34 Comments

1. 

   Jonathan A. on June 4, 2020 at 4:08 pm

   Hi Karen,

   Thanks for the update. I bought ACT! Pro v.21 through you folks back in May 2019 (along with paying for Kim to help with a database upgrade from a much earlier version). I’ve now got ACT! Pro all locally installed and hosted on my main office computer and my laptop for travel.

   As I run a very small business and dislike SaaS annual payment solutions, I have no plans to buy into a subscription service as ACT! stops updating the pro line of the software at the end of June. So I’ll use ACT! Pro for as long as I can using my existing license, and as long as it works under current and future versions of my Windows OS.

   What updates am I currently entitled to download and install, without difficulty or payments?

   What would the fee be for upgrading v.21 to v.22? I have no intention of paying another full price purchase a year after — or even close to that. If they can’t offer a free or extremely low-cost upgrade from 21 to 22, I won’t see the point in upgrading to their final Pro release.

   I understand software companies needing to consider an SaaS solution, but they really shouldn’t be so blase about their smaller customers. They’re going to lose quite a few.

2. 

   Karen on June 4, 2020 at 4:34 pm

   Hi Jonathan, you purchased Act Pro v21 so the only updates you are entitled to are the ones you would access by going to Help/Act Notifications. These are bug/release fixes, not a full version. If you wanted to move to Act Pro v22 you would have to pay full price.

   As for small businesses I don’t know what industry you are in but I know for most of us it would be hard to stay in business without a steady stream of revenue. And it’s pretty much impossible for a company to justify giving free support to a user that buys their software once every few years. Just my thoughts!

   Karen

3. 

   Jonathan A. on June 4, 2020 at 4:44 pm

   Hi Karen,

   Thanks for your prompt response.

   “If you wanted to move to Act Pro v22 you would have to pay full price.”

   Speaking as a v21 customer, I find that to be an extremely short-sighted move on Swiftpage’s part. But naturally, I don’t expect my response to change their mind.

   Regarding the comment about what makes it hard to stay in business, I don’t necessarily agree, because I see this alternative view:

   It’s even harder to stay in business with an ever-dwindling supply of up to date customer recommendations. Some of us are very vocal mavens for companies whose products or services we like, even if we aren’t paying annually. Word of mouth advertisement counts for a lot, is free, and the ROI on that free marketing is next to impossible to quantify. I’m guessing you might agree that its absence could be extremely costly. The only way to test it is to make poor business choices.

   Anyhow — I’ll get the latest updates through the app, and we’ll see what the future holds.

   Thanks again and best regards to you and your team,

   Jonathan

4. 

   Karen on June 5, 2020 at 8:26 am

   Hi Jonathan,

   I’m sorry you are so frustrated. I have been moving many of my Act clients to Zoho. It’s also sold as a subscription but you can pay for it monthly rather than yearly. Prices range from a free edition (which doesn’t allow for custom fields) up to Zoho One which is their top of the line product (and contains over 40 additional apps) and costs $360/year. It is a much better value than Act. If you are interested in a 30 day demo please let me know.

5. 

   Patricia on June 5, 2020 at 9:19 am

   Hi Karen,

   I’m not a power user and my biggest objective has been to use it to record information that Outlook won’t keep – then synch between outlook, phone and Act! I keep about 2000 records.

   I have another business that has been using an email service for weekly mailing. We have about 500k in our database and regularly mail to about 50-100k. I’d like to look into the following:

   1. Whether to go to cloud-based or purchase this last version of Pro.
   2. Whether I should consider Act! for my emails and if it has a good email program.

6. 

   Karen on June 5, 2020 at 9:28 am

   Hi Patricia,

   I am a big proponent of integrated emarketing. Many businesses use tools such as Constant Contact of Mail Chimp that are great at sending, give you some reporting but at the end of the day are not tied into a CRM. And importing and exporting between the email service provider and your CRM system is a waste of time IMHO.

   I am not sure from your email if you are currently using ACT!, what you are using for your email blasts and if you are willing to move to another product.

   I can tell you that ACT! Pro does not allow for eblasting so it’s not a viable choice for you. You would have to move to the Growth Suite product and 50,000 emails/month would cost you $$810/year for ACT!, hosting and the eblast ability.

