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Organizing correspondence
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Posted by Amontillado
Dec 8, 2018 at 07:30 PM
I need to do a better job of managing correspondence.
A letter will go out to a mail-merge list, kicking over anthills and calling out politicians for greed, avarice, stupidity, and usually a Venn-ish convergence of various similar vices.
That’s sort of the root of a tree. The initial contact will consist of the letter, enclosures, perhaps some initial phone calls, and probably some notes and references for the sorry situation in question.
From there, every contact may respond, requiring additional proof of malfeasance. And so, on recursing down the tree, now including other targets in that sub-conversation.
I need to keep track of who’s ducking out on me, and I need to keep the chain cross referenced.
Devonthink is working fine for document storage, but I haven’t worked out a way to keep track of status, like “no response.”
Any thoughts? What’s a good way to keep track of complex correspondence?
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Dec 8, 2018 at 07:36 PM
Hi Amontillado,
Perhaps specify OSs (Win, Mac, Linux, Chrome) and whether you need both desktop and mobile access
Thanks
Pierre
Posted by satis
Dec 8, 2018 at 09:08 PM
Generally speaking, you’re looking for a Customer-relationship management (CRM) app for personal/small business use. A lot of good products/services are derived from solutions for sales departments, where keeping track of everything client-related is advantageous.
I remember you previously writing about Devonthink so I assume you’re interested in something working on a Mac, but you don’t say here, nor do mention a budget. (You should have!) Nor did you mention what kind email service you use. (You should have!)
Good lists of useful CRM services (and a couple of Mac apps, like Daylite) can be found here:
https://zapier.com/learn/crm/best-crm-app/
https://www.capterra.com/mac-crm-software/
Posted by Amontillado
Dec 8, 2018 at 09:48 PM
Whoops, I buried the lede!
I use MacOS and IOS, and appreciate portability to Linux. I’m not likely to use Microsoft products in the future, not out of hatred or bitterness, just preference. To me, a Mac is more of an appliance than a computer, but it’s a great tool.
A couple of times I’ve started to write something sqlplus-based in Python, and I’ve hacked around in Tap Forms.
Seems like there should be something out there to handle correspondence without being a full blown enterprise CRM.
Posted by Jeffery Smith
Dec 9, 2018 at 12:39 AM
In the early 90s, Symantec made a wonderful program called ACT! that managed all of my letters and memos and contacts. Since then, everything seems to be way more expensive, web-based, business-based, and way more than I need.