Plain text solutions for data organisation

Posted by JohnK
Feb 11, 2008 at 11:43 AM

Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m “over-engineered” when it comes to organising my data. I use OneNote and Ultra Recall. Both good applications.

But in reality…most of the data I want to keep track of is plain text. Probably 95 per cent of it. And good as those two applications are, they are slow in use compared to working with a good text editor. So I’m also looking a lean, fast program that helps me work with plain text files in one place. A straight-forward, two-pane plain text organiser/editor, with global search and under active development. No limit on individual note size (within reason). I’d prefer if it used a separate text file per tree item/note. I thought there would be many options, but I’m struggling to build a shortlist.

MemPad (http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/wmem.htm) is interesting. It works well and is fast in use. Global search is quick. However, MemPad keeps all the data in its own database (which seems to be a plain text file that has been “tweaked” slightly), and I’m not sure about taking that route. I haven’t ruled it out. I just feel that separate text files per note might be a better way to maintain speed and integrity over time.

AM-Notebook is also interesting (http://www.aignes.com/notebook.htm). Strictly speaking this doesn’t meet my criteria either as it offers formatted text. I had dismissed it completely because I had lazily assumed it used the MS richedit control to generate files (with all the associated bloat). But I discovered it uses a different control, TRichview (http://www.trichview.com/), which seems to generate sensibly-sized files (though larger than MemPad). And AM-Notebook does use a separate file per note (unfortunately not a standard format—it uses TRichview’s native format, but it can be exported to RTF and HTML).

I tried WikidPad (http://www.jhorman.org/wikidPad/), but it just did not appeal. I don’t think I like the wiki way of doing things. Both MemPad and AM-Notebook offer the option to link between notes.

And beyond that I’m running out of ideas. Any suggestions?