53 Responses to “Review – Bento 3: A Big Upgrade”

1. Simon on September 29th, 2009 7:05 am

   It appears that there is an upgrade price, valid into January 2010, which reduces the price by $20 as long as you buy Bento 3 via the FileMaker on-line store.

2. Sandra on September 29th, 2009 7:52 am

   Thanks for the great review and the heads up on the $20.00 savings. I would like to see more improvements as well. Like your suggestion for the ability to make your own theme designs. I would also like to be able to move information around between libraries more freely, i.e. a contact that I don’t want to see in my Address Book placed into a Bento only library and then move it back easily if I need too later on. The export/import feature is very cumbersome.
   How about being able to use our own icons! If I come up with anything else after giving Bento 3 a try, I’ll post.

3. Ben Y on September 29th, 2009 7:57 am

   I am nonplussed by this upgrade. Filemaker has apparently taken the tack that demand can be generated for upgrades by simply holding back obvious improvements.

   For example, there is an obvious need to allow people to easily create their own themes and use their own icons. Both of these changes are quite simple, and I say that as a software developer. Yet neither have been implemented in three “major” (paid for) release. Instead we get baby steps towards those simple customization improvements, as if there were a need to keep a carrot in store for Bento 4.

   Furthermore the two most important updates for Bento haven’t materialized: improved relationships and applescript support. Now I shouldn’t have to point out that Apple owns Filemaker, and that CoreData and Applescript are Apple technologies. That the left hand of Apple doesn’t apparently know what the right is doing is … well… pathetic!

   I realize Filemaker Inc. doesn’t want to eat into its premium product, Filemaker, with its hobbyest Bento. Fine; but then Filemaker shouldn’t be looking like an ugly sibling to Bento.

   In summary: Filemaker’s “long tail” transition from the “Classic OS 9″-esque Filemaker to a Coacoa-esque future is taking a path that alienates power users and cripples the hobbiest.

   PS — can anyone verify if Bento 3 needs to be running for the “Sharing” feature to work? That would be extremely unfortunate, if so. It should be a proper service daemon.

4. Florian on September 29th, 2009 11:42 am

   Wow, thanks Simon, Filemaker had NOT informed me of that! I’ll create an extra post.

5. Florian on September 29th, 2009 11:52 am

   Ben,
   unfortunately, all Bento 3 apps have to be running for the sharing to work, otherwise you’ll get an error message.
   And I have to repeat that Filemaker told me that scripting will NEVER be added to Bento, because of Filemaker’s “competition.”

   I’m sorry that you’re not happy with the upgrade. I am, but as you can see above, I’m not holding back on my “Cons” either.

6. Matt on September 29th, 2009 12:14 pm

   $86 for the family pack on Amazon. Hopefully it’ll allow the $20 rebate too. Ordered. Sharing, security and icons are huge.

7. Florian on September 29th, 2009 1:15 pm

   Matt, as you can see from the press release I just posted, you can apply online for your rebate (see link above). Shouldn’t be any problem.

8. Ben Y on September 29th, 2009 1:26 pm

   Florian, Thanks for the info on sharing. That is quite unfortunate for my needs.

   Filemaker needs an overhaul.

9. stephanie lamm on September 29th, 2009 4:08 pm

   is there still the two year limit on calendar events? do they still disappear after two years? for me, an enormous issue. thanks.

10. Florian on September 29th, 2009 4:12 pm

    I think that hasn’t changed, Stephanie. I’ll put that on my list right now to discuss with the Bento team.
    I only got my Mac in November ’07, so my two years aren’t up yet and I can’t double-check it…

11. John Kelly on September 29th, 2009 6:59 pm

    We use Bento 1.0 for schooling purposes and find it sooo sloowww, with what appears to be modest amounts of data. I understand that the calculated fields are causing the slowness.
    Has the speed increased with v3.0?
    JK

12. Florian on September 29th, 2009 7:10 pm

    Sorry John, I can’t be sure. I know that they are constantly working on making Bento faster. Especially loading the database is faster now, which started with a later version of Bento 2. Since you can try Bento 3 for free, I would recommend to do that. Also for all the new features. Bento always backs up your database file, so it’s not hard to revert.

13. Janet D on September 29th, 2009 11:42 pm

    Do you know if there is a way to “lock” the layouts? I know several people who would like to use Bento, but am afraid that they will inadvertently delete or reorder the fields. This would be frustrating for them.

