Need advice on Ecco migration

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Posted by Ken
Jul 15, 2013 at 03:56 PM

I have been using Ecco Pro on my machine at work since their first release in 1993. And while it survived the introduction of GroupWise many years ago and remained my personal calendar and information manager, it eventually took on a reduced role when we migrated to Outlook around 2006. However, Win XP was our OS of choice, and since my workstation has not been upgraded for a number of years, my IT folks were kind enough to allow Ecco Pro to reside on my machine so I could have access to files and information. Unfortunately, we are now migrating ton Win7, and having Ecco Pro on my machine is not going to happen. So, I need to migrate two areas of information forward, and would like some feedback and suggestions about the best way to approach this change. The fist thing that I need to migrate is my address book. I have hundreds of addresses and phone conversation notes and would like to have access to that information. The second area needing migration is a number of views of information in one file. These could possibly be “flattened” if necessary, and I am guessing that they might be candidates for Excel spreadsheets, assuming that I understand that the information contained will no longer be linked.

So, the choices that I have considered are as follows:

—bring in an old XP-based laptop/netbook with Ecco installed on it
pros - no file migration necessary, full access to all of Ecco (albeit offline)
cons - security of laptop (as I work in a cubicle), space on an already cluttered desk, working off of two machines (one networked and one offline)

—migrate the tabbed pages to Excel
pros - easy access to data if migration is possible
cons - “flattening” of data (loss of Ecco’s database type relations)

—migrate my address contacts to some file format or into some program that resides on some combination of my iPad, the cloud, or some file format that can be read my MS Office
pros - easy access and a foundation for future use
cons - mapping the fields for migration

I’ll say right now that while I use Outlook as my “official” work calendar and e-mail client, I have never taken to its address book. This may be a mistake on my part for not giving it a chance, but somebody is going to need to convince me that I am not trying to put a round peg of data into a square hole of a program. Also know that my IT staff will not allow any other software to be installed on my machine. They were kind about Ecco for 20 years, but times have changed. Any advice or suggestions, especially for the address book, would be greatly appreciated. I am currently on medical leave and am out of the office, but I expect to be returning sometime in mid-August. They have a new Win7 machine ready to install when I return, so I would like to have some solution for accessing my data before then if possible

Thanks,

—Ken

Posted by Jon Polish
Jul 15, 2013 at 04:28 PM

I don’t know if this will be helpful, but perhaps it will give you a point from which you may start your migration.

1. Why not print your various notepads to pdf? They will be text based and searchable. They also have the added benefit of being able to see the structure as you intended.

2. I would export your notepads (all Ecco data actually) to csv. You may need this in the future and csv is as universal as txt.

3. Export your address book to csv. Again universally accepted.

4. Your concern about Ecco not running on Windows 7 is unfounded. It will, but you cannot use the installer you have. There is more help for this on the Yahoo forum, Ecco_Pro. I know that you IT department will not allow any other programs, but perhaps you can get them to change their minds. If they won’t…

5. Are you aware of Ecco Extension? Go to the Yahoo group cited above and learn about it. One of its features is thaat it will allow Ecco to run from a usb - no installation necessary. That may satisfy your IT department.

Jon

Posted by Ken
Jul 15, 2013 at 04:38 PM

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the reply. I am aware that Ecco will run under W7, but IT is not allowing “custom” installation of software as they did in the past. Our IT support has become more centralized, and they are standardizing the workstations for the most part. I understand why this is happening, and have agreed to comply with their request. Unfortunately, IIRC, Ecco on a stick needs Admin rights or it needs to install on the machine’s registry, and they are not going to grant me either of those rights. As I said, I can bring in my own laptop and use it offline, but that is not as convenient as I would like because then I either need to boot up the laptop daily regardless of weather I need to access Ecco so it is available when needed. Or, I need to wait and boot up the laptop on an as-needed basis. In the mean time, I agree that CSV will be helpful, but I do not remember a PDF option for file exporting. I would look, but I do not have Ecco on my current machine at home.

—Ken

Posted by Dr Andus
Jul 15, 2013 at 04:45 PM

Ken wrote:
>but I do not remember a PDF option for file exporting. I would look,
>but I do not have Ecco on my current machine at home.

You can choose a PDF driver in printer setup (assuming there is one on your system or IT will allow you to install a free one like CutePDF or PDF XChange Printer Lite).

Posted by Ken
Jul 15, 2013 at 05:10 PM

Dr Andus wrote:
Ken wrote:
>>but I do not remember a PDF option for file exporting. I would look,
>>but I do not have Ecco on my current machine at home.
> >You can choose a PDF driver in printer setup (assuming there is one on
>your system or IT will allow you to install a free one like CutePDF or
>PDF XChange Printer Lite).

Thank you for the suggestion. Does that create an image PDF, or the kind that where its text can be copied and read?

Thanks,

—Ken

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