At a glance
Apimac Idatabase
Find the highest rated Database Management software for Mac pricing, reviews, free demos, trials, and more iDatabase is the Mac app that simplifies the creation of databases, inventories, collections and lists of items. IDatabase is the best there is for those who want to manage, store and quickly find any information for their passions and for. IDatabase makes it easy for everyone to create and manage collections, inventories, lists and databases thanks to a novel user experience for this type of application. IDatabase is ideal for those who want to organise and quickly look up useful information for work or leisure. IDatabase for Mac offers the easiest way to organize information, manage membership lists, expenses, projects, keep track of your internet passwords and much more. IDatabase makes it easy for everyone to create databases, inventories, collections and item lists. IDatabase is the best that can be for those who want to store and quickly search for any information for daily work or leisure. IDatabase is a universal app, this means that with a single purchase you will have the version optimized for iPhone and iPad. Download the latest version of iDatabase for Mac - Organize all your information and data. Read 0 user reviews of iDatabase on MacUpdate. IDatabase is the Mac app that simplifies the creation of databases, inventories, collections and lists of items. IDatabase is the best there is for those who want to manage, store and quickly find any information for their passions and for everyday work.
Cons
Our Verdict
Apimac’s iDatabase 2.3 is a basic flatfile database application that offers 22 templates and 14 different field data options for handling a variety of data types. While it doesn’t go deep in terms of features, iDatabase does offer enough in the way of basics that it may fill your low-end database needs.
iDatabase is an app that, like the discontinued Bento, uses a single window for creating, editing, and managing your databases. At the top of the window are three tabs titled Open, Use, and Define. The Open tab is used to create new databases, Use opens the database you’ve selected in the Open tab for editing, and Define is used to update, add, or remove database fields.
When creating a new database, iDatabase offers the option of starting from a pre-defined template or from scratch using a blank file. Among the included templates are forms for book and CD collections, class lists, computer inventories, and exercise logs. All of the the templates provide a good foundation for creating databases that suit your specific needs, but as they are they lack necessary fields and need further configuration to be truly useful. For example, if you use the built-in movie database you’ll notice that, among other things, it is missing pick lists for movie genre and lacks a release date field. These are easy enough to add to the template and once you’ve made these changes you can use your updated database as the basis for a new template. But, out of the box, the templates that ship with the app are not complete enough to be useful.
Idatabase For Mac Reviews
iDatabase offers 14 field types for handling the different types of data you may want to enter. Small Text fields offer a single line of text you can use to enter something like a name, address, city, or state. Large Text fields handle an unlimited amount of text, which you can use for notes or other multi-line text. Calculation Fields take the data entered into two Number fields and perform a basic calculation using the data in those fields. Password Fields offer a way to hide and secure the data you enter and, if you secure all your databases with a password, can require the entry of that password before someone is allowed to view or copy the information stored in the field. While all the fields handled the data they were designed to, I found the calculation field to be limited, only offering options for basic math. Also, iDatabase’s media field only allows for image files, not video or audio files—a limitation that makes the field less useful than it should be.
Customization
When it comes to making changes to your forms iDatabase offers little in the way of customization. You can move fields up or down on the form, but it’s not possible to put fields side by side. iDatabase also makes the first field you create a key field, which means it must appear as the first field on your form. It’s possible to make a different field the key field after the fact, but because this field must be the first field it limits how you can place fields on the form.
I found some oddities when naming my databases files. When creating a new database I named it using a forward slash in the name—Classes 2013/14—then clicked the Create button. The app didn’t create the new database and it didn’t give me any error messages. A little digging revealed that iDatabase couldn’t handle the slash in the file name. To be fair, the / character is used in the UNIX underpinnings of the Mac OS to designate a directory switch, but it wasn’t obvious that this was the reason iDatabase couldn’t create the new file. A simple message stating that a slash character isn’t allowed would have eliminated my initial confusion and offered a solution.
Printing is the final sore point for iDatabase. The app does offer printing options but they’re not all that useful. You can either print the form view for each of your records, which, depending on the size of your database, could be a rather large print job, or you can print the list view of your records. Unfortunately the list view offers no customization options and, oddly, it prints from the bottom of the page up rather than from the top down.
Bottom line
If your needs are basic, iDatabase offers a good way of creating personalized databases and collecting the information you want, but it doesn’t go deep enough. Limited customization and poor printing options make iDatabase little more than a way of collecting digital records of your data.
Access is a Microsoft database, porting away from it may be a nightmare.
First, tell us why you are wanting to move to a different database platform. (Need the end goal to figure out how to do it)
What compliance standards do you have to adhere to? PCI, HIPAA, etc.
What are ALL of the platforms you need the database to work on?
PC/Mac/Android/iPhone/WindowsPhone/Web?
I highly recommend posting your question on the SpiceWorks forums as this is something IT specialists know what to do and how to go about it. I am a member there and will offer any guidance as well. http://community.spiceworks.com/
Lastly, Apple owns FileMaker which is a Mac/PC-friendly database system. While waiting for the IT pros to assist with a plan, call the team at Filemaker and see what they can do for you. http://www.filemaker.com/
Jul 2, 2015 12:55 PM