Wayland founded CompanionLink in 1987 as The Jorf Company, a maker of shareware 4gl products. As a leading maker of CRM Add-On products, the company started with Sync Products in 1996 for the PalmPilot. As CEO of CompanionLink, Wayland strives to balance quality customer service, products with good value, low prices, and a positive workplace..
Thousands of people still use Palm Desktop as their primary contact management system. It has the essential features that people need, some of which are even missing in Outlook.
Some of the things found in Palm Desktop and no other PC application are:
Fast Loading – Loads in less than a second
Categories for Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes
Ability to make Memos private and secure
Easy printouts of Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes
Thorough implementation of Calendar repeats
Versions of Palm Desktop
In 2020, there are two effective versions of Palm Desktop. The earlier version, Palm 4.1.4 was released in 2004. it features Colored Categories for Calendar which were removed in Palm Desktop 6. The data file format is proprietary, based on the original serialized memory structures originally released in 1996. Palm 6.2 was released in 2008 using MDB (Microsoft Access Format) data files. The application features were similar, but the database structure was brand new. Palm Desktop was too early to be converted to Unicode, but special language versions were created for specific markets. Notably Big5 and GB3212 versions were released for China, and JIS version for Japan.
Download Palm Desktop
You can download Palm Desktop from the CompanionLink Support forums. Both Palm Desktop 4.1 and 6.2 are found there.
Problems on Windows 10
Starting in 2019, updates of Windows 10 appear to be interfering with Palm Desktop’s ability to save data files. Notably, if you have Palm Desktop open and your PC reboots (because of a Windows 10 update), the file gets erased. Most commonly this is the last file you added or edited. Palm Desktop does not make automatic backup files, so the data is commonly lost.
For those that use CompanionLink to sync Palm Desktop with Android, and Palm Desktop with iPhone, the Sync Software does make backups of all data files when you sync. So these files are recoverable.
New Alternative to Palm Desktop
We have introduced a new Alternative to Palm Desktop on your PC. It is called DejaOffice PC CRM Standalone. This software has many of the same features as Palm Desktop:
Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Memos
Very fast load time – loads in seconds.
Full featured Calendar and Task lists
Hidden data for private notes
All the same tables and fields as Palm Desktop
In addition, DejaOffice has some new features
Native Windows 10 Compatibility (also Windows 7, and 8)
Automatic file backup
Built-In Sync with Android and iPhone via USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DejaCloud
According to Statista,
as of the third quarter of 2019, there were 2.47 million Android apps on Google play. Elsewhere,
the Apple App store had over 1.8 million applications for iOS.
In the light of these
statistics, it is evident that there are tons of applications for users to
choose from, meaning fierce competition for app developers across the planet.
Therefore, to cut through the noise and attract as many users as possible, any
application available on the market should offer an array of useful features.
These provisions will make it a better option among others, thus boosting use, user
loyalty, and engagement.
List of 5 Essential Features for Any Social Media App
What features can you
include in your social media app to ensure optimal use and best performance?
Here is a round-up of the must-have characteristics for any well-performing
application.
Authorization
Whenever a new user
downloads and installs an app, it is essential to create an account. It can
either be by using email or social media account. The latter is an ideal option
if the person you want to sign up is important. It is also an excellent way to
go since it is a less time-consuming approach. That being said, your
authorization process will heavily depend on how you feel about linking a
social media platform to your business/ individual application.
There are several benefits
to implementing social media authorization. One is that it helps businesses
acquire users’ networks, thus assisting the brands in avoiding the creation of
in-app user networks from scratch. Moreover, this form of authorization enables
a business to acquire essential details from users such as email addresses,
profile photographs, likes, and so forth.
Customizable User Profile
Brands that allow their
users to personalize their profiles establish better connections. Some of the
ways that businesses can facilitate this are by enabling users to write their
brief biographies, upload images, etc.
Allowing users to
customize their profiles comes with its advantage. See, by giving a specific
user a name and a corresponding profile image, other members of the community
will view the brand as more credible. In turn, this will make the brand
approachable, thereby increasing the use of its associated applications.
An excellent example of
an application where this plays out is Yelp. By availing images and biographies
of its users, this business-reviewing application gives more credibility to any
feedback provided on the platform.
