Outliner/PIM roll call: Fall 2011

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Posted by Franz Grieser
Sep 24, 2011 at 05:39 PM

My setup:

Writing
* OpenOffice.org Writer with Duden Korrektor (the best German spellchecker) for everything I write, format, print or export to PDF
except
* Word 2007 for articles and books I write and pre-format for my publishing house
* Scrivener for Windows and Mac for a series of short novels
* Scrivener for Windows for a new book on creativity

Autocorrection, boilerplate…
* PhraseExpress

Info collection
* OneNote 2007 for the projects I started in the last years
* Evernote for new projects and for projects that I work on on several PCs
* InfoSelect - one legacy database, which will be dumped soon, however

Web page collection:
* Evernote

Outlining and brainstorming
* Noteliner
* XMind

E-Mail, calendar, address book
* OUtlook

Todo list, project planning and project tracking
* OpenOffice.org Calc
* Goalscape

Data exchange
* Dropbox

For a new project I will try Personal Brain.

First I thought a wiki system based on ConnectedText might be a nice tool. But I find it too cumbersome to switch between editing and viewing mode , to have to insert double CR/LFs at the end of each paragraph (and remove them again when reimporting into my word processor) and to insert the markup commands.

All I need (ha, how modest) is a tool that lets me enter or import notes, link to documents on my hard disk (or my Dropbox folder), lay them out visually, arrange them freely, link them, format them, export all or part of the notes. Something like Tinderbox or Curio - but it has to be on Windows as I will work on the project on my Windows machines not on the Mac.

Posted by Lucas
Sep 24, 2011 at 05:53 PM

These days I’m running Parallels (bought at student discount) on a Macbook Pro, so I’m using a mix of apps:

Tinderbox (Mac): For being creative. It’s the app that seems most closely to mimic the way I think. Great for single-pane outlining combined with outstanding organizational features. I also use it for things like foreign words lists and editing LaTex.

ConnectedText (PC): For being disciplined. If left to my own devices, I would only outline and never write in prose. But I need to write prose for my academic work. ConnectedText helps me focus on generating prose-based summaries of each of the topics I’m working on. And I appreciate that it allows footnotes.

InfoQube (PC): An extraordinaly powerful app that includes much of the functionality of Tinderbox and Ecco Pro. I use it mainly when I don’t have access to a Mac, but once the Google Calendar sync is finalized I’ll probably use it more generally for planning. Definitely one to keep watching.

The Hit List (Mac): flexible hierarchical task management with tagging and smart folders

Zotero (cross-platform): Reference storage and organization.

TextMate (Mac): text editor with useful “project drawer”. Also good for static, tab-based outlines. (I also like jEdit.)

OmniOutliner (Mac): still use this classic occasionally for straightforward outlining

Ecco Pro: Still use this extremely reliable classic when I’m on a PC.

What I’m missing:

A good online/offline single-pane outliner. Something like Checkvist that would also work offline.

A diagramming app with robust Euler/Venn-type functionality (not for mathematical purposes, but rather for visually representing the overlapping inter-relationships between ideas). The closest thing I’ve seen is Frieve Editor.

A personal scheduling app with powerful automatic scheduling (like in Microsoft Project) and two-way Google Calendar or iCal sync. (Achieve Planner goes in the right direction but falls short for my purposes. OmniPlan also comes close but lacks two-way sync.)

Posted by JohnK
Sep 24, 2011 at 05:56 PM

My aim is always to reduce the number of programs I use, but in practice the list seems to grow.

Outliner: Noteliner (most significant find in recent years)
Email: Thunderbird
Data collection/capture : Clipcache Pro, Instapaper
Calendar/tasks : Google as “server”, using various apps as client (Rainlendar and Thunderbird on Windows)
Boilerplate management: PhraseExpress
Indexing documents/email: Archivarius 3000
Writing: Scrivener, PageFour, Mempad, Notepad2

I also occasionally make use of OneNote.

Considering: Any programs where sync is the programmers’ top priority—I am now using Windows, Android and WebOS devices.

Programs where I spend most of my time: Thunderbird, Notepad2 and FeedDemon (RSS reader).

Biggest change in working methods in last year: I use a Kindle for reading most documents/long articles.

Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Sep 24, 2011 at 06:10 PM

My current setup:

PersonalBrain - Todos, Notes, Favorites, Files
MindManager - MindMapping, Writing short instructions (usage of software), Outlining for presentations and documents
Word - Writing (really!)

Dominik

Posted by Gorski
Sep 24, 2011 at 06:37 PM

The software I use regularly:

* OneNote, for notetaking, outlining, organizing research, to do list. Features I like the most: painless synching with three computers via SkyDrive, tables, outlines, search, tagging, ability to link to any paragraph. Has an iPhone app but it’s not there yet.
* UltraEdit, text editor for writing, programming
* Excel, R, for data analysis
* Clipmate, for storing short-term clips, cleaning up text before pasting in other programs
* WinSplit Revolution, for arranging programs on screen, multiple monitors at work
* Dropbox, for storing most files, some portable apps for use on multiple computers, inc. iPhone
* Instapaper, for saving articles from Web to read later on Kindle or iPhone
* PlainText for notetaking on iPhone and synching with other computers via Dropbox
* xPlorer2, for copying, moving, previewing files
* Gmail and Outlook
* Chrome extension SingleFile when I occasionally want to save a web page as is
* LastPass, for storing passwords
* Bayden SlickRun, for quick access to programs, websites

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