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Plain text solutions for data organisation
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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?
Posted by Thomas
Feb 11, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Treepad Lite
http://www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware/
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Feb 11, 2008 at 02:28 PM
I second the suggestion of checking out Treepad Lite.
Also, take a look at PowerOutlines: http://www.dataomega.com/PowerOutlines/index.htm
I think it matches most of your criteria, although I’m not sure about how it stores its files. If you need something more powerful, PowerOutlines big brother, Insight, might be worth a look.
Steve Z.
Posted by Manfred
Feb 11, 2008 at 03:24 PM
Notetab comes to mind. But you’d probabably want the standard or pro version, which have also rudimentary outlining capability and the ability to link to entries by enclosing them with “[” “]”. You can have several such outlines open because it has a tabbed interface. Otl or Outline Files files are text files as well.
I think the trial version lets you experiment with that as well.
Manfred
Posted by Derek Cornish
Feb 11, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Thanks for the information about TRichview (http://www.trichview.com/). It seems that MyInfo and TreeDBNotes Pro use it as their editor, too. I did not know that. Unfortunately it does not look as though it can be used to produce single-pane outlines. But I digress…
Yes, I would go along with others about Treenotes and PowerOutlines. I liked Insight when I trialled it some time ago, but found it a little buggy. It is also very expensive for a text-only two pane outliner. Its developer has done some work in connection with NoteTab, with which he says his products are compatible, so I think the files are stored as plain text.
At the moment I use NoteTab Pro. As Manfred says, the two-pane outliner option is rudimentary - more of a table-of-contents than a proper outliner - but useful for navigating around a document divided into many sections. It also has a lot of other neat features, and stores data as plain text, whether you are using its two-pane “outlining” option or not. It can also save sequential versions of the file you are working on. Very useful.
Derek