Unclutterer

1. Posted by Rafal - 06/01/2009

   I use Onenote ‘07 for all my note taking needs and beyond. It came with my tablet pc but I’ve purchased earlier version of the program.
   It’s definitely very powerful program to the point of being overwhelming. There are loads of functions, styles, toolbars and icons. Once you get used to it will work great.
   It does not have web sync but I’m using only one machine so that’s not a problem.
   It’s one of the best programs for anyone using tablet pc or looking at getting one.

2. Posted by JD - 06/01/2009

   I use evernote – haven’t tried the others but evernote syncs my mac, iphone, and the Web site application. It works flawlessly and is really easy to use. There is a paid service if you use it a lot but I have yet to get close to my monthly allotment. The feature I really like is that it integrates into your web browser (firefox or safari) and allows you to highlight something you want to “clip” and then by clicking one button it is saved to the desktop app. Then it auto syncs to the other two. You can also clip to your evernote account on the web.

3. Posted by timgray - 06/01/2009

   I use the audio recorder function of my phone, or if I must type it my notepad function in it. If I wrote it down I just take a photo of the drawing.

   Really easy, and I have it everywhere and it works without internet.

   The key is to process the information daily. put the photos in a notes folder and named something clear. transcribe or copy the audio files. If they tare important I attach them to an appointment in my calendar so they pop up when I have that alarm go off.

4. Posted by OogieM - 06/01/2009

   Yojimbo, clean, neat and I can synch to my treo.

5. Posted by georgeB - 06/01/2009

   I still live and work out of my HP Ipaq 211 PDA. I use apMemo and bLade wiki software on my iPaq. I still use the PDA because it is portable: It goes with me everywhere. For larger text and/or documents I capture from the internet I use pNotepad and later I sync to my computer at home. I enjoy having vital information with me at all times as well as putting my notes and thoughts in a central repository. gB

6. Posted by Michael S - 06/01/2009

   I just downloaded RedNotebook the other day. Its an opensource searchable/taggable journal.

   http://sourceforge.net/projects/rednotebook/

   I needed something to pour out my ideas onto that I could reference in the future and this was a perfect fit.

   Right now I have a trinity of personal management:

   -Rednotebook/Journaling for conceptualizing, writing out anything I’ve been thinking about doing, observations, critical thinking, purchases, home design, etc

   -Paper from a small memo pad for fleshing out projects, lists, todos, breaking down projects into actions. More than 1 paper for project just gets staples together)

   -Google calendar synced to my G1 with alarms. I made a calendar for routine of what I should be doing (ie 5am put on coffee/walk the dogs. 515 breakfast/reflect no media 545 workout) and another calendar for appointments/scheduled events

7. Posted by Tim - 06/01/2009

   Like timgray, I use my iPhone for pretty much everything. Camera and Notes do the trick whether I’m at work, on the road or watching TV.

   Then, the next time I use my computer, I process the notes accordingly. If I saw something cool on TV that I want to buy, I add it to my Amazon wish list (even if I don’t plan on buying from Amazon). If I heard a great song on the radio, I’ll go to iTunes and check out the rest of the album to see if it’s worth purchasing.

   Some notes stay on my iPhone indefinitely. For example, I’m waiting on a check from my previous landlord. There’s no reason to transfer that note to my Mac, so it will stay on my iPhone until I’ve received and deposited the check.

8. Posted by Meagan - 06/01/2009

   I love OneNote. Use it for grad school. It’s great! I got a wacom tablet to help with the note-taking.

9. Posted by Kim - 06/01/2009

   I have one (analog) notebook that all other papers get scotch taped into. If it is cumbersome to get that notebook out and write in it, I will type things into my iPhone. I am still trying to figure out the best app for that, since the iPhone notes app appears to have no way to categorize.

   Things become digital when they’re being followed through on, mainly.

10. Posted by Esteban - 06/01/2009

    Since I need to view my notes from different locations and different computers I need to keep my notes online. For example mytextfile.com.

11. Posted by Java Monster - 06/01/2009

    I use my daily Moleskine small notebook. I’m a luddite that way, even if I do have an iPAQ 111 PDA (which I love, btw). I use the PDA mostly for eBooks, the spreadsheet program for keeping track of car maintenance and gas mileage and yes, the occasional notes.

12. Posted by Kevin - 06/01/2009

    Evernote rocks! The picture OCR software is great.

13. Posted by L.W. - 06/01/2009

    I use One Note, and I love it. I’ve actually decided to switch to being a mac user once I feel that purchasing a new computer is warranted (so maybe in about a year) and have been sort of nervous about leaving One Note behind. I rely upon it heavily and don’t want to have to adjust my style of notetaking since this style works SO well for me.

    Apparently a OneNote for mac is “in the works,” but I guess I’ll believe it when I see it.

