Author Topic: General brainstorming for Note-taking software (Read 900386 times)

melitabel · « **Reply #825 on:** October 11, 2010, 03:03 PM »

Well, that's something, anyway. We aren't going to adopt Office 2010 anytime soon, on the grounds that it's a memory hog, so I won't worry that I'm missing anything. I did hope that there would be aversion of OneNote for Mac, but I think I would have heard of that by now, if so.

Thanks!

rjbull · « **Reply #826 on:** October 12, 2010, 03:32 PM »

I did hope that there would be aversion of OneNote for Mac
-melitabel (October 11, 2010, 03:03 PM)

I presume you mean a genuine Microsoft OneNote, rather than a competitive product? Because, I recently read Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Out of interest I followed a link he gave, which turns out to be real software, Ibrium's NotePad Deluxe for the Mac. The screenshot looks like a two-pane organiser.

melitabel · « **Reply #827 on:** October 12, 2010, 03:52 PM »

Thanks! I missed that when I read the book (I confess to reading more to find out what happened than for detail, need to go back). I will tell this story when I talk about it.

It looks more like EverNote than OneNote at first glance, but I'll take a longer look later. I do need to find products which can work with both because we have people working on teams with both machines. When this discussion started in 2006, note talking was entirely personal. Now, there is little that I do without thinking, how will I be able to share this if I want to?

rjbull · « **Reply #828 on:** October 14, 2010, 02:38 PM »

Thanks! I missed that when I read the book (I confess to reading more to find out what happened than for detail, need to go back). I will tell this story when I talk about it.
-melitabel (October 12, 2010, 03:52 PM)

It looks more like EverNote than OneNote at first glance, but I'll take a longer look later. I do need to find products which can work with both because we have people working on teams with both machines. When this discussion started in 2006, note talking was entirely personal. Now, there is little that I do without thinking, how will I be able to share this if I want to?

Larsson has Blomkvist using the software to keep notes on all members of the Vanger family, so it sounds like a structured system. I confess this is somewhat third-hand information

There doesn't seem to be a PC version, unfortunately.

sword · « **Reply #829 on:** October 15, 2010, 05:49 PM »

There is an interesting article in the October 2010, issue 119, Linux Pro
magazine that describes an approach to note-taking as used in the Emacs
extension Org-Mode. <orgmode.org> I bet a similar *really streamlined*
approach would work using a good database app or word processing app.

nevf · « **Reply #830 on:** December 19, 2010, 04:56 PM »

I have just written a blog post “Your Information in 'The Cloud' - Safe, Secure, Available or Not?” which I thought may interest some here.

Also for the first time ever we’ve got a Surfulater 50% Xmas discount offer available. Do tell your friends, family and colleagues. Visit http://www.surfulater.com and click on the Xmas Special image at the top right of the page.

Merry Xmas to all,
Neville

rjbull · « **Reply #831 on:** December 20, 2010, 02:40 PM »

I have just written a blog post “Your Information in 'The Cloud' - Safe, Secure, Available or Not?” which I thought may interest some here.
-nevf (December 19, 2010, 04:56 PM)

Makes sense; avoids the worst of the problems. I don't think I'd knowingly commit to any Web-only service for the sort of reasons you mention, plus the possibility of the cloud company hiking their prices and taking your data hostage.

rjbull · « **Reply #832 on:** February 03, 2011, 02:33 PM »

Just for the compleatist, I just stumbled over these two when looking for something else. I haven't tried them. They're both freeware.

Techno Notes Manager

Save and organize any texts with rich formatting.
Free-form personal notes organizer with tree-like structure. Sometimes this kind of software called outliners. Main purpose is to store many notes with hierarchical structure in single file.
* Main features: Modern easy-to-use interface
* Full rich text support including images, tables, bullets, etc.
* Powerful encryption
* Full-text search engine
* Organization with hierarchy and by keywords (tags)
* Export to HTML or RTF
* Spell checker
* File attachment to any nodes
* Portable mode support
* Multilanguage interface

Smereka: extensible personal freeform database and personal information manager

Smereka is a freeware program that allows you to organize your data in an hierarchical, searchable database stored in a single file.

