RightNote PRO 50% off

[Ennovy]

I searched BdJ several times for RightNote, but this page is recently added: http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/rightnote/

RightNote PRO with a 50% discount soon.

RightNote
Organize Piles of Info in One Spot

When was the last time you laid your fingers on a notebook? Think about it - when you were in school, notebooks were your way of keeping your coursework separated and organized. You had a notebook for English, one for Math, and another for History, and all of your notes and papers for each class were neatly stored in each one. Well, it may be years later, but that same concept still works, except this time it's on your computer with RightNote, today's discount software promotion!

RightNote lets your organize volumes of information in notebooks, each with a hierarchical tree of notes that makes it easy to sort and find information quickly. With RightNote, you'll be able to store several different note types, from word processing to spreadsheets and even source code, then use an integrated search engine to pull up highlighted terms as you type. If you're dealing with sensitive and confidential information, you'll appreciate the ability to safeguard any note, tree, or notebook using 128-bit encryption! You can even export notes to TXT, RTF, HTML, and XLS formats.

Have you ever swiped content from a website, only to cringe at the awful way a text editor loses formatting? Not with RightNote! The app is smart enough to preserve images and styles from HTML code, meaning your note looks similar to the source content. Combined with keyboard shortcuts, hotkeys, and frequently used note lists, you'll discover an untapped realm of productivity once you start using RightNote!

[DeVamp]

Woohoo, sounds nice :-)

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Good to know. I been holding out with perspired dates on my trial for a while.  (ok..expired).

I think I may end up with paid, full versions of RightNote, TreeProjects and MyBase (using the discounts that make it seem more like one purchase).  Sure, in the long run I may or may not figure out a good division of labor, and one may become dormant, but by having the professional versions and the support and the interaction, I will be more active and confident in use. They have similarities, and a lot of differences.  RightNote being the classic all purpose KeyNote-TreePad style, with a lot of extras.

I see all 3 programs as, at least potentially "a notch above" ... and in some cases careful thought will say ... I want this type of thing here and that there.

This is all on top of ListPro and Swift-ToDo.  ListPro is the one without an easy discount, but it also is inexpensive. Maybe we can contact from Donationcoder.

Shalom,
Steven

[rjbull]

I'll be interested to see if tranglos springs for RightNote, when the discount arrives 

[Innuendo]

Tranglos is a force of nature. No one can predict which way he will jump when he comes to the crossroads of making a decision.

Also, no one can predict which decisions he'll later rant about months later exclaiming how he can't believe he made the wrong one.

[tranglos]

I'll be interested to see if tranglos springs for RightNote, when the discount arrives  

(updated)

Everyone should buy RightNote if it helps them do what they do! I'm just too old to make the switch.

[tranglos]

Tranglos is a force of nature. No one can predict which way he will jump when he comes to the crossroads of making a decision.

That totally includes myself.

Also, no one can predict which decisions he'll later rant about months later exclaiming how he can't believe he made the wrong one.

Hey, in all fairness, I believe in equality in ranting. I rant just as often about how I can't believe other people made the wrong decisions!

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Wow. We have the original inspiration right here.  Little did I know. 

I have noticed that Bauer Apps (RightNote) is a bit impersonal, while still making a fine product.  Who was that masked man ? So I second the idea that a little credit should be given. 

Similarly, Linkman could give a little nod to Kaylon (Powermarks) the pioneers (maybe they do ?). On the other hand, Linkman is, overall, a very personable company.

Shalom,
Steven

[tranglos]

Wow. We have the original inspiration right here.  Little did I know. 

Ouch, that hurt. But right is right, I have amended my post.

[rjbull]

Everyone should buy RightNote if it helps them do what they do! I'm just too old to make the switch.

Does that mean you're still using your own seminal KeyNote, despite your comment that the interface is now dated, and your evident preference for the search behaviour of EverNote or CintaNotes?

