Contact Info:

Bachmann Software

PalmInfoCenter.com Bottom Line:

The Price:
  • $20
The Pros:
  • Makes memory cards quicker to use
  • File lists combine RAM and the cards

The Cons:
  • A bit of work to setup
  • Not real useful

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FilePoint 1.5 Review
By Pepper
10/30/2001


Overview
FilePoint is a new program from Bachmann Software which allows you to sort files both in your Palm and on the expansion cards.

Setting it up
FilePoint provides you the ability to completely manage your files - but first you need to organize your files. I found that organizing the files could take a long, long time. That could be partially because I have so many programs, but I think much of it was the process.

To create a folder you use a pull down window and if you want to nest the folders you need to be sure you uncheck the box which specifies if it's a top level folder. Once you have created and named all of your folders, you can easily drag and drop the files into place. The only complaint here was the confirmation message every time you moved a file and hitting OK for every file really added up.

Features
Filepoint has three different views: a folder view, an icon view, and a file details view.

You can do quite a bit with the files. At the bottom of all the views is a tool bar which allows you to scroll through and manipulate the files. To open a file you can either double tap it, use the pull down menu, or hit the icon at the bottom of the screen.

Among the icons at the bottom there is a filter and arrows to scroll with. The icons allow you to print a document, delete a file, or copy to and from the expansion card. Unfortunately you can't delete or beam an entire folder using those icons, but they are still very useful for the individual programs.

Memory cards
As stated before, this program lets you deal with your memory card as well as the RAM. To identify a file on the card you will see a small asterisk by the file. This really helps to separate the items which are on the card when you're viewing them with the ones in RAM.

Using FilePoint for programs on the memory card, instead of the default launcher, really helps to save time. You can quickly view a list of programs from the memory using FilePoint, but the Palm's default launcher can take over a minute to load.

Using FilePoint as a launcher
Really, FilePoint doesn't do much if you don't set it as the default launcher. To set this up just go into Preferences and check the box. When using it as a launcher the first thing you may notice is that every time you try to exit a program you will have to wait for FilePoint to load. Also, you might realize how completely useless the files are under the icon and file detail views. It would be nice if there were little icons you could tap on representing the folders. Another drawback to using it as a launcher is that you need to double tap a program to use it instead of the standard single tap most Palm users are used to

Conclusion
FilePoint provides a Windows-like interface but most of the features will only be appreciated by the techies. For most users FilePoint is overkill and definitely not worth the $20, but there are certainly a few people who will benefit from this program.

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Clie users beware

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 5:22:46 PM #
I tried to use filepoint with my memory stick. It formats the stick in a way that is is unreadable to the machine. Does anyone know of a program that will allow you to launch programs directly from the memory stick?

RE: Clie users beware
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 5:25:56 PM #
RE: Clie users beware
rldunn @ 10/30/2001 5:27:56 PM #
PiDirectVFS, MSMount, PowerRun, Launcher III

RE: Clie users beware
Berliner @ 10/30/2001 6:41:24 PM #
MegaLaucnher (VIP)

-B.

...Wherever you go, there you are...

Double-tap?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 5:24:32 PM #
I would've probably had a play with this, even with your comments. But as soon as you mentioned double-tapping to launch apps I shivered... I've been WinCE free for 2 years now, and I'm defintely not interested in going back...!

Great Review

Davy @ 10/30/2001 6:46:18 PM #
The reviewer really evaluated all the key points of the products. Great Job!

"Not real useful"

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 8:48:56 PM #
That says it all for me.

free alternatives

mj6798 @ 10/31/2001 3:49:46 AM #
Look for MsFile and McMount on Google, free programs from a Japanese developer. The first is a usable file manager, the second will make databases on memory cards appear as if they are in RAM.

RE: free alternatives
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 5:56:36 AM #
Are these the same as McFile and MsMount?

Not sub-folder friendly

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 8:54:43 AM #
The thing that bugs me about this app is that it is not sub-folder friendly. I know that for some users, this won't be a problem, but for those of us who like to sub-catagorize and sub-catagorize memos/documents/files, etc, it doesn't work. If you add sub-folders more than a few layers deep, they start to go off screen! You can't move that dividing bar so you can see your sub-folders! Another problem is that when you add a sub-folder that goes off screen, you cannot access it/delete/move to it, etc. I'm still waiting for a "File Point-like" application that offers **TRUE** sub-sub-sub catagorization. This program is more like smoke and mirrors in this regard.

Double My Irritation

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/31/2001 9:13:05 AM #
I had to drop FilePoint because it did too good a job of finding
things on my SD card. I backup my RAM to the SD card so
FilePoint showed me all my proggies and files from
RAM twice, once in RAM and once on the Backup folder
on the SD card.

Could it either allow us to name a folder to be skipped
over or automatically ignore any folder called 'Backup'?

txt files?

arw4f @ 10/31/2001 10:29:06 AM #
Can FilePoint handle text files? (I'd like to copy the txt file with Reg info from my Game SD card to my Palm and then onto my 32 MB SD Card - so I can use that 32MB card for everything).

Filepoint

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/25/2002 2:35:45 PM #
If you want the worst support on the planet, buy some Bachmann software. I had a problem un-installing the Filepoint demo from my pc and got some the most unbeliveably bad advice from tech support. Whoever advised me had apparently never used Windows before. To this day, Filepoint is in my app list under add/remove programs. I couldn't get if off. Tech support told me to just delete all of the Filepoint files from my pc and Filepoint would disappear from my app list. We all know better than that...right? Then I was told to open the add/delete window and right-click on Filepoint and choose "delete". Wow! That didn't work either!!!!
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