Bento 2.0 Released With Many Exciting Features

Last Week, I reviewed Bento 1.0, the extremely easy-to-use database tool designed for the Mac. Well, little did I know that only a week later Bento 2.0 would be released.

Bento 2.0 contains many nice new features, and a little layout adjustment. First, I will talk about the layout adjustment. In previous versions of Bento there was a panel on the right side of the window. This panel contained all of the fields for the current database. In 2.0, this has been moved over to the right side below the Library list. This gives you much more room for the database itself and makes Bento less cluttered. However, if you have a lot of libraries or fields, this can get fairly annoying.

Another layout change added in Bento 2.0 is the Table View. Before, it was really just a table with all of your records for a certain library. But 2.0 has added many more functionalities, making it even more like a spreadsheet. The biggest improvement here (and there are many) is the ability to change and add fields within the Table View itself. So, if you like a more classic database, you can do everything you need with just the Table View. It should also be pointed out that all tables (as in a file list) have a new look — a more Bento-like look. The old tables looked awkward, but these new ones are super-slick.

Speaking of table views and spreadsheets, Bento 2.0 now has much more spreadsheet support. You can now import from Numbers or Excel documents, and export to them as well. When you go to File>Import>File…, you will get a window asking you where the file is and how to write the values to a database, so no mistakes are made during import. But what these features really mean is that your databases are not attached to Bento; you can export at any time (and if you don’t have iWork or Office, you can always export to the common .csv format).

One little feature that has been added was importing and exporting of Templates (it wasn’t there already?). If you think you have made a killer template (as in the look of your database) and you want to share it with the world, you now can! Just go to File>Export… and choose template and you’re off! When you want to import someone else’s masterpiece, you just go to File>Import>Template… Along with this new support of templates, they have also included 10 new color themes for you to use. So, there are even more possibilities of templates, meaning there should be tons of templates available to download.

Now, there is one huge feature I must talk about. It is called Related Records. Let’s say you have a database for clients, and one for received payments. You want a certain client and their payment to go together. Sure, you could create a new form for payments in the clients database, but that takes time. Well, with this new feature, you can just add a Related Records List to your form. To do this, click the [+] in the Fields list, and choose Related Records List. You then choose a source and a name, and it is completely set up. Then, like any other field, you just drag it onto your form. Now, if you want to add an existing record to the list, click the leftmost button at the bottom of the list. It will prompt you to choose the record you want to add. Once you have chosen, you just click Add To List. If you click the second-to-the-rightmost button, your Field List will turn into a list with the fields of the database that you are using for related records. There will be checkboxes next to fields. You check the fields you want to see in the Related Records List, and you uncheck the ones you don’t want to see.

The last feature I will talk about is Apple Mail support. If you want to attach emails to your records, you now can. You just add a Message List to your fields. Once you have created this field, as usual you drop it onto your database. Then all you have to do to add an email is drag it onto the list in the record you want it to be attached to. Once you have an email in the list, if you hit space (or hit the QuickLook button) you will be able to see that in a QuickLook window in Bento! Emails can usually have a lot to do with databases, and this feature brings them together seamlessly.

FileMaker’s Bento still retails for $49 for a single-seat license and $99 for a family license. It was a great deal before, and it is now even more of a deal! You can download a trial from their site too. I really suggest that you at least try out the new version, because with all these new features, it is really catching up to $300 database tools, but yet has such simplicity that a 5-year-old could use it.

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