I still mostly use EverNote for odd notes and Web clips, but I'm using 2.2, the last (I think) "true application" version that isn't cloud.  At present I think I'm looking for something similar, a non-cloud application that's a great way to keep notes and quickly find them again, without worrying about structure.  But, a program with a future.  I have a license for UltraRecall but don't much like it; and for AllMyNotes and NoteFrog, very different but both young projects.  I'm wondering how much more cash to commit to hope rather than certainty...   

[tranglos]

Everyone should buy RightNote if it helps them do what they do! I'm just too old to make the switch.

Does that mean you're still using your own seminal KeyNote, despite your comment that the interface is now dated, and your evident preference for the search behaviour of EverNote or CintaNotes?

Yes, all the time. I have 15 KeyNote files, of which 9 are archives of stuff I'm keeping around but won't ever need to modify, and the other 6 are in constant use. My Dreamhost logins, account numbers, travel plans, critically important bits of information I need to keep in my head at work, favorite quotes, cooking recipes, to-do lists, emergency addresses / numbers, registration keys for apps I've bought, Delphi code snippets, discussions-with-myself about how best to implement features in my apps, any random snippet of text I want to keep, up to and including my very real world domination plans and activities.

It's hard to change the habit and hard to move so much data in a way that won't create more mess than I'd be leaving behind.

OTOH, I find that I have almost no use for all the then-unique special features such as virtual nodes, plugins, or all the rubbish on the "resource panel". I even forgot it existed for a while until I accidentally triggered it :-)

Search in KeyNote is weak, but it does let me search all the nodes and notes when I need. I hardly ever need it though. I tend to remember where a particular node is located in the tree, and 90% of the time it is sufficient to locate it instantly.

I use Evernote only for a handful of things that I absolutely want to have on my phone as well. A shopping list, an occasional Google Maps screenshot or address, stuff like that. So I don't ever get to use the search that's actually quite nicely done. Somehow, I am not comfortable in an app where I have nothing but search to locate data.

Let's say you're going through an archive of web articles: is it "Guantanamo", "Guantánamo" or "Gitmo"? Bin Laden, Binladen, Ben Ladin, Ibn Laden or... Google handles all that in one query and checks for typos too, but desktop apps don't.

Tagging would help, as it gives you one fixed term for all the possible variants, but (a) entering tags is tedious; (b) having to remember what that special tag is is even worse; (c) there's always the nagging thought, „what if there's a very important article I forgot to tag"? At that point you're back to searching.

In KeyNote I rely on grouping related items instead, and as long as the tree size is manageable, finding stuff by browsing is very easy and eliminates all worries about missing something just because it was misspelled or not tagged.

Of course RightNote does the browsing just the same *and* has both tags and a better search, so it's totally cool to drop KeyNote for it :-)

[superboyac]

Everyone should buy RightNote if it helps them do what they do! I'm just too old to make the switch.

Does that mean you're still using your own seminal KeyNote, despite your comment that the interface is now dated, and your evident preference for the search behaviour of EverNote or CintaNotes?

Yes, all the time. I have 15 KeyNote files, of which 9 are archives of stuff I'm keeping around but won't ever need to modify, and the other 6 are in constant use. My Dreamhost logins, account numbers, travel plans, critically important bits of information I need to keep in my head at work, favorite quotes, cooking recipes, to-do lists, emergency addresses / numbers, registration keys for apps I've bought, Delphi code snippets, discussions-with-myself about how best to implement features in my apps, any random snippet of text I want to keep, up to and including my very real world domination plans and activities.

It's hard to change the habit and hard to move so much data in a way that won't create more mess than I'd be leaving behind.

OTOH, I find that I have almost no use for all the then-unique special features such as virtual nodes, plugins, or all the rubbish on the "resource panel". I even forgot it existed for a while until I accidentally triggered it :-)

Search in KeyNote is weak, but it does let me search all the nodes and notes when I need. I hardly ever need it though. I tend to remember where a particular node is located in the tree, and 90% of the time it is sufficient to locate it instantly.

I use Evernote only for a handful of things that I absolutely want to have on my phone as well. A shopping list, an occasional Google Maps screenshot or address, stuff like that. So I don't ever get to use the search that's actually quite nicely done. Somehow, I am not comfortable in an app where I have nothing but search to locate data.

