Looking for a small dockable, auto-hide notepad

[sri]

Is there a light-weight freeware program using which I can quickly jot down notes when working on my PC? It should be dockable and auto-hide when the mouse is not over it. Also should support auto-save.

I guess I could use yahoo widgets or Google desktop search sidebar, but they consume significant amount of memory.

Thanks for any pointers.

[Grorgy]

not quite what you are after but flashnote is small and convenient http://softvoile.com/flashnote/ ; worth a look if you havent already.  lives in the system tray either a click or a k/b shortcut to bring it up

[sri]

Thanks for the recommendation Grorgy.

I gave Y! Widgets another try and am using it now. They have reduced the memory consumption a lot. With many widgets (10), it's taking up only 23MB.

[PhilB66]

You should try Samurize. It's extremely light on resources.

[antispin]

Also try http://www.shirusupad.tk/ ShirusuPad. Screens here:
http://hem.bredband.net/danielc/screens.html

[mnemonic]

Mempad has a lot of this functionality and seemingly improves by the day.  Lastet betas allow the program to sit in the task bar until summoned:

http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/wmem.htm

Free and doesn't need installation.

[Dormouse]

The grandaddy Keynote meets most of these needs. Portable, system tray, autosave options, fast. light on resources etc. Doesn't autohide but can be set to minimise after x minutes of non-use.

No longer being developed but a huge number of people still use it.

[TomColvin]

Yes, Keynote!  It's become one of my most frequently used programs.  As a writer with lots of projects and articles in the works, I truly rely on this program.

[masu]

Evernote is also a really nive noteprogram should try out. 

[tomos]

wow, just installed Keynote today
it's very nice, easy to use - so far doing everything I want 
(that happens soo seldom with software - well esp that it's easy/intuitive as well!)

looking foreward to using it which i reckon i will a lot 

[Armando]

The fact that keynote is no longer developped is a big minus IMO.
It also lacks several features of more modern note takers.

Evernote is also a really nive noteprogram should try out. 

I second that, of course. 
Free version available, powerful, fast.
Feature full.
Invoke it with ctrl + alt + n - appears instantly. And you can use win key + a to send anything to evernote instantly).
Easy to retrieve notes, search etc.
The best note taker and web clip collector IMHO

[Dormouse]

Personally, I don't see Evernote as the same sort of program as Keynote. I use both, but in different ways.

[rjbull]

The fact that keynote is no longer developped is a big minus IMO.

The fact that Keynote doesn't have even a modest implementation of Boolean searching is the big minus for me.  Nor, sadly, do any of the other free ones, as far as I know.

[Armando]

Personally, I don't see Evernote as the same sort of program as Keynote. I use both, but in different ways.

Well, they're not the same, of course (and no other software is exactly like one or the other). But Sri wants to "quickly jot down notes". For such a task, then can both do the job, and I believe there are some advantages in using Evernote. But it all depends on how you organize your stuff and function overall. These apps have to be tested.

The fact that Keynote doesn't have even a modest implementation of Boolean searching is the big minus for me.  Nor, sadly, do any of the other free ones, as far as I know.

EverNote does have basic boolean search. From the help file :

Both SmartSearch and search by Keyword Category offer advanced search syntax to allow you finding notes with OR, AND, and NOT between or within keywords, a keyword with leading spaces, a keyword inside another, a phrase, or any combination of these.

 

[rjbull]

The fact that Keynote doesn't have even a modest implementation of Boolean searching is the big minus for me.  Nor, sadly, do any of the other free ones, as far as I know.

EverNote does have basic boolean search.

Thanks, Armando; is that true even of the free version, not just the payware one?

Ideally I'd have liked something a little smaller, too 

[Armando]

Evernote is (or was?) one these software where the free version is very very good... if you don't really plan to use their special OCR technology (to index text in images) and some of the other more "advanced" synching tools, Evernote is a good choice.

The only problem is that I don't know what features are now available after the firs 60 days of trial. There are no indications of that on their site that I can find.

It

From the web site :

What ever happened to EverNote Plus and EverNote Basic?
EverNote no longer offers Plus and Basic versions of its software. We now have a single product, known simply as EverNote. When you download EverNote, you have access to all of the advanced features that were formally only available in EverNote Plus. These features are active for a period of 60 days, at which point they become disabled. If you wish to continue using the advanced features, click on the Help menu and then click on “Purchase EverNote.” EverNote will continue to work with advanced features disabled, similar to the EverNote Basic functionality

The exact features the "Plus" (registered) version had were :

- Synchronization with USB drives and other removable media; synchronization between two or more PCs via USB drives
- Advanced handwriting, shape and full note recognition (for handwritten notes)
- Search in handwritten notes
- AIR-search in images

Someone who's been using the 2.2 beta and is now over her trial period could probably give more precisions.

[Armando]

Ideally I'd have liked something a little smaller, too 

The portable version is supposed to be a bit lighter... I don't know if that's true... EverNote tends to take as much Ram as possible (about 30-48mb on my 1.5gb ram laptop), but it never ever feels sluggish. Never. And this is a blessing. I don't know about those with smaller specs computers.

[elvisbrown]

Shirusu Pad
Have a look at this:
http://www.shirusupad.tk/

It is the absolute best when it comes to small discrete note pads...here's the blurb:

ShirusuPad - A short description
ShirusuPad is an easy-to-use, yet powerful program, designed to always be right at your finger tips, yet as discreet as possible, allowing you to conveniently make notes of any kind. ShirusuPad can even be used as a simple library containing your favourite links, addresses, phone numbers, etc. You can also directly click on highlighted URLs to open them with the default web browser. The list goes on.)

The most important thing when designing ShirusuPad was its small, yet, effective layout. It is only displayed when you need it, and disappears when you are done using it, hence, not taking any place on the desktop.

Key Features
* Unlimited number of Tabs, meaning unlimited number of notes.
* Tabs can be dragged out of the main window, and function just like post-its.
* Your notes can be encryptet, allowing only you to read them.
* Sleek, and very, very innovative design, taking up almost no space.
* Smart show/hide. It's there only when you need it.
* Supports alphablending, i.e. transparency.
* URL-highlighting.
* Everything saved automatically. All you need to do is make the notes.

... and much more..

[rjbull]

@Armando:  thanks - wouldn't it be nice if Evernote stated clearly what features were and weren't available...  And the resource usage looks a bit heavy for me 

@elvisbrown:  I heard once that ShirusuPad too was a resource hog, but that was several years ago.  Any comments?

@mnemonic:  For a small, fast program, you can't really beat Mempad 

[ajlixx]

I use Quicknote

http://www.quicknote.de/

[sri]

I use Quicknote

http://www.quicknote.de/

Thank you very much. Quicknote is excellent. It's exactly what I asked for in the initial post and has few other useful features like reminders.

[mateek]

Notesholder at http://notes.aklabs.com/ is a small dockable lightweight notetaker I've been using for years.

Good luck.