EssentialPIM
The powerful, full-featured Personal Information Manager for Windows offering Email, Synchronization, Portability, Network support, Android and iOS versions.
What is EssentialPIM?
EssentialPIM lets you manage appointments, tasks, notes, contacts, password entries and email messages across multiple devices and cloud applications.
PIM stands for Personal Information Manager, and it allows you to keep all you information in electronic form. All your appointments, tasks, to do lists, notes and contacts are stored in a graphical and easily accessible form.
Automatically import your data from Outlook, Outlook Express, TreePad, Google calendar, iPOD, Windows for Mobile, Palm or pretty much any PIM software that just isnt working for you.
There is a free, a pro and a network version.
EssentialPIM Screenshots
EssentialPIM Features
EssentialPIM information
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Calendar
- Note-taking
- Task Management
- Todo List Manager
- Email Client
- Contact Manager
- tasks
Category
Office & ProductivityRecent user activities on EssentialPIM
bizcompass added EssentialPIM as alternative(s) to Bizcompass
madpenguinconsulting added EssentialPIM as alternative(s) to Orbit Communicator
Randir added EssentialPIM as alternative(s) to Foxmail
I Absolutely Love this Outstanding Program ! !
For MANY Years, I used a •To-Do, •Calendaring, •Notes Program that was remarkably similar to EssentialPIM ("EPIM") – but after heavy use, I have found EPIM to be MILES AHEAD of their competitors. This program is so EXTREMELY helpful, I only wish that there were ways for more people to Simply Know about it, because after you have used it awhile, you will NEVER want to be without it! • EPIM handles ALL of my Tasks & To-Do's ensuring that NOTHING "falls thru the cracks". • EPIM masterfully handles my Calendar, faithfully reminding me of ALL appointments. • EPIM is a Truly Great WRITING Program competing with the Very Best dedicated writing & authoring programs. (Its Writing Module has a Tree-Based Organization Scheme, so that all of your projects are perfectly organizable.) • EPIM allows you to Hyperlink your Notes Across All of its Modules, in addition to Linking your External Files & Webpages. • EPIM supports Tagging throughout the program; & includes a Universal Advanced Search Feature. It includes a Recycle Bin (of course), so you never need worry about accidentally deleting items. • EPIM Encrypts your Databases {Your Choice of Algorithm, E.g.: 256-Bit Twofish}, So it is perfectly suitable for including your highly Sensitive data. Your Databases are automatically Saved and Backed up in real time to ensure that you never lose any info. • EPIM synchronizes its data with your smartphone And with your online Storage (E.g. Dropbox).
• Well, Frankly, I could easily just continue ON & ON – Telling you How AWESOME this program is, but Hey! it includes a Free Trial & is Very Lite on your System so it is truly a No-Brainer for you to Check It Out for yourself! Although I should add this one caveat:: EPIM is SO Comprehensive & Capable, Do give it a few days to Totally ADDICT you with its irresistible MAGIC! __ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! __ – Chuck Colsch
P.S.: My Comments apply in Particular to the "Pro" version – which I HIGHLY recommend!! They do, however, also offer a very capable free version, which omits some Great Features ---> Features ONLY in "Pro" Version include:: •Hyperlink your notes Across Modules •Global Search •Database Encryption & •Post Sticky-Notes on your Desktop. In Short: Getting the Pro Version is Abundantly worth the cost!
I'm going to be reviewing EPIM pro as a pure hierarchy writing, note taking, outliner...etc program exclusively this go around.
Due to EPIM's modeler nature it is well suited for stripping down and using portable copies of it for just the modules you want.
First thing we are going to do then is disable everything else other then the Note Module & Trash since it is quite useful in this case. Main Menu > Options > Modules > uncheck everything but Notes & Trash.
Now because a clean UI is very nice when writing I am going to hide the now fairly useless navigation pane:
Main Menu > View > un-mark "Navigation Pane"
Due to the way EPIM was designed once setup this way you are not exposed to hardly any options or features that are not relevant to what we are doing.
Now that we are setup and ready to go for the review we can get into the good stuff what dose EPIM offer as a hierarchy writing program?
