60 new ideas for Act!

[#1]

These items are not in any logical sequence and may even be versions of other ideas, since 1989, Version 1.1. I have even worked with Pat Sullivan in the beginning as a recommender and Beta tester. Below are some items that I think are still missing from Act! over the past 25+ years For this I am sorry. If they were included in Version 18, many more past users will leave SF.C, MSCRM and others for the simplicity of Act! V18! Here they are… 1 Resort the results of activities After any activity in the preference area, let the user set the defaults. Let the user add additional items, I.E. Sent Fax, Sent Email misc. 2 Last result field For some users there may be a need to keep the previous information in the history field, however for others all they want to see is what just happened, and the date and time of the event. Offer not to reshow the previous line updated. 3 Reporting Let the user have the opportunity to sort by contact by company or by company by contact. They don't need you to rewrite the report. 4 Birthday on the calendar It not a recurring event, just a birthday. No YEAR necessary. The user can select if they want to see them on the daily, weekly, monthly calendar. Offer global alerts 1 day, 1 week, 1 month for sending out a card etc. 5 Call Attempted or Reached or Left Message There needs to be a differentiator, especially when you leave message and it does not appear on the read only boxes area. 6 Org Chart Enable an Organizational chart to be added to the company tabs. Import it from PPT. 7 Map on the company layout sheet This is so you do not need to print out the location map for the area. But it shows the location nearest to a major city. 8 Add an email tab next to history Let ALL email communications fall there, especially the ones that come from Outlook, Gmail and others. 9 Email to email tab In preference let the server select "Always place a copy of the inbound/outbound email in this tab" or let them manually check it off with "Add-ons" in the Outlook pgm. 10 Map Icon in the Company view Obvious 1, 2, 5 mile radius 11 Default date range Why does it not default to the TOP of the list or to ALL. 12 On the Report "Source of Referrals" Makes no sense. Look at it. There is referred by but it does not correspond to the company and or the contact 13 Color screens more than two please 14 Messenger ID What is it and when is it used? 15 Export History and Notes Why not? 16 History TAB Why not just put the history there and justify it for full width. If I am sending a letter or email and ACT! Knows it's me why bother to store my signature in the History results. Delete it and save room. 17 Export contacts to IPhone and or Any smart phone/Droid OS No Brainer 18 Swiftpage Sell a book or have it on the web a simplified way to use it. 19 Merge issues Change the current lookup or current contact to This contact or this group. 20 Backing up I've come from the old school of Grandfather, Father, Son backup routine. How about that idea. Automaton 2-3 times a day for safety and security. 21 Preferences Many times after I do something or close the app, my options change by themselves. 22 Mail merging When you send 1 email it lets you see it before it goes out. When you send 2 or more it goes out without a stop or pause. How about adding a pause to let the user review and or change an error. 23 Combining Duplicate records Why not just add the information from both records into one. That way you don’t have to do it manually. 1 to 2 or 2 to 1 or just combine! 24 The rollovers and Call Meetings and to-dos Should roll overs take priority or not. Debatable. If I forgot to do something yesterday, shouldn't it go to the top of the list??? Or not? 25 Layouts Let there be a library of layouts that can be used universally. I have several databases but I can use the same template for ALL. 26 Word templates Let there be a library of layouts that can be used universally. 27 Alt Look up XXX (ALC) You save the previous look up why? But if you do why not save other items. 28 Last reached field Sometime it populates and something not 29 Recover the last deleted record, not just the field Let it say somewhere for 24 hours 30 Add "Alt D" or Control "D" Let the user drop todays date where the mouse is. 31 Call scheduling If you set up preferences for 5 minute time slots in calls meetings or to-dos, why doesn’t the calendar show it in 5 minute segments? 32 With activities You are only allowed to the 5 preserved factory settings. Let the user add to them. 33 Last activity Why does It take so long to post? 34 Automatic column width adjustment When looking at a list, why not automatically adjust the width (plus 5+ Pixels) for easy reading and column separation. 