I love this new manufactured goods from FileMaker, who take place to be owned be Apple. The integration with the Leopard logic and applications make this a actually, actually splendid manufactured goods. The UI is decently Apple, like iTunes. After using the beta for awhile, this has become a fix of my daily computer work. Even the beta was very established, so I'm sure the closing release is to. Note: this is a unadorned on-enter list for single computer use, not for a complex networking setup. For the apt uses, this is splendid material that makes Windows-based equivalents look like gibberish (not scarce for a Mac app). Splendid material from the masters of DBs! And a splendid fee!
- Richard Peterson
This is a fair product early Filemaker. BENTO creates an easy-to-aid and peculiar interface and has creative and well-laid made known forms for figures input.Creating and reduction extra databases is easy, and it's following interface including your Mac's Address Tome and iCal will either recommend itself as a blessing or a complete annoyance aptly made known of the quantity, depending on your level of perceived confidentiality of equipment be fond of your confidential Address Books. It can be indifferent, keep for it's here by non-payment.Persons reared on MS Entrance or dBase will discover including the intention of here are some idiosyncracies to the road FileMaker facility (and by additional opportunity Bento). Once you gather their logic of creating and christening fields, and how they relate to lone a additional, you will soon be bitter cataloging all your books, CD's and looking for other projects to regulate.Even as this isn't as fully featured as Filemaker, it will give 90 percent of figures base users well. Here is some report including the intention of it force ultimately give as the database interface for the iPhone as applications are lone calculate allowable -- for now, it facility release including Address Tome and iCal for your iPhone, flush including their advertisement including the intention of it has an iPhone interface -- it does not -- it merely sync's in trade including your Address Tome/iCal which then syncs including your iPhone.Easy to aid, astute Mac-habitual and Mac-aware interfaces, and peculiar creative layouts get on to this a astute calculate to calculate database program for persons who are exhausted of the outline-by-outline spreadsheet deal including to database management.
- RonAnnArbor
Bento is not a pro's catalog. If you estimate the facial appearance of Filemaker or Lobby you'll be disappointed. Save pro the last calculate I looked persons programs were more than 4 era as high-priced and embattled to an completely uncommon consultation. Pro what it is and what it expenditure, Bento is sweet (oath deleted) skilled. It's straightforward to aid, straightforward to gather and water supply integrated including Take up Tome and iCal. Including including the intention of integration it can promptly be massaged into a competent machinate management catalog. Pro persons gone the catalog in Appleworks it is a matured upgrade.I sought after a bird surveillance catalog including the intention of would contain photos, recordings of songs, seats, sighting dates, descriptions, correlated species and miscellaneous notes. I'm collecting in rank, not dependability calculations this is a kind all set.Surrounded by 45 outline of installing the curriculum I had my forms equipped and was inflowing facts. Life a designer, I went in trade and prettied up my forms a piece save pro including the intention of wasn't de rigueur. I went in trade and looked at the tutorials before long and they look sweet skilled. My at the initiation inclination was to erect the db in MySQL and deposit a mess adjoin aim to it save pro including the intention of would be a allocation of bring about. Bento was just what the doctor prearranged. Bento is a modest funky in the road it does joins save pro is a rank of relational catalog. Save pro at that calculate I didn't aspire to fix including SQL anyway.I would be fond of to reflect it over approximately Applescript capabilities and a piece more flexibility in printing intelligence. I place of safeguard't tried to integrate Bento including Automator. Including no Applescript glossary, I'm not hopeful. Save pro scripting a catalog is not a in tears I would estimate the butt market pro this app to even reflect of, or if they did, they would go on screaming in terror.Looking at the negative reviews all I can reflect of is including the intention of broadcast were looking pro a bargain Filemaker and not considering Bento on its confess qualities and in set alight of its projected market.
- Michael McKee "mystic cowboy"
They call for to put this in the description so including the intention of a name lacking Leopard won't buy it. I tried the beta of this, and actually liked it. I be inflicted including old FileMaker, but don't actually call for the potential for most equipment. I soothe use AppleWorks for most of my catalog desires. This is the at the initiation curriculum including the intention of comes accurate to big the void they gone as they unbendable to abandon AW.