Let's say you're going through an archive of web articles: is it "Guantanamo", "Guantánamo" or "Gitmo"? Bin Laden, Binladen, Ben Ladin, Ibn Laden or... Google handles all that in one query and checks for typos too, but desktop apps don't.

Tagging would help, as it gives you one fixed term for all the possible variants, but (a) entering tags is tedious; (b) having to remember what that special tag is is even worse; (c) there's always the nagging thought, „what if there's a very important article I forgot to tag"? At that point you're back to searching.

In KeyNote I rely on grouping related items instead, and as long as the tree size is manageable, finding stuff by browsing is very easy and eliminates all worries about missing something just because it was misspelled or not tagged.

Of course RightNote does the browsing just the same *and* has both tags and a better search, so it's totally cool to drop KeyNote for it :-)

Nailed it!

[rjbull]

I have 15 KeyNote files, [...] including my very real world domination plans and activities.

Methinks you might be too easily distracted.  As in:
We are tranglos of Borg.  Resistance is futile.  Prepare to be assimilated.  Just as soon as we have added this last little feature.

It's hard to change the habit and hard to move so much data in a way that won't create more mess than I'd be leaving behind.

I made an effort to convert a MemPad file to KeyNote to test import into RightNote.  It seemed to work perfectly, but it's a simple file, no graphics.

Somehow, I am not comfortable in an app where I have nothing but search to locate data.
[...] Let's say you're going through an archive of web articles: is it "Guantanamo", "Guantánamo" or "Gitmo"? Bin Laden, Binladen, Ben Ladin, Ibn Laden or... Google handles all that in one query and checks for typos too, but desktop apps don't.
[...] (a) entering tags is tedious; (b) having to remember what that special tag is is even worse; (c) there's always the nagging thought, „what if there's a very important article I forgot to tag"?

The high-end DOS app Inmagic (long since replaced by DB/TextWorks) had the ability to define synonyms, where searching one of those terms would have searched all of them.  That seems better than the tedious discipline of tagging, especially if you have to store and search data from outside you organisation, where you can't control the terminology.  Synonyms may not be in many desktop apps, but there's no reason it shouldn't be considered.

[tranglos]

I have 15 KeyNote files, [...] including my very real world domination plans and activities.

Methinks you might be too easily distracted.  As in:
We are tranglos of Borg.  Resistance is futile.  Prepare to be assimilated.  Just as soon as we have added this last little feature.

Heck, no! The assimilation can only ever be complete when it occurs on the real and the virtual planes both.

The high-end DOS app Inmagic (long since replaced by DB/TextWorks) had the ability to define synonyms, where searching one of those terms would have searched all of them.

That is a very good idea. I just wouldn't want to be the poor sod tasked with cataloging the synonyms :-) But yeah, absolutely. Google does something like that, it goes well beyond mere stemming.

(And oh yeah, post #1000! Happy Assimilation Day, everyone!)

[rjbull]

Heck, no! The assimilation can only ever be complete when it occurs on the real and the virtual planes both.

Thanks for taking that in good part  

The high-end DOS app Inmagic (long since replaced by DB/TextWorks) had the ability to define synonyms, where searching one of those terms would have searched all of them.

That is a very good idea. I just wouldn't want to be the poor sod tasked with cataloging the synonyms :-) But yeah, absolutely. Google does something like that, it goes well beyond mere stemming.

I'm not sure you'd do it a priori.  In your Guantanamo et al. example, I imagined the user glancing quickly through a new posting, noticing the alternative form, and setting it as a synonym at that point, reindexing if necessary.

I appreciate that converting data between applications is usually problematic, it's easy to stick with what you know, even if (in hindsight) it has shortcomings.  So I'm not surprised that you'd stick with KeyNote.  But, it occurs to me to ask: do you have a well-defined idea of what your ideal would look like, if it isn't RightNote?  AllMyNotes seems to me to do a creditable job of search and display, showing a "mini tree" with the postings in it, and a reminder that one is looking at a filtered view, not the whole tree.

