Vote for Your Favorite Mac Personal Information Manager
For those who rely on the outline-based personal information management app Notebook, the shuttering of developer Circus Ponies last week was sad news (see “Circus Ponies Closes Its Doors,” 7 January 2016). While Notebook will likely continue to work fine in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, its lifespan is necessarily limited, and users would do well to start researching alternatives.
But there are an overwhelming number of choices to sort through, and many of them look quite similar. Several readers have asked us for our opinion, and while it’s easy to suggest Apple’s Notes or point at powerful apps like DEVONthink, it’s impossible for us to recommend a single app. Personal information managers as a class have evolved to fill every available niche in the ecosystem, and only you know what features you need.
We want to help provide some direction to your research, and some data to support your eventual choice, so we’re trying something new: a reader-driven survey aimed at rating personal information managers for you to fill out (it’s embedded at the bottom of this article on our Web site or you can navigate to it directly). A few important notes before you start clicking:
- Please rate only those apps with which you have significant personal experience. That means weeks or months of use, not something that you launched once before discovering that it lacked a feature you need. Just don’t enter ratings for apps you haven’t used.
- We’ve listed a lot of apps in the poll, but if we missed the one you use, let us know so we can add it (obviously, those added later are a bit less likely to have as many votes, but there’s no way around that). To keep this manageable, we’re going to stick with Mac apps that are focused on note-taking, snippet-keeping, and information management, not apps that are primarily task managers, for keeping a journal, or text editors. There’s nothing wrong with using them, but we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
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Some apps will get more votes than others, so when looking at the results (click Show Previous Responses after you vote), take that into account. A lot of votes may indicate popularity (or a successful attempt to game the system), but an app with just a few highly positive votes is still worth a look.
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Ratings don’t give a complete picture, so feel free to say what you like or don’t like about apps you use in the comments for this article; we’ve seeded the top-level comment for each app, and please keep your thoughts within the appropriate top-level comment. Searching for the app name will likely be the fastest way to find the appropriate comment thread, now that we’ve added so many suggested apps.
We’ll report on the results next week.
Thanks for the help — we can all work together to help other TidBITS readers find the best apps for their needs. And if this approach works well, we can expand it to other categories of apps.
Please leave comments about Curio as replies to this comment.
Nobody uses Curio? I am debatting whether I should buy it but if nobody is using it, I am afraid it might go away like Notebook.
It got 39 votes and a weighted average of 3.15. So a bit on the low side.
I love Curio! Use it on a day-to-day basis. They appear to be continually releasing new versions, and charging for them (which is good, because it means ongoing revenue for them, which means the app may stick around!). And they're quite responsive to questions as well.
Please leave comments about Dossier as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about DEVONthink as replies to this comment.
DevonThink Pro Office is the Mercedes Benz of Information Managers on the Mac. Really well put together, the app is steadily developed and improved, it's solid and professional.
You can take your important company work, records and files and put them in there. And not worry.
We had a project, ten years of files, nested organised files and folders, various media, tens of thousands of documents, gigabytes of data. DevonThink Pro Office took them in no problem, found links I was unaware of, made intelligent organisational offerings, and synced the lot off to the cloud for my various Macs to access as needed.
In some ways that's the perfect use for DTPO. If you have a valuable archive and you wish to preserve it, use this. I archive off my email every year using it for example. It's where I go to when I have to find that email from 2008, as sometimes I have to.
I have a DTPO database for each of our company's projects (and ones for Family and Food and others...) and as research comes in or important documents, including legal scans (it does OCR on PDFs) I pop them in DTPO, into the Inbox initially and once a week I organise myself or following their prompts, and the documents are stored. It's my where-do-I-put-this database too. As I find relevant research on the Web I drag the link to DTPO's drawer, I can quickly convert it to a web archive, or a PDF...
And I don't worry. It's a proprietary database but the company has been around for so long, updates on such a regular basis, and has many export options.
I've used DEVONthink Pro off and on for a year or so, but not intensively. It seems to be stable, performs well, has an amazing set of features, and has extensibility options. Search works well even for larger collections of information (unlike Evernote).
But... The one little thing that's kept me from fully committing to DEVONthink is the tiny fixed size of the font used to return search results. If you've got older eyes or a higher DPI display you will likely hate this aspect of DEVONthink. I'm reluctant to dismiss software for a single reason but this is really egregious. DEVONthink has nice import and export options, so at least I'm not feeling locked in despite my doubts.
I am trying to give Devonthink a tryout but the tutorials are almost in existent. What do you do after you start, just drop stuff in there?
Ask, at least I found Joe Kissel's excellent Take Control - eBook on DEVONthink.
Have you looked at this page? It's not particularly inspiring, but it is a start. I agree that Joe Kissel's book is more complete.
http://www.devontechnologies.com/support/tips-and-tutorials.html
Looking into that. Thanks.
Please leave comments about EagleFiler as replies to this comment.
I have used EagleFiler as an information manager for many years. I find it easy to use and well supported. Two really nice features are:
(1) the data is saved in native format, so EagleFiler is not needed to retrieve it. This means I can usually use Spotlight to find my information, and if the product ever stops working I won't lose anything.
(2) it saves the original address with web archives, making it trivial to see the current version. This is one thing it does much better than Finder.
It supports tags, though I don't use them.
I recently started using EagleFiler. After a three-week trial, I thought it fulfilled my needs. First of all, it doesn't process the files and it's not a closed database. Thanks to this, I don't have to worry about about losing the OSX tags or Preview annotations.