Your files and notes can be stored in a single file - Smereka database. This file is being indexed on the fly, so you can search your information items as soon as they are added to the database. All information items - files, notes and even folders - can be tagged to create "alternative hierarchy".

The search capabilities of "Smereka" are extended by a hierarchical system of item storage (in a tree). This allows you to sort your items into a tree-like structure. You can move, copy items from branch to branch, assign icons to them and more.

Your information (text, offline webpages) appear on the screen instantly, as soon as you click a tree item - you do not need to run an external program in most cases.

And of course, you can share the database. Having received a single file, your peer may instantly browse all the array of your data, search it or export information items to disk.
Here are typlical cases of freeform database usage:

* organizing snippets of text information: you are accumulating small, independent text files and saved webpages. They are used to store ideas, notes, article archive, etc.
* data mining: you are researching some topic. You need to save and analyze a lot of diverse information, which is located on different webpages, in different text files. You also want to save relevant discussions, IM chats etc.
* project management: you are leading a project, which requires organizing and storing a great quantity of artifacts: documents, important e-mails, chat transcripts, ideas, brainstorm protocols etc. In addition to specialized tools, such as MS projects, CMS or bug trackers, a personal database helps a manager to put pieces of informationtogether, which otherwise would not "fit" into these large and formal tools. Flexible reminders can be attached to any item and keep you track your project.
* structured information exchange: you need to send your colleague a set of file together with some relevant instructions. You can attach files to the database as info elements, and insert text items as child (or parent) nodes.

rgdot · « **Reply #833 on:** September 23, 2011, 10:56 AM »

May be this general thread is a good place to post this
At least at first glance this seems to be a good read on the topic

rjbull · « **Reply #834 on:** November 21, 2011, 02:09 PM »

Action Outline is on offer at Bits du Jour today, 2011-11-21, but I can't get their page to load at time of posting.

urlwolf · « **Reply #835 on:** November 22, 2011, 10:02 AM »

After spending a long time, and trying most of the tool in this thread, I now use gDocs for notes, together with syncdocs. The interface is better (smooth scroll, highlights all search matches, default shortcuts are good), the features are better (change tracking, autosaving, trully excellent collaboration), and it opens faster than most tools here, simply by using the 'save as shortcut' feature in chrome.

Syncdocs is great too. If someone edits a doc online, and you open the .doc in your hard drive, even offline, with word, you see the 'track changes.' Genious.

The only thing I don't like is the lack of drag and drop for pictures, and the delays going from files to the 'file manager' view. First time a web app beats a desktop app, in a category that is incredibly competitive.

I would not use gdocs instead of word for long docs, though. For notes, it's perfect.

My 2 c.

rjbull · « **Reply #836 on:** May 16, 2012, 04:42 PM »

Just when you thought this thread was safely dead, jumps up again. There's yet another one that doesn't seem to have been mentioned on DC: Aml Pages.

Aml Pages is tree-structured notes organizer for Windows. It contains all your notes, information, web pages, passwords, URL-address in the form of a tree, so you can quickly find what you need. The Aml Pages can easily save web pages (or fragments) from the Internet and provides a sticky for quick notes. Manage megatons of your notes with ease at work and at home.

Support plain text, rich text and web pages, tables and figures, attachments, and many plug-ins for expansion features. At any moment you can instantly record the important information in a sticky note, not looking up from the important cases.
Aml Pages allows you to store absolutely any information in its database: texts, images, screenshots, files, URLs and etc. Moreover, you can store both links to files and files themselves.

Found from a Bits du Jour e-mail about a future promotion of it: Bits du Jour - Aml Pages Home License. Their blurb:

Aml Pages Home License
Organize Notes In a Tree Structure

By now, we've all gotten used to the intuitive effectiveness of the tree structure for navigating file systems. It all makes so much sense, having nested folders to organize your data for easy retrieval - so why not adopt this same approach to your notes? With today's discount software promotion, Aml Pages, you can!

