket PC unit

·                     fast synchronisation to the handheld

·                     all names and addresses and notes history and appointments and activities are synchronised across to the Pocket PC

·                     one advantage of the Companionlink program is that it will not export the Australian country code phone number 6 1 in the phone fields.

 Con's

·                     Custom fields such as specific Propel Purchaser and Vendor fields are not synchronised across

·                     When creating tasks and appointments on the Pocket PC when synchronisation occurs these activities synchronise back to your My Record in ACT!! due to the limitations in the way Pocket Outlook functions

·                     When synchronising the first time you need to make sure that the Pocket PC Outlook is empty of contacts. Otherwise the initial synchronisation will create duplicate entries so please ensure that the Pocket PC has no contacts in Pocket Outlook first time you synchronise.

·                     When synchronising the first time the program also will export Australian regional phone code 61 in front of all your phone numbers.  This is not a major issue unless your Pocket PC also happens to be a phone and your phone format has previously been set up with 03 or 02 etc in front of the main number.  This means when you go to dial from your Pocket PC that you will get an error as you cannot dial 6102 or 6103 etc.  What this highlights is that in ACT! in your main database you should have your phone fields format set to simply display the 2 or the 3 etc and not the 02 etc.  This will ensure if you have a Pocket PC phone that you will be able to dial from it.

Option 3 - TransACT!

This is a third party product from a highly talented group of ACT!! consultants in the United States and goes further than ACT! for Pocket PC or the companion link products in that it is not synchronised ACT! into Pocket Outlook on the Pocket PC, rather it creates an ACT! database and program on the Pocket PC itself so it is synchronising ACT! on the desktop to ACT! on the Pocket PC.

To read more about this product please visit their web site at : http://www.pinpointtools.com/products/ta-pocketpc.htm

Pro's

• the major advantage of transACT! is that you get nearly every single piece of information from ACT! on your desktop onto your PC including groups, customising fields, ACT!ivities, and much more 

Con

• a major limitation is that it takes up a great deal of space on your Pocket PC and you would be well advised to increase your memory in your Pocket PC

• the current version still seems to run a little slowly although I would suspect that this will be addressed overtime.

• because this program cramming all of ACT! onto a very small screen I find it somewhat busy in appearance.

 Summary 

In my opinion most of our clients will be quite satisfied with the ACT! link for Pocket PC as it synchronises the main information they need when they are out of the office such as name phone addressed and notes history.  Most of us use a PDA as a reader only device and for this purpose the ACT! link for Pocket PC is quite adequate and I would recommend it.