   If you aren’t firmly ensconced in ACT! you could move to ZOHO One which would cost $360/year. You could do mail merges to 1,000 contacts/day or to 100,000 per month using a true Campaign.

7. 

   Jeffrey G on June 5, 2020 at 12:26 pm

   Hi Karen,

   Thank you for this unfortunate update on ACT! Pro. I am very upset that they disabled my older version of ACT! Pro only to force me to now pay for an annual subscription which I’m not willing to do.

   Do you know of another database/CRM program that is not an annual subscription and not cloud/internet based?

8. 

   Karen on June 5, 2020 at 12:32 pm

   Hi Jeffrey,

   No, I don’t know of another CRM product that is neither cloud-based or fee-based. I do want to point out that a yearly subscription does NOT MEAN that ACT! has to be in the “clouds.”

   Many of my ACT! customers are moving to ZOHO. It is cloud-based but they have free versions provided that you don’t need any custom fields. You can also pay monthly for as low as $18/month or $144/year if you need 10 or fewer custom fields. Just realize that you may have to pay for a conversion if you need to extract “all” of your data from ACT!.

9. 

   Herb J on June 5, 2020 at 4:57 pm

   I am running Act Pro v21.0.295.0, Update 7. Is there a significant enough reason to purchase v22? I have a 5 user license.

10. 

    Karen on June 5, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    Hi Herb,

    No, I see no reason whatsoever for you to upgrade to ACT! 22 Pro – especially at 289.95. It’s buggy and offers no new features.

    If you wanted to upgrade to a Premium subscription the pricing for you is $225/year which is a great price and would include support and all new editions. But you would have to renew every year.

    Your other alternative is to take your chances until ACT! breaks and purchase then; you will have to purchase a subscription at that time. I just don’t know what the pricing will be.

    Karen

11. 

    Gary R on June 8, 2020 at 11:07 am

    Thank you for the message. Using ActPro version 19.2.146.0 on three computers.

    1. Annual subscription for Act Premium v22 = $225 + what is yearly renewal?
    2. Will I be able to move version 19 to a newer computer or reregister ACT version 19?

12. 

    Karen on June 8, 2020 at 11:11 am

    Hi Gary,

    Thanks for reaching out to Tech Benders.

    In answer to your questions:
    1 – Yes, right now you will be grandfathered in to the yearly price for your Act Premium subscription for $225. However, I can’t guarantee that the price will remain that forever.
    2 – And yes, you can reregister your current Act Pro v19 on a new computer.

    Hope that helps,

    Karen

13. 

    Chris N on June 13, 2020 at 10:15 am

    Hi, I purchased Act Pro v22 from you on Oct. 21. Just today I got an email from Swiftpage that there is a version 22.1 out now.

    – Do I qualify for a free update to version 22.1?
    – Are there any “must haves” in 22.1 that I don’t have in v22 Update 4?

14. 

    Karen on June 13, 2020 at 10:20 am

    Hi Chris,

    Yes, you are entitled to this update free of charge. However, it was designed to fix a few bugs, many in the Outlook integration. I am hearing that rather than fix things it actually breaks a few. I would advise you to wait until Act Pro v 22.1.1 is released which I hear will be around June 20th.

    Karen@techbenders.com

15. 

    Kevin on June 15, 2020 at 11:22 am

    I hope you are all safe and well.

    I noticed in your blog in November that you mentioned a couple of things (I have only just come across your blog!)

    1. That if I have a version of Act Pro 21 I should get a free upgrade to ACT Pro V22 –
    a. How would I go about getting this do I simply ask them for it?
    2. The existing Pro users can upgrade to ACT Growth Suite for $225 for the year – is this real and still available and how would I do it.

    I am a one man band and use ACT to help me to keep up with things but not as much as I probably should. The company is struggling with COVID and we have been shut down by the government for the time being so every spend is crucial at the moment. Will I notice a big difference to my productivity do you think with growth suite or should I just stick for the time being with V21 until things improve.

    Thanks in advance for any help or advice

16. 

    Karen on June 15, 2020 at 11:43 am

    Hi Kevin,

    Thanks for stopping by techbenders.com.