Aml Pages lets you keep all of your notes, information, websites, passwords, and other data in a convenient and intuitive tree structure. With Aml Pages, you'll be able to capture information quickly as you perform your research, making your workflow more productive and efficient. Capturing a complete web page is as simple as pressing a hotkey, or dragging and dropping selected text. There's native support for plain text, rich text, images, screenshots, tables and figures, attachments, and more. Anything you need to save, you can save with Aml Pages!

Beyond just the tree structure, Aml Pages also helps you by letting you customize each node of your tree with its own font, size, style, and color. On top of that, you can use tags to further categorize your information. When it comes time to find anything, a powerful search engine lets you quickly locate your target, and you can create adjustable filters to include or exclude specific criteria. Bonus features include password protection for all data and backup copies, and autosave that ensures that your notes are always safeguarded!
Promotion Written by Derek Lee

I don't know how it's considered better/different than the multitude of similar programs, and have asked in the Bits promotion. I also asked about import/export, tired of being locked into proprietary formats.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #837 on:** May 16, 2012, 05:58 PM »

Well, that's something, anyway. We aren't going to adopt Office 2010 anytime soon, on the grounds that it's a memory hog, so I won't worry that I'm missing anything. I did hope that there would be aversion of OneNote for Mac, but I think I would have heard of that by now, if so.

Thanks!
-melitabel (October 11, 2010, 03:03 PM)

Hmm, I'd recommend Excel 2010 because you get to make *custom* ribbons which changes the whole Ribbon discussion for me at least!

J-Mac · « **Reply #838 on:** May 16, 2012, 10:15 PM »

Hmm, I'd recommend Excel 2010 because you get to make *custom* ribbons which changes the whole Ribbon discussion for me at least!
-TaoPhoenix (May 16, 2012, 05:58 PM)

Yeah, but only to an extent. I'm disappointed in it. Just about everything I wanted to add/remove from the ribbon bounced with messages that either I can't do that or I can only do that with a "custom group". They still haven't made things much easier or even logical. An example: I tried to add the strike-out tool to the ribbon - ever notice that's missing? Naturally I wanted to add it next to the Bold, Italic, and Underline icons, but Nooooooo.... "You must create a custom group to add that". And of course I couldn't seem to add a custom group next to the other text formatting icons, nor even near them. Just stupid stuff like that I've encountered. Try as I might, I just cannot grow to like the ribbon. The separation of tools is a real PITA. Like being in Table Tools in OneNote and you need to add formatting - Bold or Italic - to text? Gotta click on Home at the other end of the ribbon, then back again. Of course keyboard shortcuts solve that, but when, say, changing the font or font size? Just too much jumping around from tab to tab. Don’t like it after two years of use.

Jim

longrun · « **Reply #839 on:** May 16, 2012, 11:34 PM »

I'm not sure what the ribbon has to do with note-taking, but it is one of the most annoying inventions ever. For one thing, there's nothing ribbony about it. One dictionary definition is "notion consisting of a narrow strip of fine material used for trimming." The MS ribbon is hardly narrow; it takes up a practically a third of the screen.

J-Mac · « **Reply #840 on:** May 17, 2012, 11:01 AM »

I'm not sure what the ribbon has to do with note-taking, but it is one of the most annoying inventions ever. For one thing, there's nothing ribbony about it. One dictionary definition is "notion consisting of a narrow strip of fine material used for trimming." The MS ribbon is hardly narrow; it takes up a practically a third of the screen.
-longrun (May 16, 2012, 11:34 PM)

Cause someone mentioned a favorite program being better now because of the ability to customize its ribbon... Surely you saw that?

Has the opposite affect on me!

