Easy To Use Database Software For Mac

There was a time, when we were all new to personal computers, that we loved to build and use databases. A computer is the perfect tool for that kind of record keeping. However, in time, we all drifted away from that activity. But why?

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Mac

Back in the days before the public Internet, it was just us and our computers. We could play games. We would compose documents with a word processor. And we could select from a fairly wide range of database programs (many on the PC including the still formidable MS Access, a few on the Mac) that allowed us to keep track of our CDs, records, books, wine bottles and whatever we were collecting. After all, we had lots of time back then.

Of course there was always a need for small businesses to build databases, but those tended to be relational. And that was perhaps part of the problem. Databases that could handle relational concepts tended to be a bit more complex and expensive. That meant ever more development costs that were lost on the average user. Meanwhile, the typical home customer—who thinks in terms of flat files—got caught up in the forward rush into ever more complex databases for business and perhaps even file format updates. It got to be a hassle for many.

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By and by users learned that, because they were thinking in terms of flat files, there were many simple programs, likely already on hand, perhaps at modest additional cost, that could do the job without much fuss. AppleWorks, Numbers, and Microsoft Excel. Why build input and output forms when a spreadsheet lays it all out visually?

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Mar 29, 2017  Question: Q: What's the best database software to use on the mac? Please forgive me if I've posted to the wrong community - it's my first time here. I currently have a complex Access 2007 database that I'd like to duplicate so it can be run on a mac, without using parallels and windows. This is free photo management software for Mac, Windows, and even Linux. This is an excellent program for work with images and video that meets all modern standards. Images and videos are automatically uploaded to the Cloud storage, organized, and are available for search immediately after uploading.

The end result was that developers competed to extract every possible penny from businesses while the average user fell out of love with endless upgrade costs and hassles. Recently, Filemaker reacted by creating a simpler, friendlier version of its flagship database called Bento, but in the end, that didn't work out and Bento was killed. I heard that it was eating into FileMaker sales. If true, it just reveals the difficult economics of small scale, user friendly databases.

The Internet Transition

Along the way, another thing happened. What I call the stamp collector mentality faded. The idea that one needed to catalog everything was from an era when we had time on our hands to explore that new thing called a personal computer. Then the Internet introduced a new idea: searching replaced cataloging.

By that I mean that we have have found, as we've progressed through the technical timeline, that it's more valuable to search for information on the Internet than it is to search through, for example, a personal database of our own stuff. If we need to search for a new book, we can easily find it at Amazon then download it to our Kindle app. By contrast, a personal database of books, a digital card catalog, doesn't tell us anything except that we either can't find the book anymore or it got thrown out or loaned years ago.

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The internet taught us that the self-imposed hoops we created for ourselves, in relative isolation, are time wasters. Especially in an era with Amazon, cable TV, Netflix, Hulu, Roku and Apple TV.

Small databases do have their uses. Hometown, youth sports teams, home businesses, and attorneys, for example, may keep a real database. They may even delve into the power of a relational database. But that specialized audience is small, probably too small to support major effort by a developer.

Hidden Databases

Another thing happened along the way. Developers learned how to provide us with databases that are pre-built. We no longer have to build databases with input forms for our own meager data when there's a wealth of apps that make use of database technology to provide us with a vast amount of more useful information.

In fact, iTunes is a graphical front end to a music database. Mactracker is a database that already has the information we might have thought about collecting ourselves. Birding apps have built in information about bird identification, locations and perhaps even the sounds they make. It's a vast world out there of pre-built databases that we never have to design for ourselves.

The Internet turned us from inward focus with an isolated computer to a vast world of information, collected and organized for us in apps or searchable on websites with Google (or your favorite search engine). The personally built database of irrelevant personal stuff is a relic of the past, and we just don't need it anymore for our everyday lives.

Small businesses can outsource a database to experts and large corporations spend millions on Oracle databases supported by a team of DBAs (database administrators). But the typical home user is happy to throw together a Numbers or Excel spreadsheet if really pressed. It's easy.

As for the personal database app for the Mac? Rest in Peace.

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My thanks to Jeffrey Mincey for inspiring me to go into more detail about the demise of the personal database.

Teaser and relational database images via Shutterstock.

Easily create databases, inventories, collections and item lists.

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.

Ready to use

Create collections and inventories with a click.

Without previous experience with databases, you can use the included templates to quickly create and customize databases containing inventories, membership lists, expenses, projects, recipes and more! You can choose from 22 ready-to-use templates and customize them to organize all types of information: Accounts, Books, CD Collection, Classes, Computers, Contacts, Customers, DVD Collection, Events, Exercise Log, Expenses, Inventory, Members List, Mobile Phones, Movie Catalog, Notes, Pet Care, Projects, Recipes, Records, To Do, Vehicle Maintenance. You can also create templates and share them with other iDatabase users.

Create a database for anything

Creating databases on your Mac has never been easier.

Creating databases on your Mac has never been easier thanks to the unique usage experience of iDatabase. You can use the included templates and then customize them, or you can create a database from scratch in a few minutes by adding your preferred fields. There are a large number of fields you can use to store text, images, links, passwords, phone numbers and arithmetic operations. You can create and customize in minutes a database to manage your collections, store the passwords of your accounts, create an address book containing contact information about your customers or anything else you need for your daily work. It’s so easily that it is amazing.

  • Small Text Field use small text fields to store characters of letters, symbols, and numbers used as text in a single line of text without scrolling bar.
  • Large Text Field use large text fields to store characters of letters, symbols, and numbers used as text in a multi line of text with scrolling bar.
  • Number Field use number fields to store numbers.
  • Date Field use date fields to store dates.
  • Time Field use time fields to store time.
  • Date and Time Field use Date and Time fields to store a date and time together to reference a fixed point in calendar time.
  • Choose Field use item picker fields to present a list of mutually exclusive choices. Item picker fields are used as a means of selecting one choice from a list of two or many.
  • Image fields use image fields to store images.
  • Separator Field use separators to divide a record into distinct visual parts.
  • Password Field use password fields to store passwords or any other sensible text data.
  • Web Link Field use Web link fields to store web links, FTP addresses or any other URL.
  • Email Field use Email fields to store email addresses.
  • Checkbox field use checkboxes fields to indicate one option that must be either on or off.
  • Calculation Field use calculation fields to present the result of a arithmetic operation between number fields content. A calculation field can be a result of addition, multiplication, ratio and subtraction.

Make your life easier

Let iDatabase filter the records for you.

Are you looking for a specific contact, a book, your account details or a link stored in one of your databases? No problem, iDatabase will show you all the matches it finds. But with the groups function, everything becomes even easier: choose a group and iDatabase will show you the records that are part of it. And if you need to automatically select records matching certain criteria, you can use the Smart Groups feature that live filter records based on their properties.

Synchronise, back up and share

Sync via Wi-Fi between your Mac and your iOS devices.

Best Database Software For Mac

Data loss is a thing of the past with iDatabase and its built-in backup function. You can store and retrieve all your important databases locally on your Mac or remotely in your Dropbox space – just a click. Have you ever dreamed of keeping the databases you have on your Mac synchronized with those you have on your iPhone or iPad? If you if also own iDatabase for iOS, you can do it with the Wi-Fi Sync function. Another great feature is the ability to share your work with friends and colleagues via email, in several formats. When you receive the file, you can import data immediately into the iDatabase for Mac, iPad or iPhone!