    If you had purchased directly from me I would be able to give you a definitive answer as to whether you qualified for the BOGO offer. Since you probably purchased directly from Swiftpage you’ll have to contact them directly; good luck with that. I can tell you that unless you purchased your Act v20 Pro somewhere between September and November, 2019 you probably don’t qualify.

    Yes, Growth Suite is awesome and the Act Marketing Automation that’s included would really boost your productivity. Unfortunately, that ship has also sailed; the price is currently $450 and I’m selling it for $405.

    I’ve added you to my mailing list and will let you know if more deals appear on the horizon!

    Karen

17. 

    David F on June 17, 2020 at 8:04 am

    I would appreciate your advice about what I should do next. I’m using ACT! Pro V.21, which I purchased through you. I began using ACT! with version 4.0, in April 1999, when it was owned by Symantec. I’m running ACT! with up-to-date WIN10, in a Windows partition (Bootcamp) on an iMac.

    I’m typically a positive, persistent person. with a fair level of skills, but I’m losing my patience with ACT!. My experience goes back to pre-Windows, with MSDOS. Later, I worked several years as a sales rep for IBM, selling small to mid-size business systems. In addition, I’ve trained individuals to use a variety of Windows Office Products and other applications, and I’ve sold AI computers and software for use in academia and commercial environments. I’ve also created websites for our business.

    I’m sorry to say that I have become discouraged with ACT! since around the time I upgraded to V.20 in April 2018. I’m a small home based business owner, and I am the sole user of ACT!. I probably use less than half of the function it provides.

    Until upgrading ACT! from V.18 to V.20 (I typically have upgraded every other upgrade level), I was very happy using the built in e-mail function. I think the built-in e-mail worked fairly well until V.21, when taskbar rows and lines below began to overlap and become unreadable, and text size became too small to read. You suggested I start using Outlook, so I installed Outlook 2016. I see no advantage to using Outlook and am dissatisfied with the fact that letters sent are not tracked in the individual’s history tab in ACT!. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled ACT! and Outlook, in the order specified in the instructions. Nevertheless, each time Outlook has disabled Act.Office.Outlook.Addin because it caused Outlook to start slowly (an average of 1.03 seconds delay). I can’t find a way to overrule Outlooks disabling of the addin.

    Other problems that seem to occur every month or two: (1) The Microsoft SQL Server Instance (ACT7) has to be manually started in order to get ACT! to open and function (2) I find that the preferences I have set for fonts and background colors have been reset to program defaults and I have to change them again.

    My primary questions are:
    1. If I change to ACT! Premium, will function/stability improve?
    2. If I move to Premium, will I once again be able to use the built-in e-mail function and eliminate Outlook?
    3. Can I retain my data and revert back to V.18?
    4. Is there another ACT!-like product on the market, without the CRM function that I don’t need, that I could use instead?

    Thanks for your help.

18. 

    Karen on June 17, 2020 at 8:25 am

    Hi David,

    I appreciate your loyalty – and your frustration. I feel it as well.

    And yes, there is a way to permanently accept the Outlook plugin. As far as the SQL setting and losing your preferences, it sounds like your system needs a bit of tweaking; unfortunately, you have the ACT! Pro product which doesn’t include support.

    In answer to your questions:
    1. If I change to ACT! Premium, will function/stability improve? No, but Premium includes support and they will be able to help you tweak your settings a bit which should remedy your issues.
    2. If I move to Premium, will I once again be able to use the built-in e-mail function and eliminate Outlook? I assume you are referring to sending day to day email. I would not recommend using the built-in email functionality; it was actually designed over 20 years ago and I’ve heard for a while that it will eventually be discontinued. However, if you are referring to the ACT! Marketing Automation product for emarketing it is a great option for doing email blasts. The Premium product is currently on sale for $225/user/year; the Growth Suite product is on sale for $405/user/year.
    3. Can I retain my data and revert back to V.18? No, once your data is in a newer version you can’t “downgrade” it to work with an earlier version of ACT!.
    4. Is there another ACT!-like product on the market, without the CRM function that I don’t need, that I could use instead? I am not sure what you mean by “the CRM function.” ACT! is considered CRM software and is comprised of many functions. I think you mean to say you are looking for a simpler CRM solution. Many of my ACT! users are moving to ZOHO which is a great product but it actually has more functionality than ACT!, not less.

    I hope this helps!

    Karen

19. 

