Outliner Software Forum RSS Feed Forum Posts Feed

Subscribe by Email

CRIMP Defined

 

Tip Jar

List of PIMs

< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >

Posted by Yosem E. Companys
Dec 27, 2008 at 09:46 PM

 

Dear group members,

Here is a list of PIMs I assembled based on all of the messages archived on this group.  I hope it is useful.

Best,

Yosem

# Research writing software:

  * Scrivener:  http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
      o Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It won’t try to tell you how to write - it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application.
      o $39.95 for download on Mac OS X
  * Nota Bene:  http://www.notabene.com/
      o Nota Bene: a word processor for scholars ... a bibliographic manager for those who are tired of typing/formatting their own citations and bibliographies ... a personal search engine for those who want to find anything they’ve ever written in seconds ... a database manager for those who have things to keep track of ... a Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, IPA and (new!) Arabic word processor for those who want more than just fonts ... an Internet search tool for those who need to find and capture bibliographic data ... a set of tools for scholars who want to focus on their writing and research ... a work of art for scholars who appreciate the finer things in life ... a community of scholars.
      o Considered the leading program in this area, but very complex and old school
      o $349 for Scholars, $249 for Students for download on Windows
  * Idea Mason:
      o IdeaMason brings together the database elements of both a bibliographical and information management tool in combination with a virtual writing platform. Store and categorize ideas and research in one comprehensive portfolio. Collect and manage sources in a virtual library. Then use IdeaMason’s revolutionary Composition tool to organize your ideas and manage referenced sources in a single efficient step. When you are ready IdeaMason exports your work into a fully-formatted document complete with footnotes and citations. IdeaMason automatically generates a complete bibliography (including annotations) in your choice of the following major styles APA, MLA, Harvard Citations (UK & Austrialian variations supported), Chicago Notes-Bibliography, & Chicago Author-Date.
      o Rave reviews by users, especially for its most recent version
      o Standard ($69), Educational ($59) for Windows

  * WhizFolders:  http://www.whizfolders.com/
      o WhizFolders is outlining software that encourages list based outlining instead of the editor based outlining that you might have seen in other outliners. An outline containing just the titles in a list is easier to manage and needs less scrolling.  You can insert wiki-like cross-links going to other notes, web sites and other files on your computer. What is more, the newer version gives you universal links back to WhizFolder notes from other applications like Microsoft Word.
      o Unlike Idea Mason, it lacks a reference system
      o The Deluxe Edition costs $80 and Pro Edition costs $39 only, both with free updates for 2 years.  Runs on Windows.

  * SuperNoteCard:  http://www.mindola.com/snc/index.html
      o SuperNotecard is an intuitive tool that uses notecards to capture and organize your ideas. These virtual notecards can be moved into decks, arranged on the screen, or grouped and categorized with ease. Researchers use SuperNotecard to gather facts, manage sources and finally stitch it all together in a way that is significantly more visual and capable than a traditional outlining tool.
      o $29 and available for use on the web or the iphone or for download on Windows, Mac OS X

  * Writer’s Blocks:  http://www.writersblocks.com/wb3quicklook.htm
      o Writer’s Blocks 3 is software for writers who plan, organize, and research their writing projects.
      o $149 for download on Windows
  * Biblioscape:  http://www.biblioscape.com/biblioscape.htm
      o Bibliographic software to help researchers organize reference collections, research notes, generate citations and a bibliography for publication, compile notes into outline to generate a final draft with table of contents, search and capture references on the web, etc.
      o Biblioscape 7 has introduced two new modules: Categories and Compositions. You can now tag records and write a thesis using Biblioscape. Version 7 also organizes all research information in a single tree structure.
      o Three versions for PC/Windows:
          + Lite:  It includes the references (limited features) and notes modules. In the references module, users cannot convert temporary citations in a document into formatted citations and a bibliography. Global editing is not available.  $79.
          + Standard:  It includes the references and notes module. Users can add notes to a reference inside the reference window. References can also be dragged and dropped into a note without leaving the note window. It can open a remote database through BiblioRemote server.  $139.
          + Professional:  All the features in the Standard Edition plus the tasks, charts, categories, and composition modules. It can be used to write a book and thesis using the composition module. The Pro edition also includes one concurrent license for BiblioRemote and BiblioWeb for single user remote access.  $299.

