The first major change occurred between ACT! version 6.0 (2004) and version 2005 (7.0). The entire ACT! program was rewritten for the 2005 version, and the data access mechanism for ACT! databases was completely changed. Because of this, Stonefield Query reports written for ACT! 3.0-6.0 databases are not compatible with ACT! 2005 and later databases, and vice versa. When you add an ACT! database to Stonefield Query, you specify which of these types (ACT 3.0-6.0, or ACT! 2005+) it is, and Query handles the database accordingly.

The second major change occurred with the release of ACT! 2010. ACT! 2005 and later versions include a component called a data provider, which allows for tools like Stonefield Query to read from the ACT! database. The data provider released with ACT! 2005 had several drawbacks, so ACT! 2010 includes a completely new data provider, in addition to the older one. Again, since this data provider is completely new, reports written with it are not compatible with older versions of ACT!.

The result of this in Stonefield Query is as follows:

• When connected to an ACT! 3.0-6.0 database, Stonefield Query automatically uses the ACT! 3.0-6.0 data access. Reports created using ACT! 3.0-6.0 databases can only be run against ACT! 3.0-6.0 databases.

• When connected to an ACT! 2005 (7.0) - 2009 (11.0) database, Stonefield Query automatically uses the ACT! 2005-2009 data provider. Reports created this way can be run against ACT! 2005 and later databases, including ACT! 2010 databases.

• When connected to an ACT! 2010 or later database, Stonefield Query gives the option to use the new ACT! 2010 data provider, or the ACT! 2005-2009 provider. Reports created with the 2010 provider can only be run against 2010 and later databases, while reports created with the 2005-2009 provider can be run against 2005 and later databases. Since the 2010 provider is superior, new reports should be written using it, unless the report will be run by users with earlier versions of ACT!.