**What EPIM has to offer: **
Clean, Colorful modern interface. (Could use more contrast in some areas, but is other wise quite nice.)
As you type spell checking.
Standard full spell checking. (Main menu > Tools > Check spelling)
Breadcrumb / history. (with back/froward support)
Basic Find/Replace.
Quick search.
Word count.
Character count with and without spaces.
Tree item count.
Advanced search (Search tags, attachments, title, body, & created/modified date ranges.)
Basic formatting tools. (Font family, Font size/color/background color, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strike, Sub, Sup, Align left/right/center/justify, Dot list, Number list, Indent options, Horizontal line.)
Note title formatting. (Bold, Italic, Underline, font color.)
Advanced formatting includes:
Built in large range character map.
Attach and store files directly in the database or Link to them on your file system.
Note Icons. (They can be turned off as well.)
Read-Only that can be set independently for all notes and leafs.
Ability to Hide private items.
Auto save. (Customizable from 1-120 minutes)
Auto save on minimize.
Any note can be made into an edible desktop sticky note.
Database backups. (Customizable backup location, max number of backups from 1-100 and how often a backup is made from 1-240 hours.)
Multiple Note leafs (Great to store reversions, drafts, sub-notes...etc. Maximum number depends on screen real estate you are willing to sacrifice.)
Relative links.
Pop-up editor which allows you to have many notes open at one time. Be sure to read my warning below.
Customizable Shortcut keys for tree management.
Trash (Can be set to clean on exit, after 1-1,000 days, manually, or disabled all together.)
Dropbox support.
Syncing support. (Google, Owncloud, Android, iOS...)
Can optionally disable sync of private/hidden items.
Remembers scroll position on notes. (relative to last courser location.)
Option to minimize to system tray.
Option to minimize when closed.
Option to run at startup.
31 supported languages.
Large database support (upper limits not know to me, I have tested it up to 10GB.)
Large note support (upper limits not know I have tested it up to 663,717 words.)
Lifetime license available
Portable
Works on Linux under wine.
Multiple database support with their own settings.
Relatively low system resources (I've yet to see it go over 250MB of ram and it usually averages 54~90MB, however be aware it can be very hard drive demanding and a large database may run into issue on slow mechanical drives. I have never ran into lag or issues myself however I have only used it on SSDs.)
[Pro] Encryption options. (AES,Blowfish, Twofish, DES)
[Pro] Password protection options. (Including the option to require a password on window restore.)
[Pro] Tags
[Pro] Multiple note tree tabs. (Maximum number depends on screen real estate you are willing to sacrifice.)
Now that you know all the great features you'll have at your disposal lets talk about the limitations and cons as this is the major things people want to know it's what we are going to dive the deepest into:
No theming / Native windows styling only: If you are coming from a highly theme-able editor and loved how much you could change the UI colors to match your dreams, the first thing you are going to notice is that EPIM has pretty much no built-in theming. One of the major reasons I still use Windows 7 on my workstation and plan to stick to it for a very long time is due to the lack of windows classic theme in 8/10 which is what gives me the power to have many of my best workhorse programs colored to my eyes liking to minimize fatigue. I've tried windows 8/10 many times and eye fatigue goes up dramatically. largely I believe this Microsofts problem more then anything and highly encourage anyone who values UI color customization to add your voices to the call to do so towards Microsoft.
Tags don't really do much: If you are coming from a wiki-outliner one of the biggest things you may notice is that tags really don't do much of anything but give you something to use in advanced search.
They do work for quick search, but EPIM will not show you the content of the note requiring extra steps (cleaning the quick search field) which makes it quite a lot less convenient then just using advance search.
Tags are not used in relative items, nor is their a quick way to see a list of all other items tagged with the tags on a given note, there is no tag cloud...etc
At this point they really are limited in true usefulness to advanced searching.
Tags are limited to the main note, therefore leafs can not have their own tags.
Exporting options are limited: This may be one of the most damaging aspects to EPIM as a whole as it creates a dangerous "locked into the system" feeling, well also interfering greatly with final usage and publishing of data.