I've chosen to go a bit wild on my workflow, because I'm storing my EagleFiler libraries on the Goodreader folder in iCloud Drive. That way, I can read and annotate my PDFs on the iPad.
Since all iCloud Drive files are backed up with the rest of my things, I don't worry about losing anything.
"I've chosen to go a bit wild on my workflow, because I'm storing my EagleFiler libraries on the Goodreader folder in iCloud Drive. That way, I can read and annotate my PDFs on the iPad."
Wow, that does sound wild. Do you keep only PDFs in EagleFiler? Can Goodreader now handle files other than PDFs?
I've been using EagleFiler on the Mac for years, with some custom synch scripts (based around ChronoSync and a portable hard disk I carry with me :-)) for synchronising things between my home and work Macs.
Recently I got my first iOS device (iPod Touch), and so I naturally wanted the ability to access my EagleFiler libraries on there too when necessary.
Reading through the recommendations in the EagleFiler manual, I decided to try GoodReader.
This has turned out to be absolutely ideal for my needs. GoodReader can open and (at least) display most kinds of files, especially those I store most frequently: text files, PDFs and WebArchives. (The latter is really a killer feature for me: I can archive some useful page in EagleFiler when browsing on my Mac and know that (having synchronised) I can open it later at any time on iOS, even (especially) when offline.)
I'm now using my own ownCloud server for synchronising, but you could also use iCloud, Dropbox or any WebDAV server, or do it using USB and iTunes (this is covered in the EagleFiler manual). I have GoodReader set up to synchronise with my EagleFiler library in read-only mode, since I generally don't need to make changes to these things on iOS, but you can also set it up to work in a read-write way. (For text files I do need to modify, I'm using Textastic, connected to the same ownCloud/WebDAV server.)
The documentation and support for EagleFiler are both excellent, and I've found it to be flexible enough (both the software itself plus the extensive AppleScript support) to cover any use cases I've come up with. And having the library based around standard filesystem folders makes it easy to integrate with any other solution or workflow.
Please leave comments about Evernote as replies to this comment.
I love the way notes can be synced between my laptop, desktop, iPhone and iPad. I occasionally use the ability to share notes, for instance to build a shared collection of recipes, but for serious collaboration Google docs are unsurpassed. Next to Evernote I use Apple notes. Together they are all I need.
Evernote seems like a good argument for adding a "Trapped By It" option. I've been putting my whole life in Evernote for years, but with the recent seismic shifts in their business side and continued issues with software stability, I can't say I'm 100% happy about using it.
I second this. Currently migrating to SimpleNote from Evernote.
Me too
Evernote is nice and being able to sync it with bwt Mac and iPhone us very attractive. But the more I used it the more it became like a dead file of stuff I wanted to keep but came back to it only seldom. I guess it's my fault, as I need stuff to be near and visible in order from them to "exist" in my life. That's why I can't see the real use in Pinterest, either.
Switched from Evernote to Devonthink some months ago. The main reason was the long term archiving I require for my Family History. Export in Evernote is very poor and painful for a large collection of files and notes etc.
Devonthink is just plain simple
I didn't like the way Evernote held all my files, each within it's own note file. I found that awkward.
Evernote is an attractive choice for short to medium-length notes, with easy markup and attachment options. It's still where I put much of my stuff, but I'm also looking for a way out. I'm concerned about crashes and about a business model that doesn't seem very well suited to casual personal use. It's also ungainly to search once you get more than a few hundred notes. For me, at least, this product actually becomes less useful as I put more into it.
OCR roped me in
I've used Ever one off and on for years, each time going back and thinking, "this time for sure." While it is good and has many features I like, somehow it never clicked with me.
I've used Evernote since 2008, and have roughly 17,000 notes. Seamless access across my i-devices, iMac, MBP and the web was and continues to be the highest value to me.
I've written a fair number of apps (for collecting my work hours by client, etc., and summarizing for weekly and monthlies) makes my life easy. Along with the number of apps that cooperate with Evernote is a big plus for me.
Love that it is available basically wherever I am (platform-wise), and I use it for everything from snippet-clipping to note-taking during meetings on my various devices. Syncing among iOS, Mac, and Windows devices is very good. I am an inveterate tagger, and have been a little frustrated at how long it took Evernote to refine tagging to the point of usability--but now works well. The recent pruning of ancillary apps has me concerned. I've organized major parts of my work life and a writing project into Evernote, and now I'm keeping one eye on their business health. With nearly 6,000 notes in my account, that's a lot of information to retrieve should they decide that "100 years" is being measured by some other metric.
Please leave comments about Growly Notes as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about Microsoft OneNote as replies to this comment.
Switched to using OneNote from Evernote after the Mac version achieved additional features a year or so ago. Fact of life is that I use Microsoft Office on the Mac and IOS and this works well with it.
I've pretty much settled on OneNote. I was skeptical at first - the "M" word - but have grown to appreciate its usefulness. Syncing works well between my Mac and iPad, which is important to me. And unlike with Apple's Notes offering, individual notes actually look good regardless of platform - no typeface issues.
Please leave comments about Notability as replies to this comment.
I love Notability. It's my goto app on the iPad for note taking. I use it for meeting notes primarily. I don't type in it (though you can) I use it with a stylus for free form handwriting and inclusion of photographs I take with the iPad camera of key presenter slides etc.