# Purely information management software, both PC and Mac:

  * OneNote:  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx
      o Office OneNote 2007 is a digital notebook that provides people one place to gather their notes and information, powerful search to find what they are looking for quickly, and easy-to-use shared notebooks so that they can manage information overload and work together more effectively.
      o $99 for download on Windows; part of MSFT Office Suite Package
  * Jot+ Notes Student and Teacher Edition:  http://www.kingstairs.com/jot/jot4school.html
      o For reports and thesis papers, Jot+ Notes cannot be beat! Record research notes, references, quotations, citations, useful website URL’s all in one place. Use Jot+ Notes’ powerful search facilities to locate the facts you need quickly. Then use Jot+ Notes to outline your paper and even write the final draft.
      o $29.95 for download on Windows
  * Evernote:  http://www.evernote.com/about/what_is_en/
      o Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.
      o Seems to have become very popular among users of notebook / organizing software over the last year or so
      o Free for basic, $5 per month or $45 per year for premium on the web or for download on iphone or Windows/Windows Mobile or Mac OS X
  * Diigo:  http://www.diigo.com/
      o Diigo is a powerful research tool and a knowledge-sharing community
      o Free on the web for IE, Firefox, etc.
  * Keynote:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/keynote-newfeat/
      o Tabbed notebook with RichText editor, multi-level notes and strong encryption. Added new features to Marek’s KeyNote: checkboxes on children of selected nodes, hidden nodes, alarms on nodes.
      o Open source forge
  * Rightnote:  http://bauerapps.com/RightNote.html
      o RightNote is a multi-page notebook that allows you store and organise all your notes in a single place.
      o $24.95, award winning software for Windows
  * ConnectedText:  http://www.connectedtext.com/
      o ConnectedText is a powerful but simple information management system, a free-form note-taking and note-management application that allows you to keep an unlimited number of notes in one file (or many files), instantly accessible by sophisticated full-text searches that can span all open files; and navigating between topics is a breeze: it’s like a notebook with an unlimited number of pages (which can be linked to one another easily)
      o $29.95 for download on Windows
  * WikiPad:  http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/
      o WikiPad is a Wiki-like notebook for storing your thoughts, ideas, todo lists, contacts, or anything else you can think of to write down.
      o For download on Windows; open source, relies on donations
  * ZuluPad:  http://gersic.com/zulupad/
      o ZuluPad is a notepad on crack. It’s a place to jot down class notes, appointments, to-do lists, favorite websites, annotated bookmarks, pretty much anything you can think of. The great thing about ZuluPad is that it combines the best parts of a notepad with the best parts of a wiki, a concept made popular by Wikipedia. The basic idea has been called a personal wiki or a desktop wiki.
      o Open source for download on Windows; Premium version is $15
  * NoteTab:  http://www.notetab.com/index.php
      o NoteTab is a leading-edge text and HTML editor. Winner of software industry awards since 1998, this application does it all: it easily handles a stack of huge files; lets you format text to your heart’s content; does system-wide searches, and multi-line global replacements. It even corrects your spelling mistakes.  3 Formats:
          + NoteTabLight:  The ultimate free Notepad replacement and a handy HTML editor. Handle a heap of files with a simple tabbed interface. Search files, strip HTML tags and format text quickly. Build libraries of text macros to speed up your work. Formerly called “Super NoteTab”. 100% freeware—no ads and no nags.
          + NoteTabStd:  Similar to NoteTab Light, but adds several useful features like a thesaurus, a multilingual spell checker, text-outline editing, EBCDIC file editing, customizable menu shortcuts, Clipbars, etc. All this extra functionality for only $19.95 US! There is no trial version, but you can install NoteTab Light to see what it’s like.
          + For those who want the best. NoteTab Pro offers all the features HTML authors, programmers, and other demanding users need to speed up their work. Best of all, it’s programmable! The full version adds a thesaurus and a multilingual spell checker.  There’s a lot more to NoteTab Pro—and it’s unbeatable value at US$29.95.
      o Award winning software; people seem to like it because the scripting and export capabilities are very powerful.
  * TreeDBNotes:  http://www.mytreedb.com/treedbnotes_free.html
      o TreeDBNotes stores and represents your information in a comfortable and clear tree-structured form. Each node in such ‘tree’ represents associated note, so you can store a lot of mostly independent notes in one notebook. With any note you can perform main Wordpad-like text-formatting functions (font and paragraph styles):
          + TreeDBNotes Pro
              # Home Use $34.95
              # Home and Business Use $44.95
          + TreeDBNotes Free
              # Personal License $19.95
              # Business License $24.95
  * Zoot:  http://www.zootsoftware.com/
      o Zoot is a personal information manager used by writers, researchers, students, scholars, and maybe you!  Zoot offers a highly efficient process for collecting, classifying and prioritizing information so that it can be viewed in meaningful timeframes and contexts.
      o Extremely popular among users of notebook / organizing software; endorsed by PC Magazine and the Atlantic Monthly’s James Fallow:  http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97aug/zoot.htm and http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/new_version_of_zoot_goes_up.php
      o Runs on Windows for $99.
  * Ecco Pro:  http://www.compusol.org/ecco/
