While primarily a reference manager, its ability to store and search full-text PDFs and web snapshots makes it a strong contender for research-heavy tasks.

Released in July 2008 by Florida-based askSam Systems , version 7 was the pinnacle of the software's 20-year development. Unlike traditional databases (like Access) that require strict fields and tables, askSam allowed users to dump text, emails, and web pages into a searchable "bucket."

A notable feature for its time was the ability to save web pages directly from Internet Explorer into the database.