Looking for an app to store bits of information

[cookieme]

Hi

I use Things for my tasks and I've been trying out Little Snapper for screenshots. However, I'm missing an application to enhance my workflow of collecting and organising bits of information. For instance, when I'm reading forum posts or pdf manuals I tend to copy the information that I need for later use and add it to the notes section of a new task in Things. This isn't really how Things was meant to be used.

I tend to use Little Snapper for all screenshots, as I like to have a visual aid in remembering some software setting etc.

My workflow of using Things and Little Snapper in the way that I do isn't ideal and I'm interested in any suggestions.

Thanks

Btw, I've looked at Evernote, Together, Shovebox but not really sure about any of them. Evernote I can neglect because I don't like the information being stored online. Shovebox looks nice and neat like Things, but not sure about the organisation aspect.

Oh, I've also looked at Mental Case, but it is more a learning tool.

 

[devburke]

Well you have a few options built into OS X. Stickies, the Stickies widget, and the Notes part of Mail.app all sound suited for yours needs. Although the Stickies widget probably isn't what you want, cuz it only stores text. Stickies will be functional and simple enough, while Notes in Mail can be made to sync with your iPhone / iPod touch / IMAP e-mail account.

I'd go with Stickies for your purposes.

Also I'm curious, why not just use the functionality already in the OS for screen shots? You can use Grab, or, as I do, use these build in shortcuts.

Also, it's not listed, but if you do the selected area shortcuts and press the spacebar, it switches to taking a shot of any window. That's the one I use the most.

 

[cookieme]

Well you have a few options built into OS X. Stickies, the Stickies widget, and the Notes part of Mail.app all sound suited for yours needs. Although the Stickies widget probably isn't what you want, cuz it only stores text. Stickies will be functional and simple enough, while Notes in Mail can be made to sync with your iPhone / iPod touch / IMAP e-mail account.

I'd go with Stickies for your purposes.

Hi thanks for the suggestion, but those built-in options are not suitable for my needs. I don't use stickies or the notes/todo of Mail.app. Never been fond of those features.

I'm going to have a better look at Shovebox. Any workflow suggestions are welcome, as I definitely don't have an efficient/productive one

 

[devburke]

Hi thanks for the suggestion, but those built-in options are not suitable for my needs. I don't use stickies or the notes/todo of Mail.app. Never been fond of those features.

I'm going to have a better look at Shovebox. Any workflow suggestions are welcome, as I definitely don't have an efficient/productive one

Out of curiosity, what needs do you have that those don't meet? They are capable of including images and everything too, in case you didn't know.

 

[cookieme]

Out of curiosity, what needs do you have that those don't meet? They are capable of including images and everything too, in case you didn't know.

Thanks, but I do know what they are capable of! There is no organisation unless I'm missing something?! In addition, Notes in Mail.app are nothing more than "pimped" email messages.

The fact that you suggested Stickies shows that you don't understand what I'm after in terms of functionality. Having a few 100 hundred stickies doesn't seem like a good idea to me unless you have a sticky fetish

 

[devburke]

Thanks, but I do know what they are capable of! There is no organisation unless I'm missing something?! In addition, Notes in Mail.app are nothing more than "pimped" email messages.

The fact that you suggested Stickies shows that you don't understand what I'm after in terms of functionality. Having a few 100 hundred stickies doesn't seem like a good idea to me unless you have a sticky fetish

Oh wow, I didn't know you needed THAT many! But yeah that's basically what the notes are. Still really useful though, especially if you have an iPhone / iPod touch. But it is a little annoying having to go through Mail.app to get to them.

 

[cookieme]

Oh wow, I didn't know you needed THAT many! But yeah that's basically what the notes are. Still really useful though, especially if you have an iPhone / iPod touch. But it is a little annoying having to go through Mail.app to get to them.

I see you edited a previous post and asked why I don't use the built-in screenshot shortcuts with Grab. Well, I have been a Mac user for almost 10 years, so I do know a thing or two Have you even heard of Little Snapper and compared the feature set with Grab? Well, do that and maybe you'll see why I'm using it.

