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In search of an alternative to InfoSelect ...

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rgdot:
Always up for Notes DB/PIM alternatives. Thanks, will try it.

James-B:
I used Tornado Notes until it became Info Select. I stopped using it when I was switching between work and home computers and overwrote files with earlier versions. Since then I've been using The_Guide ( http://theguide.sourceforge.net/ ) as a very small, reasonably powerful alternative that will run from a USB stick. But The_Guide is no longer supported and lacks many of the features discussed here.

Work provided One_Note and I have been trying to like the program. It is powerful, it is good at annotating entries with source and date, it has excellent cut-n-paste support. Overall, I find it to be annoying.

The use of notebooks on the left side, tabbed sections of a notebook across the top, and pages in the section down the right side takes some getting use to. I often delete a section instead of a page.

Cut-and-paste works well but the fastest way to use it creates new pages within a section; then later I have to re-arrange everything to my liking.

But my biggest complaint is that it is too . . . pretty? I want to paste into a note and all of the formatting pastes as well. Now my notes have multiple formats. I click within a note to add a new entry and a nearby entry is selected rather than creating a new entry. I want to create space between two entries and I need to use a tool from the ribbon to do it reliably. I put in three entries and all three have different right margins and widths and don't align. I find I am spending more time making the page look good than collecting data.

This topic has given me several more tools to look through. Thanks, folks.

cyberdiva:
For several years now, I've been happily using Surfulater.  At $79, it's a bit pricey, but that price permits you to use it on up to five computers.  I'm happy that I was able to get it for less, but knowing how well it serves my needs, I'd willingly pay the full price if I had to.  What do I like about it?  Well, I can save material from just about any source, online or off.  Most of the time, I simply right-click on an article, or part of an article, or a website that I want to save and select one of four possibilities: Add new article, Add new article plus Page, Attach Page to Article, or Bookmark this Page.  To be honest, I almost always select the first option: Add new article.  Surfulater automatically records the source of the article, and I can easily edit the article,  link it to other articles, add tags to make it even easier to find, etc.  I can also search my database(s) VERY quickly.  And if I encounter a problem, there's a forum and a very responsive developer to turn to for help.

All in all, I'm very happy with Surfulater.  Admittedly, I'm a little nervous about the developer's plans to have the next version make use of the cloud, but apparently one will still be able to have one's database on one's computer (my preference, at the moment).  However, at least for now, I recommend Surfulater very highly as an information manager.  :Thmbsup:

barney:
After trying - and cursing - several alternatives, I've pretty much settled upon MyInfo.  I'm a bit disappointed with the tag system, but it works well enough for most usages.  The interface has a few foibles, e.g., the interface doesn't always retain changes from one (1) instance to the next, but it's the best I've found to date.  I am still looking, however.  In the process, there needs to be a transparent, almost instant backup system for the portable version.  Right now I'm using Syncless, but it tends to lose the sync instruction if the synched folder/files be missing when it is started.

dr_andus:
But my biggest complaint is that it is too . . . pretty?
-James-B (December 17, 2013, 07:16 AM)
--- End quote ---

Yeah, I actually had a similar problem with it. Somehow its skeuomorphism stands in the way of its functionality (despite the fact that it seems to be a very sophisticated software).

But the problem with these sorts of PIM and note-taking applications is that there is such a wide variety of user needs and software features and benefits that it takes a lot of careful analysis of one's needs and the software available to find the perfect match. E.g. there are ones that focus on capturing, or storing, or organising, or analysing notes, but few that can do all of those functions equally well.

E.g. if you want to store and organise notes, then there is the decision whether it should be a "tape", a hierarchical tree, a wiki, or some sort of a database interface. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

And then there are the needs and computing skills of the user. Some software might turn out to be too basic, while others have too steep a learning curve.

There is a big difference between The Guide and OneNote, for instance. What functionality are you particularly looking for?

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