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Products > askSam
The World's Most Popular
Free-Form Database
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Take
Control with askSam |
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askSam is the ideal application organize your information.
askSam is a different kind of database - a free-form database designed
for users rather than programmers. askSam makes it easy to turn anything
into a searchable database: email messages, word processing documents, text
files, spreadsheets, addresses, Web pages, and more.
askSam gives you the power of a database without the complexity. No need to program or learn
a complicated query language. With askSam, you simply import or enter information, and you're
ready to search. askSam users range from individuals organizing email, addresses, and research
notes to corporations and government organizations managing meeting minutes, regulations, policy
manuals, and corporate databases.
Try askSam - and talk to us (or email) - we're happy to show you how askSam can work for you.
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Import Email into askSam.
Create archives and turn them into knowledgebases.
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| Lightning
Fast Searches |
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Once
your information is in askSam, you're ready to search.
Not only can you search on the contents of fields, but
you can search on free-form text. askSam offers a wider
variety of searches than any other database program and
some of the fastest and most powerful searches you'll
find anywhere.
askSam supports the following types of searches:
- Full-text searches for
any word or phrase
- Wildcard searches with
* and ?
- Boolean searches (AND,
OR, and NOT)
- Proximity searches
- Numeric searches
(>, <, >=, <=, <>)
- Date searches
- Fuzzy searches
- Search through
multiple askSam databases
- Case sensitive
searches
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"I've
used a lot of different tools for searching, but I've
yet to find anything that approaches the depth, variety,
strength, and sophistication of the search tools that
askSam provides."
- Rick Gates - Database Magazine |
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| Easy
to Design Databases Forms |
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Setting
up structured database is a breeze with askSam. You
simply use the Entry Form Wizard to set up your form.
askSam Entry Forms are flexible and easy. Type in names
for your fields and you're ready to go.
When you add a document simply fill out the fields.
askSam fields can automatically expand making room for
all your information. It doesn't matter whether you
enter an extra word, sentence, paragraph, or 100 pages
of text. askSam can easily handle it. This makes askSam
ideal for storing notes, transcripts, and other textual
information. Just type (or import) the information, and
you can search for anything.
Using askSam's
report writer you can easily create useful reports from
all types of information. By clicking on an item in the
report output you return to the appropriate document.
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| Organize
Information with Hypertext |
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Use
Hypertext Links to turn your information into a fully
searchable, easily navigable database. Hypertext lets
you link a word or phrase to information in another
location. By simply clicking on a Hypertext Link you can
jump from one Document to another; jump from one file to
another, run reports, execute any menu command, or go
anywhere on the Internet. It's a great way to publish
information on a network, a CD ROM (using the askSam
Electronic Publisher), or the Internet (using the askSam
Web Publisher).
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| Publishing
Databases on the Internet |
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The
askSam Web Publisher makes it easy to publish your
askSam databases on the Web. The Web Publisher lets
users view, search, and navigate through your askSam
databases using a Web browser. No need to convert
information to HTML, the Web Publisher automatically
makes your information available on the Internet.
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"askSam
is the fastest and easiest way I know to make data
accessible on the Web."
- Wes Thomas - Web
Developer Magazine
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Using askSam it's easy to publish
your information on the Web. askSam website is powered
by askSam databases.
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"Whether
your information is simple, structured, or random,
askSam provides an easy way to stash it and an easy way
to find it again. Best of all, since it behaves like a
word processor, you won't spend weeks learning to use
it."
- PC Computing
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| Collect
Information from Anywhere |
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You
are now able to access more information than ever before -
on the Internet, via email, on CD-ROMS, or in files on
your hard drive. askSam lets you turn this information
into searchable databases.
You can type information directly into askSam, or you
can import information from a wide variety of sources
including:
- Adobe PDF Files
- Text files
- RTF files
- HTML files
- Word processing
documents (Microsoft Word and WordPerfect)
- Email messages
(Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, PocoMail, Netscape etc.)
- Databases (Microsoft
Access, dBASE, Paradox, ODBC)
- Spreadsheets
(Microsoft Excel)
- Comma-delimited,
Tab-delimited, and Fixed-position data
askSam can also import
documents scanned using an OCR application.
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| Turn
Texts into Databases |
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askSam's
Automatic Field Recognition enables you to turn
information into an instant database. askSam can
automatically identify words that provide structure in
your information and use these words as fields. For
example, email messages often contains words like
"To:", "From:", "Date:",
and "Subject:" askSam lets you automatically
use these words as fields. You can search, sort, and
even create reports using these words as fields.
Information is valuable only if you
can find it when you need it. askSam offers a wider
variety of searches than any other database program.
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"And
the best part: If you're entering information later and
discover you didn't leave enough room in one part of the
screen, it only takes a touch of a key to change it. You
can completely change your database in midstream without
any ill effects on the rest of the information you've
already typed."
- Heather Newman - The Tennessean
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| Creating
Your Own Reports |
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No
programming is necessary to create great looking
reports. Simply use askSam's built in Report Writer to
drag and drop field names to the desired position on the
screen. An askSam report can be as simple as a sorted
list of names and telephone numbers, or it can contain
grouped fields, field totals, and summaries. You can
even include memo fields in a report.
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"Frequent
users will appreciate how easy it is to design reports
from askSam files. Laying out a report is as simple as
dragging and dropping different bits of information onto
the page... This action would take some serious
scripting in normal database programs, but it's a push
of a button in askSam. And every report is a live
summary, which means if you want more detail on an item,
a double-click will take you right to the document it
came from."
- Heather Newman - The Tennessean
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| Sharing
Databases on a Network |
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The
network version of askSam allows multiple users to
simultaneously add, edit, and search in askSam
databases. With the network version you can make
information available to all users on a network -
customer databases, marketing information, policy
manuals, phone messages, meeting minutes, and more.
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| askSam
Professional - The Fastest |
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| askSam
is available in two versions: the Standard version and
the Professional version. askSam Professional includes
all the features of the Standard version and adds
full-text indexing to give you lightning-fast searches.
askSam Professional is ideal for large databases - it
lets you instantly search through hundreds of megabytes
and thousands of documents.
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"askSam is an essential part of my software tool chest. I can research and collect data from anywhere and any source. Once it is in askSam I can edit, rearrange, organize, and search the information easily. Then I can present it and make it totally useful for other people via the web or CD. Fantastic!"
-- Valda Hilley, Author, Literary Agent, Teaching Consultant, Pack rat, and President, Convergent Press, Ltd. |
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