I use it also for grading student work. I teach in an art college and it's handy to have a tool with me where I can freeform write notes, snap off pictures of installations and details I wish to discuss with them. All while moving through their studios.
The notes all sync seamlessly to my Mac and to my iPhone (never really look there but if I had a plus size model maybe...). They can also back up as PDFs which is a nice option. I generally only use the app on my Mac to review what notes I've taken on my iPad. The tools are not so good on the Mac, no way to adjust pen size for example or use alternative paper styles. It's also the only time I type anything in Notability.
The app is attractive, the tools are good and effective, you can organise your notebooks easily and customise them too. the developer keeps it fresh. In some ways it's similar to Circus Ponies Notebook but not anywhere near as full featured. It's a simple tool, but what it does, it does well.
I used this last year for a few Coursera classes. I liked it lot--except that it was a little too laggy and imprecise for writing and drawing due to ipad limitations. I like that it lets me sync via webdav. I wish it didn't use proprietary format, though I'm not sure what other options are available considering the variety of things you can stick on one page. Once the apple pencil becomes available on a regular size ipad and/or iphone, I'll start using a lot more. As a Notebook replacement, it's only fair, since there's no outlining or indexing. (I don't have the desktop version (yet); I'm assuming that it's roughly feature equivalent to the ipad version.)
Please leave comments about Notational Velocity as replies to this comment.
I have used Notational Velocity together with SimpleNote on iPad and iPhone for some years now. It has two major strenghts that sets it apart for me. First search is lightning fast and I find what I am looking for. Second, entering new notes is also very fast. I am a former user of Circus Ponies and Evernote. The sync between mac and iPhone/iPad is very reliable and the same is true for mac to mac. It is text only which I like.
Please leave comments about Notebooks as replies to this comment.
Assuming that Notebooks is the one by Alfons Schmid (so many similar names out there) I've been using it on the iThings for several years. I only use a few of the features since I rarely need formatted text or images. Mostly I just wanted something that could sync text files via my webdav server (I don't do cloud.) It's been fine and stable, and all of the files are in standard formats so there's zero lock in. On the mac end, I just use bbedit. Even now that I know there's a Mac version, I probably won't get it. Finder/Spotlight is adequate organization for text notes.
It's certainly not a replacement for Notebook. No outlining, no index, no tabs, no graph paper; not really something to use for projects such as garden design, microscopy logs with photos, etc..
I've moved a fair bit of my CP note pages content to Notebooks recently. I had used Notebooks for years for quick recording and retrieval of random bits (printer ink numbers, paint codes for old vehicles, sizes of workshop supplies) because of its ease of use and speed and because it was sync-able on iPhone where CP was non-existent. So far I'm finding that the newest versions of Notbooks (decided to upgrade this week) are meeting my needs for a CP replacement. I'll miss the index and some features, but not the UI of CP on the iPad, which I never managed to master. I looked at Outline, but found it crashes and is unreliable importing data.
Please leave comments about Apple's Notes as replies to this comment.
I use Apple notes next to Evernote, for small tidbits only that I need to find quickly, like what kind of ink do I need for my printer. Evernote is for longer notes, like research notes.
Apple's Notes is a simple tool but iCloud sync gives it a role for most people in keeping text based notes and simple data available everywhere.
Apple Notes is pretty good, but the inability to set a default typeface or size is unfortunate.
iCloud sync is obviously a big plus.
Actually, that's what keeps me from even trying it--it -requires- iCloud be on for all of the features, and won't just sync via usb. I don't want anyone else's cloud when I have my own servers. It's far too troublesome to remember not to use a cloud app for sensitive data, or decide what may become sensitive once added to the others things in the app. All well and good to have decent encryption on the hardware, but once it's on apple (or other) servers, it's much more vulnerable to social engineering and other hacks.
A good iTunes password and two-factor and my Notes are safe as houses. I have much less hesitation about iCloud than most any other cloud service.
I agree on the typeface issue. The continual change back to 12pt Helvetica is very frustrating.
Syncing between my Mac and iPad is useful, but the typeface issue seems to get in the way. What looks good on the tablet, doesn't look good on the Mac - and vice versa.
I'm going to really date myself by saying that my all-time favorite remains More (discontinued many years ago but if More were ever put back into production, I'd gladly use it again). I have used Things, Notebooks, NoteTaker and Omnifocus extensively but they just didn't appeal to me for simplicity of use. I have settled on Notes for everyday use because its highly portable and easy to sync.
I am very happy with Notes and use it constantly. The revamp for iOS 9 has been brilliant, and it syncs so well across devices that it really is a "It just works" solution. The only think I wish it did better was let me share notes with others.
I remember someone saying the best camera is the one you have with you! Notes is like that for me. I have multiple Macs, an iPad, an iPhone and can add to existing notes or create new ones very simply (either via google or iCloud services). They have no learning curve and are easy to search. Just don't store anything confidential in them (for that I use secure notes in 1Password).
I remember someone saying the best camera is the one you have with you! Notes is like that for me. I have multiple Macs, an iPad, an iPhone and can add to existing notes or create new ones very simply (either via google or iCloud services). They have no learning curve and are easy to search. Just don't store anything confidential in them (for that I use secure notes in 1Password).
I remember someone saying the best camera is the one you have with you! Notes is like that for me. I have multiple Macs, an iPad, an iPhone and can add to existing notes or create new ones very simply (either via google or iCloud services). They have no learning curve and are easy to search. Just don't store anything confidential in them (for that I use secure notes in 1Password).