35 Export contact record Offer Delete after moving or not. If I'm moving it to another DB why have me go back and delete it after I moved it. 36 Sending emails from a template You could add the finish and send option if it is in a series of same emails 37 Enable a mini spread sheet on the contact screen I use it like a status ID 38 Enable the same field to be in two places I like to have the photo of the person with their contact name below it. You prohibit that from happening. 39 Photos Drop and Drag a photo from the internet (like Linked In) into a photo box. 40 What does snooze 1 day mean 24 hours from now or when the clock strikes 00:00 does it then roll over? 41 NOT Responding tell us why 42 Appointments vs Rollovers What takes preference? 43 Appointments by Time zone It's 9:00 AM in the East yet all the PT names come up all over the place. Have the time zone preferences take over. 44 In the alarms Let the user have the preference to lay it out themselves with limited capabilities. I like the time zone to show so I know not to call California at 9:30 AM ET. 45 Emails Offer a Do not send attachments to the BCC 46 Alarm When an alarm pops up it would be nice to see not only the name but the reason for the alarm Call in 5, meeting in 10, to-do in 30. 47 Prevent accidental emailing As above 48 Freeze the telephone template format It changes from time to time by itself 49 Left side Icons They grow by themselves sometimes 50 Error messages Here is something my company does when an error message pops up. Ask the user if they want to get the fix now or shut down the application and reload it. Makes it easier than looking up the error message or asking the ACT help desk to do it for them. 51 What are the differences between Left messages and attempted? 52 Phone dialing Does anyone know how to use it? Can you make it work with VOIP? 53 Date saved After a CMT is completed, wouldn’t it make sense to put the current date and time that event was competed not the scheduled Date? 54 Prevent Add-ons from disappearing I've lost the add-Ins to Act several time and have to reload it. 55 Appointment calendar Calls are 5 minutes but the pulldown does not reflect that. Meetings are 1 hour but the calendar pull downs does not reflect that. To-dos is 30 minutes and the calendar reflects that. Why? 56 Merging contacts There needs to be a check box that says "Add ALL histories together" by date sequence. 57 Moving or importing contacts After the move or merge is completed, there needs to be a question that asks “Deletes the contact”? 58 History and Notes Remove the extraneous line feeds in the description area in the Regarding and Details. 59 Report pull downs Start with ALL or why start in the middle of the ranges. 60 Word Templates Let them be in the template library so multiple databases can use them. Dupe? 61 Store Subject matter In the template for emailing so you don't have to remember what the subject line is when send in out form emails. New 62 Status change In company click on new ID and a change occurs, in Contact click on ID and it adds. New 63 Mouse does not always return to the OK box Sometime it stays where it was. "Good Mouse!" Maybe relative to the Screen size. New 64 Coping data It might be nice to copy data in both directions, from Company to Contact ad Contact to Company in the event you change data in either record. New 65 Under History Options… They keep coming back Columns that I have removed. New 66 Telephone # FMT Changes by it self New 67 Backing up There needs to be a way to back you sequentially and into an ACT usable FMT so if you find that your database is corrupt, you can easily get the previous copy. (Not the automatic back up program). New 68 Losing the add-in feature in Outlook When it does not appear, offer the fix with Act KP # or… New 69 Numeric field in Contact field Does not look the same in the Company field. I have punctuated with commas in contact field but when looking in the company record the punctuation is missing. Why? New 70 Preferences columns MapQuest vs Google maps New 71 Open files list Show the last 9 vs only 4 New 72

[#2]

I appreciate the time that you have gone to in order to create this list.  If you would like it to be more effective you should separate your 60 suggestions into individual posts after checking to make sure that they haven't been suggested before (if they have just upvote that post).  I have added your list to my list of ToDos for addons.  I realize that you would like to see these suggestions in the native program but historically when an addon has proved to be popular the current owner of Act! (Swiftpage today) has implemented some of those addons in the native product.

Stan

[#3]

The Development Team has pulled all of these ideas down and have started to inventory against what is already on the roadmap and adding to where appicable.  No need for 60 seperate posts.  :-)

Rachel

[#4]

Hi Stan and Rachel, Who or what is Permalink?

[#5]

Rachel, has there been any update to my ideas on these 60 plus features for 2018?