Act 6.0 – Yes, We Still Support It!

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Karen

act 6Back in August, 2000 I ran an Act 6.0 launch event. I was super excited as it had been over 4 years since a previous release of Act, and this version had Outlook integration!

I planned for the event for months in advance. I enlisted over a dozen Act Add-On vendors to attend and have booths to display their products. I advertised the event in the local papers (remember those?), enlisted dozens of volunteers, booked a great hotel with a centralized location and got sponsors to provide refreshments.  I had 100 some people RSVP. I thought I was all set. Until…

Act 6 was sold in a physical box in those days and InterAct Commerce (the manufacturer of Act at that time)  sent me 125 boxes to sell at the event; unfortunately they scheduled the software to arrive the day AFTER the event. InterAct Commerce also sent out event notifications to all Act users “within a 100 radius of Fort Lauderdale;” unfortunately that 100 miles includes a whole lot of swamp to the west and water to the south and east. And, as the 5 o’clock event drew near the skies grew darker and darker; any of you who have witnessed a South Florida summer-time squall know exactly what I mean. My event was doomed!

3 o’clock found me was dressed in old jeans, standing on a ladder and hanging a banner. The hotel manager found me with a very concerned look on his face. “Rut roh”, I thought, bracing for more bad news.  The manager went on to explain that there were over 100 people waiting in line in the rain to attend the event and he was concerned for their safety. By the time the event officially opened at 5 PM we had over 500 people in attendance.

Wow. Those were the days! And those Act 6 users have remained loyal. So loyal in fact that many of them are still using Act 6. There is only one thing that is preventing Act 6 users from using their software for another 10 years: technology!

Act 6.0 Database Conversions

Here it is 25 years later and there are still Act 6 users around. I’d say you’ve gotten your money’s worth! Chances are good that the computer that hosted your Act 6 database is long gone and even it’s replacement, most probably a Windows 7 machine, is also showing its age. And no, I don’t know if Act 6 will work with Windows 11 and frankly I’m not going to take the time to find out. If you would like to convert your Act 6 database to something a bit, well, 21st Century let me know. I can convert your old Act data into something that will actually work with modern technology!

Comments

12 responses to “Act 6.0 – Yes, We Still Support It!”

  1. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    I am shocked that you managed to install Act on your new computer. Just don’t expect for it to work 100% correctly. Be happy that you got ANYTHNG to work at all!

  2. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    It never ceases to amaze me how many people are still using Act 6.0. I get it. You don’t believe in paying for software. And you think that your 15 year old computer is “much safer” than “the cloud.” Just don’t expect Act 6.0 to work with any of that “new fangled” technology like Gmail. In fact, Gmail wasn’t even released until 2004, 5 years after Act 6.0 was developed!

  3. Randy M Avatar
    Randy M

    I installed act! version 6.0 it is running fine except it is not connecting to either word processer.

  4. Alan W Avatar
    Alan W

    Hi I have Act 6!. How can I make gmail my default email?

  5. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    Hi Vic,

    I think the more important question is what would you do with the download files if you did locate them? You won’t be able to install them on a computer with a newer operating system. The basic Act 6 code is over 35 years old! At the risk of sounding snarky you might check the Smithsonian….

  7. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    Hi Tim,

    You have 2 issues: one, getting your information out of Act! and two, getting it into Google Sheetify. I can help you with the first but frankly I’ve never heard of Sheetify.

    So for the first part we do an extraction out of Act!. One file will contain all of your Contacts. Another file will contain all your Notes. Products like Act! use “tables” which means you can add more than 1 note per contact. That’s why your data extracts on to multiple spreadsheets. You’ll also have one for activities.

    As for Sheetify, you’ll have to ask them if you can import both a contact and a note spreadsheet as well as a “GUID” to tie the Notes to the correct Contact. Many lower end products only allow for 1 note per contact so you can’t import in a spreadsheet of Notes.

    I highly recommend Zoho; they have a variety of products ranging from 0-$444/year depending on the functionality you need. I have imported over 400 Act! databases successfully to Zoho.

  8. Tim C Avatar
    Tim C

    Do you have a minute for a brief conversation with a dinosaur? I am still using Act! 6.0 from 2004 with Windows 10 & need a very basic daytimer/scheduler to run on Windows 11. I just purchased Google Sheetify thinking I could export my Act Data to a CSV file, and …holy Sheetify!…that didn’t work.

    My Christmas wish is that you might be able too help me convert my 3700 contacts with notes to a CSV file(s) that could be imported into Google Sheetify. Or??

    Thank you for considering my ancient software situation.

  9. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    Hi Travis,

    Those disks are over 25 years old; sounds like it’s time to clean out the closet! And no, those old disks that were designed to be used on older operating systems, won’t work on your new, shiny computer. However, if you have a backup, I can easily convert all of that data into a shiny new CRM like Zoho!

  10. Travis R Avatar
    Travis R

    I just found old disks of ACT!2000 and Act4Advisors I used to use many years ago. I was just wondering if it can be installed and utilized on today’s computer?

  11. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    Frank,

    I’d say that after 25+ years of using Act 6 you have more than got your money’s worth with Act 6! You have three options. One is to keep on using that old computer and cross your fingers that it doesn’t die. The second is to move to the least costly version of Act, Act Premium for web, and pay $360/year. Sadly, I doubt that anyone at Act has the skill set to convert your old database to a newer platform so you’re going to have to pay someone to do it for you. Tech Benders does provide upgrade services from Act 6.0 and even older versions. Your other alternative is to move to either Zoho Bigin or Zoho CRM. They do have a few free versions that might fit your needs. And yes, we can convert all of your Act 6.0 data to any of the Zoho products.

  12. Frank H Avatar
    Frank H

    Are there any options for act users? My version is running on Windows 7 Act 6.02. They are trying to get me to upgrade to Windows 11.

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