      o ECCO PRO, the Personal Information Manager with the most awards in history, brings together your contacts, calendar, appointments, tasks and projects in one integrated, customizable application. Even in todays operating environments of Windows XP or Vista, this amazing piece of software, with a development stop in 1997, still shows it strength compared to todays PIM’s. With ECCO PRO you always have the information you need at your fingertips!
      o Supported by donations and runs on Windows.
  * TreePad:  http://www.treepad.com/
      o TreePad? is an award-winning Personal Information Manager, Organizer, Database, and Word Processor. Portability and compactness are smoothly blended into TreePad? with its other distinctive features: versatility and power, as well as simplicity and intuitiveness of use.
      o Comes in Plus ($29.95) or Safe ($34.95) versions that run on Windows.
  * UltraRecall:  http://www.kinook.com/UltraRecall/index.html
      o Ultra Recall is personal information / knowledge / document management software for Microsoft Windows.  It helps you easily capture, organize, and recall all of your electronic documents and information across all the applications that you use.
      o Seems popular among information management users
      o Pro ($99) and Standard ($49) versions for Windows.
  * TaoNotes:  http://actitrend.fre3.com/
      o TaoNotes 2007 Pro manages your tasks and notes organized as outline structure suppoting some additional dimensions for ranging notes (statuses, flags, priorities).
      o Price not available; for Windows only.
  * NoteMap (Supported by LexisNexis):  http://www.casesoft.com/notemap/index.asp
      o Our NoteMap outliner makes it super easy to create, edit and use outlines ? far easier than creating outlines with word-processing software.
      o Award winning software for Windows
      o Trial version available but no price listed
  * MyBase:  http://www.wjjsoft.com/mybase.html
      o myBase is a versatile free-form database system that allows entry of unstructured text, webpages, images, documents, emails and even arbitrary files without regard to length or format. All information is compressed with the integrated zip utility and stored in the tree structured outline form. Unlike traditional database programs, myBase accepts text input like a word processor, and provides better methods for capturing, editing, organizing, retrieving, searching and sharing information.
      o $59 with a variety of additional plugins for collecting web data available for $29 more; Windows & Windows Mobile
  * InfoSelect:  http://www.miclog.com/is/2007/index.shtml
      o Info Select 2007 is the award-winning Personal Information Manager that organizes Internet data, notes, to-do’s, schedules, contacts, addresses, forms, ideas, images, and much more.
      o $249.95 for Windows
  * SmartOutline:  http://secure.smartoutline.com/default.asp
      o SmartOutline is professional free-form information management software that allows you to organize, secure, collaborate and work with information in new and innovative ways. SmartOutline operates from a tree-like or Explorer style interface. After adding information to your outline, you can save it to an “.OUT” outline document format. From there, export to many popular office file formats and share with others. You can write notes, add calendar events, reference articles or even annotate any web page using shapes, clip art and text highlighting tools.  Two versions:
          + Standard (individual)
          + Professional (collaborative shareware)
      o Pricing information not available (website was down); for Windows
  * Ariadne:  http://www.open-sft.com/ariadne/
      o Ariadne is a tabbed browser IE overlay, with a built in pop-up window manager, that permits the user to harvest any data type from the internet & local server - to tabulate, sort, outline or shuffle it into any order or form that is convenient.  The user can search locally & on the internet by several means - store, group, highlight, link and bookmark any of it. In addition, Ariadne also has a working calendar, todo lists, popup alarms, usage history & more.
      o $29.95 (license) for Windows
  * Opal:  http://a-sharp.com/
      o Opal lets you organize just about anything ? ideas, reports, lists, notes, projects, graphics ? in the form of an outline.  Opal’s elegant, uncluttered interface stays out of your way so you can capture notes efficiently. You’re free to organize ? and reorganize ? however you like. You can always find information later, using fast filtering or Spotlight. Or keep it out of your way by shrinking long topics or focusing on part of a document. Prioritize lists with flexible sorting. Track projects with smart checkboxes. Multiple selection lets you work faster. Streamlined and responsive, Opal is truly your digital notepad. Opal will be familiar to anyone who ever used the popular and reliable Acta outliner. However, it’s completely rewritten for Mac OS X.
      o $32 license for Mac OS X
  * Google Notebook:  http://www.google.com/notebook/
      o Research the web, take notes, then manage & share your notes online
      o One user says:  “Google has a notebook feature, but it’s very rudimentary.  It acts like a large bin into which you can throw your notes.  It’s hardly more than what your browser’s bookmarking feature offers with the ability to write in or paste in notes.  I’m not that impressed with it, however it does allow sharing if you set up a public notebook.”
      o Free; web-based for IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.
  * ListPro:  http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/listpro.php
      o Create shopping lists, to do lists, checklists, or any list you need! ListPro makes it easy to organize and use your information however you want. Manage your time, remember all your errands, stay on track - and take your lists everywhere you go.
      o Award winning software
      o Get ListPro on your Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone, Palm OS Handheld, or Windows PC for only $19.95; Get ListPro (Professional Edition) and run ListPro on your desktop and one Windows Mobile or Palm OS device. Synchronize or share lists quickly and easily for only $29.95
  * ndxCards:  http://www.ndxcards.com/
