Ulti-Planner

Personal information managers (PIMs) are software applications that help organize and display a variety of information. Pocket Outlook is the PIM built into all Pocket PC and Phone Edition devices. It actually includes four separate programs: Calendar to track your appointments, Contacts to manage your phone book, Tasks to organize your to-do list, and Inbox to read and answer your e-mail. Pocket Outlook is a competent PIM that meets the needs of many.

However, some users feel that Pocket Outlook is too basic for their needs, and a number of third-party developers have introduced alternate PIMs for the Pocket PC. These seem to fall into one of two categories: either they are overly complex applications that try to jam too much information onto a small screen, or they are too simplistic, providing cosmetic changes to the Pocket Outlook interface, but few added features. If you've been dissatisfied with previous PIM offerings, you should take a good look at Ulti-Planner 2.0 by Birdsoft.

Uncluttered, easy-to-use interface

Ulti-Planner from Birdsoft (http://www.birdsoft.biz) is the first PIM software I've found that satisfies my need for simplicity and a rich set of features. It provides an uncluttered and easy-to-use interface that made me feel comfortable right from the first moment I used it. Birdsoft has done a fine job of providing a rich set of features, which should please even the most discriminating PIM user, without overwhelming all of the rest of us who are looking for something a wee bit more modest.

The Ulti-Planner interface consists of five file folders, each accessible by selecting a tab at the top (or bottom) of the screen. Each tab represents one of the five software components: Schedule, Tasks, Contacts, Notes, and Journal.

Schedule

Schedule is the equivalent of Pocket Outlook's Calendar application, but with much more functionality. It is comprised of five different views: Month, Week, Bar Week, Dates, and Day. Each view is easily accessible from the View menu icon button, which sits in the tool bar at the bottom of the screen.

Month view

Month view (Fig.1) provides a colorful and easy-to-read overview of what's happening for any month of the year. The software allows you to insert category icons representing events and tasks, and colorful time bars on each day where appointments are scheduled. This is great because it allows you to easily distinguish between birthdays, anniversaries, meetings, or any other type of event. The amazing part of all this is that the category icons are small enough to leave the screen looking fairly uncluttered, but still legible.

Fig. 1: Schedule's Month view displays icons for appointments, anniversaries, events, tasks, and more.

Week view

The Week view (Fig. 2) gives you a quick look at appointments, events, and tasks for the current 5 or 7 day period. It includes drag and drop support for moving items around.

Fig. 2: Schedule's Week view displays scheduled items for the current 5 or 7-day week.

Dates view

The Dates view (Fig. 3) allows you to view your detailed longterm (1 week to 3 months) schedule. I personally find myself using the Dates view much more than any of the others. It's very useful to have everything I need to know displayed on screen.

Fig. 3: Schedule's Dates view lets you view your longterm schedule.

Day view

Day view is pretty self-explanatory and functions pretty much like it does in Pocket Outlook's Calendar.

Bar Week view