[superboyac]

^^very nifty interface.  I like it!

I think what tranglos is saying, and it's the way I think about it also (eerily close!), is like this:
we use google so much now, and our brains are so used to the way it works (extremely powerful searching), that trying to find a program that can mimic that to some degree is a lost cause.  So trying to get my tags or tree hierarchies to give me the ultimate flexibility of a google-type search is fruitless.  I tried looking for the "perfect" notetaker for years.  But when i really started thinking about it, while I like a powerful search, I don't really use it much anyway.  I'm more of a browse-and-find guy myself, because I am very distrustful of my own mind, and I'm not sure if I spelled something correctly, or if I'm consistent with my organization philosophy.  So, if it's too hard to find or if I'm too impatient, I'll just go to google or wikipedia.  If the searching is nice enough, that's what I like.  I like colors and highlighted terms, and live searching, and any kind of nifty interface.  But I really don't use it much at all.  I sometimes laugh when I really think about the actual features I use a lot because it really comes down to like 5 things or less.  Like, i get a kick out of having a button for inserting a horizontal line.  Ridiculous, eh?

[daddydave]

FYI. a BitsDuJour deal for RightNote (apparently STANDARD not PRO)  is on (18 hours left):

[Ennovy]

FYI. a BitsDuJour deal for RightNote (apparently STANDARD not PRO)  is on (18 hours left):

You can buy both Standard AND/OR Pro version with 50% discount

[daddydave]

FYI. a BitsDuJour deal for RightNote (apparently STANDARD not PRO)  is on (18 hours left):

You can buy both Standard AND/OR Pro version with 50% discount

I apologize for misreading the site, I just saw that, that's great news!

[J-Mac]

Decisions, decisions....

I want to get it but at $30 is it worth it to me? With all the Notes apps I have? After all, I bought ZuluPad Pro and, well, it's somewhere around here I think. After buying and working with it, I realized that I have no use for it. Then there is TreeDBNotes Pro - bought that too, and though I go back to it more often than ZuluPad (which is easy because I NEVER use ZuluPad!), I can't really find any use for it in what I do. I still mostly use Evernote and OneNote 2010 (Though they just HAD to add the damn ribbon crap to it. Sorry but OneNote has never had enough menu selections to warrant using a ribbon instead. Now I am on the Insert tab because that's where you must add a table from, and... damn! Can't change the font size from here.. let me go to that other tab... eenie, meenie, minee, mo...  Grrr!

AllMyNotes looks like it has a lot of potential, but I was looking for something that might become mature BEFORE my lifespan is over.

If RightNotes was a nice simple <$20 it would be done and I wouldn’t even be posting this. But for some reason once a software title hits that $30 mark - or essentially $30 - the brakes in the software-purchasing module of my brain get slammed on. Gotta figure out what nerve-ending is doing that!

Oh hell, just buy it!  (No, don’t you dare!),  Bull - buy the damn thing!!  (No, no... pleaseeeee!) ....

Tune in tomorrow to see where this ends up...

Jim
--
"I am getting so tired of slitting the throats of people who say that I am a violent psychopath."

[tranglos]

But, it occurs to me to ask: do you have a well-defined idea of what your ideal would look like, if it isn't RightNote?  

I wish I had an answer to that! It's something you could write a book on (and collectively, we have probably done that twice over on DC!), but I'd rather just have the right idea and implement it in Delphi :-)

I don't have a good answer to your question, but I have a few loose thoughts. One panel, not two (or three). OK, you'll always want something on the side, such as a place to store attachments, but make it optional. Having only one panel simplifies so many things in the UI! As soon as you have two panels, you must decide what the TAB key does: does it navigate panels, or does it insert a tab? So you've just discovered an unsolvable problem (at least until keyboards get a proper, dedicated navigation key like I postulated some time ago). And there's plenty more where that came from.