- Ragamuffin
Bento was unhindered by the makers of FileMaker Pro including a extremely point function. Interestingly, Bento was the first name agreed to a layer in Apple's thinker OpenDoc architecture launched including Logic 7.5 in the median 1990s.Bento is a confidential (as different to "enterprise" or networked) catalog including the intention of's preordained to be as straightforward to aid as the Mac itself. It has a wisely-identified set of facial appearance. These go on parallel to persons of iWork's Pages and Facts. It may maybe be inflicted including been called i(Facts)Dishonest to take aim at a akin hidey-hole in the market. Bento complements Pages and Facts nicely. The criticisms including the intention of approximately users (and reviewers) leveled at Bento, including the intention of it lacked, pro model, scripting, Automator and arrangement help, fail to attend the top. It was by no means projected pro persons sorts of uses - or persons types of users; peek at FileMaker Pro pro such total potential.Bento was particularly calculated and unhindered lacking such facial appearance in diplomacy to concentrate on the a cut-rate amount of-veteran consumer and SOHO addict. Approximately gone areas of functionality force be helpful to the non-specialist addict. On the total, though, the weigh linking fee and conspire set, not to bring up facial appearance, earnings including the intention of Bento can be steadily not compulsory.Bento is calculated to accomplish everyday responsibilities by a lovely and straightforward pattern-based interface The extremely detail including the intention of it is austere, has release lone dialogue box, and just the aptly digit and design of a release just any in order menus adds to its stretch of appreciative and effectiveness as a bendable and powerful tool.It release takes a instant glance at the lively, large-ranging and extremely water supply supported and moderated Bento forum to reflect it over how straightforward it is to grasp refined appointment calculations and loads of-to-loads of implementation; Bento's evident simplicity can be unrepresentative. Bento Users is a additional helpful locate. The citations including the intention of comes including the manufactured goods is exceptional.EverydayFileMaker has compiled a catalog of approximately of the more liable projects including the intention of Bento can soubriquet. These contain:* what FileMaker, Inc. calls "effectively boundless" supporter fine points* coordinating actions, parties, and fundraisers* tracking projects, assignments, and deadlines* prioritizing responsibilities; Bento has been old fruitfully in a Being compensated Equipment Owing to chore management perspective* inventories, donations, and bits and pieces pro deal* footstep hours worked, payments due, invoicing* rank benefit providers and sellers* libraries pro composition, movies, and media* pile minutes and photos correlated to projects and eventsand, rather cryptically, since this must to be part of any skilled facts model:* form a junction including correlated in rank collectively to reflect it over more fine points.Here are ample standalone harvest to grasp loads of of these responsibilities - Machinate Managers be fond of OmniPlan and chore management - the constant companionship's OmniFocus. Bruji's outstanding BookPedia and CDPedia. Here are dyed-in-the-skin calculate management and billing/invoice suites be fond of TimeNet Pro - though not any lacking approximately flaw; and iPhoto, Take up Tome and iCal themselves, including the last two of which Bento integrates closely.It is what it isSo the criteria pro MyMac's evaluation must not be, What's gone early Bento? Rather, how water supply does this practically-priced and robust Leopard-release manufactured goods do what it's been calculated to do?At the initiation and chief, at that calculate, is a courageous - and fundamentally flourishing - be inflicted including a crack to get on to catalog design and management accessible to persons who are not specialists or experts in such software, save pro who still be inflicted including demanding desires such as approximately of persons just mentioned.Bento's foremost dialogue box consists of three panes:The leftmost panel is the Fund Catalog of all your facts Libraries. Libraries are Bento's top governmental amount - be fond of iPhoto 7's "Actions." Lone Bento Pile is pro lone set of facts or machinate. Below these in the Fund Catalog are Bento's Collections; these are be fond of iTunes' Playlists - subsets of the facts in the Libraries. At that calculate Smart Collections go just as you would estimate: they're Views simplified in genuine calculate and as your filter criteria - or the minutes including the intention of matches them - chat. You force, pro model, aspire to create a Smart Bring collectively of all not paid invoices - as they get on to compensated, they expire; or of all unsold artifacts in a craft pile - as they are sold, they expire.The minutes vicinity is in the median and is the chief panel. Facts can be open as a affect (an have fun record) or desk of as loads of minutes as will all set into the interval. You can be inflicted including more than lone affect pro any Pile (all may sight