With that cleared out,
it is essential to appreciate that customization options should not be limited
to the profile. Instead, your users should be in a position to edit other
aspects of their accounts, for instance, add/ edit their community, add/
unfriend people, etc. If you want an application with this capability, be sure
to hire a reputable developer to create a social network app for
you. This way, you can give your app’s users more freedom to tweak their
account settings to match their preferences.
“Follow” or “Friend” Functions
An excellent social
media application should allow its users to connect. For this reason, you have
to provide a feature that enables users to befriend and follow others. Contrary
to what you might think, this capability is useful to applications even if they
are not meant for socializing.
Music applications such
as SoundCloud and Spotify enable their users to befriend and follow others. In
turn, this allows them to share tracks as well as know what tunes their
connections are enjoying.
When your social media
application users can make friends and follow each other, they will become more
attached to it. As such, they will want to keep using your app over and over.
Moreover, by facilitating connections on your application, you get to
understand your users better by examining the people they interact with and how
they are familiar with each other. After that, you can incorporate a “suggest”
functionality that allows your users to make more friends or followers based on
their existing networks.
News Feed
With a newsfeed,
you will keep all of your users engaged. See, given that a majority of social
media application users want to always be in the know, they will not mind an
opportunity to access any content shared by their friends or followers.
In line with that, if
you have an application that helps users with exercise or dieting, you can
integrate a news feed feature. It will enable your users to share their
milestones, make relevant inquiries, and offer suitable recommendations. By
doing this, you will make using your app more of a fun activity than simply
watching weight.
Push Notifications
Some applications
perform way better when compared to others since they have features that bring
the users back when being closed. These features are what we refer to as push
notifications. By integrating them into your social media application, you can
reach out to your audience more frequently and also increase retention.
With this option, you
can send notifications to users whenever there are new deals, sales, and so
forth. This way, you will prompt your users to open your application. You can
also send push notifications when a follower or friend responds to what a user
did on the application. Consequently, this will make them either comment or
like the response.
Another thing you can
do with push notifications is to remind your users to share your application
with their friends or family. This way, you can help your business grow
organically.
Final Words
For success in social
media application development, there is a need to pay attention to the features
that keep users engaged. You have to conduct exhaustive research to identify
the functionalities that most people like across various applications. In this
case, it is particularly important to focus on your niche to avoid creating
apps that do not appeal to your target demographic.
To sum it up, the
features covered in this article will go a long way in helping you develop the
ideal social media application. It is understandable since most of the
best-performing applications on the market today have these characteristics in
common. So, the next time you want to create an app, or in case you already
have one, you should consider integrating these features.
Top 5 Useful Features for Your Social Media App was last modified: November 12th, 2019 by Wayland Bruns
The reason is simple. It is the only App you can download on your phone that has Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes, just like Outlook on your PC.
Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes
The Magic of Outlook is that it keeps all your schedule in one place. But on your Phone, some vendors think you should use one app for Calendar and a different app for Tasks. DejaOffice offers a coherent whole so you can easily coordinate your data entry. You can turn a task into a Calendar event, or add a Contact location to a task.
Category Colors, Linked Contacts, SMS History, Caller ID
DejaOffice extends Outlook category colors to all the Apps, so your Contacts and Tasks can be arranged by color. Every task can have a linked contact. There is a system to record SMS text as history. When people in your database call, their contact info is displayed on your phone. DejaOffice is exactly what you need to make your phone an extension of Outlook on your PC.
Sync using USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DejaCloud
Easy sync options include USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth* and DejaCloud. (*Bluetooth is only available on Android, not on iPhone due to iOS restrictions). CompanionLink for Outlook gives you easy and automatic two-way sync from any Outlook Folder to your Android and iPhone. For ease of use, use DejaCloud Sync for two-way push sync that is fully automatic.
Free 14-Day Trial
This trial will synchronize all your contacts and calendar just like the paid program. All fields are included.
Sync any version of Outlook, Outlook IMAP, POP3 and Outlook 2010 Folders
CompanionLink will synchronize with any Outlook folder. You do not need Exchange or Office 365 to use it. You can synchronize to any Google account. Works with Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010. You can synchronize Contacts, Calendar and Tasks.
Synchronize any Outlook Contacts folder to Gmail Contacts. Synchronize any Outlook Calendar folder to Google Calendar. All your events will synchronize including recurring events. You can use a Scheduling tool for Google, that will synchronize to your Outlook Calendar. When people call you, their Outlook name will show on your phone. When you read an SMS text you will see their name at the top.