14. Doug G. on September 30th, 2009 3:56 am

    With respect to Related Data fields (or perhaps to this new Simple List field feature) – has any way been added to automate the insertion of data into these types of fields, for instance, during an import from a spreadsheet file? The fact that I can’t direct information into fields based on some sort of match against other data (which I kinda thought was the point of a database) severely limits what I want to be able to do with Bento.

15. Florian on September 30th, 2009 6:03 am

    No Janet, you can’t lock the layout. But there are creative workarounds. First of all, you can always use the “undo” command in the edit menu if you make a mistake.
    Then simply duplicate the form immediately once you like your layout and move that duplicate to the very right in the title bar and never touch it again.

16. Florian on September 30th, 2009 6:05 am

    Doug,
    you CAN direct data (match) into specific fields during import in the dialog box. But not into related data fields since they come from a different source library and have to be added by hand – except when you use a relational loop.

17. Doug G. on October 1st, 2009 4:44 am

    Thank you for the answer, Florian.

    Can data be directed into the new Simple List fields during the import process? Say I had a variable number of transactions appended to the end of a record in a spreadsheet, could I tell Bento 3, everything after column X in this import file, dump it into the Simple List field?

18. Florian on October 1st, 2009 5:37 am

    Sorry Doug, you can’t import into ANY list fields. You can only import into fields that can be displayed in Table View. Imports work as spreadsheets only. So it’s pretty limited.
    Having said that, Table View can now display media files – but I don’t think they can be exported… I’ll ask the Bento team.

19. Marcus Wilhoit on October 2nd, 2009 1:51 am

    I am so upset it does not have XML export support. We need something like Bento XML, CSV is just not good enough. At WWDC ’09 Apple was using RSS as an XML format for Dashboard Apps, and yes, RSS includes support for images. Something like that would take Bento to the next level!

20. Florian on October 2nd, 2009 5:16 am

    Marcus, it’s on the list!

21. Eric J on October 2nd, 2009 12:37 pm

    I keep waiting to be able to sync iCal tasks with my iPhone. Please add this feature to Bento!

22. Florian on October 2nd, 2009 1:47 pm

    Eric, this is not Bento’s fault. It’s Apple who doesn’t allow Bento to use iCal and Address Book on the iPhone, because the iPhone has its own applications. So you have to complain to Apple.

23. Simon Elwell on October 4th, 2009 8:04 pm

    Can anyone tell me if Bento has fixed the issue with the tabbing through fields issue?

    [when tabbing through a form the tabbing takes me from left to right ignoring the columns in a 3 column layout, instead of down the columns]

    This issue is has been bugging me and a fix in Bento Version 2.0v5 would of been appreciated as it has been apparent since version 2.0

    or have I just missed something really obvious !!

    Simon

24. Florian on October 5th, 2009 1:54 pm

    Sorry Simon, Bento 3 is still tabbing left to right, ignoring the column layout.

25. Peter on October 16th, 2009 8:39 am

    How do you know which features were the result of “user request”?

26. Simon on October 16th, 2009 8:58 am

    Although Florian is away for a week I’m fairly sure he’s basing it on what people have been asking for in the official Bento forums (http://forums.filemaker.com/fmbnto/).

27. Florian on October 16th, 2009 7:36 pm

    Peter,
    yes, Simon is correct. The Bento forums are very busy and people request features all the time. And also people on our site request new features regularly. (I have access to the Internet for a few more hours)

28. alex b on October 21st, 2009 1:00 am

    I run a solo consulting business and want to be able to share my database between my laptop and desktop via a save, not network, function. In the past I would do a backup to my iDisk every time I closed Bento, and then would access the database by selecting the backup file from whichever Mac I was working on.
    This worked fine for simple libraries, but I was warned by a Bento rep at an Apple Store demo that this could be risky when I started using related-list and calculated fields.
    I have a MobileMe account syncing iCal+Address Book across all my Macs. It would be nice if as a Bento user you could define where you want the database stored, making iDisk an option.
    I hear what you’re saying about the network sharing, but that is not the same.
    Since day 1 I’ve gone back to Bento several times and designed different forms and tables. There really are some very powerful resources available here, but I need the portability so I find myself going back to Numbers spreadsheet time and time again.
    Sorry for the rant.
    Thanks for listening.

