The latest versions of DateBook Pro and TouchBase Pro are easier to use and have many new features. More important, Aldus has improved the linking of data between the two programs, making the combination a potent PIM.
Under System 7, TouchBase and DateBook are dynamically linked; if you change information about a TouchBase contact that is linked to a DateBook calendar item, the contact information in DateBook reflects the change. As before, you can create a calendar event from TouchBase or a contact entry from DateBook; but now you can link items by simply dragging them from one program’s windows to the other’s.
As shipped, both programs are multiuser, so you can share your contact and schedule information over a network. The new version can also operate as a single-user program, which is speedier and takes up less space.
DateBook Pro 4.0
Aldus has refined many of DateBook Pro’s features. You can now edit the icons that you place in the Month or Quarter views. There are dozens of icons for almost every occasion, from hearts for Valentine’s Day to the skull and crossbones I use to indicate deadlines. Time bars, which indicate appointments graphically on an hourly grid, now include Summary text so you can identify an appointment without clicking on it. ToDo’s have an In Progress choice in addition to the previous Pending and Completed selections. You can now set the font and size of banner text, and you can choose to have an event skip to the next business day.
In the previous version of DateBook, there were two user-configurable pop-up menus at the bottom of the item-entry screen — one called Groups, the other, Categories. You could assign a calendar item to one Group (for example. Business) and another calendar item to one Category (say. Meeting). The new version consolidates Groups and Categories into one pop-up menu called Keywords.
Version 4.0 lets you attach documents from other programs to calendar items, and you can launch the attached documents from within DateBook Pro, thereby allowing you to organize documents from different programs related to a single project.
A real time-saver, the new Custom Items feature allows you to set up templates for any memo, to-do, or event that you do regularly. You predefine the item’s attributes, then name and save it as a new Custom Item, which then appears in the Custom Items menu. You can then enter a new item using that template. The Custom Item template could be an Event with a Summary field containing Meet with Accountant set as a High Priority, and with the Keywords Business and Meeting linked to your accountant’s TouchBase record, and your expense spreadsheet as an attached document. To set up the meeting, you simply click on the day in the calendar, choose the template, and fill in the time fields.
Another big feature added to DateBook Pro is Projects, a collection of calendar items grouped into folders within DateBook. The new Project view shows each project as a folder, with a summary line showing the percentage of the project completed and a triangular tab next to the folder. You can set up Project templates using Items, with preset intervals between items.
I found an annoying bug when I converted my old DateBook Pro calendar: the program did not always correctly convert the previous version’s Groups and Categories information into multiple Keywords. Some, but not all, of my old entries were assigned incorrect Keywords, and others had their Keyword information set to None. The program also froze on two occasions when I had several applications open and was attempting to launch an attached document, but this did not occur consistently. Finally, speed of integration between the two programs is fine on a 68030- or 68040-based Mac, but users of older Macs may find it too slow.
TouchBase Pro 4.0
TouchBase Pro now has separate windows for a list view and a detail view. There are now fields provided for two addresses (home and work) per contact, and you can choose a Preferred Listing by either name or company. The list view has alphabetical tabs that make it easy to display any part of the list. And contact information can be individually formatted according to a country’s telephone or mailing requirements.
The contact information has been consolidated into one scrollable list with several sections, each of which can be collapsed or expanded by clicking on the triangular tab. There is a Header; a General section containing the name, the company, and three phone numbers; Addresses; Custom Fields, with up to 16 configurable fields, including check-box, date, and number fields; Notes, which can hold up to 16K of time- and date-stamped notes; Calendar Items, which list the links from a contact to DateBook Pro; and Documents, a listing of the contacts’ attached documents.
With their improved linking capabilities, these two programs compare favorably with all-in-one PIMs such as Attain’s In Control and FIT Software’s Full Contact. TouchBase Pro and DateBook Pro are chock-full of features, yet you can start with the basics and move on to advanced features like linking and projects as you become more familiar with them. The DateBook & TouchBase Pro Bundle gives you all the tools you need to organize your time and your contacts.
Negrino, Tom. (September 1994). DateBook & TouchBase Pro 4.0. Macworld. (pg. 63).
Aldus Corporation
Applications
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13 / 
2021-12-07 / 
bf6ce9a92960ffcc6106ced394651d1df90d689c / 
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Pro_Bundle_4.0.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