14. Posted by Tiara - 06/01/2009

    I use One Note, since my company converted us to Office 2007 a while back. I love it and use it for all my note taking needs at work, as well as to-do lists, letter writing, etc. The only thing about it I don’t like is that we have a specific Word template we use for our work documents and converting from One Note outlines to the Word styled template isn’t always smooth. But that’s my only complaint!

15. Posted by Dooley - 06/01/2009

    I use a hipster PDA when out and about, and a small sized spiral notebook when at school or work. When working on a work project, I just use Notepad or TextEdit.

    Why clutter up your computer and your checking account with unnecessary software purchases when there are free options that are just as good?

    LifeHacker has a ton of recommendations for free versions, and I’ve been debating installing Notepad++ portable on my usb stick (that I save everything on anyway). I’d install the full version but I switch computers so often at work it wouldn’t be worth it.

16. Posted by Cyphase - 06/01/2009

    I use Tomboy ( http://projects.gnome.org/tomboy/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomboy_(software) ). It was originally Linux only, but now runs on Mac and Windows as well.

17. Posted by knitwych - 06/01/2009

    I just began using Evernote, and was delighted to see that they have a tool for importing from Google Notebook. Since Notebook is going away, I was very relieved that I could import my 600+ notes!

    I’m still learning the ins/outs of Evernote, but I love the sync factor and I predict this will be a heavily-used tool for me. I have it on my laptop as well as a thumb drive. I also keep a plain cheap spiral notebook on my desk, and carry a Markings journal and a digital recorder w/me wherever I go – well, except when I’m working in a gov’t building, which I do several times a week. The DoJ refuses to allow any device w/recording capability, so my cell phone and the digital recorder stay in my vehicle while I’m working.

18. Posted by Will - 06/01/2009

    I like Evernote, but I find it too prone to problems for regular use. My favorite note program thus far is DEVONthink, which I use for collecting bits and pieces of creative writing and random thoughts that I have while at my machine. When on the go I use either Notes on my iPod Touch or my Moleskine notebooks (preference for these). Portable notes later get entered into DEVONthink.

19. Posted by Scott James - 06/01/2009

    Tried Evernote and several others, but finally settled on extensive use of a Hipster PDA + iCal’s tasks, which are synced to my iPhone via ToDo. Use QuickVoice on my iPhone to quickly capture thoughts when I can’t get to my Hipster PDA (i.e. driving, biking, etc).

    Of course now I’m going to lose sleep for a few evenings checking out these other new apps.

20. Posted by Kristin - 06/01/2009

    Evernote is fabulous! Even if you pay for the ad free version it’s not much and you have access to the pc/mac software, the mobile software and the online version – all of which sync up together!

    I’m a huge evernote fan!

21. Posted by Donnovan Knight - 06/01/2009

    I used Yojimbo for quite awhile but it kept getting slower since it stores all the data in a database.

    So, I switched to Together which I think is great. Together really just keeps track of how you tag items, and allows you to group them how ever you want. I was always more interested in making backups of web pages for future reference. The only issue I’ve run into is the Web Archive function always wants to refresh the archive, and if it fails it tends to display as if CSS weren’t working, they claim it’s an issue with the version of webkit that Apple uses. So, I tend to just save websites using the PDF feature within Together.

    I tried Evernote, because of the fact that it can be used on almost any platform, however I ran into the issue of not being able to export that data once it was in Evernote. At the moment I can’t remember exactly what I was trying to export, but it seemed like it should have worked. Also, I can’t see paying for the service, I couldn’t find the information about what happens to your data when you stop paying; added to the fact of not being able to export data. (Looked it up it seems Evernote exports notes in ‘.enex’ format, which I believe is only usable with Evernote, sort of locks you into their product.)

    So, Together for digital stuff at home. Any other time is analog with either a notebook at work or a Moleskine for personal notes and sketches.

22. Posted by Shawn Wright - 06/02/2009

    I love Yojimbo. I can quickly find the info I want and the structure works for me. I then started having troubles syncing the files between computers and I keep waiting and waiting for an upgrade and iphone compatability. I get the feeling it is not coming so I have switched to Evernote. While there are many wonderful things about Evernote it just seems sluggish to me and it only loads so many files at a time on my iphone. It seems to take too much time to organize my info as compared to Yojimbo.

    I use Devonthink Pro to keep up with articles and research and it all stays on one computer. It is very robust and would be great option if I didn’t need to sync it with other computers.

23. Posted by Vicki - 06/02/2009

    I use Notefish.com which is free. I attend college full time and I have found this is a great way to keep track of electronic sources that I will have to cite. I also use it to keep track of websites that I just want to visit again later.

24. Posted by plasticturtle - 06/02/2009

    I use One Note. The versatility can be overwhelming at first. I took the time to layout how I was going to use it for both personal and profession uses. Tweaked it for a week and it has been rock solid since. I use it at home to track my projects, kids activities and things to get. At work I use a completely different layout for all my Projects. I only wish I had a tablet to make even better use of the interface to doodle my diagrams for future reference. I could almost go paperless.

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