29. notsonewbe on October 21st, 2009 9:42 am

    Bento makes a great household and small office data collector.
    But Filemaker still rules data sharing, esp. with pc users.

    I assume there are cannibalization issues here, for sure.

30. alex b on October 23rd, 2009 12:18 am

    i agree, notsonewbe

31. Tony on November 10th, 2009 9:36 am

    Hi all

    Just came across your site and was gratified to find a Bento Users Forum. I have just started using a trial of Bento after putting myself through an online Filemaker Pro course. I am looking at setting up a database for work managing students, teachers and classes.

    I am not a DB developer by any stretch of the imagination and the learning curve for FM is steep but not unachievable. At the end of the day I would probably be able to create the DB I wanted using FM Pro but would have to solicit some help.

    Enter Bento.

    I have been playing around with Bento to see if I could fashion the management tool I need for my project. On the surface it appears I can. I appreciate the simplicity of Bento when compared to the complexity of FM but I am a little worried of what I have been reading.

    For example I read that there is a possibility of losing data while using smart collections. The other thing that dawned on me is that Bento is one big DB file which I find quite bizarre. If you can’t share the way other programs share at least allow people take a copy of a file from work to home and sync between computers. I am not sure why FM even think that Bento is a threat to FM Pro It doesn’t even come close to having the same functionality or power. I know this because I have just spent hours studying it. There is no way I can justify FM Pro for my business but would like a functioning simple DB that does not do dumb things when I use all of its functions.

    Having said all that I think I can make Bento work for me but I would like to see a few more improvements such as better report/ printing options, the ability to create lists from existing libraries, slightly better relationship functionality, proper looking portals and not the thrown in table look for related fields, and self contained files that can be copied to disk and worked on between the workplace and home. Even with these modifications Bento, which markets itself as home and SOHO, will still not even be close to the power and functionality of FM Pro.

    Please don’t get me wrong I do like the look and feel of the program and what it’s trying to achieve but just feel it falls a little short of the mark.

    Would like to hear what others think especially if you believe I am asking too much. I would certainly pay extra for Bento Pro

    Cheers
    Tony

32. Florian on November 10th, 2009 1:36 pm

    Hi Tony,
    thanks for your comments. We here at BentoUsers are not affiliated with Filemaker in any way, so you don’t have to love Bento to get our support…

    I am working with Bento from the beginning so I’m used to its shortcomings and have learned to work around them. What I do expect is a bug free environment and that the features work as described. And with Bento 3 that’s not the case. The strange behavior of many features has been around since Bento 1, unfortunately.
    Bento Pro will never happen, and advanced features like scripting or true relational databases will also never come (because it would rival Filemaker Pro and Filemaker executives have told me so in person). Other things, like reports and other user requests, MIGHT come, but we won’t have any assurances from Filemaker ever.
    Portability is a problem because of the iCal and Address Book integration which uses special IDs for each computer which actually makes some sense. If you don’t use those libraries, you actually CAN use the same database file on different computers.

    What you want to do with Bento is certainly easy to achieve (the management you mentioned). And I can’t confirm that smart collections can lose data. Especially with Bento 3 I do back up my database file often. I also use several files, sub-sets so to speak. I have several libraries that are pretty much done (they won’t need much more editing). So I archived them in their own database files.

    As far as I know there WILL be a Bento 4 within a year. But what features are going to be added is anybody’s guess. I personally would rather have all the irregularities fixed than ever getting another new feature…

33. Tony Wrobel on November 12th, 2009 10:06 am

    Hi Florian

    Thanks for the reply.

    Can you confirm for me if what I read is true that Filemaker is owned by Apple?

    The reason I ask is that I can buy iWork (5 users) for about US100 which provides amazing functionality. Yet I pay US$50 for Bento which is marketed as a personal/SOHO product with some emphasis on the SOHO. FM Pro is $300 but provides more than 6 time the functionality. I’m not sure I buy the argument that FM can’t make Bento just a little more like a normal functioning DB for fear of losing the market. A case of forcing people to buy something that they will only ever use 25% of the programs power eg MS Word. Something that I will be bringing up on the FM Forum soon. I would think that FM has a long way to go with Bento before it will become a threat.

    Having said all that I can still make Bento work and get Numbers to do all the heavy lifting where needed.

    It’s extraordinary to think that Numbers has so much power built in and if the cost is broken down costs around $35 without the pretty forms.

