I am a sustainable business consultant who is currently working solo, and if it were just me, Daylite as it is would seem to fit the bill. But in the future, it's likely that I'll collaborate with others on a per project basis, and have clients who want information regarding the project, that (huhhh!) don't use Mac.

My question is, barring making the whole world use Mac, and have a copy of Daylite too, how have you been able to effectively work with people in these sorts of situations?

Thanks much,

Paul -

Sharing (syncing!) data between applications even when on the same platform is frought with dangers, difficulties, & complexities. Very difficult to get it right.

Fundamental challenge is that what makes obvious sense to me, is not at all clear to you.

Said another way: I collect 3 pieces of data about something, you only collect 2.


DayLite has a very easy-to-use Export feature (File > Export) that allows one to dump columnar data out to a CSV/spreadsheet friendly format.

Thanks David. Pardon my denseness, but I didn't get your 2 pieces 3 pieces explanation.

Can it do more then export in a spreadsheet format? As in, say, the equivalent of a screenshot of what you're seeing in Daylite? I may never need to use this to collaborate with others in a tightly integrated way, but I'd just like to know that it's capable of doing so in some fashion, if you're not on the Daylite network.

Paul -

quote:

I didn't get your 2 pieces 3 pieces explanation.

Sorry for being too opaque.

Let's try with how DayLite deals with the single big field of address data (for both organization & contact). Additional address parts such as city, state, country & postal/zip code are their own individual fields.

If you're in the practice of recording several lines of address information in that big DayLite field, my guess is that if you exported it into CSV format something weird will happen somewhere along the path to importing the data into the other guys computer application.

Or coming the other way... you're getting address data from an application that has separate address lines (Address1, Address2. etc). Where does Address2 get put in your DayLite?

Such mismatches are totally common (and difficult to wrestle with) since there are inevitably exceptions to the alleged rules, regardless.

For instance in some circumstances it is customary to embed "intelligence" in something like address data. E.g. first line contains TTE which means "trustee" which can be searched/selected on.

I use the practice in my own use of DayLite. Some organizations I have a better chance of remembering by their initials than by their official name, so I have "Software Productivity Research (SPR)" as an organization name, allowing me to search on both their official name & their initials.

Let me know if that helps or if you want me to come at it from a different angle. This is very difficult stuff that gives ties computer systems in knots.

Ayiyiyiyi (cartoon head shaking sound) Yes that, I believe, makes sense to me. What I forsee sending to collaborators might be steps, timelines, and yes, relevant contacts. But not likely a wholesale import of a whole section of data. More so just what they need to know to be aware of what's going on, what I've done, what they need to do. But at the moment, it's just myself, so this is all speculative. Thanks for the further explaination.

Paul -

quote:

What I forsee sending to collaborators might be steps, timelines, and yes, relevant contacts.

In that case I think your task is much easier.

Learn the report writer. Gin up a pretty looking report that contains the necessary steps/timelines, etc., "print" to pdf & email it to them.

Que Bueno!