CRIMP Alert: A Compiled List of PDF Managing and Search Tools

Posted by Ike Washington
Feb 10, 2008 at 04:12 PM

Derek Cornish wrote:
> From my POV the two
>disadvantages are (i) no means yet - I think - of categorizing or keywording the files,
>although I’m sure that will change; (ii) although the imported files are stored in the
>windows filing system the names under which they were originally saved are replaced
>by numbers - unlike the case for Net Snippets….

I don’t worry too much about keywording scraps since I tend to use Scrapbook to store the full text of the pdf or html file. Every word stored there get indexed by dtSearch. I sometimes add an annotation, say a unique project title - this gets indexed too.

Yes, I’m not too keen either on Scrapbook imposing time stamps as Windows folder titles.

Still, quite amazing for a free application.

Anyone interested in finding out more about Scrapbook should read its manual: http://amb.vis.ne.jp/mozilla/scrapbook/ - scroll down the page to the pdf tutorial link. “Tutorial” sells it short. Thinking I didn’t need a scrapbook tutorial, I didn’t bother with it until recently. But it’s full of best practice gems. In particular, check out the section towards the end - “Using ScrapBook in web-based research”.

>I wouldn’t want exaggerate the importance of these issues, especially as
>using Web Research entails a whole lot of other compromises. But it means that for me
>there are projects where Web Research is a better fit for the things I want to do.

I remember Web Research as being pretty good. But, as I remember, it didn’t allow the folder view to be filtered. This became a problem for me since I created a complicated system which tried to cover all aspects of the research task.

Yes, I think it’s a good idea to use applications for particular purposes: in my case, Scrapbook as a reference library, Zoot as a project and clips organizer, local wikipedia, among others, for long-term notes.

Perhaps I can find a specific use for Web Research. Always a crimper…

(Not the greatest name in a googleverse full of “web research” software - http://www.macropool.com/en/products/webresearch/professional/index.html takes you to Web Research. Perhaps Macropool should have stuck with “ContentSaver”?)

Ike