Steward Database 4+

This product does the job I bought it for so no complaints there. It is intuitive to use and databases are easy to set up. I am using Steward for a database of my coin collection. I had been using a product which no longer works with the El Capitan operating system. Steward offers a number of advantages over that product and specifically the ability to set up and customize fields and better priniting and export capabilities. Because I found it very easy to use and understand, I was up and running and into data entry pretty quickly.

So why only three stars? I think this product needs a much better reporting engine. I would like to be able to report - both on screen and in print - by selecting specific records so that I get the desired subset of my data. I would like to be able to double click on a record in the table and go to the full screen record. I would like to be able to customize tables by selecting which fields to display. I would like to be able to assign sub-categories to tables to facilitate reporting.

I also think it would be nice if there were more options in customizing the ‘look’ of a record. Right now it pretty much looks like a flat file which is fine for my purposes but being able to use ‘bolds’, ‘italics’ or group fields into boxes, etc. would make the product look ‘sexier’.

The above comments are intended to be constructive. This is a pretty good product and well worth the price. However, with a few enhancements, it could become a great product.

I was looking for a replacement for Bento, but had bad luck with the various programs I tried (one disappeared all my data, to the puzzlement of its creator), so I approached Steward Database with a great amount of caution. But I found it easy to import my Bento data and then to use it for finding my passwords. A sign of its sturdy worthiness is that I haven't had to open Bento once since I changed programs. I tip my hat to Digua Lu.

While it is true that one can input data efficiently, the output options are limited and disappointing. Output options are scant; "hiding" fields may supress their values, but not their labels. Searches for multiple value entries for a specific field are, so far as I could tell without documentation, impossible. For instance, I wanted to print five items from a record list of 66, but I have no way of seaching for 11, 12, 18, 22, etc., just one at a time. In comma or tab separated outputs, graphics are no included.

I found the program easy to use but difficult to make useful.