INTRODUCTION
I have always found that it takes me a while to get over jet lag flying West to East, especially going to Europe. I have a hard time sleeping on planes, and when I arrive in Europe I feel like I am pulling an all nighter. My mind is not 100%, but I have learned that you must stay awake and beat your body into submission to get over the jet lag as quickly as possible. That said, I have always setup meetings for my first day there: doing so and having plenty of coffee around gets me through. What does this have to do with a review of WebIS Toolbox, you say?
Well, this little toolbox could potentially be a great companion for the mobile professional who depends on his Pocket PC's Personal Information Management (PIM) functionality. It could be a real lifesaver if it works as promised. I find, and I think most of you will concur, that the handling of time zones in WM2002/2003SE Calendar relative to Greenwich Mean Time is the correct solution from a software architecture stand point, but the user interface should provide some capability to choose the time zone as you enter your appointments. Currently to set up meetings in advance of your trip, you must either add or subtract the time zone offset, or if you choose to enter the meeting with the time at your destination, you must change the default time zone clock to the local time when you arrive. If you do not and you change Time Zone to Visiting City, it will shift all of your calendar items and you will be sure to miss important meetings. The system is nice enough as to display a warning when you change time zones, but unfortunately this does little to solve the user's problem. WebIS Toolbox comes to the rescue with the included Correct Time function and six other PIM related utilities that could make your life on the road easier and more productive. Read on for our findings.
WHAT'S HOT
As the Toolbox name implies this is a collection of seven utilities. They are:
- Correct Appointments (PI Correct Time)
- Search and Replace PIM records
- Perform Maintenance
- Backup PIM Records
- Remove Duplicate Contacts
- Contact Display Name Fix
- Auto Categorize Records
SETUP
The setup is simple and straight forward.
The Toolbox can reside on flash memory such as an SD card.
Above is the setup screen. One caveat: if you have PI Correct Time installed, you must first uninstall it This function is now part of WebIS Toolbox.
PROGRAM FEATURES
On first execution the Toolbox will prompt to ensure that your home time zone is properly set, this is a critical reference for the proper operation of the correct appointments function.
I am in Washington, DC and setup appointments for my trip to Paris, France, which is 6 hours ahead of us, but rather than do the calculations myself, I enter them as if I was using Paris local time and enter Paris as category.
The reason for entering a category becomes obvious in the settings menu. You may not want to correct all your appointments, just the ones that are trip related. Categorizing the appointments and then selecting that category, the correct appointments function, will only convert the appointments with the matching category, in my case, Paris. This is a critical feature if you synchronize with ActiveSync since you do not want all your future appointments in your local time zone to be shifted. Additionally on the setting screen, you can also select whether you want to automatically launch the correct appointments function when you change the time zone, and view count information for your PIM data.
I arrive in Paris, change my the clock's time zone and Windows Mobile shifts all my appointments, my client meeting is now at 8pm and my dinner with friends has disappeared into Tuesday since since 7pm + 6 is 1am.
The WebIS Toolbox correct appointment functions comes to the rescue, I click on the correct my appointments, the appointment database is backed up and the appointments matching the adjusted to the correct time zone. My appointments now have the correct local time. When you return to your home time zone, you have the option to click on undo appointment fix, this will restore all your appointments to the pre-time zone change. If you added new appointments that are after your return, they will be shifted as well once your change your time zone back. The key to making this function work smoothly is categorizing your appointments, then the correct appointments function will make changes selectively avoiding any problems with ActiveSync and your schedule.
The Search and Update PIM records function is very useful for making global changes to Contacts, Appointments and Tasks.
I have contacts that work for company ABC, the company is bought out by DEF, the change is easily made. You can replace data in any field.
The Perform Maintenance function allows you to delete Contact, Appointment and Task records based on an entered criteria.
I want to delete all tasks that have the word "Review" in the subject
The Backup PIM function allows you to backup contacts, appointments and tasks. It creates a password protected file. The Remove duplicate contacts function allows you to walk through your duplicate contacts and choose which ones you want to delete.
You can select which duplicate search criteria you would like.
The contact display name fix function allows you to modify all your contacts file As field to a single format you choose. The auto categorize records function allows you to update your contacts, appointments and tasks with a category based on a search criteria you specify.
