Postcode Anywhere Desktop Client review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 23 Jun 2005

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: David Ludlow

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

If you deal with lots of addresses and regularly take orders over the phone, you'll know how frustrating it is to have to type every line and aurally verify the information.

Postcode Anywhere takes some of the strain out of this with its Desktop Client.

This program sits in your System Tray and monitors what you type, looking for postcodes. When it detects one, the client springs into life and sends a query over the internet to Postcode Anywhere's servers. The results fly back amazingly quickly, giving you a list of matching addresses. Double-click the relevant one and it's pasted into the open application. It's fast and accurate, even listing company names. And as it pastes into the open application, it can integrate with your custom ordering system, or just take the strain out of entering addresses into Outlook.

The software also integrates with Excel and Access. You can record a template telling the software which fields or cells you want the address to go in. However, you have to be careful when recording the macro; using the mouse or pressing the Shift key stops data being recorded. Once done properly, it works seamlessly and is bound to save a lot of time for small businesses.

The search tool can be used individually to look up an address based on a postcode, company name or street address. Once you've found the address, the standard short cut copy and paste keys don't work, so you have to use the Copy address option from the Tools menu.

Aside from the occasional out-of-date record - Dennis Publishing still has an entry for its old building as well as the new one, for example - the search tool is fast and accurate. It's expensive, but a one-off payment gives you 1,000 look-ups a day. The Desktop Client is a tidy way of improving address management and taking orders.

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