TouchBASE is billed as “the personal contacts database.” It is a desk accessory address and phone number file, similar in many ways to DirectMail, InTouch, QuickDEX, and DYNoDEX. It is designed to help users keep track of personal and business contacts. It allows for entry and sorting of mail and phone lists, as well as various formats for printing your data. It will also dial your telephone, using either your modem or your Mac’s speaker.
TouchBASE is a field-oriented database, as opposed to free-form databases such as DirectMail, InTouch, or QuickDEX. This means that you enter the information into specific fields, such as “First Name,” “Last Name,” “Address,” etc. The forms and fields are predefined, so there is no need to spend time setting up your list—you simply fill in the blanks by typing in information and pressing the Tab key to move to the next field. The following illustration shows the data entry view, also called the Detail view. After filling in all of the information, simply press Return or click on the Save button. Pressing New lets you immediately add another name to your file.
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Notice the small telephone icons; clicking on one of these will cause the Mac to dial the corresponding phone or FAX number, either through your modem or with the Mac’s speaker. The fields on the right of the Detail view are user-defineable. In this example, the first field has been named Category (Press, Software Company, User Group, etc.). The following five fields have been set up to hold the telecommunication addresses for Compuserve (CIS), America Online (AOL), and so forth. Below these are two Custom Check boxes. These could be used to, for instance, determine whether the person will get a Christmas card. There is a large area at the bottom of the form for taking notes. The small clock icon can be used to date stamp the notes.
TouchBASE supports two views: in addition to the Detail view, there is a List view which shows 10–12 entries, depending on the size of the window (and your Mac’s screen). When you are in the List view, double-clicking on an entry takes you to the Detail view of that record. (The Modify button gives the same results.) To return to the List view, click on either the Save or the Cancel button.
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Of course, new records can be added at any time. When you first start out, TouchBASE will reserve about 150K of space on your disk. This will allow you to add approximately 150 entries. After that point, it will grow in size to make room for more entries.
After you have entered a number of records, TouchBASE allows you to do several things: search records, print records (as envelopes, labels and the like), and dial your telephone.
Searching and Sorting
When you enter new records, they are simply added to the bottom of the list. TouchBASE allows you to sort the list alphabetically on any field, but there is neither a sort button or a command key equivalent.
TouchBASE’s searching abilities are quite versatile. You begin this process by clicking and holding on the Find button in either view. A pop-up menu appears, as shown in this illustration.
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In the simplest type of search, you choose the field you wish to search on, such as Last Name, and a dialog box asks what last name you are searching for. Conversely, you can choose the Search Editor in order to specify a field-independent search. This would be helpful if, for instance, you remember a name, but cannot remember whether it is a salesman’s name or the name of a company. There are also options for the search type—whether the fields begin with, contain, or exactly match the search criterion.
After defining your search criteria, you decide what is to be done with the results of the search. In the simplest case, TouchBASE will create a new list of all records meeting your criteria. If you want to narrow a search more, you can choose to Search Within a previously found list. Or you can make a new search and Append its findings to the current list, thus adding new records to the list.
In any case, performing a search results in a subset of the entire list. This would be shown at the bottom of the window as, for instance, “14 records of 642.” This smaller list can then be acted on by printing the lists, printing envelopes for all of the entries, and so forth.
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Records can also be Marked individually in either the List or Detail view. This could be handy if you want to choose entries at random. To mark an entry, select it and use TouchBASE’s Highlighted Records/Mark submenu, or press Command-M. The record will then show a checkmark. Another command lets you Show a Subset of marked records, thus creating a new list.
While all of this provides plenty of flexibility and power, the interface could be improved. To issue the Find command, your only choice is to use the mouse to click on the Find button; there is no menu command or keyboard shortcut. On the other hand, to mark or unmark an entry, you must use either a menu selection or a command key; there is no button equivalent. This interface inconsistency is evident throughout TouchBASE. It would be easy to correct, and should probably be implemented in a future release.
TouchBASE supports multiple contact lists—you can maintain separate lists for personal and business use. There is no quick and easy way to save a subset as a new list, however; you must export and then reimport the data.
Printing
TouchBASE is very powerful when it comes to its printing abilities. You can print envelopes, labels, address books, fax cover sheets, and listing reports. Avery and Dennison label templates have been provided to make the procedures easier.
When you issue the Print command, TouchBASE gives the dialog box shown below, allowing you to choose between the various formats.
If you choose the envelopes option, you go to another dialog box where you can choose from several predefined envelope sizes, modify an existing style, or create a new format from scratch.
