Act! has been around for 40 years. You might think of it as an old house; new features were sometimes added but unfortunately they do not always work as planned. The biggest offender? The dreaded Act! “Attachments” folder.
Proper file management is crucial for any business. It improves efficiency, reduces stress, and prevents data loss. The Act! attachment folder completely undermines these basic principles. This single attachments folder often becomes a chaotic dumping ground for every email, document, and image associated with a contact. Imagine trying to find that critical proposal from a year ago buried amongst thousands of other files, most with cryptic machine coded names. Adding to the chaos is the fact that you can’t sub-divide the attachments folder into sub-folders. Yikes!
The Act attachments folder wreaks havoc on database synchronization. Gigantic attachment files can slow down sync processes to a crawl, and in some cases, even prevent them altogether. This leads to frustration and outdated information.
Act! relies on SQL Express which has a hard and fast limit of 10 Gigs of data (6 on older versions). The bloated attachments folder can cause your backups to fail.
Finally, the sheer volume of data stored in the attachment folder can overwhelm your server’s disk space. This not only impacts performance but also increases the risk of data corruption and system crashes.
The Solution?
- Implement a consistent file-naming convention: This makes it incredibly easy to find and organize files.
- Embrace a CRM system with a robust file-sharing system: Platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, or SharePoint offer secure, centralized storage and easy access to files. Zoho One includes Zoho Work Drive which allows you to create proper folders and attach them to your contact records.
- STOP using the Act attachments folder!
Have concerns about your Act Attachments folder? We can help! Call the Act Consultants at 561.470.5450.
