EssentialPIM has issued its second major release of 2025—version 12.5.
I wrote last time that EPIM 12.5 introduced too many significant enhancements for one post and focused on changes that affect the appearance and streamline certain functions.
We'll continue by exploring enhancements to the date/time functions and changes in the Passwords module.
1. New Date/Time Insertion System
Setting and using the date/time formats is straightforward and streamlined in EPIM 12.5. The process has two functions:
- Set the format.
- Insert the formatted date/time at the cursor.
The functions haven't changed, but EPIM 12.5 modifies how to execute them. A combination of shortcuts and improved labeling composes what the release notes call a "new date/time insertion system."
Figure 1. The Date and Time dialog is the place to set your preferred format as the default or to select a format for a particular instance. The option to assign the last-used (current) format to a shortcut has been removed from the dialog.
Figure 2. Shortcuts for selecting and inserting the date/time now appear together in Tools > Options > Shortcuts.
In previous versions, the Date and Time dialog handled both setting the format and assigning a shortcut to insert the date and time in the last-used format (Figure 1). There was no default, per se. Whenever you changed the format, it became the last used.
EPIM 12.5 distinguishes these functions (Figure 2). Setting a default format in the dialog becomes explicit, and using other formats in your work doesn't change the default. Assigning shortcuts to bring up the date/time dialog and to insert the date/time both appear where you expect—in the Shortcuts options under Tools.
As with most shortcuts, you can reassign these to your own liking or disable them—a feature that became important during beta testing. Shift + Space is the default for the dialog box, which many beta users (including me) discovered we hit frequently, prompting questions in the Forum about why the date/time dialog was suddenly appearing. I stopped the behavior by reassigning the shortcut.
2. Streamlined Event and Task settings
Changes to how dates are handled extend to the Calendar and Tasks.
In the Calendar, a combination checkbox and drop-down for showing the time on appointments has been reduced to a drop-down with a default setting (Figure 3). The wording has also been clarified. Figure 4 shows the effect of each option.
Figure 3. EPIM 12.5 removes the checkbox for selecting options to display the time on appointments and directs you into the dropdown list.
Figure 4. Cycle through the options to display the date and time for appointments as you prefer.
Another nod toward efficiency is the removal of checkboxes to assign start and due dates to tasks (Figure 7). Just click in the dropdown to bring up the calendar. If the item has no start or due date yet, clicking in the date field automatically goes to the current date.
Figure 5. EPIM 12.5 eliminates checking boxes to set the start and due dates for tasks.
3. Custom shortcut for adjust dates
New in EPIM 12.5 is a shortcut to adjust the dates of appointments or tasks. There are now three ways to access this function once you select the item(s):
- On the main toolbar: Actions > Adjust Date.
- Via the context menu: Right-click or press the menu key.
- Use the shortcut.
Figure 6. Adjust Dates has been added to the shortcuts.
Figure 7. Menus include your shortcut for Adjust Dates.
4. Password module enhancements
Filter and Layout buttons have been added to the main toolbar in Passwords, making these functions more accessible (Figure 8b). The layout is significantly different and incorporates options that had been in the View menu (Figure 8a).
Other modifications in Passwords are described in the screenshot captions below.
Figure 8. Auto Type has been renamed Autofill, and Filter and Layout buttons have been added to the main Passwords toolbar.
Figure 9. Viewing options highlighted in yellow have been moved into Layout. The Tags field has been removed from the menu due to changes in the tagging system we reviewed in the previous post.
Figure 10. The ability to select a parent group has been brought to the forefront when creating new groups.
Figure 11. Auto-fetching a website icon is incorporated into the process of creating or editing a password entry.
Figure 12. With Passwords in the Entries view, you can sort items using the new button to the right of the Quick Add Bar.
Are there features of EPIM that you would like to know more about? Leave your suggestions in the comments.