Fully Automatic Two-Way Sync
CompanionLink for Google gives you easy and automatic two-way sync from any Outlook Folder to Google, and Google will sync to your phone. CompanionLink is the only sync tool that has Push Sync enabled for Google Calendar, so you see changes from Google instantly in your Outlook Calendar.
Purchase now for just $19.95!
One Computer License retail $24.95 now 20% off –Click Here to Purchase today for $19.95. A one-computer license is for one computer only. If you later purchase a new computer, you would need a new license for it.
Portable License retail $49.95 now 20% off – Click Here to Purchase today for $39.95. A portable license may be installed on up to 3 computers, work, home, laptop, and can be transferred when you buy a new computer.
Free 14-Day Trial
This trial will synchronize all your contacts and calendar just like the paid program. All fields are included.
Sync Google Calendar to IMAP, POP3 and Outlook 2010 Folders
CompanionLink will synchronize with any Outlook folder. You do not need Exchange or Office 365 to use it. You can synchronize to any Google account. Works with Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010. You can synchronize Contacts, Calendar and Tasks.
I am a huge fan of Nokia’s line of Android Phones. For decades Nokia dominated the pre-Smartphone market. Then they got sidetracked by Microsoft into the failed Windows Phone effort. Nokia’s hardware is great! The Windows Phone operating system was full of primary colors and awful apps. Not so great.
A few years ago, Nokia got released from Microsoft and have re-built a credible smart phone line. The latest release is the Nokia 7.2. Retailing for about $350 her in the US, this is a phone you can own and use for years, and not feel Samsung Shamed. .
Just like a Nokia is a mid-priced phone, many people use mid-priced Outlook. There’s no need to pay for the expensive Office 365 subscription, which only gets you owned by Microsoft’s in-app ads. Many people use Outlook 2010 and 2013 because you can actually own it, and it does not change randomly in the middle of the night.
CompanionLink provides the ideal solution by providing sync without using Exchange. When you sync using CompanionLink’s system you get many features that Exchange Sync lacks; Color Categories, Task sync, Notes Sync, and Calendar Events linked to a Contact.
To sync Outlook to Nokia 7.2 without Exchange
From Google Play Store, install DejaOffice on your Nokia 7.2 phone
Watch your Outlook Contacts and Calendar appear on your phone.
DejaOffice is a Free for your Nokia phone from the Google Play Store. CompanionLink runs on a two-week trial. Click here for details about CompanionLink for Outlook.
Why pay monthly for an expensive Cloud-Based CRM when you can own a PC based solution for a one time price? With DejaOffice you can work on PC or Phone even when offline, and then sync when you are back online. Simple Customer Relations that includes History, Follow Ups, Email Forms and more.
Featured in Forbes
Forbes writer Gene Marks has highlighted our product DejaOffice PC CRM in an article titled On CRM: Is A CRM Necessary? And to answer the title question: Yes – as long as you want your business to grow!
DejaOffice PC CRM is an affordable solution for Small Business. It is a PC based Contact manager. You buy it as a one-time perpetual license. There is a Multi-user version available, and also an Outlook Add-In. Make notes, schedule, call and delegate tasks. DejaOffice provides a complete solution for Customer Relations from your PC and your Phone.
Pro – Multi-User
A five-user license for $199.95 one-time purchase; DejaOffice provides everything you need for shared scheduling and contact management. Each of your staff logs in with their individual ID. The Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes can be shared, or be individual per each staff member. Each person can elect to make a Contact or Event Private, in which case no one else can see it. If a staff members changes you can easily re-assign their activities and tasks as a batch. DejaOffice is everything you need for the small office except for the monthly charge. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/pro/.
Outlook Add-In
DejaOffice PC CRM for Outlook gives you an Outlook Add-In. This is an action panel that gives you CRM features from inside the Outlook Email window. Whenever you view an Email in Outlook, it shows you the phone number, time zone and history notes for that Contact. You can easily drag and drop an email to create a new contact, calendar event or task. Integrate CRM into your Outlook CRM Experience with DejaOffice. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/outlook/
Standalone
DejaOffice PC CRM Standalone will install your PC and let you import data from Palm Desktop, Outlook, Google, or DejaOffice on your phone. It provides a simple and secure way to track your customers and calls, follow up on tasks, and make notes. The cost is just $49.95. Check out our DejaOffice PC CRM video tour.