Please leave comments about nvALT as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about Outline as replies to this comment.
I'm a Circus Ponies Notebook user and am now testing out Outline. I like it, and it sort of resembles a notebook (which is what I'm looking for).
My only gripe is that it doesn't seem to have collapsible bullets. With Notebook if you indented a bullet the one above would change into a disclosure triangle so you could open or close them all. I'd miss that feature, but I could see getting used to Outline.
One cool feature is that you can put any sort of object anywhere on the page so you can kind of do layouts.
And actually to clarify, as a Notebook user I'm not looking for a personal information manager. I already use Yojimbo, iData Pro, OmniOutliner, OmniFocus, Notefile, etc. Those are great at what they do but they're not notebooks. Notebook is unique in that it has tabs, pages, outlines, etc., everything you'd expect a notebook to have. If I wanted to use labels and search for things I'd quite happily put something in Yojimbo. Notebook for me at least is a very different use case.
A personal information manager is something you tag, store, and search, whereas a notebook is something you use "physically." You open it up, go to a tab, find your page in the tab's table of contents and there you are. And while yes you can search, it's more of a "spatial memory" sort of thing. Kind of like a notebook, I guess.
I agree completely. I know that it's fashionable to sneer at skeuomorphism, but done well it can save a lot of effort, physical and mental. The tabs and automatic TOC outlines as you add pages are great, and the indexing is irreplaceable. The paper backgrounds are quite useful, especially for those of us who grew up with lab notebooks and engineering paper (and are shocked at how expensive it is now!) I'm really sad that they haven't left the forum up, it was a wonderful resource. I'm also sad that I never upgraded to the latest version, but it didn't add anything that I needed at the time.
I am not looking for a personal information manager either. I use DEVONThink as my information shoebox, nvAlt for short notes (such as keyboard shortcuts, opening hours, clothing sizes, weight of outdour equipment etc.), NeO as an outliner and need, in addition, a notebook to take notes of conversations, things I read, ideas that occur to me and so on, and to connect these things.
But you can use CP NoteBook as a PIM, and at the same time as a task manager – and a very effective one! The SuperFind page can show tasks/events in context, and can sync with Calendar events. Only, it does it together with other activities, and in the most elegant way.
Been using Outline for the better part of a week now and I have to say that I like it. It has its quirks but that's fine, but it's proving to be a decent Circus Ponies Notebook replacement. It's different from Notebook, but it's not that one's great and one's terrible. They're just different.
it's not cheap, US$40, but I'll end up buying it before the demo runs out. There's also an iPad version as well (no phone version though, alas).
It lets you have different notebooks, and each one can have as many tabs as you need. There's a list of notes, and you can indent them to make sublists as well as dragging them to change the order. Powerful. Doesn't have Notebook-y things like the clickable "slip of paper" stickers that stick out, for example, but I can live with that. Doesn't have the automatic indexes or tables of contents that Notebook has but the find function has worked well enough for me that I can manage just fine.
All in all a good Circus Ponies Notebook replacement.
There's no iOS version though, is there?
Yes, there's an iPad version.
http://outline.ws/ipad
I have been testing Outline, too, but I've had several crashes when trying to add web page content or moving data around to set up the filing and hierarchy I'd like to have. Support have been quick (within a day) to respond, too. I am not sure that I like the free form placement of material on the page. It has not worked well for me, with added PDFs overprinting the text data and no ability to undo these imports. I have not been able to set up a simple, functional workflow with Outline; I'll try some more, but I'll likely abandon it. (Im likely moving to Notebooks. Notebooks has an iPhone version which Outline does not -- not a deal breaker, but a nice bonus.)
Please leave comments about SOHO Notes as replies to this comment.
I have used SOHO Notes very extensively for many years. I am not aware of any other product which has the same range of functionality. Of particular note is its support for forms which I use for storing passwords.but there is very much more to it than that
SOHO notes is very flexible, and probably has one of the simplest and diverse interfaces, allowing notes with many kinds of data, and in many categories. BUT, through its fairly long life my family has used it we have suffered multiple and separate instances data corruption, to the point of losing saved data.
DevonThink and Yojimbo may not be as easy to understand, but they are robust, and I have never suffered data loss. We migrated away from SOHO Notes over a year ago, and don't feel a loss.
I used SOHO Notes since it was Sticky Brain, and relied on it extensively.
I rather doubt it is still being developed, however. No updates in about two years now.
And Chronos had some of the WORST software support I've ever seen; I defended them in forums, helped sort people's problems, etc but then just gave up. And I own several of their other products, like Organizer, iTriumph, Labelist, etc, so it wasn't a decision I made easily. Avoid like the plague.
As I mentioned in my previous note, I have used SOHO Notes for many years and although it is not without its foibles (not least the abysmal non-support from Chronos), I just don't recognise the descriptions of data loss. I find it pretty much rock-solid - right now it has been up for 34 days without any problems and I access it all the time to view a wide range of data types.
If you can show me another application which can keep: Plain Text notes, fully styled (WP) Text notes, Sticky Notes, Audio files, Image files, URLs, Movies, PDFs, Web archives and MOST IMPORTANTLY Forms (which I use to keep all my credit card data, passwords, and serial numbers), then I will definitely consider changing.
But while it keeps working without any significant problems I will keep on using it.
In all my searching for a perfect notes app the capabilities of SOHO Notes remain unparalleled.
