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Author Topic: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features  (Read 12926 times)

motiontwelve

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Hello,

Donation Coder's Clipboard Help & Spell is a very good clipboard manager but it's still lacking some major features that are pushing me to look for alternatives.  Until now, I think I've tried all the major titles in the category of clipboard managers including Ditto, ArsClip, Ethervane Echo, Clip Cache, ClipMaster, ClipMagic, Clipboard Help & Spell, etc. 
However, all of them had some serious drawbacks ranging from limited search, only plain text, no categories, lack of note taking/organizing, etc. 
In summary, I am looking for something that will allow me to:
- fast-as-you-type search like in Evernote or X1 client with keyword highlighting
- global hot keys to create new notes  (similar to GloboNote)
- capture rich text (including tables, font format, etc) and images
- note/clipping categories with ability to drag and drop
- open individual notes/clippings in their own individual minimalistic windows with always on top & transparency options
- paste text with stripped formatting (like PureText)
- Windows 8.1 x64 compatibility
- portability would be a plus
- alarms
- rearrange notes/clippings based on the urgency/time/flag
- simple table creation and formatting
- simple image in-place editing tools (crop, resize, rotate, draw text arrows lines on top, borders)
- keyword filter for note/clipping titles (similar to TreeProjects)
- local database with ability to sync over the net
- ability to add document files in the database including PDF, Office, etc. and index the contents for instant search.  I know this is asking too much but i think it would really open up doors to people that deal with lots of information like myself.  X1 client for instance uses the OutsideIn libraries from Oracle (previously Stellent) that allow to view approximately 500 file formats without the native apps installed.  TotalCommander has a free plugin called uLister that utilizes the same libraries.

I will be almost surprised if some app like this exists but I though why not ask around.  Looking forward to your recommendations.

Cheers!

motiontwelve


dr_andus

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Surfulater or its successor, Clibu? Not clipboard managers strictly speaking, but otherwise they seem to tick most (many?) of your boxes...

motiontwelve

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Thanks Dr_Andus.  Some great recommendations.  Are they still accepting beta testers for Clibu and will it be fully hosted online?  I would prefer to have a local database with the option to sync.
Surfulater has some cool ideas.  One minus I see already is that you can't separate individual notes/clips in their own minimalistic windows for on-the-fly note taking.  However, the search  is super speedy.  
Rich text editing/formating is kind of limited, lacking most table functionalities and image manipulation.  Also, attaching documents isn't working well.   :(

mouser

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Just for the record, here is how Clipboard Help and Spell comes out on your feature list:
  • - fast-as-you-type search like in Evernote or X1 client with keyword highlighting - CHS supported
  • - global hot keys to create new notes  (similar to GloboNote) - CHS supported
  • - capture rich text (including tables, font format, etc) and images - NOT supported by CHS
  • - note/clipping categories with ability to drag and drop - CHS supported
  • - open individual notes/clippings in their own individual minimalistic windows with always on top & transparency options - NOT supported by CHS
  • - paste text with stripped formatting (like PureText) - CHS supported
  • - Windows 8.1 x64 compatibility - CHS supported
  • - portability would be a plus - CHS supported
  • - alarms - NOT supported by CHS
  • - rearrange notes/clippings based on the urgency/time/flag - CHS supported
  • - simple table creation and formatting - NOT supported by CHS
  • - simple image in-place editing tools (crop, resize, rotate, draw text arrows lines on top, borders) - NOT supported by CHS
  • - keyword filter for note/clipping titles (similar to TreeProjects) - CHS supported
  • - local database with ability to sync over the net - network sync NOT supported by CHS
  • - ability to add document files in the database including PDF, Office, etc. and index the contents for instant search.  I know this is asking too much but i think it would really open up doors to people that deal with lots of information like myself.  X1 client for instance uses the OutsideIn libraries from Oracle (previously Stellent) that allow to view approximately 500 file formats without the native apps installed.  TotalCommander has a free plugin called uLister that utilizes the same libraries. - NOT supported by CHS

dr_andus

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Are they still accepting beta testers for Clibu?

I would imagine so. It's probably a good time to ask for features you'd want.

will it be fully hosted online? I would prefer to have a local database with the option to sync.