If you currently use Act! or GoldMine, you can integrate DejaOffice into your current CRM database. Use the express version as an Act! Add-on to quickly handle history and activities, and also integrate with Outlook and DejaOffice Mobile CRM. Act! does 1000 things that DejaOffice will not do. But if you want to quickly add notes, activities and sync to Mobile, DejaOffice provides a great way to handle basic CRM functions on your PC Desktop. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/express/.
Free trial
Download a free trial today. As a part of this trial we will email you setup guides and we will help you get started. There is no risk. See how productive your day can be when you put Customer Relations back on your PC where it belongs!
DejaOffice PC CRM Pro
Average User Rating:
Average rating: 4.83 out of 5 based on 76 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $199.95
Affordable CRM for Small Business – DejaOffice PC CRM was last modified: January 20th, 2020 by Wayland Bruns
In March 2019, Google announced a new policy for Geocoding – Map Lookup. We use Google Geocoding for the Address Lookup feature in our PC, Android and iPhone Apps.
The change is significant. After providing us this service for free, Google is now proposing to charge $0.05c per lookup. There are complexities in the lookup on whether it is just text, or whether we download the map picture and the location picture. Overall, our DejaOffice users do about 50,000 lookups per month.
Not wishing to get a $2500 bill, we are moving to other options. For DejaOffice for iPhone we have switched to Apple maps which are being supplied for free.
For DejaOffice for Android we tried using Bing Maps, but they wanted to give us a $5000 bill because they count lookups differently than Google. Also their Geocoding library is not nearly as complete. We have moved to OpenMaps, but they immediately issued us a warning that we have too many customers trying to map at the same time.
So we are now playing with a hybrid solution. We feel the real culprit for us is just a few people who are mapping their whole database on a regular basis. So we have slowed down that process and shunted it to OpenMaps. You can still do it, but the Map process is slowed to one lookup per second, so a 3000 record database will now take more than an hour to look up.
We have reverted Contact and Calendar location mapping to Google – because it’s just a much better service – as long as you do it one at a time.
We still expect a bill from Google. But we are hoping it is small enough to just absorb so we don’t have to create a billing system.
DejaOffice changes for Mapping and Location was last modified: September 23rd, 2019 by Wayland Bruns
Author Gene Marks has highlighted our product DejaOffice PC CRM in an article titled On CRM: Is A CRM Necessary?
To answer the title question – Yes, a CRM is absolutely necessary for every small business. The only question a business should have is how much to pay on a one-time, monthly or annual basis.
CRM Stands for Customer Relations Management and it is the primary system a business has to track its prospects and customers. Every time a customer calls, emails, texts or visits a business, the nature of that interaction should be recorded in company records. Later, this information can be used for marketing new products, or renewing agreements, or engaging the core sales cycle of the business.
Without a CRM you are blind. Every customer interaction is done without context, or understanding the past relationship. This leaves your customers open to your competitors, and you lose your niche.
With a CRM you have effective communication. Your customer remembers you, and you can do the courtesy of remembering the customer. If your business can survive on 300 customers, how much better will it be with 600 customers or 900 customers. The purpose of computer automation is to delegate the responsibility for remembering the details to a proper database and not just carry it in your head.
Gene concludes with the question: “Wouldn’t just a simple, inexpensive system that enables your group to share accurate contact, history, notes and calendar information take be sufficient?” and answers with ” For many, it just may. And for $200 (and a few bucks extra for support), it could be worth the try.”
I’ve been using it for a week now as my personal phone. I have always been a great fan of Galaxy Note phones, and have used Note, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and now 10. The Kindle App is my primary library now, and also I read a lot of news stories. I have several investment apps that show charts. I like the larger screen size for that.
Here’s my first week’s impressions:
Size
Not a problem at all – same width and height as Galaxy Note 9-Plus, and slightly thinner. The screen is huge, but the phone itself is the same size.
Moving Apps
Samsung SmartSwitch moved nearly all of my apps and settings. It is really mysterious what it moves and what it does not move. My pictures and documents move fine, and the app icons, and some of the app settings. A couple of my Critical Apps did not come up and I had to reinstall, notably Investing.Com, Fidelity, Worden and Kindle just needed a new login. My morning wake up up alarm moved, but did not turn on or have the right tune – two days to fix that.
Here are instructions to move DejaOffice. It took me less than a minute.
