Bento 2 by FileMaker

Bento® 2, the new version of the wildly popular personal database from FileMaker® that's as easy to use as your Mac.

organise contacts, calendars, emails, events, files and photos

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Customer Rating

(Based on 38 reviews)

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Purchase Information

A$ 79.95

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Single User Family Pack

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Overview

Bento® 2, the new version of the wildly popular personal database from FileMaker® that's as easy to use as your Mac.

Now you can organise everything from contacts and calendars, to emails and events, to files and photos – all in one place. For Mac OS X Leopard only.

Highlights

Super easy to learn and use
Organises contacts, calendars, emails, events, files and photos in one place
Links directly to Mac OS X Address Book, iCal, and Apple Mail
Works with iPhone, iPod Touch and Mobile Me through Address Book and iCal
Works seamlessly with Excel and Numbers
Comes with more than 20 ready-to-use templates and themes
Designed exclusively for Mac OS X Leopard

Bring together Address Book, iCal, Apple Mail, and more!

From contacts and calendars, to emails and events, to files and photos, you can organise just about every type of information you have – all in one place.

The perfect complement to Excel and Numbers.

If you’re managing lists in Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers, you can easily bring them into Bento to view your information in beautiful Bento forms, get easy iTunes-style searching, instant sorting, quick summary stats, and much more.

Get organised with style.

Even if you're brand new to the Mac community or to databases, it's never been easier to get organised thanks to ready-to-use templates and elegant themes designed by Mac artists.

What’s New in Bento 2

Apple Mail Integration

Get Instant Access to Related Messages

Link Apple Mail email messages, notes, and RSS articles directly to information stored in Bento with a simple drag and drop.
View messages instantly from within Bento using Quick Look.
Open selected messages in Apple Mail with a single click to easily reply or forward.

More Spreadsheet-like Behaviour

Includes familiar features you already know how to use

Use the new fill down feature or copy and paste to enter information faster and easier.
Just click, type, and tab to enter data just like you do in Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers.
Plus, you can now add new fields and change field types right from the Table View with a few simple clicks.

Direct Numbers and Excel Support

Work with Numbers and Excel Seamlessly

Directly import Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers spreadsheets. You no longer need to save spreadsheets as CSV files first.
Directly export Bento libraries to Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers format. You no longer need to export libraries as CSV files first.
Copy and paste selected blocks of Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers data into Bento to view information in beautiful Bento forms, get easy iTunes-style searching, quick sorting and instant summary stats.
Copy and paste Bento data back into your spreadsheet for further analysis and charting.

Import and Export Tab-Delimited Files

Great News for AppleWorks Users

Now you can do more with the AppleWorks information you already have on your Mac by bringing your databases and spreadsheets into Bento with a few clicks.
Simply export your AppleWorks data to a text file and then import into Bento.
You can also export data just as easily to get it back to AppleWorks or any program that supports tab-delimited files.

Template Import and Export

Exchange Bento Templates

Now you can exchange your favourite Bento library templates with other Bento users by simply exporting individual templates.
Plus you can get templates from other Bento users by importing them with a simple drag and drop.
Note: Individual Bento library templates contain the fields and forms from a library, but not the data.)

Split View

See summary and details together

The new hybrid Split View shows summaries and details together on one screen to make viewing and editing information easier than ever.
Now you can see lists of information in Table View on top and details in Form View below - all on the same screen.

Faster Form Customisation

Say “Goodbye” to Customise Mode

Now you can change a form layout instantly without having to enter Customise Mode.
Simply click near a field’s edge to select it. You can move or resize it, or change the font size, shading and more.
When you need to edit the data, just click inside the field. It’s that simple.

Built-In Links to Maps and Chat

Get Maps and Start Chats from Bento

Just click the new button near any address to automatically display maps or driving directions from the Web.
Even start a chat session with your IM buddies right from within Bento. (Requires an Internet connection and instant messaging account.)

More Printing Options

Print Forms and Lists Easier

In Form View, you can now print more than one record per page.
In Table View, you can use the new ‘Fit to Width’ option to make your columns automatically fit the width of the page.
This is great for phone lists, event registrations and more!

Ten More Themes

Make Your Forms Look Even Better

Dress your data in designer style, bring excitement to your day with new colours, or add a refreshing splash to your forms with the new swimming pool and sandy beach themes.
Plus, you can now preview themes before applying them to quickly find just the look you want.

Plus loads more features that let you link to a detailed view of every related record, see your existing Address Book photos in Bento, drag music and movies from iTunes directly into any media field, change the font size of field labels, and more!