The biggest mystery is why it is not better known and why Chronos seem to have given up on a truly capable produc
Please leave comments about Tinderbox as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about Together as replies to this comment.
My wife, a writer, has used Together for years. As a simple drop and store "dump it here" tool, it works very well and has a few nice features for the people who are inclined to dive deeper, the ability to clear up and delete elements from stored web files etc. You can organise internally within the app if you wish, or not, as the case may be. It keeps things 'together' in the Finder so no worries about being locked in. The developer is a good guy who is very accessible.
Please leave comments about TopXNotes as replies to this comment.
As far as I know there is no other application, Mac or PC, that allows the display and editing in separate views like TopXNotes.
Please leave comments about VoodooPad as replies to this comment.
Voodoo Pad is a light-weight personal wiki, meaning that it's fast and flexible. The metaphor (which can become an actuality) is a series of linked web pages for each document. It is mostly no-frills and primarily text-oriented, but has some depth as a text-based note taker for geekier folks. Given its extensibility and the possibilities for export, it can be sophisticated, yet accessible to a casual user.
If information managers had a leather jacket and rode a Harley, VoodooPad would that information manager. I loved this app for years. Free form in so many ways, a personal wiki that's quick to learn and nimble.
As a freeform structure-as-you-wish tool it's suited as John mentioned primarily to text but can store images. You can store files in there, but they are linked elements on a page. Comes with great clipping tools as well. You can add, delete pages, pages can be very long or very short.
It's something to consider if you have lots of loose information about different projects and you would like to organise it on the fly as it comes in. You can keep text and files and related information all on the one page, building little mini-websites for each project, all off the cuff. It's fun.
Why did I stop? I made the mistake of storing my VP docs on Dropbox and things got corrupted as can be the case with databases and Dropbox. I moved towards using a text editor (Writeroom) and a set of nested folders on Dropbox and using other tools for files. Boring, but dependable.
I'm inclined to say this is by far the best of the notetaking apps I've tried, except for one thing: it doesn't have built-in syncing and I have also had problems using Dropbox.
The other consideration is that it's very text-centric, so you can't easily use it like Yojimbo, sending in lots of images and PDFs, etc.
I have used VoodooPad for many years, but have stopped for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, any hope for continued evolution seems to have disappeared with the new owners, Plausible Labs. The data (or pages) are hidden within an arcane structure and migrating to another tool would be complex. The interface itself is awfully geeky, with lot of power and minimal documentation how to use it. "Syncing" with iOS is slow and cumbersome, at best, and the iOS version has unreasonable limitations to formatting. This is a really cool tool that has seen better days and seems to have little future: a bad combination if you hope to maintain your notes for the longterm.
I have 10 years of daily work notes in Voodoo Pad. I don't try to sync it with anything, and I'm not sharing it with anyone, but I find the ability to look up what I was doing on a particular day, or how I solved a problem, very useful.
Please leave comments about Yojimbo as replies to this comment.
I've used Yojimbo on my Macs for years as a way to store a lot of miscellaneous information. I still use version 3 as I only have one Mac, so I never tested their subscription sync service. I have the iPad version, too. I wish there were one for the iPhone. The lack forces me to use Apple's Notes for factoids I want available when I'm away from home and not carrying my iPad.
Yojimbo is among several information managers that I purchased when considering a replacement for SOHO Notes. It most resembles SOHO Notes or Evernote in its interface. I found SOHO Notes increasingly unstable, with lackluster customer support. Yojimbo is very stable, and is backed by the folks who created BBEdit.
I have used Yojimbo since 2006 after StickyBrain (now SOHONotes) and Chronos botched both the ability of the software to transfer information and their customer support. I use Yojimbo as a collection point for passwords, licenses, and collected information-the key for me is Save PDF to Yojimbo from the Print pane.
As a substitute for my use of CP Notebook, it does the collections part, but not the compilation part. Yojimbo is like a stack of papers that you can easily search through, including through Spotlight, which is very handy when I know I saved something, just not where. I had hoped to use CP Notebook to compile things into reference notebooks, including PDFs, and was happy when they made an iPad version. I had high hopes for the future. Fortunately, I hadn't got far in that direction before they folded up, and at least they had the courtesy to say they were closing up before I lost anything on an OS update.
Please leave comments about OmniFocus as replies to this comment.
Omnifocus doesn't really belong here unless you want to include other task manager apps such as The Hit List or Things, so many of them too, it might merit a different survey. I wouldn't store information in any of them, while they do share ground with information managers it is in relation to overall project management.
You're right that it doesn't belong here, and while I don't want to risk confusing the results under the hood by removing it, I won't cover it in the evaluation. It was the very first app suggested, so I didn't think about it carefully before posting. Once several other task managers appeared, I realized what was happening, and updated the article to ask people not to suggest them. Task management is a topic for another day!
OmniFocus certainly does a lot more than just keep notes and snippets, but I know that there is a large Venn overlap between it and Evernote, so I'm not sure it doesn't belong here because a lot of people do use it pretty. Cub like they use Evernote. Sort of like how I use Vesper not as it is intended to manage tasks, but rather as a place to keep certain types of notes I want segregated from my other stuff (code snippets in my case)
I agree that this doesn't belong here. If there is a strong desire to keep it here, then please be fair to the competition by also including other task managers.
Please leave comments about OmniOutliner as replies to this comment.
