6 Vital Things to Expect From Your Personal Information Management Software

When you trust your personal information to a software program, you expect a lot, such as

• Flexibility. It has to handle the variety in your life - your schedule and friends, your random thoughts and what you have to do, and even the passwords to your various accounts.
• Usability. You want that friend's phone number fast and without a lot of taps on the screen or clicks of the mouse.
• Portability. You get around and your information has to be right with you, fingertip close. Whether on a phone or tablet or desktop, you need what you need to know at hand, whenever and wherever.
• Recoverability. Trash is necessary, but recycle bins are lifesavers. Does delete really wipe the record clean, or can you get back that email that you deleted by mistake?
• Responsibility. You want software that stores your personal information to keep it personal. Security is vital.
• Accountability. The maker of your PIM should have a track record. You invest too much time committing your keepsakes to digital memory to transfer them or to start over because development stops and support shuts down. Ideally, the company has been around, will be around and shows it listens to its community.

Does your PIM have all this? Many PIMs are available and, on the Windows platform, a number of them focus on one or two particular features like a calendar or tasks and do them very well. Others tackle all the features you expect but swell into bloatware - each update adds to the program's size and slows it down.

EssentialPIM is a Windows app that has been around since 2005, has added functionality and stayed trim. It began with four basic functions - a calendar, to do list, personal contact manager and notes - which have been enhanced through the years and expanded to include an email client and a password manager. The program that was 2 MB in version 1.5 has stayed a slim 20 MB in version 8.6, despite the increased functionality. No bloat there.

EssentialPIM, or EPIM, addresses all the bullet points above and in time we'll talk about them in detail. But, for now, its 15-year history and the website's active forum furnish evidence of solid accountability. We invite you to get acquainted by browsing the website and trying the free version or the 30-day free trial of EssentialPIM Pro.