WELCOME: Introduction     

Welcome to askSam the most flexible and advanced tool for managing information. Whether you deal with structured information (such as names and addresses) or freeform text (such as E-Mail, Web pages, and correspondence), askSam can help you put your information where it belongs  at your fingertips.

The askSam Manuals

This User's Guide along with the Getting Started Manual covers the many facets of askSam.  You should first consult the Getting Started Manual for instructions concerning the installation of askSam on your computer.  In addition, you'll find a Tutorial that provides an overview of how askSam can manage different types of information.

This askSam User's Guide describes all the features of askSam in detail. It is organized in a task-oriented manner that will enable you to easily find the detailed explanation of askSam features as you become familiar with the program.

askSam and askSam Professional

There are two versions of askSam the Standard version and the Professional version. The Professional version contains the same features as the Standard version plus the following:

·     Full-Text Indexing and Index Searches - With full-text indexing, askSam's searches get even faster. The Professional version lets you index your askSam files and search through hundreds of megabytes in a matter of seconds.

·     Number of Hits - When searching an indexed file, you immediately see the number of documents retrieved by your search.

·     Word List - The Professional version has a Word List that displays every word in an indexed file. Just click to search for any word in the list.

For information on upgrading to askSam Professional contact our sales department at 850-584-6590 or see our Web site: http://www.askSam.com.

What Is The Purpose Of askSam?

In today's age of electronic information, there are huge amounts of data floating around.  The Internet gives you access to mammoth archives of information. Wire services carry streams of press releases. CD-ROMs contain massive encyclopedias of text. The list goes on and on.

Somewhere hidden in the raw data is valuable knowledge  but you must know how to distill the important news from the unrefined bulk. That's where askSam can help.

With askSam you spend less time searching for information and more time putting it to use. askSam increases the value of information by allowing you to present it in a manner appropriate to your specific needs.  

What Is askSam?

askSam is a tool to organize the information that crosses your desk. It doesn't matter whether you deal with sticky notes, memos, phone messages, faxes, resumes, depositions, newspaper articles, or e-mail. All contain information that you need to track. With askSam we provide a solution.

Simply type, scan, or import your information into askSam. Straight away you can search and retrieve any word or phrase in the text. Finding your information is easy. askSam offers the widest variety of searches found in any database program. These searches include full-text, fuzzy, wildcard, Boolean, proximity, date and numeric.

If your information is structured (like names and addresses), you can take advantage of askSam's freeform database capabilities. Create an Entry Form for your data.  Every time you add a Document to your database, call up the Entry Form and fill in the fields. Unlike traditional databases, askSam does not require pre-defined field lengths or field types. Fields expand as you enter information, so you never need to worry about running out of room.

askSam is as flexible as your information. For example, if you're tracking magazine articles you may want some fields (like magazine name, date, etc.). You may also want the complete text of the article. askSam's unique combination of database and text retrieval features allows you to do just that. You can find an article by doing a full-text search and use the fields to create overview reports.  For example, you can search for all articles containing "database" and "flexible" and get a sorted list of magazine names, article titles, and dates. askSam allows you to add fields to free-form text and turn it into a full-text searchable database.

Use of the Internet is increasing rapidly, and the amount of information on the World Wide Web is dramatically growing. These trends will continue. Tools like askSam will become more important as corporations and individuals try to sift through and organize the increased flow of information. With askSam you have an easy yet powerful way to start managing all of your information.

Once again, welcome to askSam  We hope you will have an enjoyable and productive experience with our product.