Looking for an easy way of organising lots of articles, documents

[macgrl]

Hello all,

I am studying for a PhD and have got the inevitable stage when I have lots and lots of documents and articles etc. I want a way of organising them. With finder being a good way to search for things I was just thinking of using folders on my mac as this would be easy I think and not need me to purchase any other software. Can anybody let me know if there is a better, more efficient way of doing this (even if I have to buy something) - What is the advantage of say using something like devonthink?

 

[blatopilot]

I don't have a specific recommendation, but I would look into notebook and journaling apps. Something like Scrivener or Evernote. Possibly Bento..

I have been thinking about this lately. I have a lot of PDF books and things that don't quite fit anywhere that deserves a folder.

I use Evernote a lot, depending on the amount of data you have it could be an option. Scrivener seems really cool for writing, but also idea shaping and, for your needs, mapping files in the way that makes sense to you.

Maybe someone can offer another solution, but I think something like Evernote, Scrivener, or MacJournal might be effective.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7759/macjournal
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/22995/scrivener
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/27456/evernote

 

[macgrl]

Thank you very much for your reply. Much appreciated. I will have a look at those apps

 

[Zeiss]

I had the same issue last year with my phd, and just submitted. I can tell you, Scrivner saved my life. Such a wonderful way of organizing chapters and ideas and developing them through from draft to final. Loads of stats as well. I cannot recommend this enough. What it is not great for though is organizing all your papers and notes. For that you can use either Papers 2 (my choice) or something like Devonthink, or some other collecting app. For me it was the combination of Scrivner and Papers that did it...., I tried Devonthink, but didn't warm to it, but whichever you choose, you MUST put aside a few days to learn the software and work out how it will work for you. I cannot stress that last point enough.