OmniOutliner is an interesting option to consider in that it offers the information manager a particular structure within which they can organise data, the outline. Depending on the needs of the use case, it can prove enormously beneficial, I use it to map out each semesters notes/handouts/student issues for example. The structure of an outline suits perfectly, permitting easy organisation all within a form which echoes the Finder on one level and categorisation of academic areas on another.
I do like OmniOutliner, but it only really works if you're tremendously structured in the way you work, and you work almost exclusively in text.
Yes, I was a little hesitant to include it, since it's really mostly an outliner, but since NoteBook's claim to fame was that it was outline-based, I figured that OmniOutliner might appear to someone who was switching.
It's fascinating how these categories overlap - personal information managers, outliners, task managers, calendars, and more... We'll try to stay focused in the evaluation.
If you tend to think in a structured manner, as I do, OmniOutliner is a very viable option and the one I have gravitated to, at least until I find something better. Like all of the Omni Group's software products, it is polished and attractive, powerful and configurable, provides excellent compatibility on both MacOS and iOS, and has excellent product support. Some might object to the price, especially since you probably will need to buy it twice, once for each platform (MacOS and iOS). However, I use OO for much more than note-taking, as it is a superb outlining tool, so its has been well worth the investment for me.
Perhaps the biggest negative is its proprietary data format, which could make migrating to another tool difficult, at least if you use its ability to embed attachments. Note migration is a key issue for me: I would like to feel confident that the data will be readily accessible to me in ten years. The Omni Group seems like one software company that could stand the test of time.
Another potential issue is OO's preference to use the OmniPresence file system for synchronization. A lot of thought has been put into OmniPresence and it generally seems to work better than either iCloud or Dropbox for synchronization, but I'm not completely comfortable using the OmniGroup's (free) service, nor in a position to set up my own WebDAV server to host it myself.
So, if you are already using other OmniGroup products, and especially if you have a use for OO in other contexts, and if you are willing to structure your notes within the boundaries of the tool, this is a very powerful approach.
I've used it for years side by side with Notebook. (Version 3, I haven't upgraded yet.) The outlining itself is better than in Notebook (since it's a dedicated outliner), though I still get tempted to go back to the far simpler Acta/Opal. But OO is missing almost all of Notebook's other features.
I have used OmniOutliner 3 for some time. It was the most expensive outliner available and, apart from its beauty, mediocre. Compared to Notebook, OmniOutliner 3 adds columns (but no filtering options, which makes the columns pretty useless) and inline notes, but lacks internal hyperlinks (a deal breaker), paste as outline, combine items, and tags. Some of OmniOutliner 3's features are at the verge of incoherence: there is a keyboard shortcut for 'add sibling above', but no menu option for that function; there is a function to split items, but not to combine them; and the indent and outdent functions are not the reverse of each other. Advanced outlining features, such as expand to the Nth level, fold, promote and demote, are only available via AppleScript. I have no idea whether OmniOutliner 4 is better in this regard.
I'd say OO 4 is, if anything, marginally worse. There's no progress on any of the points you raise -- not even something as basic as "Show me all the stuff with the checkbox unchecked" which makes me wonder why the hell they have checkboxes at all -- and some retrograde steps with the UI. (E.g. navigation through the outline is now clumsier.) It's glossy. It's not suitable for serious work. To my eye, it's more for marketing guys trying to impress other marketing guys, but perhaps my milk of human kindness has been soured by overexposure to marketing guys. NeO is a much more powerful (but initially unfriendly, like the invaluable Tinderbox; both of them have a learning curve like an episode of acute psychosis) but for some reason isn't written about much. Shame.
Please leave comments about Quiver as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about Simplenote as replies to this comment.
I only use SimpleNote on iOS, but it acts as a seamless way to sync Notational Velocity notes (NV does not have an iOS app). Works very well, but is strictly text-based (though the database can be encrypted).
It just works. Simple, effective, it just works.
I haven't used this for a couple of years, because I found that it often failed to sync notes and even occasionally deleted a few. If that problem has been solved, then I would say it's probably one of the best text note organizers of all.
I twice lost data with Simplenote and I am not the only one who had these problems. Perhaps these problems are solved, but I would never again trust my notes to a program of a company whose testing phase fails to identify problems that may cause serious data loss.
Please leave comments about Cudgel as replies to this comment.
It took me a while even to find details on Cudgel after it was suggested - it's written in the Helix database and is aimed at lawyers.
http://www.keganlaw.com/keganlaw-elan/Cudgel.html
Please leave comments about NoteTaker as replies to this comment.
I've added NoteTaker to the list after a suggestion from a reader, but it's not clear to me that the app is still under development. The last entry in the company's blog is from 2011, and the app in the Mac App Store was last updated in 2013.
I don't know if NoteTaker is still being developed or not either. But I did want to point out, for those who loved Circus Ponies Notebook, that NoteTaker is sort of a sibling to Notebook. Both products had the same ancestor codebase.
Back in 2007, I finally lost interest in FileMaker Pro and compared AquaMinds’ NoteTaker to Circus Ponies’ Notebook. I went with NoteTaker, and have been using it extensively as a primary database manager ever since. I have heavily customized it, both internally and with many AppleScripts. It is a powerful app that I sync (using ChronoSync and PhoneDisk via USB) to my iPhones. Early on, I was blessed to have communicated extensively with Scott and his staff. They are fine folks. Given all that, I do appreciate people’s concerns. All I can say at this time is: “Do not give up on NoteTaker!”