    If Apple do own FM why can’t they adapted some of the functionality of Numbers. If not FM need to make Bento more like a DB with all the Mac integration it currently has. Call it FM Lite or Bento Pro it doesn’t really matter but it is still a long way off of filling the gap between no DB and a true pro DB.

    Cheers
    Tony

34. Florian on November 12th, 2009 3:04 pm

    Tony,
    here’s a quote from the Apple Blog (from 2007, just when Bento1 came out):
    “FileMaker is indeed owned by Apple but they’ve almost always run themselves as a totally separate entity form Apple.”
    So there you have it: it’s a yes AND a no to your question… complicated. That sounds like Apple is not really interfering with Filemaker’s decisions and doesn’t try to cooperate directly with them either. Maybe this will change in the future.

    I don’t really use Numbers yet (I do own iWork), and I have never used Filemaker Pro. But I didn’t hesitate long to buy Bento, mainly for its price. Having never used Filemaker Pro, I just don’t know what I’m missing I guess – Bento does everything I need it to do and I love the “pretty forms.” I’m proud of all my custom templates.

    I’m not discounting anything you say, but I’m not the right person to discuss it with you, not knowing the power of the other apps. But do bring it all to the Filemaker forums.

35. Will on November 17th, 2009 12:30 pm

    Bento is the little engine that could… but probably never will, thanks to the company’s open willingness to cripple the software.

    If extensibility was added and API’s were released, the user base could make at least a rough start at every major improvement this software needs in 6 months (or at least make it possible to CHANGE A FONT. Give me a break.).

    Instead, a team of paid professionals spent a year to implement useless 2005-era no-server sharing capability, drag and drop Cocoa grid-view capability into the interface, graciously allow us to organize with folders (revolutionary), and add a field type? And they want us to pay for the favor? No thanks, Filemaker.

36. Bill Boyd on December 4th, 2009 6:24 pm

    I’m looking for a software solution that will allow me to manage a large and complex communications calendar . . . showing audiences, messages, vehicles, specific articles/stories/news items, events, dates, people responsible, etc. I’m thinking about a pivot table in Excel — but I’m wondering if Bento might do the job better. Keep in mind I have no experience with Bento. What do you think?

37. Florian on December 4th, 2009 6:42 pm

    Bill, Bento 3 can combine all that data. It still depends what your exact expectations are and what you want to see on the screen.
    You can see the data of the integrated applications: iCal, Address Book, and iPhoto. But you can only see references to files and emails. You can use Quick Look to see those as well.
    Bento also gives you many field types for different data and looks. But keep in mind that Bento is NOT a spreadsheet.
    Since you can try Bento free for 30 days, I recommend playing with it. It’s pretty intuitive, but reading the user’s guide will speed things up.

38. Monroe on a Budget » Financial software: Bento for Mac on December 29th, 2009 2:32 pm

    [...] The Bento User’s site review on 3. [...]

39. Elliot on December 31st, 2009 2:05 am

    Wondering about a specific feature for prospects that I meet for business….let’s say I go to an event and meet many people, get their business cards; can I input the names of those people & info in Bento 3 and then later only pull up all the people that I meet at that specific event?

    In nother words how much can I customize a field? Can I just do that once and then with each contact I add not have to type in that field again? I think you can see where I am going with this. Thanks in advance.

40. Florian on December 31st, 2009 6:44 am

    Elliot,
    all you have to do is add a short note to a text field like “met at Cargill meeting.” You can then copy & paste that note for each contact.
    But here are many other ways: you could create a Check Box field labeled for that meeting, then you just have to click on it for each contact.
    Or you could create a Bento Collection for that meeting and enter the names right into that collection: this one would take the least of work and is readily visible all the time.

    If you use one of the first two options, you can easily search for all the names or create a Smart Collection any time. So many choices to solve this…

41. Elliot on January 4th, 2010 12:36 am

    Hi,

    Thank you for that info…is there free support over the phone for Bento customers and do you happen to know if the “Genius Bar” at the Apple stores give support for Bento with an appointment, since the company is owned by Apple? I assume they would not consider this a 3rd party software….

42. Elliot on January 4th, 2010 3:21 am

    oops 1 more question…..I have an imac at home which is my main computer and also a laptop (macbook) Can I sync all my information from Bento on my imac to my Bento program on my laptop?

    I am sure there are many people that have 2 computers that will find this answer helpful.