Regarding the amount of stickies. I did say that I am looking for an app that will help me collect and organise bits of information. Well, I happen to collect quite a bit, so 100 unique stickies (if that was what I was going to use) isn't that odd.

Any other suggestions? Maybe TextEdit?

 

[steveoc]

I use Circus Ponies' Notebook to grab tidbits of information. It is powerful yet very intuitive. It also allows audio recording.

I have shifted to DEVONthink for some of my more heavy duty research and organization needs. DEVONthink even manages scanning and OCR. I am using it to quickly digitize all my files.It is incredibly powerful, but it is not the easiest to "get."

Both make good use of the Mac OS Services menu. They support drag and drop, print to app as a pdf. DEVONthink has a nice browser bookmarklet and works with the Mail app.

DEVONthing comes in 4 flavors ranging from DEVONnote for $25 to DEVONthinkPro Office for $150. Notebook weighs in at $50. Both have decent educational discounts. Notebook takes $20 off and DEVONtechnologies takes 25% off.

They are both excellent tools. There are others: Yojimbo $39 by Bare Bones Software, VooDooPad free-$50, and http://journler.com/ $35. Look them over and try them. There is certainly something to meet your needs.

 

[cookieme]

I use Circus Ponies' Notebook to grab tidbits of information. It is powerful yet very intuitive. It also allows audio recording.

I have shifted to DEVONthink for some of my more heavy duty research and organization needs. DEVONthink even manages scanning and OCR. I am using it to quickly digitize all my files.It is incredibly powerful, but it is not the easiest to "get."

Both make good use of the Mac OS Services menu. They support drag and drop, print to app as a pdf. DEVONthink has a nice browser bookmarklet and works with the Mail app.

DEVONthing comes in 4 flavors ranging from DEVONnote for $25 to DEVONthinkPro Office for $150. Notebook weighs in at $50. Both have decent educational discounts. Notebook takes $20 off and DEVONtechnologies takes 25% off.

They are both excellent tools. There are others: Yojimbo $39 by Bare Bones Software, VooDooPad free-$50, and http://journler.com/ $35. Look them over and try them. There is certainly something to meet your needs.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have had a look at Circus Ponies' Notebook website. Can you tell a little about how you use it to store and organise information? For instance, how do you store some information you came across on a forum or website? You're reading a pdf file and you want to remember some specific parts, do you drag in the whole file or copy and paste those parts into Circus?

Thanks

 

[steveoc]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have had a look at Circus Ponies' Notebook website. Can you tell a little about how you use it to store and organise information? For instance, how do you store some information you came across on a forum or website? You're reading a pdf file and you want to remember some specific parts, do you drag in the whole file or copy and paste those parts into Circus?

Thanks

You can copy and paste almost anything into a "clipping page." The Services menu allows you to place a selection into any given Notebook page. You can also drag and drop. You could also bring in the whole file. You can also use print-->pdf-->Notebook to grab the page. It is quite flexible.

You can organize by setting up pages of various sorts. It supports outlining so you could further organize content on any given page. The multidex looks a variety of things like Internet address, attachments, capitalized words, numbers, highlight, etc.

 

[highertechnology]

I use evernote for everything, I can copy text, images, screenshots, or just portions of screenshots with keystrokes and copy it to a new note. When you are away from home there is an iPhone app that automatically syncs and your notes are mobile. And finally your notes are accessible through the website, so anywhere you are your notes are accessible. I love it.

 

[steveoc]

I use evernote for everything, I can copy text, images, screenshots, or just portions of screenshots with keystrokes and copy it to a new note. When you are away from home there is an iPhone app that automatically syncs and your notes are mobile. And finally your notes are accessible through the website, so anywhere you are your notes are accessible. I love it.

Evernote is fine, but the OP ruled that out because he didn't want to use online storage. I know a lot of people who like it. My problem is the 500 MB does not even come close to my needs. That being said, I have only looked into it. It certainly has an edge with built in file synchronization.

BTW--Circus Ponies" Notebook allows publishing to the Internet via FTP or MobileMe.

 

[mkrishnan]

Might Bento also be worth considering? People who use it seem to really like it. Also it has the plus of an iPhone/iPod app if you ever want that extension...