      o ndxCards is a powerful electronic note taking software that helps record, retrieve and recap all your knowledge in whichever form you choose. Anything you read, hear, some boiler plate text or a code snippet - enter it as note cards and ndxCards can manage it all. In three easy steps:  First, you can record your freeform notes - text, pictures, data, charts, interviews using subjects and keywords, sources, authors, picture cards etc.. You can tag them, archive them, classify them and share them with teammates to collaborate.  Second, you can flip through your notes using keywords and filters. Retrieve your note cards as outlines, citations,and flashcards.  Third, ndxCards? gives your thoughts shape, color and life. Recap your notes as presentations, print index cards - and so much more! All these and additional features like annotating, setting reminders, classifying, and analyzing notes give you the edge you always wanted to succeed.
      o Award winning software
      o Professional and Academic ($49), Superset ($69), Portable USB ($89) for Windows.
  * NoteLens:  http://www.windsorinterfaces.com/notelens.shtml
      o NoteLens is a note-taking tool that is so fast, it lets you concentrate on your notes - not on the interface.  NoteLens is designed to help you stay in the flow. You never spend time deciding where to store notes, save them, or even give them names.  NoteLens takes care of that for you.  With a lightning fast full text indexing system, you can quickly find any note just by typing any word - all of the notes containing that word will be pulled up as you type.  NoteLens integrates with Microsoft Outlook.  You can import notes from Outlook, and then keep NoteLens and Outlook synced.  (Although you don’t need Outlook to take advantage of NoteLens.) With Microsoft ActiveSync, your notes will be synced with your Microsoft Pocket PC.  NoteLens even syncs contacts and email, so you can have integrated super fast access to all of your critical information.  And you can rely on NoteLens with confidence, knowing that they are backed up in Outlook - and also stored in a simple text format so you’ll never be locked in.
      o Its main advantage is a lightning fast search tool
      o NY Times featured:  http://www.windsorinterfaces.com/press/notelens-nytimes-jan-22-2004.htm
      o Free for Windows (accepts donations)
  * AskSam:  http://www.asksam.com/
      o askSam is a flexible and powerful way to organize information and create searchable databases from Web pages, Email, PDF files, texts, and Word documents. For over 20 years askSam has been the choice of researchers and other information professionals. See why over 350,000 businesses, organizations, and individuals rely on askSam.  askSam Pro includes all the great features of askSam plus full text indexing to give you lightning-fast searches.
      o Standard ($149.95), Professional ($395.00)
  * iOutliner:  http://www.ioutliner.com/
      o iOutliner is a powerful way to manage your tasks, ideas, and projects in structured lists. Simple to use and customizable to the way you work and best of all its completely FREE
      o Web-based outliner
  * Sproutliner:  http://www.sproutliner.com/
      o Sproutliner is a free web service that helps you manage your projects and ideas (think of it as a supercharged structured to-do list). It uses some rather smashing client-side technology to make things as quick and easy as possible, without forcing you to worry about hitting ‘submit’ to save your precious data.
      o Free and open source
  * MySmartFolders:  http://www.castlepeaksoftware.com/Products.html
      o My SmartFolders introduces a new way to organize your data! My SmartFolders organizes your files, web links and Outlook items, grouping them based on their relationships.  Attach tags to your files, web sites and Outlook items and then they appear in your SmartFolders based on those tags, according to your specifications.  It’s simple, yet very powerful. You can apply this concept to any aspect of your work, for any business and for any kind of data that you store on your computer or over the network.  My SmartFolders benefits you and your company in three ways. First, you can organize your data according to tags. Second, you can pull together files/data stored in separate locations, on your hard disk and over the network. Third, web sites and Outlook items are treated like files, so you can use one organizational tool, My SmartFolders, to organize your work.  Put this all together and you have a very intuitive way to organize your data.  Pull together files scattered in various folders on your harddisk, your home or company network, and on removable drives with My SmartFolders.  Without moving a single file from its current location, you can organize your view of these files in any folder configuration. In fact, you can set up multiple folder configurations simultaneously!  Not only can you organize files and folders, but My SmartFolders is also integrated with Outlook and Internet Explorer. This allows you to collect varied forms of data all within Windows Explorer, in your SmartFolders.  Join the growing number of My SmartFolders aficionados and find out how your computer time can be more organized and more efficient.
      o $29 for Windows
  * Tinderbox:  http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/
      o Tinderbox stores and organizes your notes, plans, and ideas. It can help you analyze and understand them. And Tinderbox helps you share ideas through Web journals and web logs.
      o $229 for Mac OS X
  * Omea Pro:  http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/
      o Bring all your information together—your email, contacts, documents, files, blogs, transcripts, newsgroups, RSS feeds, pics, webpage bookmarks, tasks, and instant messages are all in the same place, so you don’t need to look through a slew of programs and applications anymore
      o Free award winning software for Windows
  * Aquaminds Notetaker:  http://www.aquaminds.com/product.jsp
      o Sister product to Circus Ponies Notebook (they shared the same code base for OS X’s predecessor, NeXT OS, and have a similar feel, though they have diverged). Uses a notebook metaphor which will be initially confusing to pure single-pane outliner users, but it definitely is a single-pane outliner (basically it adds the ability to split your single outline into sections). Tab views. Live indexes (for instance, you might use it to jump to any page of your outline that mentions a client’s name). Rudimentary database functionality. Has workgroup features for notebook sharing.
