Again – I Have to Reignite My Search for the Perfect PIM

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Short of hiring a real live personal assistant. I wish. I try to put together the best possible combination of software products to connect me with my scheduling/communicating data. I was using Google calendar. It was ok. They made some improvements to it, but I had trouble with the syncing of the data between various sources where I have my events listed.

So after my evaluation of Win7 expired I installed a purchased copy (ACER you should have supplied this for me). That meant that I had to backup and restore all my data and reinstall my software(s). Uggggh! BUT! This is the time I usually take to try other options for getting things done.

The latest rendition of Windows Live Outlook Connector Rocks! It links Outlook to my web based calendars on Windows Live. They sync seamlessly. No trouble at all – options for not importing duplicates (very important, this was big issue with Google calendar). Also another issue with Google calendar was that I could not figure out how to share and view each imported calendar separately on it’s own with private or public viewing options. If there was a way to do it then I could not figure it out and so it was not useful to me. Don’t make me think.  I want a single combined view of all my calendars with each on it’s own having security options.

So in Windows Live calendar I import by using the Subscribe link at the top of the page, I select the saved Outlook .ics file that I want to import make sure all options are properly selected and GO. Voila!

This may finally be a working solution. Not the half starts of the past. We will see. Keep an eye out for future posts about me trying to find a better PIM option.

BTW

I use a little paper weekly planner for my purse. I went through trying to use gizmos (PDAs, Sidekicks, iPhones, cell phone calendars, etc.) Nothing beats being able to pencil someone in or cross something out without having to boot-up, turn on, connect and navigate to where that is stored on a device.  imho