Core distinguishing features of two-pane PIMs

Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Dec 7, 2012 at 07:30 PM

Here are a few features that are crucial to me:

- How much like a real word processor is the editor? Can I write in it the way I could in Word? As I’ve written before, that involves a certain nimbleness of editing—extended selection being primary, but also including the ease of adding formatting.

- Is the outline pane the only way to view the organization of your information, or are there other options. For example, can you view your articles in a flat index or sorted by entry date? Can you tag data and filter on tags?

- Can you view the content of more than one article at a time? Can you open separate content windows?

- How quick and powerful is the search? Can you search across databases?

- Does the program facilitate the gathering of text from other sources, such as web capture and e-mail importation.

- Does the program facilitate the exporting of information? Can you export to common file formats? Can you fine tune what gets imported?

- In this day and age, it helps if the information can shared easily with mobile devices.

I’m sure I’m leaving off some features that are also important, but these are the ones that came to mind immediately.

Steve Z.