Excellent database for the rest of us

A long-time FileMaker Pro user, life changes made paying for the expensive upgrades unecessary, so I was very happy switching to Bento when it was released. I used it every day to track my home inventory, an ever growing list of botanicals, medical data, and landscape maintenance clients including linked botanicals associated with each property, irrigation stations, diary and to-do lists. The Mac, iPhone and iPad apps worked sufficiently well thru El Capitan and iOS9, as did the sync functionality, but were starting to show signs of incompatility. So, I downloaded the FileMaker Pro trial version, thinking it would instantly be familiar again (like riding a bicycle). Not so. In fact, I had become so “spoiled” using a simple-to-setup and use database system, FileMaker seemed unbelieveablhy tedious and antiquated. Adding salt to the wound, the latest version of FileMaker Pro killed the Bento import capability, leaving me no choice but to recreate my solutions from scratch. Even using one of their ready-made templates proved too difficult, not to mention creating an iOS layout. Uggghhh.

Thankfully, I discovered the very reasonably priced and capable Tap Forms. First, it imported ALL my Bento databases beautifully, including the extensive linked botanical files for my landscape clients. Secondly, the learning curve proved to be far more minimal than anticipated. Third, my databases were back up and running with the Mac and iOS versions in a matter of two days…something I never achieved with FileMaker after two weeks. Fourth, it syncs to either iCloud or Dropbox. Fifth (and perhaps most important), the developer is unbelieavably quick in responding to queries and providing bug fixes via updates. Having used Tap Forms extensively for over three months I’m very pleased and highly recommend it! The one area an improvement would be welcome is printing spreadsheet-style list reports. However, print format capabilities far exceed those in Bento.

Tap Forms is a very capable and full-featured database solution for “the rest of us.” Give it a try!

epoelzl about Tap Forms Organizer and Secure Database