    Jeff W on June 30, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    Good evening Karen, when you say goodbye to Act, you are not kidding.

    I have had nothing but problems with this version of Act I purchased from you.
    I have used Act for the past 28 years with no problems, till now.

    Support told me today I need to purchase their support to resolve the latest issue. $40 for 30 days when I can’t get 30 days without an issue.

    I’m looking to make a change at this point.

20. 

    Karen on June 30, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    That is exactly why I hated to sell the Pro product and am glad that it is finally being discontinued. Too many Pro users wanted to purchase a single copy, use it for years and years, and never pay for support. ACT! is a relatively complex desktop software. It includes a SQL database as well as integrations to various Microsoft products. Not having support makes it tricky to navigate.

    If you want to continue using ACT!, I’d recommend moving to the Premium product. Yes, it requires a yearly subscription but you will have SUPPORT.

    Right now I am selling the Premium product for $225. Alternatively, I could recommend ZOHO; however, ZOHO is also sold as a yearly subscription. You would also have to convert your database and learn something new.

21. 

    Pilar R on July 6, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    Hi!

    I am interested in purchasing ACT, can I still buy Act Pro v22?

22. 

    Karen on July 6, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    Hi Pilar,

    Unfortunately, NO. The deadline was June 30th. Your only option is to move to a Premium subscription which I am currently selling for $225 (retail price is $240). This option includes SwiftPage support, all new versions and requires a yearly renewal. It is for the ACT! Premium product which does not include or require hosting.

    Karen@TechBenders.com

23. 

    Michael W on August 10, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    Hi Karen,

    Long time ACT user. I called ACT directly today about upgrading and was given few options for my unsupported version. Googling for more answers I came across your email address. Can you give me some direction?

    It’s for me only(single user) and I have an involved compliance/IT department that is not a fan of my using ACT software to support my business in conjunction with their own in-house version. I do not want a subscription service but would like to upgrade and then figure out next steps.

    Thanks in advance for your help.

24. 

    Karen on August 10, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for finding us at TechBenders.com. You’ve probably already discovered that you can’t register v17.

    The Act Pro product was discontinued on 6/30. Your only option is to move to the Act Premium product. The price is currently $240; I am selling if for $225. And yes, it requires a yearly renewal. The $225 pricing does NOT include hosting or e-marketing but it DOES include SwiftPage support. Plus I send upgrade instructions with your purchase.

    If you DO NOT want to have a yearly renewal the price would be $225 this year and next year at the renewal you would have to pay $1050 to purchase the license outright. Don’t shoot the messenger!!

25. 

    Ronald G on August 13, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    I have ACT v16 PRO – what are upgrade options? Since I have a new computer and ACT has eliminated their registration server I have no way to use on new computer. . .

26. 

    Karen on August 15, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    Hi Ronald,

    Unfortunately you do not have many options as Pro was retired in June. Your best option is to go with a Premium subscription which I am selling for $225/user/year (retail = 240). You could also move to a more expensive product that would including the cloud version and an e-marketing account for 25,000 emails/month.

27. 

    Brian L on August 27, 2020 at 7:20 am

    We have a user who uses Sage act pro 2013 and is happily using it, however his laptop could do with an upgrade.

    Is there any option to go to V21 or V22 or are we now stuck with potentially having to go down the Cloud Route, which we won’t do anyway as this user retires in 18 months anyway?

    Many thanks for your help.

28. 

    Karen on August 27, 2020 at 7:27 am

    Hi Brian,

    Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately you will not be able to install ACT! 2013 on either a shiny new or updated laptop.

    You don’t have many options but you definitely don’t have “to go down the Cloud Route.” You can purchase an ACT! Premium subscription, install it on a new or refurbished machine and use it much like you used ACT! 2013. The only difference is that you will have to pay $225/year for the software. If you don’t pay the annual fee your user will lose the ability to use ACT!. Let me know if you’d like to explore this option.

    Hope this helps!
    Karen Fredricks, Act Consultant

29. 