Surprisingly, TouchBASE envelopes have no graphic abilities. It is not possible to put a company logo on an envelope. Also, it is not possible to choose a different font or size for the mailing address and the return address.
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Other print formats include labels, detailed forms, listings, and FAX cover sheets. For most of these options, there are a number of predefined formats corresponding to Avery and Dennison products. Oddly, the FAX option allows for adding a graphic to the page, although this feature is not available with envelopes.
Moving your Data
TouchBASE has the ability to import and export data, which is standard for this type of product. The interface for this is fairly clear, although the manual is somewhat peremptory in this section. A separate Read Me file on the release disk gives some concrete examples. If you’re currently using a free-form mail list manager, such as DirectMail or QuickDEX, you’ll find that converting your data to TouchBASE format will be quite tedious.
Mail Merge is a specialized form of exporting which can be used to create lists for “personalized” form letters, and the TouchBASE package provides both instructions and templates to help you get started.
TouchBASE is a multi-user product, meaning that your database can be shared by other members of a network. You’ll need fileserver software, such as AppleShare or Tops and, of course, multiple copies of TouchBASE. I did not test the networking capabilities.
What’s Missing
There is no provision for storing multiple return address “layouts.” Sometimes I need to write a letter while wearing the hat of the editor of Mac Monitor. Other times I need to be Professor of Computer Graphics at The Savannah College of Art and Design. Sometimes I’m just plain Jim. TouchBASE doesn’t provide a way to store multiple return addresses. I’m accustomed to having this feature in DirectMail, and its presence is sorely missed.
The Copy Label command will take the formatted address from TouchBASE and place it on the Clipboard, making it easy to paste into a letter. Unfortunately, that’s a one-way street; I can’t find a way to quickly copy a name and address from a letter I’ve just written into TouchBASE in order to print out a quick envelope. The only workaround I’ve figured out is to paste everything into the Notes field and then cut and paste into separate fields. Needless to say, this is a slow process.
Potential BASETouchers should be aware of a minor conflict with DiskDoubler: If you intend to compress your data files, you must expand them manually before opening them with TouchBASE. Otherwise, TouchBASE assumes the file has been damaged.
As mentioned earlier, the interface could be better; more buttons are needed. Many commands require a trip to the menu or the execution of a memorized command key. There should be a quick-click way to mark a record, instigate a sort, print a record, etc.
Conclusions
TouchBASE is very easy to learn and use. You can be up and running in almost no time. The predefined form is sure to suit most people’s needs, and the ability to customize some of the field names will be appreciated. There are many helpful and handy features. The biggest drawback for many users might be its inability to handle multiple return addresses and the problem with pasting an address into it for a quick envelope. On balance, this is a program worth considering.
[Due to the wonders of modern telecommunications, we are actually able to have a letter to the editor about an article before the article is printed! We sent excerpts from our TouchBASE review to Guy Kawasaki “who is irrational on the subject because he's invested in the product.” (His words.) His responses follow:]
What sets TouchBASE apart from other other products?
a) Its Multi-user capabilities.
b) Its elegance and simplicity (perhaps at the cost of not having every tweaky feature.) This is a fine line we walk here because if we did every feature requested, we would defeat the vision of the product. We want to be to databases what Quicken is to accounting software or, using my favorite subject, the Miata of databases.
We are consciously trying to make 80% of the people very happy. The other 20% of the people who want many more bells and whistles can go buy FileMaker or 4D (at several times the price) and spend months trying to create a custom database for themselves.
One scenario is this: your mother-in-law* calls and says she bought a Classic. Now she wants to keep track of her Amway customers. She thinks she should buy FileMaker or 4D. You’re thinking to yourself, “If she does, I'm going to be her tech support.” You tell her (perhaps even though TouchBASE isn't high-end enough for you), “Mom, you should buy TouchBASE because it has everything done for you, and it's only $90 (street). When you outgrow it, you call me again.” You hang up the phone, relieved, and live happily ever after.
TouchBASE is meant as a database for “the rest of us” as opposed as the “tweak of us.”
c) Vis-a-vis InTouch, etc. Our fundamental difference is that we have fields. That means we can sort, find current selections of multiple records that fulfill a criteria (as opposed to searching for strings anywhere in a text file.). This has its pluses and minuses: We export and import much easier, we can print streams of lables and envelopes (as opposed to one at a time—though I think InTouch and QuickDex are trying to do this).
* Or perhaps your father-in-law; this is a non-sexist example.
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