Jim

Ath · « **Reply #841 on:** May 17, 2012, 11:10 AM »

The MS ribbon is hardly narrow; it takes up a practically a third of the screen.
-longrun (May 16, 2012, 11:34 PM)

You have tried the standard Ribbon-minimize/hide feature? Double-clicking one of the tabs enables/disables that state.

longrun · « **Reply #842 on:** May 17, 2012, 12:16 PM »

Cause someone mentioned a favorite program being better now because of the ability to customize its ribbon... Surely you saw that?
-J-Mac (May 17, 2012, 11:01 AM)

What I saw was that Excel 2010 now had that ability, so I wasn't sure how that pertained to note-taking. Maybe I missed something.

longrun · « **Reply #843 on:** May 17, 2012, 12:20 PM »

You have tried the standard Ribbon-minimize/hide feature? Double-clicking one of the tabs enables/disables that state.
-Ath (May 17, 2012, 11:10 AM)

Of course, but I still find the ribbon cluttered, ugly, and less efficient than menus. On the rare occasions I use MS Office I use a utility that restores the old-style menu. This is one of those things on which reasonable people just disagree.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #844 on:** May 17, 2012, 05:25 PM »

Cause someone mentioned a favorite program being better now because of the ability to customize its ribbon... Surely you saw that?
-J-Mac (May 17, 2012, 11:01 AM)

What I saw was that Excel 2010 now had that ability, so I wasn't sure how that pertained to note-taking. Maybe I missed something.
-longrun (May 17, 2012, 12:16 PM)

Well, I've mentioned it about Excel 2010 now too. Meanwhile, depending on "what a note is", if you don't need the tree concept, then Excel is stunning for other kinds of notes - its very "chartiness" lets you make endless little tables of info, but now with the new Customizable Ribbon all the excruciating top-down misery of 2007's ribbon goes away, and scary-to-me, some unseen pain of the old menus does too. So sometimes speed is a feature in note taking, and with a custom ribbon, on certain types of notes you can blaze like Ghostrider through your information because of all of Excel's Info-Shuffling.

longrun · « **Reply #845 on:** May 17, 2012, 09:41 PM »

Now I see the connection. I'd never thought of Excel in terms of note-taking and was frankly was unaware of the changes to the ribbon. I tend to stick to what works for me, including Info Select v5 (with notes going back to 1990 or earlier) and lately CintaNotes.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #846 on:** May 17, 2012, 10:29 PM »

Aye, the tree programs biggest weakness is in table-format notes. They work better for hierarchy notes.

Someone was talking about importing spreadsheets into tree program, at which point I almost say: why bother? Just write a spreadsheet.

Have one of each.

J-Mac · « **Reply #847 on:** May 18, 2012, 12:52 AM »

RightNote has spreadsheets in it. Just sayin'.

Jim

Darwin · « **Reply #848 on:** May 20, 2012, 02:34 PM »

Cause someone mentioned a favorite program being better now because of the ability to customize its ribbon... Surely you saw that?
-J-Mac (May 17, 2012, 11:01 AM)

What I saw was that Excel 2010 now had that ability, so I wasn't sure how that pertained to note-taking. Maybe I missed something.
-longrun (May 17, 2012, 12:16 PM)

Well, I've mentioned it about Excel 2010 now too. Meanwhile, depending on "what a note is", if you don't need the tree concept, then Excel is stunning for other kinds of notes - its very "chartiness" lets you make endless little tables of info, but now with the new Customizable Ribbon all the excruciating top-down misery of 2007's ribbon goes away, and scary-to-me, some unseen pain of the old menus does too. So sometimes speed is a feature in note taking, and with a custom ribbon, on certain types of notes you can blaze like Ghostrider through your information because of all of Excel's Info-Shuffling.

-TaoPhoenix (May 17, 2012, 05:25 PM)

Funny, I was a bit lukewarm about the ribbon at first. Recently, however, I had to work on a computer with Office 2007 installed and was using Outlook and Publisher without the ribbon. Drove me bonkers! It's all what you get used to - I can't go back to life without the ribbon. Really like it now...

excev · « **Reply #849 on:** July 27, 2012, 02:57 AM »

Speaking about taking notes in Excel, you can try XLnotes add-in that allows to take notes with Word documants, web pages and attachments. Great if you wanted to have pictures/documents in your comments.