notetaker that uses the filesystem and has powerful search?

[urlwolf]

The one notetaker that I know where each note is a file is aignes' AM-notebook (http://aignes.com/notebook.htm). However the search function is poor.

Does anyone know any notetaker/PIM that uses the filesystem and has powerful search?
It must show a list of hits as I type, with the matches in the text highlighted (like evernote does).
File format doesn't matter, rtf, html is fine.

I want to use the filesystem because, together with wuala, this should be useful for collaboration. A shared wuala folder, with notifications when someone adds or edits a file, is a very nice way to work together.

NOTE: I asked also in the outliners forum.

[urlwolf]

I think I've found a good solution, scrivener for windows

[Paul Keith]

Hmm...thanks. I had no idea scrivener works with the filesystem or do you mean it's like Word and it saves itself to a separate doc extension?

[rgdot]

Sorry have to ask...what do you mean by 'uses the filesystem'?

[urlwolf]

Sorry have to ask...what do you mean by 'uses the filesystem'?

This means that instead of a proprietary db, the tool uses individual files per notes, and you can see them in your file explorer. You can of course open them in other tools. This is not the result of an 'export' operation, but native. This warrants you can use other tools in the future, and prevents vendor lockin. It also help use filesystem features.

[rgdot]

Thanks urlwolf, wasn't sure what that meant but yes definitely a big positive

[urlwolf]

Well, I spoke too soon.
Scrivener for windows is a great piece of software, but not suited for collaborative notetaking. Basically, the rtf files it saves do not have descriptive file names, just numbers. It makes no sense to look at the filesystem to see what has changes. In the forums, people make it clear that collaboration is out of the picture.

In fact, I don't know of a single notetaker that can do this, other than onenote + sharepoint (out of the question, people using macs are potential collaborators).

Does anyone know of a good solution for collaborative notetaking?
I'd be happy with:

• An indexer that can produce live searches, highlighting the matches inside the text in rtf files.
• An small rtf editor
• the filesystem itself as a db

But I don't know of any good solutions for te first two items, on windows.

[Paul Keith]

urlwolf have you checked these software underneath the Wikipedia article?

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Collaborative_real-time_editor#List_of_current_editors

These have all the ones I know although my initial interpretation of filesystem turned out different from yours.

[wraith808]

Well, I spoke too soon.
Scrivener for windows is a great piece of software, but not suited for collaborative notetaking. Basically, the rtf files it saves do not have descriptive file names, just numbers. It makes no sense to look at the filesystem to see what has changes. In the forums, people make it clear that collaboration is out of the picture.

In fact, I don't know of a single notetaker that can do this, other than onenote + sharepoint (out of the question, people using macs are potential collaborators).

Does anyone know of a good solution for collaborative notetaking?
I'd be happy with:

• An indexer that can produce live searches, highlighting the matches inside the text in rtf files.
• An small rtf editor
• the filesystem itself as a db

But I don't know of any good solutions for te first two items, on windows.

Do you know of any solutions on any platforms?

[johnk]

Would ResophNotes be suitable? Syncs with SimpleNote, plain text, supports Markdown for HTML formatting. Highlights hits as you type. Option to store .txt files

[urlwolf]

Thanks johnk, I like resophnotes. For this I think I'd prefer rich text, and the search is not that great.

My solution for now is to use gdocs, sync them locally with syncdocs, and edit the files locally with a light rtf editor such as atlantis/softmaker. That way, when we want collaboration, we have it in gdocs. And the changes someone makes say in gdocs are highlighted as 'track changes' locally on my HD. Pretty spectacular.

Now I only need a good local indexer. and a quick way to create files in that shared folder location with a global shortcut, and I'm set.

Btw, if anyone wants to sign up for syncdocs, give me a shout. We both get extra upload capability.

[urlwolf]

I'm still looking for a good search tool that would let me search the text inside the .doc files that syncdoc produces. I now prefer doc to rtf. Even though both are binary abominations, proprietary, etc, they are so widespread that I doubt I'll have problems opening them in the future.

Now my main notetaker is gdocs. Smooth scroll, great search (all matches), great collaboration, no install, superb track changes. Using syncdoc to save the docs locally is great. When someone edits the gdoc online, and I open it locally, I see the changes as 'track changes'. One reason to move from rtf to doc.