Bloatware
Samsung removed a lot of the bloatware that interfere with Galaxy Note 9. That’s good. But then they added even more. After an OS update the old phone goes through optimizing 144 aps, and the new phone does 265 apps. so it looks like they added 120 background apps. It takes about an hour to turn off and disable things like “Ant” which I guess is a radio, Flipboard, Samsung Pay. The Samsung browser now had bloatware in the browser to tell you to sign up for Samsung Pay. More and more I use the Duck Duck Go security browser on my phone. I’ll do a blog post on that soon.
On-Off Button and Bixby
After forcing Bixby on us in Galaxy Note 9, Samsung is allow you to turn it completely off in Galaxy Note 10. So it’s off for me. Mysteriously Samsung now use the old left-side Bixby button as the on-off button. After 6 years of turning on the phone on the right side, I still think this was a “wrong decision”. The right side button worked great. Why move it? I find many old habits will have to change. When I view the phone in landscape mode in my holder, on/off was on the top and easy to hit. Now it is on the bottom and I have to remove my phone from the holder to turn it off.
Cost
For me cost is a factor, but it is required that we have each of the newest phones i the office for tech support purposes. I pay $41 per month for T-Mobile jump plan, plus $11 per month for insurance, and the Jump cost for this phone was about $250, so figure $75 per month for the newest phone for me.
I do not believe 5g will really change how we use phones, so I would not recommend the cost for 5g, at least not yet. Maybe not ever. I’m a big fan of Mid-Tier phones like Nokia 7.1, OnePlus, and the mid-tier Galaxy line. I think this is a better use of money. A top tier phone is like a new car – the resale drops 40% of your investment in the first six months – so it hovers halfway between luxury and waste of money. But if you want the leading edge of phone design, Galaxy S10-Plus is the best 2019 will have to offer – At least until iPhone 10 comes out.
Special features of DejaOffice:
Time zone management, so when you land your Calendar doesn’t go wonky
Calendar Colors that match Outlook
Templates that save time entering new Appointments and Tasks
Persistent alarms to be sure I don’t miss anything.
Recurring tasks compatible with Outlook
Optional: Franklin Covey task priorities A1, B2, C99
Works same on Android and iPhone, Phones and Tablets.
How to Sync Outlook Contacts with Android: Use CompanionLink for easy and secure sync from Outlook to your Pixel 3a phone. This is a better system than Google, who sells your data, or Microsoft who hosts your data on their exchange server. Here are some setup guides for CompanionLink sync:
The Best Sync system for Galaxy Note 10+ and Outlook Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes.
My Galaxy Note 10-plus arrived today. Very nice phone. Here’s some first impressions:
Size
It is actually the same size as Galaxy Note 9 so don’t get scared by size. And yes, the screen is a whopping .4 inches bigger, in the same size phone. They did this by basically eliminating the top and bottom bezels. Say goodbye to Bezels forever.
Headphones
Actually I use my bluetooth earpiece as a headphone now. It’s not for music, just for convenience. I listen to audio-books and phone calls. Been using the New Bee headset which works great.
DejaOffice for Android
This app really takes advantage of the screen real estate. I can view my contacts easier than ever and move around the screens very easily. DejaOffice CRM features are getting beefed up. There’s a new capability to condense SMS messages into Contact History. This lets me easily read back on past messages using DejaOffice PC CRM (DPC).
Outlook Calendar Sync
DejaOffice CRM works like Outlook for your phone. It keeps your Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes all together. It remains the only Phone App that fully supports Outlook colors. For people who haven’t color coded your day yet, this is a real treat. It really helps the glance view to see whether a day is green or red, or contains any special items. Outlook supported Calendar Colors 20 years ago. Why doesn’t the Outlook App do it?
Special features of DejaOffice:
Time zone management, so when you land your Calendar doesn’t go wonky
Calendar Colors that match Outlook
Templates that save time entering new Appointments and Tasks
Persistent alarms to be sure I don’t miss anything.
Recurring tasks compatible with Outlook
Optional: Franklin Covey task priorities A1, B2, C99
Works same on Android and iPhone, Phones and Tablets.
How to Sync Outlook Contacts with Android: Use CompanionLink for easy and secure sync from Outlook to your Pixel 3a phone. This is a better system than Google, who sells your data, or Microsoft who hosts your data on their exchange server. Here are some setup guides for CompanionLink sync:
