What’s New in ACT 9.01?
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Did you see this ACT Update message on your computer today? Today, Sage Software released an update to their ACT CRM Software and the ACT Update tool (enabled by default, or Help Menu- ACT Update) provides a way to alert you of these updates (can also be downloaded directly from their support site).
“Today an update to the ACT Software has been released and it may show up as an alert on your system.
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PLEASE DO NOT APPLY THIS TO YOUR SYSTEM.
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I am currently testing this patch, to verify it is ready for ‘Prime Time’ and as you all have a shared database, the update has to be applied to each system in a coordinated fashion.”
This patch can be applied to most individual systems with ease, those on shared systems I advise testing to make sure that it works properly, then deploy it in a coordinated fashion.
There are some pretty good improvements with this update, here is a link to the document offered at their support site (I made it into a PDF for easy reading).
One other piece of advice, if you are running any addon products like SwiftPage or HandHeld Contact, you may also want to check with them before updating…just to be sure their products have no issues with this update.
Here are the highlights as I see them:
o Limited Vista Support
o Activity scheduling improvements
o Copy and paste histories work properly
o Performance improvements with Outlook Integration
o Report filtering enhancements
o Database synchronization issue (attachments) resolved
o Data Import improvements
As with any software, it is not without flaws. The even included a list of known issues, which I think every software provider should to. Thanks Sage Software for all your hard work in getting this much needed release out the door!
Feel free to post your comments about experiences with this latest update.
Filed under: ACT Related, Technical
Any idea when Act! 2007 may work with Office 2007 ?
Outlook doesn’t integrate with act! Now, I’m back to cutting and pasting.
Stacey-
Good question. It seems that many applications are in a “funk” of sorts when it comes to compatibility with both Vista and Office 2007. You aren’t alone. Microsoft has developed these products differently requiring a lot of work for the applications that depend upon them. ACT is one such application.
In the past it was simple for them to release a compatibility patch (like Office 2003 and ACT! 6), but now Microsoft has changed the rules (again).
In fact many larger companies won’t rollout Vista or Office 2007 for some time because of compatibility issues. Small businesses and independent professionals don’t have that luxury, if you buy a new computer they nearly force you to get Vista/Office 2007. However, I noticed yesterday at the Dell website, that they have backed down a bit, giving customers the option of Windows XP again.
As for when ACT! will release a version of 2007 compatible with Office 2007 (or Vista), I’m not sure. I understand it may require so much work that they may be better off putting resources toward the next version.
I am always in favor of keeping it simple. Stick with Windows XP, and Office 2003 until the dust settles. I’ll be putting updates here as well as those on the notification list at http://www.WhatsNewWithACT.com.
You may also want to check out the post on Vista just before it released. You can find it here:
http://actblogger.com/2007/01/18/vista/
Is there any reason to upgrade from ACT 6.0 when it seems to work fine. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the 1st time I tried to upgrade to the new platform. It was slow and basically it sucked.
Thanks.
Patrick-
You can continue with v6 as long as you like. For those who have used ACT! for years, going to the first SQL version (v7/2005) was painful for many, with migration and speed toping the complaint list. Perhaps these are some of the pains you experienced.
With ACT! 2007 many tests show the calendar views faster than version 6 (and older). It also scales much better than v6 and older. Besides this, Sage has discontinued support for the product, if you need help with your system and you call ACT you are out of luck.
If you’d rather not work with a consultant, you might consider downloading the trial and testing it out on a second computer (migrate your current v6 database). You can select from all trial versions of ACT here:
http://www.actasap.net/acttrial
Let us know how it goes.
Hi Travis, I’m a firm believer of “if it works then don’t fix it”. I’m happy to try any proven upgrade but until I see someone in my office tell me it works properly, I’m going to wait. I had a very rough time adding Activator. They told me it would go smoothly and they promised me all this support and it took alot of time to finally get it right. I’ve already done one huge modification for the year.
You make a good point, if any tool is already meeting your business objectives, just because a new version is available isn’t justification to change. It needs to solve real business problems without introducing too many new ones. For some ACT users, upgrading in order to be eligible for support, isn’t reason enough.
Your post reminds me of another key think Peter, before leaving your current setup, make sure that Activator will work and is supported under the new version. Most addon developers didn’t have their products ready until sometime after ACT released the software.
I downloaded and installed the update for Act 2007 and it is gagging my system.
I noticed how sloooow the machine was performing so I checked CPU usage in the task manager and it is pinned at 100%. I have had it with Act. It’s pathetic.
Anyone who continues on with it must not have to really use it to be productive in their job.
As noted at the top of the post, it is important to test these things before turning it on. It is unfortunate that you are having issues. There is at least one show stopper problem with this patch, and I’m delaying rollout for my customers until there is resolution.
Word integration with ACT! is no longer available in the current release, so the
ACT menu in Word is gone, and you cannot use the .ADT templates to create documents.
On another note, I need to chat a bit about proper posting etiquette on this blog.
1.) This BLOG is designed for interaction, so please continue to use it as such. Your perspective and experience provides value for all.
2.) Keep in mind that the whole world is seeing your post…
3.) If you have a pain or a frustration with the program, state just that. Example, “I’m frustrated that the Word integration does not work with this latest patch.”
4.) Adding or continuing with negative or degrading comments are not appropriate. Example, “I’m frustrated that the Word integration does not work with this latest patch, if you install this patch you might as well file for bankruptcy now, because your business is going to suffer big time for it. In fact, if you use this patch, you probably deserve to go out of business for it. Loser.”
…not exactly an uplifting comment, wouldn’t you agree?
You get the idea, you are welcome to post, if you are frustrated or disappointed share just that, inappropriate/derogatory/unnecessary negative comments are inappropriate.
Be careful with 9.0.1, and happy posting!
As a follow up to my previous post….I apologize for venting my frustration as I did. However it appears to me there is no doubt that since Act started using SQL (which I’m not sure how that works), it has become a very memory intensive program.
Having said that, my Act seems to be working again as I write this. Why it was consuming all the memory on every computer I had I don’t know. If anyone has any experience with this type of situation, I certainly would like to hear from them.
Thanks.
SQL is a Microsoft technology, and indeed is memory intensive application. ACT version 6 and older was fast, but didn’t scale up (users, contacts, and histories), and didn’t have certain abilities that businesses were requiring due to the flat file database structure. Microsoft SQL solved that problem…but not without introducing new challenges
I have found rebooting is a good way to refresh the system memory, and increase performance. If you don’t want to reboot, you can close ACT and restart the SQL service (if you don’t know how to do that, ask your IT support person or ACT! consultant).
A question for those who have updated, did you have any issues with Word integration? Try writing a new letter, if you have Word as your word processor in preferences, let us know how it goes.
The update destroyed our database. When we called ACT they siad the update was the cause, they NOW learned of issues, and we needed to remove ACT and reinstall the older version (all on our own)!!!
This is the SECOND update ACT released that screwed up our database!!!
ACT left us all alone last time to repair it ourselves…
What’s wrong with Doug Meyer that runs that group?
Didn’t they learn the first time???
Shawn-
What process did you follow to perform the update?
This is one of the reasons I advised my clients in that email:
“PLEASE DO NOT APPLY THIS TO YOUR SYSTEM”
It is unfortunate that an update is released to fix problems, yet the recommendation is to NOT apply it right away. The updates are not for the faint of heart, especially for shared databases. Shawn, hopefully you have a solid backup and can get up and running shortly.
Regarding backups, if you have ACT Scheduler (Version 2006 and newer Premium editions only), you can configure automated backups. Otherwise, you can automate backups and database maintenance for ACT with this tool (download trial and activate later)
http://www.ACTasap.net/aaiii
Take it a step further and do online backup of your ACT backup (.zip) or any other file, 2GB for free:
http://www.CoolBackupTool.com
Get more info on the latter product here:
http://actblogger.com/2007/03/08/cbt/
Users can still create or edit Microsoft Word templates using ACT!. The key is edit existing templates. You can manually enter a field into a template. First, indentify the exact field name you’d like to insert and type it in to the template while in edit mode with around it. For example, , will insert data from a contacts title field.
It’s not a great solution, but it works.
Hey John-
For whatever reason, your instructions didn’t come through clearly on the blog (special character?).
I think you are referencing the 9.0.1 issue with the Microsoft Word integration. What I’ve seen and been hearing from users, is that the ACT menu is not appearing in Word, and you cannot merge documents. Seems to be happening on roughly half of the installs of 9.0.1.
It sounds like you are getting a step further. Merging, but not being able to modify templates, right?
Bottom line, I think it is good practice to wait until the dust settles on this, it may take some time, but Sage usually gets it right.
We have determine that unistalling and reinstalling ACT! 9.01 will correct the Word Template issue. We have alos identified the files that are causing the problem and are determining a way to fix this issue without having to reinstall the program. As soon as we have the procedure documented, I will share it with you.
Great to find a source of info! Using ACT 15years now. Hope it stays with one comapny for more than 4 years. I am now 35 hours into working with their recommended 9.01 update and palm OS v2. A real mess. Too bad they shut down the Oregon tech support!
