Best database?

[MarkW19]

I have a small business, and would like to have a simple/small database to enter all my clients' details into, with a category selectable for each (e.g. "new customer", "sole-trader"). At the very least, I'd like to be able to do mail-merge tasks, e.g. send a bulk email to all contacts in a category, personalised (e.g. "Dear Dave") with different variables enterable throughout the email; and also be able to print out envelope addresses for all contacts in a certain group (or those that I select).

I'd also like to be able to see which clients have bought what products, so a check-list would be good for each entry so that I can then search later to see who's ordered certain products.

Lastly, it would be fantastic if the database could create entries automatically from emails. We take most payments from PayPal, which obviously have set fields for name/address/amount etc., so if I can just either paste the entire email into the database for it to sort it into an entry for me, or I can do some sort of scripting in Mail so that all PayPal emails to my business are sent over to the database, that would be great...but perhaps I'm asking too much!

Can anyone suggest anything?

 

[mysterytramp]

I have a small business, and would like to have a simple/small database ...

You'll get a lot of advice on whether you need Bento, FileMaker, Panorama or one of the SQL apps. I can't add much value on that, but on this:

Lastly, it would be fantastic if the database could create entries automatically from emails. ...

This definitely sounds like a job for AppleScript. Make sure the app you choose is scriptable. One of AS's strengths is to parse text and populate fields.

mt

 

[MarkW19]

You'll get a lot of advice on whether you need Bento, FileMaker, Panorama or one of the SQL apps. I can't add much value on that, but on this:



This definitely sounds like a job for AppleScript. Make sure the app you choose is scriptable. One of AS's strengths is to parse text and populate fields.

mt

Thanks for the reply. Can anyone suggest a suitable SIMPLE database to use?

Also, any tips re. the Apple scripting would be much appreciated...!

 

[LtRammstein]

Bento or FileMaker would be perfect to use with Applescripting.

 

[MarkW19]

Bento or FileMaker would be perfect to use with Applescripting.

Do you think Bento would be up to everything I want to do?

I'd also ideally want to be able to invoice directly from the database to save me entering everything into Numbers again, is this possible, or do I need Numbers to do the calculations etc.?

 

[MarkW19]

Is Bento capable of splitting contacts into groups, then doing mass emails to specific groups with variables inserted?

 

[mysterytramp]

Is Bento capable of splitting contacts into groups, then doing mass emails to specific groups with variables inserted?

Filemaker has advertised Bento as being tightly integrated with Address Book and iCal ... Since you can establish groups in Address Book, my guess is you won't have too much trouble.

As I recall, there's a Bento message board. A little googling might get your specific questions answered.

mt

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Is Bento capable of splitting contacts into groups, then doing mass emails to specific groups with variables inserted?

There's a way to do this with Pages. Why they didn't integrate that into Mail I will never understand. The way it works in pages you have to Print out the letters and mail them the old fashion way.

 

[MarkW19]

Been looking into Bento, it looks like it's more for me as it's very easy to use (downloaded the FileMaker trial and while it looks very powerful, a bit more than I want I think).

You can do Smart Collections to split entries into groups, but can't email groups directly from Bento (a shame), so I'd have to create groups within Address Book which is a bit messy.

It also doesn't support scripting in the app itself, although I dare say I could do some stuff with exporting .csv files then importing into Numbers to create an invoice, then emailing etc.

I've no idea how to get the data from the PayPal email into either Bento or Numbers though, by scripting...maybe the email needs to be exported as a text file and then imported?