This page last updated
25.02.2019
This is a personal organiser suite containing a contact manager and calendar. An action manager (to-do list) and enhanced calendar features are under development and will be incorporated in the desktop and Android standard variants when available. The Android basic version provides full address and contact management features and basic calendar features, but will not be enhanced with further features.
The contact manager is intended to address two issues that are generally not satisfactorily handled by software in this class:
The program is intended as a personal organiser. In particular, it is not intended for corporate use and the desktop software is not configured to allow multiple simultaneous access to the data (e.g. across a network). The program is intended to handle the number of contacts that a single private user may require and has been tested with up to 1000 contacts. Significantly more contacts may result - depending on the hardware used - in unacceptably long start-up times in the Android variant.
The Android variant can be downloaded free of charge from Google play. All functions are available, but the data that can be stored is limited to
Since the PC (desktop) variant of the software has no restrictions, it is possible to exceed these limits by synchronising with a desktop installation. If this is done, certain functions will be blocked until a licence is purchased or the excess data is deleted.
The desktop variant is available as a windows installable (setup.exe) and as a java archive. The java archive can be installed on any system that supports standard java (corresponding to the Oracle standard definition), including Mac devices with OS X. These installation packages provide identical functionality.
The desktop is functionally equivalent to the Android standard variant, with the exceptions of functions specific to one environment. Thus, for instance, "call number" and "send SMS" are only available in the Android variant.
Synchronization between any number of devices (Android or PC) is provided via the user's Dropbox account. The previous synchronisation method via a master desktop device is no longer supported. All devices now synchronize with a master database held on Dropbox. Data in all Latin alphabets can be handled and are synchronized between Windows and Android devices without loosing accents or mangling accented characters, etc.
The system supports import of the Android address database on Android devices. Import and export of VCard format data is supported on both the Android and PC variants. On import, and number of files containing any number of VCard records can be imported in a single operation. The same data consistency checks are applied as by the create and edit functions and the user is allowed to change non-conforming records.
There are no program limits to the volume of data (Contacts, Appointments, Tasks) that may be stored, or to the amount of data that may be attached as notes or attributes to a single record, except for limits imposed by system constraints. On Android devices, a licence must be purchased in order to remove the limits specified under "In-app purchase", above.
Note that increasing volumes of data may theoretically result in performance degradation, although tests with up to 1000 contact entries have indicated acceptable performance.
The system recognises when an address is used for more than one contact (all members of a company department, a family). If such an address is changed, it may be optionally automatically changed for all contact persons with this address.
Address formatting - specifically, the position of post code and the information required in a printed address - depends on the country. The user can define this for any country. For instance, in UK addresses the postcode comes after the town, in most European countries it comes before it.
An attribute is a named piece of information that you may want to attach to any or all items of your data. Examples might be "birthday", "name of secretary", "category", "favourite sport". Attributes can be defined and attached to any contact as required. If an attribute is not attached to a contact, it does not clutter the display (no "empty" fields are ever displayed).
Attributes can be defined as containing free text (e.g. name of secretary), a date (e.g. birthday), or a member of a defined set of values (e.g. a category from a list of defined categories). For fields such as categories, you define the possible values of the field, then only these values may be assigned to a particular contact. Assignment in this case is by selection from a list rather than typing a value. This is usual for fields defining categories, and ensures that filtering for a category does not fail because of misspelling.
An attribute may be defined as holding one value or multiple values (thus you can choose whether your contacts should be assigned to a single category or may be assigned to multiple categories.
Mailing lists, which are just a form of specifying a selection of entries from your contact database, are implemented as a special case of categories.
Attributes may be defined for, and attached to, any of the primary data types (contacts, appointments, tasks). The appropriate overview displays, e.g. contact list, can then be filtered for items with a particular attribute setting.
Automatic duplicate check: duplicate names must be distinguished by nicknames/descriptions, so you cannot enter two people with the same name and then forget which is which.
Consistency checks are performed on data entry / data import. If a text that looks like a company name is entered as a person name, you will be asked if you really mean it.
Contact entries may have notes of unlimited size attached to them.
Both variants support manipulation of multiple contact records, such as adding a phone number to all selected records or emailing a selected group.
Selection of records by search and by filtering information fields is provided in both variants.
The calendar provides a display for month and day. The definition of repeating entries - yearly, daily, weekly, monthly by day, monthly by date, is supported. There is no limit on the number of repeats. Reminder alarms are supported on Android. In the PC variant these can be shown as a reminder list. Alarms can be set on either platform and are synchronised with other data. Calendar entries can be associated with information fields and notes.
A list of tasks (action items) with target date and status tracking can be created. Tasks can be assigned categories, to simplify the review of open items, and allow status tracking (pending / open / completed / cancelled). Any other defined attribute and a multi-line text note can be attached to any task. Reminder alarms are supported.
Repeating tasks can be specified - a repeat task for a future date can be automatically generated on completion of a current task.
The Kippsware standard functions for data backup and restore are available. Because all variants use identical data formats, backups can if required be transferred off-line between devices.