You can not export more then one note at a time unless they are merged together. Unlike most programs that allow you to export each note as it's own document you are forced to either export items one at a time or all merged together as one big file. Even worse is the big merged .html file exports are rather ill thought out, and lacking any form of customization largely making them unsuitable for any form of direct web publishing.
You can not export attached files with notes they most be saved manually.
You can export in the follow formats with the follow major limitations that could be fixed with each format: .txt
.rtf
.html
.docx
Special note (which makes the export limitations above much worse): Copy/past into EPIM works quite well carrying over a lot of formatting. However copy/pasting formatting out of EPIM dose not work quite as well, and many times will simply not work.
Undo history is cleared upon note change: If you change notes you will loss your undo history, which can be very dangerous.
Such as if you need to see another note in a pop-up editor so you right click it and hit edit. You get your pop-up window but it also changed the main view to that note which subsequently just cleared your history...
If you need to reference something on your previous note and hit back read what you wanted hit froward, there goes your undo history...
Need to look at the title of a note on another tree, when you switch trees your note changes costing you your undo history.
Need to check something on a leaf, guess what you are going to loss? That's right your undo history!
If you rely on undo much at all and are prone to moving around documents you are very likely to wind up in a bad place at some point or another.
Internal links only open to a pop-up editor: Internal links usefulness is limited by the fact you can only open then in the pop-up editor and not actually go to them in the main interface.
Internal links can only link to the main note, therefore you can not link to a note leaf other then the first leaf.
Pop-up edit windows are not auto-saved: It is advisable to do very little work in the pop-up editor as it's content is not automatically saved.
Which is greatly unfortunate as you may be tempted to work in them due to them having their own unique undo history.
Sticky note limitations to be aware of:
I put Sticky notes and Pop-up editor beside each other so I could add a special note: Pop-up editors do not ever save until you close them. (Via OK with no prompt or via the [x] with save warning.) Sticky notes however saves data anytime they loss focus. However be warned that like pop-up editors they do not auto save well you are working so if something happens a crash power failure, accidentally hitting alt+f4...etc what you were working on will be lost.
Note Icons limitations to be aware of: They are awesome as a writing organization tool! Unfortunately EPIM falls a bit short in its execution in this otherwise very handy feature.
Major tree limitations to be aware of:
Major editor/viewer limitations to be aware of:
Minor editor/viewer limitations to be aware of:
Major attachment limitations to be aware of:
Advanced search limitations to be aware of:
Relative link limitations to be aware of:
**Conclusion and personal thoughts: **
Purely as a hierarchy writing tool EPIM Pro makes a great personal dairy, log, journal...etc thou it's still missing a few features that would make it a much better all around dairy/journal.
Purely as a hierarchy writing tool EPIM is a solid recommendation for basic to advanced creative writing. It has many great features to keep your writing well organized, and fairly safe (as long as you avoid working in the pop-up editor.) though it falls short in many time saving aspects, and can get in your way when it comes time to publish your work.
Purely as a hierarchy writing tool EPIM falls uncomfortably short of being a great information database. Most of its value in this department comes from it's other modules. Version 7x has seen many improvements to the note module over the last year so there is quite a lot of hope for the future. For now however if you are not interested in the Mail, Tasks, Contact or Calendar modules as well EPIM Pro is not well suited to be a great value as an advanced information database on the same level as some other hierarchy writing programs.
EPIM is a tough recommendation for advanced creative writing, technical writing, advanced educational settings, and business document management. Well it has many great tools it falls short in many of the worst places in these areas. It is worth noting that upgrading to the "business" version dose not help this rating much at all. Well the "network" functionally helps around the office it dose not make up for the shortcomings in sharing information outside of the office.
Overall I think EPIM as a hierarchy writing tool is worth trying for a number of types of people, especially those looking for a slightly above minimal set of tools and good dose of data safety. However for the majority of users you will likely find better suited options for your needs as of now. Well EPIM has the potential to become one of the best hierarchy writing tools on the market it still has a ways to go.