We've now heard from Scott Love of AquaMinds, who says:
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I’m using both NoteTaker and NoteShare on El Capitan (OS X version 10.11.3 beta). Users may sometimes find that upgrading to a new OS X version will result in some display issues or display problems with our current versions. Typically these are easily addressed by removing and refreshing the container and preference files. In other cases, a NoteTaker and/or NoteShare file needs to be repaired by simply removing its index file. All of these fixes are documented and current on our website support pages.
Our web site is definitely stale but we are actively supporting our users and I personally answer all support questions.
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The app that contains all my essential information is iNotepad by Apimac. Simple. inexpensive, fast learning curve, very versatile.
Straight forward interface.
I've added it to the poll now.
My wife and I both used Notepad Deluxe for years and loved it. It is an extremely simple interface for keeping notes in whatever categories you chose to create. Fonts are easy to change and it supports drag and drop, including images. Unfortunately it doesn't work with OSX 10.11.x and the company no longer exists. Tried out iNotepad but the trial version is so limited that it's impossible to evaluate. Tried their Apimac Notepad v9.9.3 (previous incarnation to iNotepad in a trial version) and I like it - very similar to NPD but as it's been discontinued there is no support and I can't even buy it - opening the application brings up the trial dialog option to "buy" (no longer available), or "not yet". Hitting this latter button opens the application and it works fine but for how long? Does anyone know if iNotepad is basically the same as Apimac Notepad?
To summarize: I need a notepad to keep 1-page notes (text and images) in a findable manner, not to manage files, or create an outline.
It is for all intents and purposes the same application. I transferred all my information from Apimatic Notepad to iNotepad with no problems. Notepad still works fine with OS 10.11.2 but since the company indicated that no further updates would be coming, I made the switch just to be safe for the future. A great little app.
If I remember correctly, when you purchase iNotepad it came with a file that allowed you to open your Notepad data so the transfer of info was painless.
Thanks. I didn't purchase iNotepad, just downloaded the trial version, which is extremely limited in what one can do with it. From what I can see it is slightly different than its predecessor, Apimac Notepad - for example, I don't see how to start a new folder -I suppose it's easy but not readily apparent. Also, It's crashed several times while trying it. Using Mac OSX 10.11.2 on iMac Retina 27.
Have you considered Memoires? I think that is what it is called. It is a simple app, calendar style click for adding notes and images. Good search.
Thanks Michael. Looked it up - seems to be for mobile devices (like Android). I'm looking for something for my desktop Mac.
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Please leave comments about Versatil Markdown as replies to this comment.
I've used DevonThink Pro for some time, but find more and more that I want to keep my notes in Markdown format. Versatil Markdown is a new entry that I find quite useful and elegant. It handles CommonMark and Github Flavored Markdown, and displays the notes nicely rendered by default. It's young and missing a few things, but the developer is responsive and active.
As with text editors, no single PIM fully satisfies me, but Versatil does a great job of providing what I need (and much more) without becoming heavy or over-engineered. Cmd-return to toggle between Markdown view and edit modes works brilliantly, and keyboard-only navigation of the GUI is pretty easy. It works with cloud+local storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, et al.). I want an iOS version! And although browser extensions akin to Evernote's Web clipper would be nice, all that's strictly needed for clipping is a 3rd party extension (there are any number of them named "Save to Google Drive"; plus some that sync Google Drive to Dropbox or Box), as the developer is thinking about how to update Versatil's database based on the directory contents.
Please leave comments about Yep as replies to this comment.
Yep is a fine application for giving more flexible views than the Finder can of already-existing files. I have ScanSnap Manager set up to open Yep whenever new scans are made. It's not really designed for creating notes (though I seem to remember there was a cool hack to use it like that), so I question whether it really belongs here.
I love Yep, and it's bigger brother, Leap. Yep is more or less limited to PDFs, while Leap can organize all types of files.
But although I couldn't live without them, I don't consider them in the note taker class; they are more like Finder substitutes. If you wanna make a note, by default you're tossed into Text Edit. Which is fine, but basically unlike all the other applications being considered here.
Please leave comments about Tree as replies to this comment.
Tree doesn't support embedding pictures, whereas Omnioutliner does.
I reluctantly have exporting my data from HyperCard stacks (stop laughing). I looked around for what to use, and found lots of pricey solutions and lots of silo solutions, by which I mean data is difficult to extract and move to another format. I've tried various wikis, etc. I'm increasingly leaning to tagged files, whether .txt, .pdf, .rtf, or .jpg. It seems that storage and search will continue to improve; it also seems that these are stable file formats.
People have suggested LiveCode and Helix as replacements, but much as I appreciate the thought that you could write your own personal information manager, I couldn't really recommend doing that to most people, so I left them out.
MacJournal is missing in the list!
The reason it isn't on the list is that when I researched MacJournal, it was clear that it was intended as journaling software, not as a personal information manager. I'm sure it could be used to hold notes and other information, but if the company isn't marketing it as such, my suspicion is that users will at some point discover the need for a common feature in personal information management software, but requests for that feature will be deemed out of scope (quite reasonably) by the developer.
We already have 36 apps, and if I added in journaling software, the list would have grown even larger and more unwieldy.
But again, I'm not saying it's bad or can't be used as a personal information manager; just that the developer doesn't market it for that use.
Useful state of play to do Adam and Co. Thanks!