    Thank you

43. Florian on January 4th, 2010 7:16 am

    There is only limited phone support for Bento, mostly for set-up and troubleshooting. Advice about features costs money. The number is listed under Bento News on my site.
    I don’t know for sure, but I would think the Genius bar would try to help with just about anything; having said that, Filemaker is still its own entity, just being owned by Apple; so Apple will not directly support their applications.

    The best support option by far is the Bento Forums, the link is listed on our homepage here. These free forums are hosted by Bento tech support people.

44. Florian on January 4th, 2010 7:25 am

    Bento 3 added database sharing over your local network, but Bento is designed as a single user database, so there is no syncing option, except with Bento for iPhone.
    You can still copy your database file to a different computer, but your iCal and Address Book data is tied to one computer; so if you want that data as well, you also have to back-up the data from within iCal and Address Book separately. It was recently explained in the Bento Forums.

45. Elliot on January 5th, 2010 1:18 am

    ummm…Daylite seems to be a contact system that can share files with both iphone and a second computer. Any chance, in your opinion that this will be a feature that Bento will eventually have as I really like the look and simplicity of the system.

46. Florian on January 5th, 2010 7:01 am

    Because of the integration of the other apps I’m afraid it might never come. But only time will tell since they did figure out a way to sync with the iPhone…

47. Randy Penner on February 2nd, 2010 7:47 am

    Why is there still a 2 year limit on calendar events? What could possibly be the source of their resistance to changing this? Why not let users decide what, if any, limits there should be on the calendar events they wish to display? Is the Bento team open to changing this in the next major release? Is there a workaround solution in the meantime?

48. Florian on February 2nd, 2010 1:09 pm

    Randy, I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for supporting this petition! My argument is simply that a database is for keeping data, not losing them!

    It’s deadly for me too. In fact, I just complained about it in the Bento forums again. If you would be willing, please go there as well and add your name to that complaint by posting. Many people are complaining about it. The only explanation I got was that it might be a performance issue and that it might mess up existing customers to change it NOW. But I immediately suggested that you just have to put it in preferences if the user wants a limit or not.
    So I surely hope that all the complaints will trigger a change soon.
    The date Bento goes by is the End Date of an event. So the only workaround is to keep changing the End Date of Events to keep them in Bento.

49. Florian on February 3rd, 2010 12:34 pm

    To all:

    the iCal events restriction has been lifted with the Bento 3.0.3 update! See my new post.

50. Steve Cook on April 23rd, 2010 10:59 am

    FEATURE REQUEST —

    I’m hoping there might be a way to use a hand barcode scanner with bento to update inventory. I realize it is easy with filemaker to setup a script that would put the inventory database in find mode and find an item based on a scan from the device and simply update something like the last date found.

    Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do this with Bento on an iPad?

51. Florian on April 23rd, 2010 6:17 pm

    Steve,
    I agree with you, but posting a feature request on my site won’t help. Go to the Bento forums and post it there. They have a direct link to the developers.

52. John on June 4th, 2010 12:58 pm

    Hi Florian (and everyone else too)

    (n.b. I’m translating some terms from French, so I hope this makes sense in the end.)

    I apologise if you’ve already addressed this, but I didn’t see it in the previous posts. I’m just trying out Bento 3. In Contacts (or Address Book) I have quite a few business contacts with the name fields blank and only the ‘business’ name filled in. When I look at these contacts in Bento, they seem to be contacts without names. If I look at the detailed version of the contact, I can see the business name, but not in the Preview or Table view. Is there any way to add the ‘business name’ to the default ‘preview’ mode? Otherwise I will have a ton of contacts without names in my preview and grid views… which really sucks.

    I hope that made sense…

    Thanks in advance

53. Florian on June 4th, 2010 1:23 pm

    John,
    maybe I’m misunderstanding something here, but it’s logical that if you leave the name fields blank (First Name, Last Name) that you get contacts without names…
    So you could just copy the business (company) name into the Last name field, for example.

    Or, in Table View (like a List View) you can re-arrange the fields (dragging the columns left or right) to have the Business field next to the name field, which will look better.
    You could also create a Collection just for your business contacts. Then you can drag the Business field to replace the name field (drag it to the very left of the list display). You should even hide the name field from view (by clicking the little arrow beside it).

    Tell me if this wasn’t clear enough (with all those terms used).

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