      o Come in Standard ($69.95) and Academic ($39.95) versions for Mac OS X
  * Circus Ponies Notebook:  http://www.circusponies.com/
      o Similar user interface to Aquaminds Notetaker. Closest thing to Microsoft OneNote on OS X, but designed with an outliner structure as the fundamental building block (which in my view, makes a huge difference in usability; OneNote is not really usable as a single pane outliner for power users and writers except in a crude sense). Most of the same features as Notetaker, with a few aimed at closer integration to other OS X programs.
      o Award winning software
      o Comes in Standard ($49.95) and Academic ($29.95) versions for Mac OS X
  * OmniOutliner:  http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/
      o Probably the strongest combination of features and usability. Very good support for columns (can be used as a hierarchical spreadsheet like Ecco, but with auto-recalculating math), rich support for styles (can be used directly as a word processor to generate print output), hoisting, adjunct sections view (depth controllable by section), line comments and auto-hiding, fully programmable through AppleScript
      o Recommended by the Atlantic Monthly’s James Fallows:  http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200706/digital-judgment
      o Comes in Professional ($69.95) and Standard ($39.95) versions for Mac OS X
  * TAO (no relation to TAO Notes for Windows):  http://artec-software.com/products/neo/en_index.html
      o Most features of any single-pane outliner I’ve seen in current production. Cloning! Hoisting, filtering. A little less Mac-like than the others (lots of square buttons, Windows-style interface). Graphical document map sidebar. Not programmable yet.
      o $30-34 depending on where you buy it for Mac OS X
  * DevonThink:  http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/
      o Meet DEVONthink ? designed to manage and keep in order all those disparate pieces of information so important to your work or studies. As you become more experienced with DEVONthink and its easy, intuitive interface you will quickly find more exciting ways of using your data. DEVONthink comes in a number of flavors tailored to different needs and user types:
          + DEVONthink Personal: Home and small office ($49.95)
          + DEVONthink Pro: Advanced functionality, office use ($79.95)
          + DEVONthink Pro Office: Plus paperless office functionality ($149.95)
          + DEVONnote: Basic note taking and organizing ($24.95)
      o Award winning, by MacWorld
      o Mac OS X only
  * Debrief:  http://debriefnotes.com/
      o Debrief? is software for notes relating to experience, ideas, activities, contacts, and more. Where do you keep your notes today? Spiral binders, legal pads, composition books, scraps of paper? How fast can you find an idea you jotted down last week, last month, or last year? Imagine keeping your notes in one place, and not misplacing them again.  Notes are the core purpose of Debrief notes software. Make a note one time, and view it in many different contexts - by date, like a journal, log, or diary. Or by subject folder, like files in a drawer. And they can be viewed within additional contexts of the features mentioned below. Notes are searchable too.
      o Comes in Standard ($29.95) and Professional ($39.95) versions for Windows
  * InfoHandler:  http://www.download3000.com/download_30755.html
      o MDE InfoHandler is a multipurpose information manager for your PC and Pocket PC that you can use to organize notes, documents, web links, e-mail and news messages, dates, programs, and more, using a uniform and sophisticated interface. It features a very powerful categorization method including hierarchical organization of categories, master-slave relationships, text and number type categories, and efficient automatic categorization based on analyzing the text of an info item (InfoItem) or of linked documents. Another special features are two universal time stamps which you can set freely and use for sorting or filtering the item list. The InfoItems are stored in special databases called InfoBases and you can have several different windows for the same InfoBase simultaneously open side by side. You can view the InfoItems either as a table sorted by three of its columns or as a set of trees formed by hierarchically structured category groups - possibly constrained by set-up filters for categories or time. Many kinds of drag & drop include dragging web links and documents from browsers, emails from MS Outlook (Express), creating InfoItems as a result. You can also drag InfoItems between InfoBases copying or moving them. Active links to external objects include those to web pages and documents as well as between InfoItems in the same or in different InfoBases. The text of an InfoItem can be richly formatted and you can store paragraph and/or character formats for later re-application - manually or automatically using a find-replace dialog. Other features include several methods for text search, alarms bound to InfoItems, flexible print options, customizable toolbars, various data export and import including with the Pocket PC companion, and the InfoShooter which lets you create new InfoItems on the fly. InfoHandler can be of help if you are using your PC on a daily basis to assist you with your professional or hobbyist requirements to master a flood of information.
      o $73.90 for Windows
  * GoBinder:  http://www.gobinder.com/Default.aspx