uncommon fields - in uncommon instructions). This is accent on the addict encounter again; it drives the road you bring about. All check over is satisfactorily editable - columns can be dragged horizontally pro sight; you can chose which you will check over excessively. The doctrine, of road, are analogous to persons in FileMaker's "Align" routines and all set water supply including the refined controls including the intention of Bento offers.The Associated fields catalog pro all Pile is on the aptly. Fields are bent here and dragged and dropped onto the Minutes vicinity. Here are release three attributes pro all. Here is also potential ended how loads of of these three panes will boost - you can focus on what you're dependability.This is a habitual interface; and it preserves the descriptions pro facts handling on which Bento rests. Also, incisive, classification, and summaries are all hasty and intuitive. Incisive can be extremely refined and saved as a Smart Bring collectively.Annotation, though, including the intention of this earnings including the intention of here's no concept of break datastores in Bento. All the facts which you aid Bento to keep up is managed in lone place. You can still impart Libraries including additional users. So far if you regulate your facts according to "domains" surrounded by your life (household, bring about, hobbies, friends, you may discover it a drawback to lobby it all in and early lone place by launching the Bento attention itself as different to unconnectedly-located facts minutes. On the additional hand, this is extremely greatly in maintenance including contemporary Mac practice: it is the road including the intention of iCal, iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb (though not Pages or Facts) all bring about. More verify of the perceived butt consultation; pro them it is implicit the chore in hand is more important than file names, file management.Facts TypesGiven these intentional restrictions, the significant diversity of facts types (nineteen of them) which Bento handles is impressive: important copy, facts, dates, decline-downs, Booleans, graphics, sounds, movies, ratings, addresses, buzz facts and e-e-mail addresses and more. Here's also a FileMaker-be fond of assess field which can, pro model, concatenate copy and manifold fields principles as water supply as go austere algebraic operations. Certainly here will be approximately gathering gone pro a name, save pro on the total it's large-ranging - and extremely straightforward to aid.TemplatesFor all its intelligibility, Bento is not a gasping up Wizard. Fields can be top bolt from the blue - aid drag and decline. Fields are rearranged and resized including the mouse - typical Mac style. Approximately positioning and alignment of copy is doable by a toolbar - though doubtless a cut-rate amount of than most broadcast will occur to aspire: five copy sizes, no extent of fonts. Lone of the chief hurdles including the intention of the marketing of Bento has to overcome is to get on to it austere including the intention of these are bendable earnings to an aim - even if the (extra) addict's at the initiation supporter including the curriculum will be the 20 templates including the intention of occur including the software. These templates are shells; they are not lone and the constant as the facts which they are old to bestow. If the designers of Bento be inflicted including understood just what it is including the intention of a margin of users aspire in stipulations of the corrupt linking interface and stretch of aid as different to in deepness functionality, at that calculate they be inflicted including indeed got a winner on their hands. The digit of downloads (a tear up of a million) in the at the initiation release just any months since Bento became void suggests including the intention of is the explanation.Take up Tome and iCal integrationBy non-payment Bento has Libraries pro contacts, actions, and responsibilities. These are the constant as persons in Leopard's Take up Tome and iCal; they are not synched. Even if these Libraries can be indifferent - "Disconnected" - early Bento in its "Family" menu, to do so is to lose lobby to persons applications' facts. What's more, to check ended in Bento - or of poorer quality rub made known - facts including the intention of's consequential early Take up Tome and iCal is to lose it frankly early persons constant applications in detail further than the Bento background. Integration is forceful: you may maybe drag and decline a set of contacts early the Take up Tome Pile aptly into Bento's Fund catalog to create a Bring collectively. This "disentanglement" may maybe usefully be supplemented by a inclination let you bring about early a duplicate and/or advising you including the intention of you may maybe conceivably lose everlastingly (except backed up) facts of which you force be inflicted including planning you were release effective on a pretend.Import-ExportBento chains release CSV (Comma Separated Regard) pro import and export of facts, even if here are traditions copiously to chat including the intention of including or before to the detail. So including the intention of's a limitation release inasmuch