Suzi and oa, that may be what I need to do.

o-a, I can export into a csv or txt file fairly easily, but importing TO Constant Contact can be tedious.

It's just so frustrating and unwieldy.

Suzi, yes, I have more information about each contact on my excel spreadsheet, including address and phone.

Despite the fact that I have been with Constant Contact since before they even were Constant Contact, (Roving Communications, circa 1998) without incident, I just don't want to put people's personal details 'out there.'

One thing I don't like about CC is that the 'do not mail' list doesn't just go away. If people opt out, or I delete them, I'd rather they just disappear from the database. Instead, they stay captured as 'inactive'. It adds clutter to the system.

Anyway, I was hoping to find a way to integrate the various communication types so that I could have one list to rule them all.

I have a custom built Filemaker database that we did in house. It handles contacts, invoicing, inventory, rental booking, creating estimates, etc. Beyond that I keep my contacts in the Apple Addressbook which syncs across all of my iOS and Mac devices and is accessible by most of the aps on those devices. When I need to get at the contacts from another OS or a device that isn't mine I can do it through the iCloud website.

My email accounts are all on my own domains, but the backend is handled by Google Apps. Everything goes through IMAP using Apple Mail for the most part. I have a machine on my desktop that keeps mail open all the time and has a long list of automated filters that move mail into the appropriate folders most of the time. If needed I can get at all of those email accounts and folder directly through Gmail as well.

I use DYN.com to deal with rerouting a subdomain so that it tracks with my dynamic IP so that I can get to the Filemaker Database from offsite, and I use the Filemaker software on my iPads and iPhones. Certain sections of the database are also built so that they can be accessed from a standard web browser as well. This is being done so that in the long term my part time employees will be able to clock in and clock out through a website. Timecards are also handled through the database.

So yes, I do feel that I have a decent handle on the contact management, but there was a very large investment in time and organization to get it there, and it takes diligence to keep on top of it.

Boo Glamcookie!

I have a machine on my desktop that keeps mail open all the time and has a long list of automated filters that move mail into the appropriate folders most of the time.

I would _love_ this, though I fear that I am better at reacting to whatever comes than seeking out new messages in separate folders.

there was a very large investment in time and organization to get it there, and it takes diligence to keep on top of it.

Your process is impressive, indeed. I'm ready to do the work and can no longer afford not to exhibit the diligence to keep it up.

After being in practice for 13 years and never feeling ahead of the curve, I'm tired of struggling...which is far more exhausting than actually working hard.

It was about three months of work full time by my full timer to build the database in the first place and we've probably got at least three more months of adjustments and development since then.

I think my total database is probably 500 souls strong. Of course, given that I have not consistently communicated with my clients since Bartleby died, so I imagine there will be significant bounces.

I'm working on something that might cast my image much farther, so I need to get what I have in order and then keep what comes now in some useable form.

Maybe I need to find someone who know Filemaker, but that might be so expensive as to make excel look MUCH more attractive.

Urgh.

Aww, Glamcookie, what the hell. Also, unfilled for a year? In this economy? Something seems wrong about that.

bonny, I have no advice but I hope you find something that works for you.

I cooked and did laundry (except the folding part), didn't really do any work. Went for a Halloween shopping walk with my friend R, and I think I'm almost set for my costume (for under $30, even); I'm going to be a performer from the Night Circus. I want to have an actual concept for what my act is, and so far my best idea I think is Bat Tamer. Except I want to call it something else, like Bat Charmer or Bat Poet (sorry, Randall Jarrell). I like Bat Poet, but what would a Bat Poet act be like? Would the bats sky-write poetry with black smoke against the underside of the tent ceiling? Ideas, anyone? I want something that's quirky but makes sense to someone who doesn't know the book.

Overthinking costumes (and life), thy name is smonster.

Don't have to use filemaker. With 500 people to keep track of I think most decent databases would work. Years ago people stayed away from Access like the plague cause it was so buggy. Is that still true? Cause it would be easy to develop a contact manager in Access if it more or less works as documented. Also someone could develop a MySQL application. Also there may be something inbetween custom and out of the box. I'm sure there are contact managers built around databases that come with the source code - either open source or licensed with the app. The idea being you start with an app that does most of what you need and just pay for the customization for additional stuff. Also if you can find something that does most of what you need built around a database, it would childs play to design an add-on "report" that reports to am excel spreadsheet.

Damn it, Glam. Are they looking for a unicorn?

smonster, what about a bat diviner: telling the future from the flight patterns of bats?