What’s in the Box

Product CD
Installation booklet
Electronic documentation
License Key
Access Code for technical support

Minimum System Requirements

A Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4
867 MHz or faster processor
512MB of RAM; 1GB recommended
A CD drive is required for installation of boxed product software

Important: Bento requires Mac OS X Leopard. If you haven’t yet upgraded, please visit www.apple.com/macosx

Note: Products sold through this website that do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with terms and conditions packaged with the products. Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service.

Customer Rating

(Based on 38 reviews)

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Most Recent Reviews

Bento 2 by FileMaker

Frustratingly slow

Written by PL from Hinxton, Nr Saffron

26/02/2009

If it worked properly Bento 2 would be a great tool. However data entry is frustratingly slow with thumb twiddling lag times when …Read moreentering new address data. The problem can be partially overcome by quitting and entering data into the Address Book. However it is then necessary to quit Address book to avoid Bento crashing on opening. What a pity. Hopefully this will eventually be fixed but the problem has been reported over several months now with no indication of a resolution. Check the forums before buying.
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Bento 2 by FileMaker

good

Written by JB from Alpharetta

1/02/2009

it is soo good

(2 of 19 people found this review useful)
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Bento 2 by FileMaker

what a joke!

Written by CS from Radebeul

29/01/2009

The advantage of this software is that it can integrate a lot of different data, more than addressbook and iCal BUT: your data is …Read morenot safe. Other than the robust iCal and addressbook your data may suddenly be lost - don't try TM backup, it won't work. YOUR DATA IS UNSAFE IN BENTO! DON'T USE IT!!!

(10 of 19 people found this review useful)
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Most Useful Reviews

Bento 2 by FileMaker

It's all bad. Very Bad.

Written by CB from Basalt

20/10/2008

The above review is highly likely a blatant self promotion of the program.

1. The review date is the day after Bento 2 was rele…Read moreased. Hardly time for a good testing and considering there is a 30 day trial what is the rush there buddy.

2. There is no mention of any new features or why it is amazing.

3. If you correct the obvious grammaitical errors the review reads like a faked school report.

4. It seems that all other forums and discussions regarding Bento 2 are extremely critical of the program. Also expressing disapointment in how Filemaker/Apple have handled the release and pricing.

I have had Bento since it was first released and bought it with high hopes of it filling a gap. For me it wasn't quite there but I have continued to use it a few things and was waiting for a good update to take care of the obvious bugs and hopefully many of the improvements users had been discussing and submitting. This didn't happen.

What should have been only a 1.1 has been wrapped up in candy paper and priced like it actually contained the improvements users have been looking/asking for.

If you are considering buying please consider how the 100's of thousands users who just got shafted. Check out the user forums to see the general feeling and opinion.

I rate this program 1 out of 5 stars! - only because I can't select 0.

Why are there no other reviews here?

To Apple/Filemaker, step up the mic and lets hear what you have to say on this.

(277 of 328 people found this review useful)
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Bento 2 by FileMaker

Not worth it

Written by JH from Merida

24/10/2008

Seriously, to call this an update is an overstatement. Maybe users that START with Bento 2 will feel the program is neat and can h…Read moreandle the bugs. But as a user of Bento 1 sincerely expected more from the company.

This is not an upgrade, it is a version that marketing people got up 0.9 more units than it should have.

Issues:
- Harder to customize fields
- Still no way to share data via network
- The new layout gives you less space for the list of fields that, if it is as long as mine, it means a lot more scrolling.
- Bugs bugs bugs. Program crashes.

Gotta go... just visit MacWorld's review and THEN read the comments. Most users aren't happy. Or you could just visit FileMaker's forum and see the same thing.

After the 30 day trial I will downgrade and wait for a better response from FileMaker. I hope this gets posted by Apple.

(218 of 231 people found this review useful)
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Bento 2 by FileMaker

Back to Version 1

Written by EC from North Attleboro

23/10/2008

Well, we ran the trail version 2 and have returned to version 1 the purported new features are not worth the $49.

Some of the …Read moreAddress Book fields are no longer editable by design in version 2 and the field sizes have increased in form layout making all of the version 1 forms much too large.

The program still has bugs, needs to be beta tested - check out the user forums at Filemaker. Bugs in version 1 have not been corrected and there has been no official statement from FM that they will fix them unless they cause data corruption. Some are fixed in version 2, but you'll have to spend another $49 to get the program you already paid for doing what it was already supposed to do.

Buyer beware!

(184 of 200 people found this review useful)
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