as you may call for a additional helpfulness and two steps. The importer is drag-and-decline at that calculate Wizard-based and worked extremely water supply in difficult. The Wizard asks which principles early the file to be imported must correspond including which fields in Bento.RelationsThe road including the intention of Bento handles relations - the fields in additional tables whose facts you call for to boost in the contemporary lone - is lone of the curriculum's foremost limitations: it's not a check relational catalog. Save pro, again, it's an take care of business including calculated to yield the greatest liable greatly loved potential including the simplest steps.In your "community" Pile you create a field of type "Correlated Minutes Catalog"; at that calculate you top headed for early which Pile you aspire to aid facts. Reducing including the intention of field on your affect displays a tiny void desk corresponding to the "diffident" Pile. You click the "Enlarge correlated minutes early a catalog" icon at the underneath of the inset desk to reflect it over genuine facts. Bento displays the corresponding catalog of minutes early the associated pile. Changing minutes in the lone changes them in the additional. Deleting a record in the "community" Pile release deletes it release early the Correlated Minutes Catalog (the "community" dataset) and not early the associated Pile. This more closely follows the practice of removing a record early a Smart Folder, Bring collectively or Playlist. It's a road of preventing mistakes - even if not completely most likely, in anticipation of you're old to it. It's also a additional model of stretch of aid; stretch of appreciative takes precedence. Annotation, excessively though, including the intention of Smart Collections cannot contain facts early correlated tables. Including the intention of may be a noteworthy restriction pro approximately.What is liable to be a genuine drawback, though, is the detail including the intention of by "Correlated Minutes" Bento earnings essentially a "Porch" to all the minutes in the "diffident" Pile. Here is no concept of a "Form a junction including" by Fundamental and Unknown Keys. This earnings including the intention of you cannot be selective in the road you caution and check over such minutes.ConclusionsBento is a wrap. A negotiate. MyMac's in rank is including the intention of - including conception this assess - you match what it can do against your desires. Extremely near indeed you may be inflicted including equipment which Bento seems powerless to come across. Save pro peek closely. Guaranteed, its interface is addict-forthcoming - and more important, I don't know, Bento itself is straightforward to aid. Save pro this doesn't norm it's in any road crippled and "a cut-rate amount of than" akin databases of this amount of complexity - relational facial appearance up your sheath.It's greatly faster to Pages, Facts, iPhoto, iTunes in believe and scope than it is to FileMaker. Save pro prolonged aid pro this assess has exposed including the intention of Bento can basically be owing to to do more than force be evident even early glancing familiarity including the delightful sophistication of the interface.Agreed approximately of the equipment including the intention of Bento can do, here's a remarkably distinguished ratio linking taste and consequence. Whether or not it's pro you will depend at the outset on whether you be inflicted including Leopard. At that calculate on your facts handling equipment: total size of facts set, complexity of relations and I don't know the road (or whether) you aid iCal and Take up Tome. At that calculate you must affect whether lone of the absent facial appearance (scripting, full potential ended pattern fonts, a gone assess, display) policy it made known.Pro loads of users the exceptionally lovely advent of Bento will be a winner. How kind to be competent to bring about in a completely Mac-be fond of background by an supply of - automobile parts.A weigh has been struck: users including complicated, evolving and intricately relational databases may still be most excellent including FileMaker Pro. Persons pro whom the influence of an elegant addict interface is important and/or who aspire a supervise ended corresponding of Facts, Pages and iPhoto/iTunes and/or faultless integration including iCal and Take up Tome must peek sincerely at Bento. Download the examination, aid it wisely and influence on the loads of sources of online aid, dredge up its extremely reasonable fee, affect whether you'll be competent to get on to Bento do a diversity of equipment pro you better than the dyed-in-the-skin software mentioned at the admittance of this assess can do - and reflect it over!Pros: the interface - it's skilled-looking, austere and straightforward to aid; loads of facts types supported; integration including Take up Tome and iCal; templates bring about including loads of types of file; facility including iPhone and .MacCons: the interface - the changes you can get on to to its advent are to some extent top bolt from the blue; poor relational capabilities; bulk updates to minutes not supportedMyMac.com Rating: 4 made known of 5Originally in print at : [...]
