Bento end-of-life -- what next?

Posted by finpro
Aug 15, 2013 at 11:54 PM

I’ve been a Bento user for many years. I’ve found it to be quite capable for small business and personal projects. Bento became my go to db application after spending too much time trying to learn the ins and outs of Filemaker 5, 6, 7 whatever. Unfortunately, I think I’ll be headed back to Filemaker Pro. FM Pro 12 is still more difficult to set up on the fly than Bento, but it is industrial strength and once a db is created it can handle much more than my ability to put it to the test. I looked at Tap Forms with great anticipation. It clearly is much easier to use a la Bento, and if your Bento libraries only contain text and number fields (including dates, etc.) then you’ll be fine with an easy export from Bento to Tap Forms. But if your Bento libraries contain photos or multimedia files you’re out of luck with the conversion because the Bento export .csv files do not contain pictures and multimedia. So if you want to move to Tap Forms your only choice (and it may not be a bad one if you don’t have too many records) is to create a db in Tap Forms with the necessary fields for photos, etc., use csv to export your textual data from Bento, and then manually copy/paste your multimedia files one at a time from Bento to Tap Forms. Once your Tap Forms db is set up, it is a pleasure to use.

Filemaker Pro 12 has a conversion app that will move your entire database from Bento to FM Pro 12, but then you’re dealing with a much more complex database software thereafter. If you are weighing your alternatives vs. MS Access, then I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Filemaker Pro 12 first. FM Pro 12 is easier to use and customize than Access. But if you are looking for something that is as easy to use as Bento, then my first stop would be to check out Tap Forms.

Filemaker Pro 12 is available for iPad and iPhone (IOS), Windows and Mac OS X. Tap Forms is available for iPad and iPhone (IOS), and Mac OS X, and it syncs across devices with iCloud and Dropbox.