CRM4Mac 3.0: Integrated iCal, Mail, Address Book interface
CRM4Mac is a contact management interface for Mac OS X which combines Address Book, iCal and Mail into a single interface.
It allows you to capture all the to-dos, events, email, contact information, phone call records and sticky notes on your Mac related to particular individuals, groups or projects.
A new version (3.0) has just been launched. It adds projects as a top-level coordinating category for your information, new filter options to restrict what is displayed in the main window, an update check and the ability to add new contacts, events and mail without using the iApps themselves.
It has also been rebuilt from the ground up to improve speed and stability, replaced its AppleScript foundation with SQL database technology, and improved the consistency of interface behaviour throughout the app.
A screenshot shamelessly stolen from the developer’s web site demonstrates how it works and what a user might gain:
I think that the labels are legible. Top left is a window that displays your Address Book groups, companies or projects. The next pane displays individuals within those categories and the main window then displays the emails, to-dos and so on for that person or group.
Underneath a view of the information for the select contact stands to the left of a preview pane for the main window above.
Is this a good thing? Sadly for the developers, I think that the answer doesn’t depend on the quality of the app itself, but on preconceptions about interface design and workflow. People will either love this idea or hate it before they even use it (or OD4Contact which does something similar).
People like Mike Salsbury, who feels that the integration in Ximian Evolution 
makes it better than Apple Mail would probably love it. Others, like me, who value the “purity” of working with mail and only mail in one app, with events and only events in another and so on, will be faintly appalled.
To help you make up your own mind, a 30 day demo is available from the developer’s web site . CRM4Mac costs USD 49.95, although the new version is currently being offered at the reduced rate of USD 39 with the coupon code “MacExpo”.
Related posts
October 31st, 2006 at 2:35 am
I purchased this over the weekend, as it seems to have the right balance of features for my needs. Unfortunately, there is no documentation on the subtlties of the program. The Help menu takes you nowhere in v.3, and there is nothing on the CRM4Mac website other than the features and the graphic.
When I emailed them a question about shipping a new version without any support documentation their reply was simply: “Its on our todo list”.
October 31st, 2006 at 4:52 am
I downloaded, backed up things before letting CRM4Mac touch them, and sighed once again out of frustration. I want a machine that does what MoreInfo does on my Newton. It connects notes to mail to dates cleanly, with no fuss. I can’t figure out how to visualize my data on CRM4Mac, it doesn’t read some of my emails appropriately (and what use is THAT?!), and the visual interface is clunky, to say the least. Sigh. I WANT this to work, but it doesn’t for me. I’m really frustrated that I still can’t find a tool that does what the Newton does so easily and did so well already 10 years ago.
October 31st, 2006 at 5:06 am
‘Not quite on topic, but I smiled at the word-smithery, “faintly appalled”.
:-)
October 31st, 2006 at 6:46 am
I dunno, I tried this out a while back and the UI just feels like a complete mess… I much prefer using the separate apps as they are each the best at what they do.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:25 am
[...] CRM4Mac 3.0: Integrated iCal, Mail, Address Book interface Review of the upcoming CRM4Mac from the Mail guy. (tags: mail.app productivity shareware review) [...]
November 1st, 2006 at 2:32 am
[...] CRM4Mac 3.0. I’m sorry guys. I am. I tried to use this but the interface feels just way to bloated and unorganized. Here’s the thing—Mail, Address Book, iCal… they are all fabulous at what they do so why would I replace them? [...]
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
This app is exactly what I need! If only I could use it…
The problem (and this is also a warning) is that it keeps track of ALL your mail accounts, and ALL your mail. You are not able to select what mail accounts it is to keep track of (like in OD4Contact/Contatizer).
So if you have a lot of mail, a lot of incoming mail (say a few mailinglists), and some mail accounts, CRM4Mac simply gets totally stalled trying to keep track of everything. Leaving you frustrated with a computer totally byond contact…
I realize THiS version of CRM4Mac is not for me. Still, I keep my hopes up for the next version…