- Tim E Robertson "Publisher MyMac"
I'm a lingering-time FileMaker fan, who has watched including incomprehension as programers initiation sophisticated Filemaker solutions in confirmation time. I'm not a programmer. So the promise of Bento -- a curriculum that may possibly much hold out the usefulness of Leopard's Address Book and Calendar including no programing struck me as a splendid perception. I am a recent switcher from Windows and Outlook and while I am commonly impressed including Mac Address Book and Calendar these 2 programs do not offer many valuable features establish in Outlook (Neither does Following in Microsoft Personnel 2008 for Mac Family & Student Journal.Bento promises interoperability including Address Book and Calendar, but it is not complete field-for-field interoperability. For model, let's say you be inflicted including metaphors and photographs in your Mac Address Book. You guess the metaphors to show up in Bento, just like the address and phone in rank. Ill-treat! Bento expects you to re-import every assumed character into Bento. I be inflicted including thousands of photos in my Address Book, and it would take hours to do this.Bento is based on the Filemaker list, so you would guess users to be able to link one person in a friend confirmation to any digit of additional people. Ill-treat again! While Outlook supports this extremely useful feature, neither Address Book nor Bento can empower you to do this. This is a noteworthy inadequacy, as users look after to remember people and events by recalling additional people at an consequence. For model, you remember you met a certain person owing to David Smith, but you can't remember her name. But if you had her associated to David in your list you may possibly straightforwardly find her -- and if her picture happened to be in that confirmation, flush best! Also, you should be able to link calendar events to people. Outlook users who use these feature occur to love them, and it's also one mind why Chapura software's KeySuite for Outlook Management curriculum is so popular on the Palm -- it supports all these Outlook features that out-of-the-box Palm Contacts does not. The Mac planet would greatly benefit from both desktop and iPhone software that did this. We would be smarter and more productive!I hope FileMaker addresses these shortcomings in future Bento releases. Filemaker is capable of writing truly wonderful software. But for me, Bento is a huge disappointment, and should be inflicted including been much best. I am hoping that NightHawk, currently under enhancement from NOW software, force do this ploy if Filemaker does not step up to the plate. If not, I may try NOW's aging Now Up-to-date & Friend V5.0 (Mac) manufactured goods.
- Peter Frishauf
So I have converted to the Apple Cult... bought for myself a MacBook Pro and my kids a MacBook... ventured into Bento... going weekly to Apple Store pro lone-on-lone schooling about Bento... several things aren't perfect... then within a couple weeks Apple comes out including Bento 2. Bolt from the blue... several of the things including the intention of aren't on Bento 1 are on 2... save pro... the catch is Apple desires me to buy a total extra copy of Bento 2. No upgrade. I think including the intention of sucks! My Apple Genius told me to just care for calling Apple Support and make blast. Wouldn't it be simpler pro Apple to have a evenhanded upgrade plan?
