Editing Personal information manager

{{Short description|Software used for organizing one's personal information}}
{{Merge|Personal information management|discuss=Talk:Personal information manager#Proposed merge of Personal information management with Personal information manager|date=January 2025}}
A '''personal information manager''' (often referred to as a '''PIM tool''' or, more simply, a '''PIM''') is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym '''PIM''' is now, more commonly, used in reference to personal information management as a field of study.<ref name="pimjones">{{cite book |title=Personal Information Management |editor1-first=William |editor1-last=Jones |editor2-first=Jaime |editor2-last=Teevan | year=2007 |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=WA |isbn=978-0295987378}}</ref> As an information management tool, a PIM tool's purpose is to facilitate the recording, tracking, and management of certain types of "personal information".

==Scope==
Personal information can include any of the following:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jones|first=William|date=January 2008|title=Personal information Management|url=https://doi.org/10.1002/aris.2007.1440410117|journal=Annual Review of Information Science and Technology|publisher=Association for Information Science & Technology|volume=41|pages=460–462|doi=10.1002/aris.2007.1440410117 |arxiv=2107.03291 |via=Wiley}}</ref>
* [[Address book]]s
* [[Alerts]]
* A [[digital calendar]] with [[calendar date]]s, such as:
** [[Anniversary|Anniversaries]]
** [[wikt:appointment|Appointment]]s 
** [[Birthday]]s
** Events
** [[Meeting]]s
* Education records
* [[Email]] addresses
* [[Fax]] communications
* Itineraries
* [[Instant message]] archives
* Legal documents
* Lists (such as reading lists, [[task list]]s)
* Medical information, such as healthcare provider contact information, medical history, prescriptions
* [[Password manager|Passwords]] and login credentials
* Personal file collections (digital and physical): documents, music, photos, videos and similar
* Personal [[diary]]/journal/memos/notes
* [[Project management]] features
* [[Recipes]]
* Reference materials (including scientific references, websites of interest)
* [[RSS (file format)|RSS]]/[[Atom (standard)|Atom]] feeds
* [[Tickler file|Reminders]]
* [[Voicemail]] communications

==Synchronization ==
Some PIM/[[Personal data manager|PDM]] software products are capable of synchronizing data over a [[computer network]], including [[mobile ad hoc network]]s (MANETs). This feature typically stores the personal data on [[Cloud computing|cloud drives]] allowing for continuous concurrent data updates/access, on the user's computers, including [[desktop computer]]s, [[laptop]] computers, and mobile devices, such a [[personal digital assistant]]s or [[smartphone]]s.)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Neyem|first=Andrés|title=Sharing Information Resources in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks|url=https://users.dcc.uchile.cl/~luguerre/papers/CRIWG-05b.pdf|journal=Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile}}</ref>

==History==
Prior to the introduction of the term "[[Personal digital assistant]]" ("PDA") by Apple in 1992, handheld personal organizers such as the [[Psion Organiser]]  and the [[Sharp Wizard]] were also referred to as "PIMs".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://memex.org/thereturnofthepda.html |title=The Return of the PDA |publisher=Marketing Computers |website=memex.org|date=February 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2284229 |title=History of the Personal Data Assistant (PDA) |work=BBC|publisher=H2G2 |date=March 31, 2004 |access-date=January 18, 2014}}</ref>

The time management and communications functions of PIMs largely migrated from PDAs to smartphones, with  Apple, RIM (Research In Motion, now [[BlackBerry (company)|BlackBerry]]), and others all manufacturing smartphones that offer most of the functions of earlier PDAs.

==See also==
*[[Calendar]]
*[[Calendaring software]]
*[[Comparison of note-taking software]]
*[[Information management]]
*[[Information system]]
*[[List of personal information managers]]
*[[List of wiki software]]
*[[Password manager]]
*[[Personal information management]]
*[[Personal knowledge base]]
*[[Personal organizer]]
*[[Personal wiki]]
*[[Semantic desktop]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{cite web|website=famnit.upr.si|url=http://pim.famnit.upr.si/pim/pimtools.html|title=PIM Tools}} A list of research Personal information managers.
* [https://www.globalmanagergroup.com/Products/iso-27701-gdpr-documents-manual.htm ISO 27701:2019 Personal information management system and GDPR documentation requirements]
* [https://www.punyam.com/ISO-27701-certification-consultancy.htm Steps to be followed while implementing ISO/IEC 27701 based Personal information management system]
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[[Category:Personal information managers| Personal information manager]]