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In search of an alternative to InfoSelect ...

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skas:
I know, this is an ancient topic & thread. But I suspect there are people still reading it from time to time, and I do have some helpful information to contribute.

1. I think Scrivener is one of the best alternatives to InfoSelect (or "Info Select" as the developer spelled it) for users who used InfoSelect to draft text documents, manage text information, and/or organize outlines of text documents, quotes, etc. Scrivener has no calendar or email capabilities, or spreadsheet grid capabilities, or database forms. And no doubt there are other InfoSelect features missing from Scrivener too.

But Scrivener does have a very cool "compile" feature which compiles multiple documents into a single doc file, or pdf file, or webpage, etc. It even supports MultiMarkdown for producing webpage content. And it will leave out the top portion of documents, allowing you to add blurbs, comments, or descriptions to documents.

It also supports linked inline notes (via internal links to a sidebar of notes for revision todo's -- or for footnotes/endnotes)

And it can deftly manage 100s of pages of text. After all, it was originally intended for novelists, screenwriters, etc.

Yet I'm now discovering that it can be used for a vast array for purposes by others who work w/ text. And the labels in Scrivener can be changed so you're not stuck in a program that uses lingo like manuscripts and characters and scenes and scripts. The compiling process itself can be changed too -- globally and/or per document or per item. This way you can prevent it from automatically inserting the word "chapter",  among so many other things.

It supports project templates and document templates too.

I encourage former InfoSelect / Info Select users to check out Scrivener. Like Info Select, the more you look into it, the more powerful and flexible you'll find it to be. But it does take some learning. I've read that it's supposed to be "intuitive" but that's bunk.  I recommend the YouTube webinar recording called Boot Camp for Scrivener by a sci-fi novelist whose name escapes me. The video is nearly 90 mins, and it doesn't rely on the default starting points, ou learn lots because he doesn't rely on a template, and he shows how to change some labels, add inline notes, and provides tips for compiling.


2. That said, I continue to use InfoSelect -- but only the last build of InfoSelect 9 (IS9), not v10, which I tried out, and knew, sadly, that it meant the end of InfoSelect's development.

Now, however, I use multiple installations -- each installation has it's own shortcut on my Start menu (and Quick Launch toolbar), and each installation has its own purpose. Sure this means there are some redundant .dlls on my hard drive, but so what? The hard drive space consumed by the program files of my now 10+ installations is minimal, and the memory consumed is truly inconsequential even when multiple installations are running at once.

I publish a newsletter, so one IS9 installation is for drafting the content of the newsletter, and managing most of the research. Another IS9 installation is for drafting the text of my website content. Another IS9 installation is for tracking and managing my bill payments -- and here, the Template feature is really handy, because I just generate a new checklist every month (and the login links, etc, for online account info and online payments are contained within each checklist).

Enough said.

IainB:
Thanks for your comment - I'm always interested in this thread.
Scrivener is pretty impressive, and I have trialled it and thought of using it, but the reason I am using OneNote is that I have discovered new requirements by using it, and they can't be met by other software that I have trialled, so far.
I have trialled IS9 but still haven't migrated away from IS8 though. It's hard to beat for my requirements.
I find your "multiple installations" (that's databases, I guess) for IS9 (IS 2007) a novel idea, but I would suggest that it may be unnecessary since one installation of IS can open several separate databases simultaneously or sequentially, as required. You don't need them all open all of the time, just the ones you are using. You can keep the databases automatically closed on startup by default, and just open the ones you want (and later close them and open others). That's a feature of IS that I have been using for years.

barney:
Forgot this was here  :-[.

Been using MyInfo for quite a time, now.  Not as complete as InfoSelect (name as was sold to me), but close, and I don't have to pay $100 annual update - although I might, with a few changes - as was necessary with InfoSelect.  My disaffection with InfoSelect began when an update trashed my file history, running into nearly a decade, with no chance of recovery within the program.  Yeah, there were backups, but the same thing happened.  Lamentations to InfoSelect went unanswered, so I quit the program - I've no use for developers that don't respond (reminiscent of my lifetime license to WinZip which was not respected when Nico Mak (?) sold it to current developers).

Right now, MyInfo serves to capture and retain my needs/preferences.  Several limitations exist, but they be bearable, and the developer(s) seem amenable to suggestion, albeit somewhat dilatory in implementation at times.

(I distrust OneNote, Evernote and the like because too many cloud leaks/break-ins/intrusions have occurred.  Was an avid Evernote user until it migrated to a cloud-based format/venue.)

tomos:
A couple of interesting related threads lately:

stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system
and
TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

(other software is also discussed in each of those threads)

alexi:
EVERNOTE.COM! Sorry I shouldn't have shouted.  I was an Infoselect junkie for years.  Evernote does everything Infoselect did and it is available to me on any machine anywhere I am as well all the computers in my network. I highly recommend it.  http://www.evernote.com.

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