I realize this review may come off as being on the negative side however let me make it clear that EPIM has become one of my favorite and most used writing tools despite it's limitations. Though it is funny as in the beginning my only interest in EPIM was it's email module; Which serves my needs quite well. It was only after using it for email for a while that I started using it for little notes here and there related to emails. Then slowly over time I found myself using it for a large variety of different things and quite enjoying myself most of the time.
Many of the listed issues above are minor and are listed only because they could be major deal breakers for some use cases, which is the point of this review; To help you figure out if EPIM will fit your work flow well and is worth your time to investigate.
[Edited by ChaosDrop, December 04]
Wow! Thank you for that, ChaosDrop! Very Helpful Indeed !
I am a Great Admirer of EPIM & have sent them my glowing review.
The only part of your review about which I take a Very Different View:: While I DO Greatly Value EPIM's outstanding "Notes" Module, its facility
in handling my •Tasks & •Calendar are SO Very Outstanding that it makes it hard to understand your comment about Disabling Non-Notes
Modules!! {{The Only Modules that I've personally found to not be that helpful are •Mail •Contacts •Passwords – since I already have
dedicated, powerful Programs for those few items }}; But I have found EPIM's •Tasks •Calendar & • Notes Modules to ALL be Simply Marvelous ––
And I've not found the existence of these other Modules to interfere in any way with my use of the Notes Module; But Quite to the Contrary:
Tasks & Calendar actually Further the Benefits of the Notes Module since All of the Modules can Hyperlink individual notes among each other.
Thank you again for your excellent review of this Outstanding & Essential Software, EssentialPIM !!
Chuck
Reply written ago
Most of the right features, but at poor quality.
I really wanted EssentialPIM to work out. It's simply the best TaskDav client I've used. Cross-linking contacts, email, notes, etc. to each other was what really got me excited. I was ready to replace OneNote as well as my email/calendar/task/contact suite. After a bit of evaluation, I went ahead and bought an indefinite pro license. Unfortunately, it has turned out to be a waste of money.
EssentialPIM has a lot of great features that set it apart from the competition, but it's unacceptably unoptimized and unstable for commercial software. It could become a fantastic product in a year or two if the company hired even just one highly skilled software engineer to turn their ship around.
[Edited by M_Pixel, April 17]
For me, it loads in seconds and has not crashed a single time in the last year of heavy usage. But I use it in single user mode, so no server database connection.
Reply written ago
As it's getting to be a very common question on the forum you can find version 6.58 which is the current community recommended versions at these official links:
Free: https://essentialpim.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200894721-EssentialPIM-Free-older-versions Pro: https://essentialpim.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200843832-EssentialPIM-Pro-older-versions
---update--- As of Version 7.2 the UI working space has been mostly recovered and in many ways is now more efficient then it was before.
---old--- Just figured I'd let people know I tried out the RC for version 7 that was just releases to and the interface has been changed in a major and IMO rather negative space wasting way.
It also doesn't look very nice under windows classic theme whereas version 6 looks pretty nice. I'm lightly visually impaired so this is a major blow to me as the main reason I stick to the windows classic themes on windows 7 is because they are vastly better then the accessibility themes in 8 & 10.
So if you value working space, and a clean accessible look under windows classic themes I'd advise sticking to version 6.
My like for this app is for version 6, I think 7 adds some intresting features, but none of them are worth the UI shift... it's a strange shift. The layout is good but for some reason they added a ton of strange "padding?" it doesn't make it work any better on my tablet so you can't even say it's for touch friendliness.
[Edited by ChaosDrop, November 14]
EssentialPIM has calendar, to do list, notes, contacts, email and password list.
Thunderbird/SeaMonkey + Lightning have all these features, minus notes and password list. These two missing features can be supplemented by other open source software, such as Cherrytree and Password Gorilla.
So, I believe Thunderbird/SeaMonkey + Lightning are the open source softwares that have the feature set that comes closer to EssentialPIM.
This software is so well made, I can't see a reason to use anything else! It allows custom fields (say you want to record "next call date" for some or each of the clients in the database), it can remind you of birthdays, appointments.
The search features are AMAZING - results updated as you type!