I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that it will be a desktop app with an optional cloud service. More info on their Blog.

motiontwelve

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Thanks Mouser for that detailed verification.
I know my list is going way outside of standard clipboard managers features but maybe one day my dreams will come true lol
To narrow down, how about just adding rich text support and multi-keyword search like in X1, google, Evernote to CHS?

Dr. Andus: I will give Clibe a try

IainB

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@motiontwelve: Your requirements look rather similar to mine, though mine might be rather more extensive in some areas - e.g., including things like OLE, OCR, and groupware potential as well, and needing offline client-based and secure online cloud-based access with reliably secure encryption.

However, whereas you seem to be looking for an all-in-one tool/database package of some sort to meet your requirements, I have gone about meeting my requirements using a set of tools: CHS+Clipstory+Clip-to-OneNote on the data and file capture front end, with MS OneNote as the primary database/PIM and primary OCR image capture tool, synced to OneDrive, and all integrated and OLE with hyperlinking (wiki-style) with/to other MS Office objects (mostly files output from IE, Word, Excel, and Access), and HTML/MHT, PDF files/documents. OneNote search is integrated with global document content index/search provided through the Win8.1 PRO OS, which I have installed with all the appropriate (as necessary) iFilters (for files including e.g., TIFF, MS Office docs, Open Office docs, ZIP, etc).

That's just a brief summary - there's more to it than that, and I haven't mentioned the very important info management/access and research roles of Calibre, Qiqqa (providing document OCR) and the Firefox extension Scrapbook and a legacy PIM called InfoSelect (IS8).
I originally trialled Evernote as the likely primary database, but the constraints/limitations in the cloud-based tool and especially in the client-based tool forced me to explore further - which was when I started to put OneNote through the hoops.

Above all, minimal $Cost is a driving criterion.
The main necessary costs for all this were:
- fairly high spec refurbished 64-bit laptop ($half-price).
- Win8.1 PRO upgrade - US$40 ($special offer).
- MS Office Professional Plus 2013 - US$10 ($offered via MS Corporate Home Use program).

I have more than enough cloud storage for my current critical data/backup needs, distributed across different providers, all free of charge - so no costs there. I am considering consolidating it all eventually onto (say) MS OneDrive, or Amazon A3, or Wuala, or something similar, for a price. Trust is a bit of an issue there, however.

One thing I have established is that, for flexible info management, having one's document files stored inside a proprietary searchable database environment is not necessarily going to be able to meet one's diverse needs for compatibility, integration and flexibility (Scrapbook and Clipstory being two examples of avoiding constraints in that regard). So I aim to have all primary documents held in the readily accessible and indexable/searchable database provided by the NTFS file system - which is only likely to be improved upon with later versions of the Windows OS and file system. I hold only secondary copies of some documents in OneNote, but I aim to keep that practice to a minimum, where possible - at least, until MS come up with a public cloud-based version of SharePoint (which I gather is in the pipeline). That could really disrupt things for the better.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2014, 09:54 PM by IainB, Reason: Minor corrections. »

motiontwelve

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@IainB: I am glad that there are others that are looking for more powerful information/clipboard management software.
After your recommendation, I have spent the last few days testing out OneNote 2013 and I must admit it is a very interesting tool.
Rich text formatting including impressive table support and compatibility with other MS Office formats is a big plus.
Individual note windows, built-in ocr, organization of tabs and pages, speedy search are also great.  One part that is a bit annoying is that I couldn't find a way to automatically send clipboard to OneNote.  There are browser extensions but they all require OneDrive.  The "Clip to OneNote" using the port listener is really buggy. I will have to explore it further to provide a final verdict.
Not sure why Microsoft didn't take OneNote step further and integrated clipboard features. They should hire Mouser!

Also, I just discovered a new app called ClipSmartPro that could possibly take the front stage in clipboard managers if the features overview is true.  There is no download yet but I am asking the developer to sign up for beta.
ClipSmartPro

Cheers,

motiontwelve
« Last Edit: November 01, 2014, 07:07 PM by motiontwelve »

IainB

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...there are others that are looking for more powerful information/clipboard management software.
...I have spent the last few days testing out OneNote 2013 and I must admit it is a very interesting tool.
...The "Clip to OneNote" using the port listener is really buggy.
...Not sure why Microsoft didn't take OneNote step further and integrated clipboard features.
...Also, I just discovered a new app called ClipSmartPro that could possibly take the front stage in clipboard managers if the features overview is true.  There is no download yet but I am asking the developer to sign up for beta.
________________________
  • 1. Info. Management software: There are a great many people looking for better/improved or more powerful information management software.
    Two websites (and there are several others) for useful discussion on these matters are:
    (a) the DC Forum.
    (b) outlinersoftware.com.