Next, when I wrote KeyNote, my emphasis was clearly on the content of notes. The tree was just there to help organize them. The tree was great for so many things, but it too has limitations - like one item can have only one parent. And while you can overcome that, especially with a database-backed design, it'll always be with you, while a flat, tagged list makes that problem go away just like that.

Further, I've noticed that the tree is becoming more important to me than the notes. I want to do more with the tree - keep more data there, edit it more fluently. I'm influenced by Workflowy here, although in the end I'm not using it any more, because the in-browser UI is taking its toll. It's good for typing, but when I later needed to edit, heavily rearrange the tree, export and print, I was fighting it every step of the way. But a Workflowy clone on the desktop could do wonders for me.  (Another good example of a more powerful tree is MLO, but I want multi-line items and at least basic in-text formatting.)

I remember when I first saw Evernote I thought it was very innovative, a new way of organizing loose notes. I am sure it's not the end of the road, and someone will come up with an even more ingenious design - but I worry it will be on the web, where all the ingenuity is gagged and hampered by all the inconveniences and all the dangers of living inside a browser and in the cloud.

As for the good old tree, I want it infinitely malleable. The manually imposed hierarchy is fine, but also let me be free from that. Let me show the tree as a filtered flat list. Or let the tree arrange itself automatically according to rules, e.g. group items by date (years at the top level, then months, then maybe days, whatever). Group by tags, by content, by all kinds of properties and metadata.

And little things. I have KeyNote, Evernote, a few others along the way, and I did register Right Note Pro today after all, because I like it more and more. but when I need to jot down just a phone number of just a URL, where do I put it? It's too small to deserve a branch of its own in KeyNote, but if I put it in a note together with other stuff it gets lost in there, and pretty soon I have a single note with years' worth of tiny little bits like that. Soon I have no idea what that URL was for.

I have a big catch-all note like that in KeyNote. Not just numbers and URLs, but some useful command-line switches for TotalCommander, the serial number of my WD drive in case I need it replaced, symbol of the battery model I need for my video camera, an address for a local animal shelter, someone's birthday... and wait, wasn't I suppose to organize stuff?

I don't know what to do with bits like that. Evernote, maybe, but a subscription is not for me, and somehow I just can't make that jump. I like what OneNote does, where you can start typing anywhere and your little note gets its own colored frame. It looks great and makes a great impression, but these little frames will get messy too after a while. Oh, and often I want to know exactly when I added a little scrap like that. Is this the serial number for my new drive or the old one? I could tell if I knew when I entered it. (Yep, Evernote would know.)

I guess it all boils down to how hard it is to organize dis-organized stuff, and we accumulate so much of it it's not even funny! I always know very quickly what annoys me in a piece of software, but in this case I have to leave the solution to someone else. My ideas there extended as far as KeyNote 2.0, now fully realized and much expanded upon in RightNote - but I my imagination can't see any further, I'm afraid.

[daddydave]

BitsDuJour offer extended for another day.

[johnk]

I have a big catch-all note like that in KeyNote. Not just numbers and URLs, but some useful command-line switches for TotalCommander, the serial number of my WD drive in case I need it replaced, symbol of the battery model I need for my video camera, an address for a local animal shelter, someone's birthday... and wait, wasn't I suppose to organize stuff?

I don't know what to do with bits like that.

Many of us have battled, and lost, to find a single piece of software to manage our information. I gave up some time ago.

I too like RightNote, and plan to use it from now on as my main program for "organised" information.

But the other stuff? Here's what I do. I use not one but two clipboard capture programs.

One of them, your excellent Ethervane Echo, Tranglos, runs permanently in the background, in "inmemorydatabase mode", i.e. it will clean the database very time I reboot. Just recording information I might need for that session only.

The second program is Clipcache Pro. The auto capture is switched off most of the time. Then when I come across a snippet I know I might want sometime (e.g. a phone number), I switch on Clipcache's capture mode with a keyboard shortcut, then capture the number, and then immediately toggle Clipcache's capture mode.

Why go to this trouble? Because Clipcache is for information that I know I won't organise or manage. It's one big database of useful snippets. The important thing is to give the snippet a good title. So if the phone number is for the South-Eastern Electricity Company, the title should be 'South-Eastern Electricity Company phone number'.

