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Been there, done that. Now I am doing it again, and I know better.
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Posted by Magenda
Feb 10, 2013 at 10:41 AM
Just got horribly involved with Notepad2, trying to cope with the crazy increase of documentation INSCOs are demanding since the New Year from psychotherapists. (Don’t ask, but it will be ok to ask later, once I get my head above water).
I haven’t run into THE BUG with Notepad2 yet, having to do with too much info on screen if I remember. But it is horribly clunky in too many ways. For example, if I try to copy an entry, I can’t seem to avoid copying all its children. It handles switching between files terribly. The help documentation boasts about copying between windows, but there is no drag and drop, except within a level, or what I like to call an item.
Fonts are handled terribly. I thought I was doomed, as my pages were fine on screen, but then truncated when printed. I found the problem was due to changing font size after I started, so was able to save my work with a work around, copying and pasting to a new outline with a smaller font.
It would be a big help if I could change the behavior of copying all child Notes when copying a note. Am I missing something?
What I really hope for is a better program, that hopefully I can migrate my 200 hours of work so far to! Basically, I need an outliner that I can build a document with, and that will let me reuse both the overall structure and specific notes, leting me chose what I want to put where.
I did download Bonsai, but it looks like formating is very limited. Unfortunately, I let the trial pass without testing it enough, but it looked like it just handled simple lists.
I never really mastered ecco-pro, or grandview, or PC Outline. I don’t think I could do that now either, with my deadlines.
The best program I had for this was Kamas, on my first computer, a Kaypro 10 with CPM (and it’s hacked improvements). Maxthink was another huge investment in time that didn’t pan out.
Agenda and Magellan? An infinitely seductive, eventual soul-destroying heartbreak.
Zoot, I never could master.
Simple is best, I think, but it is too complicated for humans to achieve, at least so far!
What I am really hoping to find, would be a replacement for Notepad2, that just works!
Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 10, 2013 at 11:21 AM
Two-pane outliner:
Scrivener for Windows. After its latest update it got a lot more nimble. You can select which nodes to export (“compile”, as it’s called in Scrivener), and you can format the text.
Single-pane outliner:
In Outline 4D you can select different branches and hierarchical levels to view/export/print, and it’s a matter of a few clicks. You can also extensively customise the font by branch, level etc.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Feb 10, 2013 at 03:26 PM
I agree with Dr Andus that Scrivener would do the trick.
If that seems a little too much to deal with, you could also try Sense. I have not tried it, but if you search on this site, you’ll find some nice comments, I believe. Here’s the web site:
Steve Z.
Posted by Magenda
Feb 10, 2013 at 11:14 PM
Spent the morning doing the Scrivener tutorial. Finally, got to putting some of my files together, but see it will take more effort than I have time right now. I will go back to Notemap2 for now, and hope to have some “free time” at some point to build up my Project in Scrivener.
Early days for Scrivener, but hopeful. Time is one thing I don’t have a lot of.
I might be able to use Scrivener to manipulate my Notes, and pop them into Notemap, better than just trying to do it in Notemap.
“4D” looks garish, but if it would let me pop my Notepad outlines in and manipulate them better, I would go for it. Does it give a good printed output, formatted presentably?
I am amazed at how quickly one can switch between programs, with quick learning curves. It was very easy to pop my outlines into Treepad, Bonsai, but just not easy to get the output and massaging text I need. Similarly with scrivener, though it did take a while to wade through the tutorial.
Thanks folks.
Posted by Magenda
Feb 10, 2013 at 11:15 PM
Anyone know if Sense will output presentable reports?