Anyone else using Treo 700P with Palm Os v2? Their level two guys had to go into my machine (citrix) 4 times re-install ,uninstall (manual remove REGISTRY) over and over then finally give up. Their Managmet has no clue about the kaos of bugs in this soft ware. Many of the tech did Accept the updates should have not gone out until further testing was done. After talking with a supervoisor on two different calls they admitted they do not have the veterans they used too (so long Oregon). Only a few guys still in North America can do what needs to be done without FDISK and Formatting your machine. I do miss ACT 6. Tonight will be my LAST IMPORT to clean DATABASE I do hope it works. (BEFORE DATABASE SERVICES $375) Even though actdiag find no errors. I need to get back out in the field.
Is anyone else having problems with the new Updated ACT 9.0 sending attachments? It puts them in the microsoft outbox but nothing ever goes through. My entire team is having this problem.
Best,
J
I’m not sure when it will be available, but I have been informed from Sage Software, that there is a hotfix coming out to address issues with 9.0.1 patch release. I will post a comment here when it is available.
The 9.0.1 update has been released, and I’ve found it to be solid. I intended to post an update 2 weeks ago, but had to respond to a family emergency.
You can obtain the latest updates from the support section found at the ACT website.
One hour my ACT 9.0.1 will update activies to and from outlook 2002, and then the next it won’t. I get a different alert multiple times a day. Outlook stops then restarts for no reason. Sometimes only three activities will update. I recently got an act9exe.dll warning so I copied it from the disk into the system32 folder and now nothing updates but outlook doesn’t seem to be crashing. Also, when I click outlook activities, update activities, sometimes it asks me what profile to use (sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it asks more than once) and no matter how many times I click to use as default…it doesn’t work. PLEASE HELP!
Lara-
With the information you have provided you may have a corrupt Outlook PST file. You may want to run the latest 9.0.1 update again (162 with the hotfix), to refresh the dll you replaced.
You might want to have a look at this KB article, they callout the PST file issue, and it shows you how to create a new one.
Let us know your findings, I may have some other ideas.
-Travis
I am still using Act 6.0 because the newer editions failed to bring over dozens of custom fields and custom pulldown menus, user screen interfaces, etc., that I’d spent countless hours developing for the 6.0 and earlier versions.
I installed Act 6.0 on a new computer this week running Windows Vista (Ultimate) and the new Microsoft Office 2007 suite. I’m now finding that the MS-Word 2003 templates I created to interface with my Act 6.0 database aren’t working — and I get an error message that says “insufficient permissions.” I’ve used the REGEDIT tool to change these permissions to Full Control, but the templates still don’t work. The old “Hotfix for Word” utility doesn’t help either.
Any suggestions?
Don-
Sage has discontinued support for ACT 6, and will not be releasing a patch to work with Word 2003 or Vista.
There may be an independent developer who has created a fix. However, I’m not a fan of running a business off an application that is not supported.
If you don’t like the new version of ACT, pick another application and migrate to it, being able to get support is key in my mind.
If you think you could benefit from a Best Practices installation video, at the moment a video of “from the trenches” best practices is included with all new purchases of ACT 2008 software here.
It will be available for purchase as a standalone tutorial soon.
ACT 9 and Treo 700P and Act for Palm OS -
Help!
We have been running Act 9.0.1.162 , Hotfix 1 with all of the attendant problems (we are a 10 year ACT user). Limping along but now need some help with attempting to put the ACT Database on my 700P Treo.
Bought the Actlink for Palm OS attempted install, after 3 sessions with ACT (level 1 & 2) they basically told me that ACT will not work with any Palm devices that are also used as a phone! (ie my Treo 700P from Verizon).
Does this make sense?, Has anyone tired Companionlink to do this?, Am I out of luck?
My database is 28,000 names (I know…..) however I would be willing to just synch groups of 1000 names or so………..
Companionlink might be an option to consider, I find it more stable then what comes with ACT.
700p does sync. Get the 700p to sync w/o ACT. Install the ACT Link (or for Palm OS, unclear which you have …Link is included) Try to sync a small group to start….
If you order from CompanionLink, use the following promocode and save a few bucks: BC6976
As always, be sure to backup before doing anything to your database.
-Travis
Travis -
I downloaded Campanionlink from the www and after some minor difficulties and a 20 minute call to their support (I would rate it as great support, certainly a cut above ACT!) I was able to link my contacts from ACT! to my Palm 700P. Some caveats/notes:
1. The Companionlink data goes into the Palm Contact Database, thus I don’t have the std ACT! look in terms of a template, I just get name and phone numbers and have to use the Palm Contact interface.
2. I can only really input a maximum of 1000 contacts (not my whole database of 28,000 names) so I can only link with smaller groups.
3. Interesting that the data resides on the Palm and not on the expansion memory card that I purchased…..
All in all this is a pretty good solution, can’t get my entire database but for travelling I can create a group with all of the contacts I need for a few days.
Mark-
Glad it worked out for you. For those interested you can checkout CompanionLink Software here. Feel free to use discount code BC6976 to save a few bucks when ordering any product from them (I recommend CompanionLink Express for most folks).