How do you keep track of your source list?

I read here a lot but seldom post, so I hope this is the right forum.

I'm trying to figure out how to keep a New Year's resolution I came up with: Get my sources file more organized. Currently my system is business cards strewn all over in piles, an inadequate tickler file that anyone in the newsroom can access and change if they want (and they have, and gotten it wrong), random notebooks with phone numbers all over and finally, a crappy address book desktop application for my work Mac that I assume came with the computer. I also have a decade-old Palm Pilot that I have software installed for at home, but of course, I seldom synch it or bother to type in new addresses into it because when I get home I want to sit down and have a damn beer, not type in dozens of new people whom I've met in the past day or week.

So I'm wondering a couple of things. 1) What address book/source filing system do you have and 2) If you could change to another system, what would you do? I really want to get better organized.

One thing I tried is adding some contacts to my gmail account. That way no matter where I am, if I need someone's information I can just look it up. But I was really hoping for some all-inclusive search function. You would expect such with google, however, I make lots of comments in the notes section of it, and when I type in a word that I know is in a note, but not in someone's name, the contact does not show up. WTF is up with that, Google? Huh?

Appreciate any and all suggestions.

 

Avoid any sort of Google app at any cost.

Google goes through and reads your cookies, reads your email, picks up on keywords, that sort of thing.

One of my resolutions for this year is to de-google my life. They are swiftly becoming the anti-christ.

 

If your newsroom is like mine, the computers might be old enough that you can load your Palm software on your machine and sync it there. I picked up a cheap, used Palm for this purpose and I can't tell you how many times it helped to have not only my list of contacts but every prep schedule immediately available.

Once you get everything organized, make a hard copy of any computer records (photocopy those business cards) keep a set of copies at home and one in the trunk of your car.

 

We've got an alphabetized list at my office, one that's been building for decades before my parents were born. I've been told it's cleaned out every now and then, though I haven't seen it done since I've been here.

 

Cadet that's great advice. I think I'll try that and see if the tech guys will do it (I need prior permission before installing anything). Thank you.

 

Hum I'm thinking about that palm solution and I'm not 100% sure it would work. Sometimes I take notes on people and put them in there, for instance, if I'm just having a casual conversation with someone and they mention they have adopted kids, I put that in the notes file, the kids names, the spouse names, etc, so when I call them I can say "Hey Frank, how's Jill and Chris doing? Great!"

So I want to be able to search the notes as well so if I'm four years down the line and I need to contact someone, but can't remember their name, but I can remember that they had a restaurant by the dock, I can search my notes on that person and boom!

Sounds a bit FBI or Big Brother I'm sure, but it helps me organize stuff.

 

You might be able to do that with Palm ... just create a new field in the individual entry or designate a field (like home address) for that purpose.

And if your Palm is too old, consider getting a used one for cheap off eBay. Trust me, it's worth it.

 

I have this crazy contraption called a cell phone. It can store a lot of names and numbers...

 

But what if you talked to the guy four years ago and you can't remember his name, but you remember he has a narcoleptic dog and you know you typed it in your contacts notes but you have 3,298 people to sift through?

Just a hypothetical.

EDIT: I found a temporary solution with the Gmail application (use the old interface https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1 which allows you to search the notes field). I also have an issue with Google though, as a previous poster said.

 

Dude, you're thinking too much about this.

 

Microsoft. Outlook.
Neither is going anywhere.
And can fully download, upload to PDA, IPhone or BlackBerry.
Can backup numbers on a flash drive.

Or, you can go down to the office supply store and buy a personal phone book and a pen. Sit down at a table, put that pen in your hand and have at it.

 

I use Mac's address book, which then syncs with my iPod at work, thus allowing me to take it anywhere. If you sync your iPod's other content (music, etc.) at home, it will allow you to only sync the address book at work without deleting your other stuff. I actually just switched over to iCal and sync it with my iPod as well.

Big problem is that I can't search contacts on the iPod. I can search them easily via address book though.