    The useful discussion generally hinges around PIM (Personal Information Management) software and "CRIMP":
    CRIMP defined
    Posted by Stephen Zeoli
    May 10, 2006 at 01:05 PM
     CRIMP stands for a make-believe malady called compulsive-reactive information management purchasing. Symptoms include:
       • never being satisfied with your current system of information management
       • continuously being on the look-out for something newer and better
       • purchasing every new PIM program you learn about
       • and secretly hoping you won’t find the perfect PIM, because then you’d have to stop looking for a better one

    So, when someone speaks of succumbing to his or her CRIMP, it means acknowledging that they’ve purchased another PIM program even though they really don’t think they need it.
    There must be a 12-step program for over-coming CRIMP, but who really wants to? It’s too much fun.
    Steve Z.

  • 2. OneNote: I think that for many people, one of the biggest unstated objections to OneNote might be that it is a Microsoft product. However, the very real possibility of getting MS Office Professional Plus 2013 (which includes OneNote) for US$10 must be a pretty compelling reason to at least try it out - refer MS Office 2013 US$9.95 Corporate/Enterprise Home Use Program - Mini-Review.
    I am still experimenting with OneNote, and have been recording some potentially useful/helpful notes on the DC Forum - refer Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
    To make full use of ON, I have had to unlearn some old habits of working with relational databases and conventional two-pane hierarchical PIM tools. I have not found this easy. One has to overcome learned preferences and work habits in favour of new modes of working to maximise the usefulness of the new tool's features, and this would generally tend to require some effort on the user's part to overcome paradigms. When you read users' comments following their "trial" of new software, one could perhaps sometimes be forgiven for wondering whether this effort could actually be what puts people off ever properly trialling anything new in the first place, or what causes them to give it the thumbs-down even if they do try it.

  • 3. "Clip to OneNote" (CTON): If you are talking about the third-party port listener app CTON, then no-one should be using it on ON2013. The correct tool to use is the one that comes bundled/integrated with ON2013 - Send to OneNote (STON). See image clip below:

    OneNote - Send to OneNote 01.png

    Note: STON seems to work perfectly and is very nicely integrated into all MS Office 2013 products and IE. CTON was pretty good but never worked property for me in ON2007, and doesn't support ON2013 afaik. If you clip a partial screen clip using STON, the image promptly goes into OneNote (where it is OCRd for any text, and then indexed for search in OneNote and Windows Search) and it is saved in CHS and Clipstory (if those are what you are using).

  • 4. MS clipboard integration: "...take OneNote step further and integrated clipboard features". I think they have done that with STON2013, but the MS Clipboard Management tools still leave a lot to be desired.

  • 5. ClipSmartPro: If you are expecting to find that a just-developed clipboard information management tool can be a useful adjunct to meeting your PIM needs, you are probably in for some disappointment and frustration. From experience, I would suggest that you focus on meeting your needs using tried-and-tested tools which are already well into their development lifecycle. There are many such, in PIM and Clipboard categories, and all are arguably rather good, depending ultimately on your peculiar requirements.
    On the DC forum, three clipboard tools tend to get good reviews - CHS, ArsClip, NoteFrog - with the latter being still relatively young in its development by comparison with the first two.

    Of the three, CHS and NoteFrog started out as PIM tools, but CHS development in that area (PIM) has been suspended. However, there are some seriously useful features in CHS that still give it some PIM-like functionality - e.g., the SQL "virtual folder" filters.
    Notefrog operates on quite different lines (hyperlinked stacks).

dr_andus

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  • 2. OneNote: I think that for many people, one of the biggest unstated objections to OneNote might be that it is a Microsoft product.
That's not my problem with it. What I'm wondering about is how OneNote scales up when it is holding thousands of notes. It seems to be based on the skeuomorphic and hierarchical idea of a filing cabinet, with files in drawers etc., which works fine in the physical world, but on a screen I'd presume it would only be able to give a very limited view of a massive hierarchy with thousands of notes?

