What is Dynodex 3.0 ?

Portfolio's Software's latest version of Dynodex has a few new features, improved performance, and an easier-to-use interface.

Dynodex was the first contact manager capable of printing double-sided pages for the popular day-planner formats, such as Filofax, Day Runner, and Day-Timer. Version 3.5 has made printing even easier by consolidating several commands into the Page Setup and Print dialog boxes, and by significantly speeding up the printing process. The Field Setup and Form Setup windows now give you WYSIWYG previews of a contact record and a page. Field labels in the entry window can be renamed, and you can change the font and style of both the fields and their labels.

A welcome change is the ability to print names and phone numbers from the Just Names window. You can now specify the font and text size and resize and rearrange the columns. Background color has been added to alternating lines for easier reading.

Dynofind is Portfolio’s implementation of an idea that first appeared in Now Software’s Now Contact. Dynofind is a control panel that places an extra menu in all applications; the menu contains the names and main phone numbers of your frequently used contacts. Searching your Dynodex file with Dynofind is fast and easy. You first enter the name in the Dynofind search dialog box (accessible through the Dynofind menu or via a user-configurable hot key). The Dynofind dialog box appears with the contact’s information, along with buttons to dial any of the contact’s four possible phone numbers. The Copy Label button copies the contact’s name and address for letterheads or envelopes to the Clipboard; the Add to Menu button adds the contact and whichever one of the four phone numbers you choose to the Dynofind menu. The next time you want to call that contact, you can bypass the search dialog box and dial the contact by holding down the ⌘ key while choosing the contact from the Dynofind menu. Dynofind is very convenient for quick lookups, dialing the telephone, and pasting addresses into letters.

A button on the Dynodex 3.5’s entry screen links to Portfolio’s D)tio Notepad. This outline processor and to-do-list manager was previously marketed by Symmetry Corporation as Acta 7. When you click on the link button, Dyno Notepad launches and creates a new outline document titled with the name of the current contact. If you have previously created an outline for the contact, clicking on the Link button launches Dyno Notepad, opens the outline, and creates a new outline topic — date- and timestamped and ready for note-taking. Dynodex also has a link to Portfolio’s forthcoming calendar product, promised for the second half of 1994.

Dynodex 3.5 is an excellent contact manager. It compares very well to Now Contact and Aldus Consumer Division’s TouchBase Pro. In fact, these programs have similar features, so much so that your buying decision may be more a matter of preference than functionality. Dynodex, however, lacks a companion calendar program, which the other products offer. This integration of contacts and activities is now the norm, not the exception, and no company can afford to ignore that fact. Until Portfolio delivers on its calendar program, Dynodex will offer only half a solution.

Negrino, Tom. (September 1994). Dynodex for Macintosh 3.5. Macworld. (pg. 75).

Download Dynodex 3.0 for Mac

Architecture

Motorola 68K

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II