      o Collect.  Schedule.  Find.  Compile Print-Free Research—GoBinder can turn web pages, PDF’s, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, class handouts, and more into digital paper, which you can highlight and annotate just like printed paper.  Annotate Digitally— Take notes directly on your professor’s presentation or class handout using a keyboard or Tablet stylus. Sketch charts, diagrams, add tables or shapes right alongside your typed notes.  Take Faster Notes with Auto-Outliner—Quickly record lecture notes in auto-outline mode. Use bullets or numbers and quickly navigate up to six level deep with tabs and back tabs.  Personal Learning Archive—Store all your downloaded, typed, even handwritten school stuff in a personal learning archive. Easily create tabs for each of your courses, than organize class materials by date, by lecture, or whatever makes sense to you.  Power Find—Search every typed, downloaded, even handwritten word from one place. Refine searches by course, category, type and/or folders. Use it to quickly outline papers or study for exams.  Answer Flags— Flag key concepts, questions, and to-do’s. Even create custom flags so you can immediately locate important information. Use flags to quickly create your own flash cards, answer keys, or crib sheets.  See the Whole Picture—See a single snapshot of all your classes’ due dates, tests, and assignments with day, week and month-view calendars.  Easily Categorize—Color code your courses and personal life and their associated appointments, tasks, and contacts. Link individual items like team meetings, team members, and assignment details together.  Prioritize—Prioritize tasks with user-defined color codes. Set alarms and reminders for important due dates.  Share Data with Outlook & your Palm
        Sync appointments, tasks, and contacts in Microsoft Outlook or a Palm with GoBinder.
      o Standard for $99.95 and Education for $49.95 for Windows
  * ActionOutline:  http://www.actionoutline.com/
      o ActionOutline - store and arrange all your information in a tree outline form! Build outlined freeform storage for your thoughts, ideas and information in an intuitive way! You come up with this brilliant thought, or maybe your mother just sent you a recipe for her new chicken casserole. What do you do with this information? With ActionOutline you now have a place to put all your info and thoughts!  A simple yet useful organizer, ActionOutline consists of an Explorer-like interface where you can store and arrange all your information in a tree outline form. Arrange items using your keyboard or mouse, cut and paste branches, place checks or tags next to listed items, search information, print data, export to the external file, or link to web or local files.  ActionOutline can be your be-all, end-all solution to organizing your life. When you want it out of sight simply minimize it to your system tray where it’s available for your next fleeting thought or item.  The possibilities for its use are practically endless: to-do lists, recipes, project notes, personal contacts, bookmark lists, reports, term papers and more.  ActionOutline 3 lets you handle multiple outlines with ease, thanks to the new tabbed multi-document interface. And with Network Edition of ActionOutline you can share your outlines on the network!
      o Standard ($39.95) and Network ($79.95) versions for Windows
  * Surfulater:  http://www.surfulater.com/ 
      o With Surfulater you can permanently save anything you find on the web, in other applications and on your hard drive, and organize it in ways you haven’t dreamt of yet. For starters you can categorize, cross reference and do full text searches. Plus tag, annotate and edit whatever you have saved to make it all the more valuable. And of course you can find anything in a flash.  Surfulater - the super smart way to build a permanent, personal digital reference library, one you can even carry around with you.
      o $79 on Windows PC.
  * Backpack:  http://www.backpackit.com/
      o Organize your business and share information with your team.  An Intranet in 30 Seconds. Over 350,000 Accounts! To-dos, Announcements, Ideas, Files. Easily centralize & share information across your organization.  Keep a Group Calendar Online.  Keep everyone’s schedule online with a color-coded calendar.
      o Award winning software with accolades from PC Magazine, NY Times, Business Week and PC World
      o Three tiers:
          + Basic:  $24/mo.
          + Plus:  $49/mo.
          + Pro:  $99/mo.
  * LessonsLearnedServer:  LessonsLearnedServer.com
      o To circumvent that, LessonsLearnedServer provides a knowledgebase central for an organization to quickly collect and store unstructured information - in the form of textual content, answered questions, documented techniques, resolved problems, articles, documents, white papers, images, etc. - and intelligently exploring and retrieving that information. LessonsLearnedServer streamlines those tasks through a sophisticated yet simple and intuitive web-interface that provides hierarchical information storage along with powerful extraction and retrieval features. All that available through a smart background service for handling the lengthy tasks of data extraction, indexing and retrieval.
      o 5 accounts for $129
  * MyInfo:  http://www.milenix.com/
      o MyInfo is a personal information manager for Windows. It will help you capture, organize, edit and share ideas, documents, tasks, and web pages.
      o Standard version for $49 for PC Windows.
  * Chandler:  http://chandlerproject.org/
      o Chandler is an open source Note-to-Self Organizer. It features calendaring, task and note management and consists of a desktop application, web application and a free sharing and back-up service called Chandler Hub.Our goal is to serve the way people actually work, independently and together, particularly in small groups, a market segment we believe is underserved. Our belief is that personal and collaborative information work is by nature iterative and that the existing binary Done/Not-Done, Read/Unread, Flagged/Unflagged paradigm in productivity software poorly accommodates the reality of how people work.We are also committed to breaking down technological barriers that prevent effective collaboration. Chandler Desktop and Chandler Server are cross-platform and standards-based because we realize that collaboration can’t and shouldn’t be trapped within a single system. Chandler Server provides web access to shared information that makes it easy for collaborators to hook into Chandler workflows without having to download the Desktop application.
      o Free for Windows, Mac OS, Linux
  * Do-organizer:  http://www.gemx.com/?page_id=1884