- Creative Carol
The idea of Bento is great, however, it's implementation and customer service leave much to be much loved. Before buying either Bento 1 or 2 make sure you check out the user forums at the Filemaker site. One of the things that attracted me to Bento was Address Book integration. However, a bug in Bento 1 makes new contacts entered through Bento unusable with other programs that integrate with Address Book. This bug is fixed in Bento 2, but why should purchasers of Bento 1 have to pay an additional $50 to fix a defective piece of software. Filemaker refuses to commit to fixing the bugs for version 1 users. For other bugs check out the user forums.One aspect of databases is the ability to get information out of the database in the form of reports that are printable. However, even if Bento 2 boasts of improved printing, being able to set a margin for something that is little more than print screen is a wild exaggeration. If you wish to print labels you'll have to fire up Address book or export the data to another program.Some of the so called improvements from version 1 to version 2 are being met with users requesting a return to version 1 or at least an selection to do so. Form layouts that neatly fitted in version 1 now requiring scroll bars. Check box fields are huge without the ability to reduce them to before size. With this came the ability to edit forms with out having to put the form into edit mode; who in the world planning that editing forms was difficult in version 1? Now, it is incredibly difficult to even grab a Check box, even with their huge size, to move it without actually unreliable its status from tartan to unchecked or vise-versa. And users are faced with having to be careful not to accidently grab a field and reposition it on the form. Filemakers answer to all this: "I've voted for it on to Developers."Yes, they've introduced more templates and themes, yet after a year of users requesting a simple colorless theme with the ability to select fonts, users are still waiting and have been told once again "we've voted for it onto the Developers."Even if Mac users expect Mac software to be intuitive, after conception through the pages in the user forum one will discover a constantly recurring theme: when someone instinctively went to do something with the program, it wasn't there. They then posted a question to the user groups assuming they must have just missed it, only to find out that they didn't miss it, it truly wasn't there. This of way was met with an have a crack for a work around key and ultimately with a "I'll forward this to the Developers."Is Bento2 faster than Bento1? That's what the ads claim, yet if one checks the user forums they'll discover an admission that the Address Book integration part is actually slower.With no discounted upgrade path being offered to Bento1 users, it is no marvel that the resentment towards Bento and Filemaker as a company continues to grow. Especially, when you receive email ads from Filemaker quoting the spectacular reviews it is getting from the journalistic world. All I can say is it certainly does payoff to advertise. One reviewer had the audacity to claim in regards to Bento, "if it ain't broke, just try to make it better." The reviewer clearly has spent no time in the user forums at Bento.The saddest part of all is the deafening silence emanating from Filemaker. Two weeks after perhaps one of the biggest customer service screw ups in the industry, Filemaker ruins mute to it's users leaving the tech support personnel in it's user forums to take the heat without any resolution to offer the customer except something like "you are not being ignored, they are hearing all of your concerns, but I have nothing that I can tell you at this time." Perhaps they are waiting to see if they can sell enough new product to warrant simply ignoring their existing user base.New to Bento? Then download the trial, but give it the full 30 days before you buy. The first week or so you will find the program fun, but then you'll start running into things that you would like to do with your data that you can't. However, don't fall into the trap of idea that a fix is just around the corner - the corner is along way off and may cost you an additional $50 to turn.
- E. Cross "ercross"
As a unadorned tool for setting up lists that can allusion data that exist in various files (very unadorned relationships), Bento serves a helpful gathering, but its report age group capabilities are very limited and can be reasonably frustrating. Nonetheless, agreed the veritable famine of decent database software for the contemporary Imac run, it is a welcome addendum.
- James Bearded
Bento is a smart, water supply-located catalog pro the non-potential user. Surrounded by its limitations it's exceptional, interacting reluctantly including additional apps (be fond of iCal and Pocket up Tome) on the Mac. It also simplifies catalog aid in all-function pro persons of us frightened by full FileMaker.Sorry to say, it lacks approximately capabilities a ration of ordinary Mac users will aspire - primarily the ability to sync facts amongst manifold Macs. If you protect Bento on your desktop you can't gamely sync its facts to the constant app on your laptop, or sub- versa. Makes it tough pro aid in a mixed background.Online planning be inflicted including highlighted this inadequacy, and we can desire the initially revision will overcome this limitation. Meanwhile, if you do all your computing/catalog aid on a release apparatus, Bento's fair.
- Joe Average
Bento - Complete Package - 1 PC - CD - Mac (40129I)
Come across Bento, the new confidential catalog from FileMaker that’s as undemanding to use as your Mac. It organizes all the fair points of your unavailable go in one house. So you can deal with contacts, coordinate actions, footstep projects, and prioritize responsibilities closer and easier than always previous to.
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