The readers may be interested in the _old_ but extraordinary series of articles by Ted Goranson for ATPM about ten years ago on outliners and organisation of data.
http://www.atpm.com/Back/atpo.shtml
The broad principles still in play of course, worth a read.
Ah, Mr. Weir, thank you for bringing up ATPM!
A great source of most of the great information that I used to pick culturecode's Things for me.
But I wholeheartedly endorse a re-read of the ATPM write-ups on these articles. Well, and thoughtfully, written. Great resource!
Great Herb! I think Mr Goranson is a very interesting fellow. Some deep thinking applied to the crossover between these apps and other related ones, task managers, outliners, even the Finder and folders.
I was an early subscriber to ATPM (and indeed TidBITS...)
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Please leave comments about Toodledo as replies to this comment.
Despite the task-based name, Toodledo does appear to have the necessary features to keep long notes, create structured outlines, and other capabilities of a personal information manager.
Anyone using Scrivener (a writing app that looks a little like DevonThink) to store notes? Or Ulysses?
People have suggested Scrivener, but it's really a writing tool rather than a general personal information manager. You could just use text files (also suggested) but I wanted to keep this bounded within reason. :-)
I have these Scrivener files:
Book of Jottings
Info Clips
Gardening Notebook
Golf Guide
Photography Guide
Quotations
Fracking Facts from the Media
Note Manager Comparison
and 10-15 more
Scrivener's literature chapters or Notebook tabs. It is all the same to me. Scrivener is great program to use for organizing notes and clippings.
If someone is looking for a power program there is Papers 3.
My son, mid PhD, swears by Papers. It's primarily for PDFs though. He loves it to bits.
Although Scrivener is indeed marketed as a writing tool, I would back this idea that it's also a good notekeeping tool. All you really have to do to make it work is to rename the key folders. I use it to file quotations that I've taken from PDFs that I use in my research.
I must say, though, that I think suggesting Papers 3 is going a bit too far beyond what Adam has in mind!
Apart from Notebook, I use DevonThink, nvAlt, Notability, and NeO. They are all very good. However, none of them can replace NoteBook's combination of outlining of notes, in-note outlining, internal hyperlinks (between and within notes), web links, attachments, keywords, search and sync that I need to keep daily notes of my thoughts and ideas and their interconnections. I feel really desperate and am very mad at Circus Ponies unannounced shut down, as well as the arrogant and unhelpful way in which they informed us about their closing.
Please leave comments about NeO as replies to this comment.
As with OmniOutliner, NeO is more of a classic outliner, but it seemed worth including, given NoteBook's outline capabilities.
I am a long time NeO user and can highly recommend it to those who are looking for an outliner. It is both the cheapest and the most advanced dedicated Mac outliner currently on the market. It has all the outlining features I can think of. As far as I know it is currently the only one that does cloning. However, a dedicated outliner doesn't fit me as a notebook for daily notes on my research, thoughts, ideas and their interconnections. The main reason is that it is unpractical to have all my notes either in one big outline or as a series of separate files (rather than as pages of a Notebook). Other things that make NeO less fit as a Notebook replacement are its more limited search capabilities (no indexes) and the lack of an iPad companion.
Please leave comments about TheBrain as replies to this comment.
Please leave comments about Opal as replies to this comment.
Opal is more of a straight outliner than an information management app, but since OmniOutliner has been such a popular choice, and since one of NoteBook's key features was its outlining, I decided to include it.
I use Google Keep for a list of reasons but I don't want to blather if this is considered a Web App and therefore ng. Suffice it to say that I use Google products extensively, Keep syncs flawlessly and is available on all my tools, always. Attach pictures, ocr (wonky but usable), voice notes. Really good and fantastically searchable, natch.
Yeah, I'm sure Google Keep is fine, but once you get into the Web app field, I suspect there are a ton of other possibilities.
I use a combination of Things - not on your list;why - and DevonThink Office Pro. An advantage of Things is its synch feature across all apple devices without going through icloud. Also I use Todoist which has the advantage of not being platform-specific.
I've been playing with CP Notebook to solidify what I need.
It comes down to the auto table of contents as you add sections and pages, and automatic indexing, which includes urls, keywords, all text, and more. Visible tabs for sections run a close third. Of other applications listed here, only NoteTaker does the same things, and it's a zombie.
What I like better about modern 'notebooks' such as Notability is that page contents don't have to be in an outline; they're free form. They handle images better, and usually have some simple drawing tools (more useful on an ipad than a mac). But none of them have outlines at all.
I'm exporting everything as html which doesn't save the indices but does make the content available. I've tried rtfd and .doc too, but nothing happens when I do that (3.09 on snow leopard). I really wish I'd upgraded.
Is there any tolerable way to convert a CP Notebook into NoteTaker? Copy/paste is not appealing...
I know it's rather late in the week, but I thought I'd put TiddlyWiki on the radar, just in case anyone is using it:
http://tiddlywiki.com
I know I'm going to blend *yet another* category in here. But a tool I have used to sync information, snapshots, links and web clippings has been... Day One.
Yes, Journals can act as an information repository.
Day One has a very quick and easy sync to iPad/iPhone. And it also can do pretty well everything that Apple Notes can do, organise via tags etc.
MacJournal too, that venerable app has even more features.
Circus Ponies sent an email to customers today to say Notebook 4 is the only version that works with El Capitan and offering licenses for $20 -- for software it refuses to support. Whoa. That kind of offer is easy to refuse.