      o do-Organizer includes useful tools to improve your experience and qualify you as an achiever. Store valuable information with a versatile, elegant, and customizable data manager. Creatively highlight information with a huge library of quality clipart, icons, and pictures that will enhance every presentation.
      o $49.95 for download, $59.95 on CD for Windows
  * TexNotes Pro:  http://www.gemx.com/?page_id=1885
      o Keeping all your valuable notes and information can’t get any better than with TexNotes. Each day we are confronted with enormous amounts of data. Organizing, memorizing, and utilizing this vast amount of information is often overwhelming. Short-term solutions like writing everything down on scattered pieces of paper is both ineffective and ultimately fruitless.
      o $19.95 for download, $29.95 on CD for Windows
  * TotalNotes:  http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/TotalNotes.shtml
      o An application that will turn your storage device into another brain, and carry it to work on any PC. Searching for a piece of information on your hard disk can be very time comsuming and also quite dispiriting if you can not find what you want. As more and more information from the internet, email, office working files, digital cameras etc. accumulates, knowledge workers need an integrated, robust office suite with filing/document management capabilities to improve their daily work flow. TotalNotes does the job for you. TotalNotes lets you turn your storage device into another brain, and carry it to work on any PC. Although TotalNotes performs great installed on a PC or Notebook, it is completely portable. You can also install it onto any usb hard disk or flash drive and start it directly from the removable drive, letting you use it on computers that will not allow user installed software. This 100% portability makes TotalNotes an excellent integrated knowledge management solution for mobile workers who need to work on multiple computers, whether at home, at school, at the office (with administrative rights) or at a client’s office, even at hotel business centers, airport lounges and internet cafes.
      o $49.95 on Windows PC
  * TaskMerlin: http://www.taskmerlin.com/
      o A simple but very powerful project and task manager that allows you to add notes to projects, link each item to other items or to websites and to files, create your own filter and sort criterias using a powerful designer or SQL and reminders
      o No Outlook integration/link
      o Accolades from PCWorld
      o Personal ($49) and Professional ($99) on Windows PC
  * uOrganized:  http://www.veetosoft.com/uOrganized.html
      o uOrganized unique approach let users decide what’s the most appropiate and productive configuration for their needs. Just take a look at these layouts, they look different but it’s the same program, at the same price with the same number of features organized in a different way. You can choose any of them when program starts (you can also customize and create your own interface).
      o $29.95 for Windows PC
  * NoteFinder:  http://notefinder.co.cc
      o The main concept of it is notebook. You can create as much notebooks as you want. Each notebook has its backend. The following backends are provided now: FileSystem (stores entries as organized plain text files, features tagging), Files (stores entries as non-organized plain text files), DokuWiki (uses DokuWiki powered website to store entries), RSS (NoteFinder isn’t RSS reader, but this backend may be useful for some people), iPod (you can use notes on your player), iCalendar (uses vCalendar Journals), Mail (if you have no access to your computer, you can mail your notes to specified email address from mobile phone or another computer and then view them and maybe copy into local notebooks with NoteFinder), Zim (uses Zim’s files and directories tree) and Wixi.  Wiki Creole or HTML markups are available for rich text editing.  Plugins system is presented.  NoteFinder requires Python, Qt 4, PyQt 4, setuptools and, optionally, python-feedparser (for RSS backend).
      o NoteFinder is licensed under the terms of BSD Revised License.
  * EagleFiler:  http://c-command.com/eaglefiler/
      o EagleFiler files are stored in directories and subdirectories in their native formats. What EagleFiler provides are ways of organizing those files: such as an indexed, hierarchical overview of the files in a folder (“library”), searches, and smart folders that find all files that match specified criteria.
      o $40 for Mac OS X
  * Leap:  http://www.ironicsoftware.com/leap/
      o Information management software that works by means of a tagging system
      o $59 for Mac OS X
  * Together:  http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/
      o Together lets you keep everything in one place. Text, documents, images, movies, sounds, web pages and bookmarks can all be dragged to Together for safe keeping, tagged, previewed, collected together in different ways and found again instantly.
      o $39 for Mac OS X
  * NoteCase Outliner:  http://notecase.sourceforge.net
      o NoteCase outliner helps you to organize your text notes into a document, with individual notes placed in the tree-like structure. To ensure your privacy, encrypted document format is supported.
      o Project is multi-platform and open source (BSD license).  Win/Linux/OSX/FreeBSD/Zaurus/Nokia N800
  * NoteCase Pro:  http://www.virtual-sky.com
      o NoteCase Pro is an advanced commercial version of Notecase project. It’s an outliner that helps you to organize your text notes into a document, with individual notes placed in the tree-like structure, supporting encrypted document format.
      o Win/Linux/OSX/Zaurus/Nokia N800
  * TKoutline:  http://tkoutline.sourceforge.net/wiki/ 
      o Tkoutline is a single pane, cross-platform outline editor written in Tcl/Tk . With this editor, information can be structured hierarchically in an outline and outlines can be hyperlinked together to create a web of outlines.
      o Free for PC Windows
  * InfoQube:  http://sites.google.com/site/infoqube/Home
      o InfoQube is a Windows application to manage your information (text, numbers, lists, web, contacts, tasks, notes) in outline format.
      o $49.95 for license