    MALCOLM S TENNANT on January 4, 2023 at 6:18 pm

    I have a 5 user license of Act! Premium V 18.2.53.0 Update 4. I have not been able to install it on new computers for some time now. We tested the cloud version but found it slow and I don’t want to get into the hefty cloud subscription prices if I can help it. The version I have works fine and I paid over $2,000 for it years ago. Is there a workaround to allow me to install it on new PC’s. I host the database on a regular Windows 10 PC that other PC’s access. If there is no workaround what would you suggest would be the bets solution for us? Is there a desktop version where I can share the DB with 3 to 5 users?

30. 

    Karen on January 8, 2023 at 10:51 am

    Hi Malcolm,

    All is not lost and there are several ways that Tech Benders can help you. You didn’t share the exact error messages that you are receiving which would also be very helpful.

    In answer to your questions:
    * I have a 5 user license of Act! Premium V 18.2.53.0 Update 4. I have not been able to install it on new computers for some time now. There are only two reasons I can think of as to why you can’t install Act V18 Premium. One would be that your new machines have Windows 11. The other would be that you have gone over the activation limit which for 5 licenses would be 10 installs. If you had purchased from Tech Benders we could clear that for you but right not your only alternative is to be Swiftpage/Act support to clear away any old installs that are no longer being used.
    * We tested the cloud version but found it slow and I don’t want to get into the hefty cloud subscription prices if I can help it. I have dozens of clients that have transitioned to Act Cloud and love it. I suspect that your database is in need of a bit of repair. Act cloud uses AWS and is not slow but your database might be.
    * The version I have works fine and I paid over $2,000 for it years ago. Is there a workaround to allow me to install it on new PC’s. I host the database on a regular Windows 10 PC that other PC’s access. Absolutely. If we can’t get Act v18 Premium to install you could move to either Act v24 Pro or Act v24 Premium.
    * If there is no workaround what would you suggest would be the bets solution for us? Is there a desktop version where I can share the DB with 3 to 5 users? We can absolutely help.

31. 

    Vincent on July 19, 2023 at 11:05 am

    I have to congratulate Sage on developing what has to easily be one of the worst, counter-productive dumpster fires ever created by human beings.

    Even when it “works” you have to do the work three times until it finally does.

    The Notes field ends up looking like an unformatted, wall of useless merged text.

    Well done. Not only have you frustrated 90% of any human being who chose to use this software, you have done so with an unapologetic and never-ending display of greed and arrogance that only a true software developer can claim as their own.

32. 

    Karen on August 15, 2023 at 2:19 pm

    We are each entitled to have our own opinions. Hopefully you feel better that you have a forum to post your thoughts.

    My viewpoint is a bit different from yours. First of all, Sage only owned Act for a few years of its 30 year history so I certainly wouldn’t be placing the blame on Sage. Secondly, I go out of my way to help my Act clients so that they don’t run into issues. Finally, I also offer Zoho and in fact can convert every drop of Act data into Zoho if you prefer to go that route.

33. 

    Tony T on June 10, 2024 at 7:43 pm

    I’ve used various iterations of ACT(!) for 30+ years, generally as a one-man band user – single desktop license. I missed purchasing the last desktop version so if my software eventually gives up I’ll be looking for an alternative (not a fan of subscriptions as many others have stated). I’ve tried a number of different products, most of which are either too much for my needs (Zoho for example) or that just don’t have interfaces that appeal to me. Maybe I’m just too used to Act! I’m not really using it as a CRM application so much anymore as just a simple contact manager with a few custom fields (mostly for URLs). I may just use Google Contacts as it provides most of the functionality that I need and I’m only a few years from retirement. I would’ve stayed on version 4.0 if they would have let me, ha ha! Used to love that the notes were all in a single, searchable page (you could open notes and press Ctrl-F and quickly find whatever you were looking for. Once they went to SQL server the notes got all parsed up and that ability went away! Doh! It’s too bad that they don’t maintain a streamlined version – more of an electronic Rolodex than a full-blown CRM with all of the integrations — at a lower price point. I’m sure that it would have a following.

34. 

    Karen on June 17, 2024 at 1:10 pm

    “Gee, I want to pay for something that used to be free,” said no one ever. Unfortunately, software manufacturers, like the rest of us, are in business to make money and to be able to remain solvent. They need to have enough revenue to support their development and support costs. Most of us are now paying for software (MS Office, Quicken, Adobe to name a few) that used to be free. Even my Amazon Prime and Netflix accounts now carry ads. It is what it is!