Qiqqa - Reference Management System - Mini-Review

[IainB]

This is something I'm really interested in, specifically for my music studies. ...

-superboyac (September 07, 2013, 04:17 PM)

I think almost all the points/functionality you mention there can be delivered using MS OneNote - certainly I already do roughly 80% of what you seem to need.
Like most things, OneNote has its limitations, but they probably don't intrude for the sort of functionality you seem to be describing.
As always, rather than rely on other people's opinions, I'd recommend you "suck it and see".

[Contro]

@Contro:
^^ Good question, though a bit off topic.
In response:

• As I wrote above, I took a look at the details on the DocFetcher website, and it seems to be purely a document Search/Index proggy - could be an alternative/replacement  to (say) Windows Search/Index. Thus apparently not the same thing as Qiqqa at all.
• Qiqqa is a fairly specialised (for PDFs) and self-contained reference management system. I think it makes its own copy of every PDF documents file that it finds in the  directories you tell it to monitor, and it searches/indexes them and OCRs any image content, and builds metadata about all documents.
• Windows Search in Win7 can, by default, index/search hundreds of file types, and for those it can't by default, all you need to do is install the appropriate iFilter - e.g., here are some instructions for installing the PDF iFilter.
• Unlike Qiqqa, I don't think Windows Search can OCR images with embedded text in PDF files, though it can OCR and index any embedded text in images in TIF/TIFF files.

-IainB (September 08, 2013, 03:17 AM)

Yo are so good technical i try to follow. 
So speaks me as a dummie 
please .
windows search is included in Qiqqa ? qiqqa does o may do all what windows search does ?
DocFetcher is included in Qiqqa ?

 

[40hz]

Much as it shames me to admit it, I still prefer paper systems for just about everything other than very large or technical information collections. Anything involving art, the humanities, or social sciences and I'm definitely the notebook/wall chart/post-it type.

In my case it all comes down to who the research is intended to be used by.

Since most of what I do is solely for my own use, I don't feel a strong need to compile my sources for posterity or peer review . Something which seems to be the unvoiced motivation behind many 'reference' and 'organizer' type apps.

As long as I can easily find what I'm looking for when I need it, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. Otherwise the method can take on a life of it's own and turn into an endless round of superfluous preparations to do research or "get organized" rather than actually doing it.

But maybe that's just me, selective closet Luddite that I am. 

[superboyac]

ok, quick update.
i tried piggydb, didn't really take.  like 40 said, the interface is not really ready for prime time.  then i tried using a simple evernote notebook for my musical journal.  it didn't really take.  it was like i was forcing myself to come up with something to write.  i also tried The Journal, which I like, but basically the same thing happened.

i'm trying to do what my teacher has recommended, but maybe it's not the way for me.  i don't know.  i need to figure out what the root benefit of the musical journal really is and maybe there's another mechanism that is right for me.  this is like me in college...i never took notes and did great.  i found taking notes distracted me from listening, it was a huge failure for me.  but everyone recommended taking notes.  so i don't know.  i think my real goal is just that i have to sit down and play, focused and deliberate.

[superboyac]

IainB...
I tried qiqqa finally.
I thought i could use it to search inside pdf's...but I don't understand the syncing.  I have pdf's stored on a network, then i have a client pc machine that does not have the pdf's stored on it.  So could i use qiqqa to establish a database of pdf's and then search them from any pc?  it seems like what it does is actually sync all the files.  i dont want to sync the files, i just want to search them remotely.

[IainB]

@superboyac
I haven't needed to use Qiqqa recently, but as I recall, using it on a laptop, it monitored and auto-scanned your directories for .PDF files, copied any new ones it found into it's database, then OCR'd them (if just image files) and indexed them. The data was thus duplicated into Qiqqa's database (library) and the original docs left untouched.
I presume it still could work that way. I've not used it across a network or Cloud drives, so I don't know how that would work out, sorry.
Don't they have help files or a helpdesk to answer your Q's?
I'm probably not much use for support.

[sphere]

I realize this is a very old thread- however it is a review.

I just wanted to post that Qiqqa is now open source software.

 
"After 10 years of your support we have decided to make Qiqqa open source so that it can be grown and extended by its community of thousands of active users.

NB: We will be discontinuing Web Library support for Qiqqa at the end of 2020. So you’ll have one year within which to install the latest version of Open Source Qiqqa (which is improving daily), migrate your Web Libraries into Intranet Libraries, and enjoy all the Premium and Premium+ features of Qiqqa for free (except Web Libraries)!
Go to the Qiqqa Open Source GitHub website. "
https://github.com/j...ne/qiqqa-open-source