 


Posted by Andrew Macdonald
Dec 28, 2008 at 02:04 AM

 

Yosem E. Companys wrote:

>Here is a list of PIMs I assembled based on all of the messages archived on this group.  I
>hope it is useful.
...

That’s impressive assembling. You need a program just to keep track of all the programs out there. :-)

>* TaskMerlin: http://www.taskmerlin.com/
>o A simple but very powerful project and task manager that allows you to add notes to
>projects, link each item to other items or to websites and to files, create your own filter
>and sort criterias using a powerful designer or SQL and reminders
>o No Outlook integration/link
>o Accolades from PCWorld
>o Personal ($49) and Professional ($99) on Windows PC

TaskMerlin now does include some basic Outlook integration (e-mail drag/drop and copy/paste support, task and reminder e-mailing), with plans for more in the future.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Andrew Macdonald
http://www.taskmerlin.com

 


Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Dec 28, 2008 at 11:17 AM

 

Yosem,

Many thanks for this; you have indeed provide an excellent starting point for many many people :-)

All the best in your quest for the ideal information manager!
Alexander

 


Posted by jimspoon
Dec 31, 2008 at 04:59 PM

 

Yosem,

Thanks.  I look forward to browsing your list.

Did you see the spreadsheet list of outliners?

http://www.editgrid.com/user/pplandry/List_of_Outliners

jim

 


Back to topic list