Does anyone have experience with OneNote with such a large database of notes?

IainB, does this mean you chose OneNote over WizNote then?[/list]

IainB

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2014, 10:17 PM »
@dr_andus: Sorry, I wasn't intending anything I wrote to address whatever problems people might be having with any software, as that could start a red-herring discussion in this particular thread about which PIM was "best" or should be chosen "over" another.
So, all I would say about WizNote is that it seems to be a superb PIM.

It also seems to me that the matter of choice is probably inevitably dependent on whether the user finds that a particular PIM (or some piece of software fulfilling a required function) meets their requirements - always assuming that the user actually knows or has discovered what their requirements are in the first place.

Knowing/discovering one's requirements is arguably likely to be a necessary and logical prerequisite to making an evaluation and choice between PIMs (or some pieces of software fulfilling a required function). Because I am unsure of what all my requirements really are or could be, I prefer to trial different software and gain experience on a suck-it-and-see basis. I better run the risk of discovering or learning about new possibilities that way.

My peculiar requirements tend to be constantly and incrementally evolving as I see/discover or learn of new ways to encompass the use of technology to serve discrete purposes that I might not have previously perceived as being feasible requirements.
For example, I had previously considered my requirements of automatically including text in images and spoken words in sound files to be part of my data as being largely infeasible in a PIM. They were special kinds of data that then-current PIM technology could not handle, except for some cloud-based services that could sometimes cope with them in a constrained manner. So when OneNote showed what was possible in this regard, in the client software, they became firm requirements for me, and the functionality is available for an integrated client- and cloud-based database distribution.

However, these requirements might be peculiar to me, and many users might not actually have requirements for this sort of functionality.
For example, if @motiontwelve doesn't need or want that particular functionality, but still wants a sort of monolithic all-in-one Clipboard+PIM functionality, then he could do a lot worse than plump for (say) Zoot or  WizNote (as you may have been suggesting).

dr_andus

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2014, 05:23 AM »
IainB, thanks for your thoughts on WizNote. And I agree with you concerning the below. In the end being able to do something useful with the collected stuff becomes more important than the collecting itself (though it would be nice if the leading PIMs improved their clippers, too).

If you are expecting to find that a just-developed clipboard information management tool can be a useful adjunct to meeting your PIM needs, you are probably in for some disappointment and frustration. From experience, I would suggest that you focus on meeting your needs using tried-and-tested tools which are already well into their development lifecycle.

hulkbuster

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #12 on: November 03, 2014, 12:26 PM »
I use ClipDiary.v3.4. Can delete database, create hotkeys, numerable numbers of clips, sounds, remembers the number of files, folders copied, pasted or moved. Knock yourself.

Website
ClipDiary 5.3/ Smadav 2018/ Some Sense

hulkbuster

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2014, 02:19 AM »
Anyone looking for a free ClipDiary , there is a giveaway here.
Flashpaste 6.0


Same company that make ClipDiary.http://softvoile.com/

ClipDiary 5.3/ Smadav 2018/ Some Sense
« Last Edit: November 05, 2014, 03:56 AM by hulkbuster »

tomos

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2014, 03:28 AM »
I found the Giveaway serial . Offline Activate.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If they dont share the serial number, I think that we shouldn't either.
Tom

hulkbuster

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2014, 03:58 AM »
Maybe its ethically wrong, and i am a man of ethics.
ClipDiary 5.3/ Smadav 2018/ Some Sense

tomos

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2014, 05:00 AM »
Maybe its ethically wrong, and i am a man of ethics.

thanks hulkbuster :Thmbsup:
it's very much a greyzone - and I know if I found the key for myself I'd use it. Was just wary of the sharing part.
Tom

dr_andus

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Re: Please recommend a clipboard & note manager with the following features
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2014, 05:00 PM »
Are they still accepting beta testers for Clibu?

They've just opened it up for the public:

And we’ve moved from a closed Beta to one where anyone can Signup and start using Clibu straight away.

Clibu Version 0.80, a major new release

sphere

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@motiontwelve
I am curious where you ended up, and if you found what you were looking for?
Interestingly enough, it does not look like ClipSmartPro has seen any development since this thread was active...