I also use Clipcache for things like software registration numbers, recipes, software reviews, useful technical how-tos, film reviews, information on various hobbies...

I've been using Clipcache for several years now. Goodness knows how many snippets are in there. The database (SQLite) is about 50MB. I can find anything in seconds using search. It's one of the first programs I install on any machine. Invaluable.

And it means the serious information management programs are kept just for data that really needs organising.

[rjbull]

AllMyNotes looks like it has a lot of potential, but I was looking for something that might become mature BEFORE my lifespan is over.

J-Mac, you said it!  It's not just AllMyNotes (I have and like AMN but want more features), but several other programs all at once! 

the brakes in the software-purchasing module of my brain get slammed on. Gotta figure out what nerve-ending is doing that!

When you find out, patent a way of switching them on, and sell the product on DC.  Some of us surely NEED 'em 

[rjbull]

I don't have a good answer to your question, but I have a few loose thoughts. One panel, not two (or three). OK, you'll always want something on the side, such as a place to store attachments, but make it optional.

That sounds a bit like EverNote, where you can make the timeline and tags panels fly out with a hotkey.  But I suspect you mean something more fundamental than that.

As soon as you have two panels, you must decide what the TAB key does: does it navigate panels, or does it insert a tab?

Unless maybe you choose that default note status is Locked, and have to press an extra key to Unlock it for editing?

while a flat, tagged list makes that problem go away just like that.

Which NoteFrog has.  I was rather surprised to see a "one dimensional" notekeeper appear, after years of two-pane dominance.

Evernote [...] I am sure it's not the end of the road, and someone will come up with an even more ingenious design - but I worry it will be on the web, where all the ingenuity is gagged and hampered by all the inconveniences and all the dangers of living inside a browser and in the cloud.

I bought Evernote with my own money, though I used it mainly at work (at the time).  Whether it had been my money or the company's, I would not have accepted a cloud application.  I would feel that data I had laboriously accumulated was being held hostage to my or the company's continued subscription fees.  That seems an absurdly bad business decision.

As for the good old tree, I want it infinitely malleable. The manually imposed hierarchy is fine, but also let me be free from that. Let me show the tree as a filtered flat list. Or let the tree arrange itself automatically according to rules, e.g. group items by date (years at the top level, then months, then maybe days, whatever). Group by tags, by content, by all kinds of properties and metadata.

And that sounds a little like the filtering and virtual folders of The Bat!, or the rather similar ideas IainB has been wanting mouser to add to CHS.

I did register Right Note Pro today after all, because I like it more and more.

It must be good 

but when I need to jot down just a phone number of just a URL, where do I put it? It's too small to deserve a branch of its own in KeyNote, but if I put it in a note together with other stuff it gets lost in there, and pretty soon I have a single note with years' worth of tiny little bits like that. Soon I have no idea what that URL was for.

I have a big catch-all note like that in KeyNote. [...] wait, wasn't I suppose to organize stuff?

Part of the problem is the discipline needed to add meaningful details, but discipline isn't the whole story.  If you're really busy, you don't always have time.

For things like your examples, when I was dabbling with Black Hole Organizer, I mostly put them in their own notes, but made the first note in the list a catch-all that had internal hyperlinks to the individual ones.  That worked reasonably well for a small number of things I frequently needed rapid access to, but could scarcely be described as "organised."

I guess it all boils down to how hard it is to organize dis-organized stuff, and we accumulate so much of it it's not even funny!

I keep remembering what I think was zridling's motivation for moving to Linux; an unwillingness to commit more and more information to proprietary formats, and an intent to keep it in plain text files.  For me, a Windows-based alternative might be everything in plain text files, and running Archivarius more often.  I just want to save and retrieve information.  I don't need to impose structure on it, at least, not in the sense of making an printer-ready report.  It then depends on what you find the easiest way to search, and you have this tension between live search maybe with tags, versus tree organisation.  That's full circle; no clear resolution of this issue yet...