Ok, so what I do is create a subdomain on my server, in my case it’s something like client.spyrestudios.com (replace ‘client’ with the client’s name or company name) and then I simply install Vanilla (like Mike said, it’s very minimalist and can work differently than the usual forum softwares like SMF and others) so I install a default theme, switch the logo for my own, change the color scheme a bit maybe. Then I’ll install these plugins:

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/468/Load-Up
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/433/UserFields
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/437/AutoLinks
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/451/DiscussionSearch
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/442/Snippets
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/257/AddCommentBox
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/409/Notifi

Some are a bit buggy, but they do the job just fine for what I need. With those plugins users can upload files, get notifications when replies and new posts are published, search the whole forum, and it makes all links clickable without the need to write the a href. Of course it’s not a full-blown collaboration and project management tool, but it does the trick in many situations and it’s free! I use this setup when I need to keep track of stuff and there’s many people involved in a project (designer, developer, editor, writer, etc…) it’s a minimalist setup, but it works

I don’t use Gmail for mission-critical work, and don’t have any plans to in the foreseeable future. I’ve been online a long time and I don’t want someone else to store my data for me. I do use filters to move stuff into folders in Thunderbird, but it all stays on my hard drive.

I may be a little too strict about that, but it works for me now.

I am interested in improving project management, though.

Thanks again.

Thanks!

Could you elaborate on how you can use Vanilla Forums as a project management tool? Which plugins need to be installed in order to do this?