Thanks for that explanation, dove, appreciated. Yes, it sounds a bit above my league, both in terms of what I need but also what I can comfortably deal with technically. I'm based in the social sciences so what I'm working on are pretty much straight forward texts.
researchers/ academics: what are your favourite apps for work?
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Thanks for that explanation, dove, appreciated. Yes, it sounds a bit above my league, both in terms of what I need but also what I can comfortably deal with technically. I'm based in the social sciences so what I'm working on are pretty much straight forward texts.
I use Scrivener on my iMac--it's great to have the space for what I am writing and research notes or articles all at the same time. I am currently writing my dissertation, a lengthy article, and a book review with it. Vendor Literature and Latte just announced development is beginning on an iPad version of Scrivener.
I use Sente on the Mac and iPad for references, bibliography, PDFs of articles that Sente easily retrieves from academic sites like JSTOR , EBSCO, etc. I read, highlight, take notes, write summaries, etc in Sente. Very convenient synching to/from iPad version. Once set up, sync is automatic. I usually find and add articles using the Mac version and read and annotate on the iPad.
I use iA Writer on iPad as mentioned by someone above. Also Index Card. Both work into my Scrivener workflow.
I also have DevonThink Pro on Mac and iPad but have not begun to use them yet.
I am along time user of Omni Group products and use OmniOuliner and OmniFocus on both Mac and iPad.
I use Notetaker HD and iThoughts HD for taking notes in meetings/jotting down ideas and mind mapping, respectively.
I just heard about Tinderbox (I think Mac only). I am going to check that out. It appears to be a good companion to Scrivener and DevonThink, but it is expensive.
I use Sente on the Mac and iPad for references, bibliography, PDFs of articles that Sente easily retrieves from academic sites like JSTOR , EBSCO, etc. I read, highlight, take notes, write summaries, etc in Sente. Very convenient synching to/from iPad version. Once set up, sync is automatic. I usually find and add articles using the Mac version and read and annotate on the iPad.
I use iA Writer on iPad as mentioned by someone above. Also Index Card. Both work into my Scrivener workflow.
I also have DevonThink Pro on Mac and iPad but have not begun to use them yet.
I am along time user of Omni Group products and use OmniOuliner and OmniFocus on both Mac and iPad.
I use Notetaker HD and iThoughts HD for taking notes in meetings/jotting down ideas and mind mapping, respectively.
I just heard about Tinderbox (I think Mac only). I am going to check that out. It appears to be a good companion to Scrivener and DevonThink, but it is expensive.
I love Scrivener too
I didn't realize Sente had an iPad app. I bought Bookends last year, so I'll be sticking with that, but I kind of wish I had gone for Sente
I'll give it a try. Right now I am using Elements on the iPad.
DevonThink appears to be awesome, but I got beat up by the learning curve on the Mac, and heard bad things about the iPad app. I'd love to hear your review of both.
Agreed. So, so expensive.
I'll have to put in a word for Evernote. It has some incredibly useful features. Of course, some apps do some things better (everyone has strengths and weaknesses) but it is pretty impressive.
I didn't realize Sente had an iPad app. I bought Bookends last year, so I'll be sticking with that, but I kind of wish I had gone for Sente
The iPad app is why I went Sente instead of Bookends. However, Bookends has recently developed an iOS version.
I'll have to try Evernote and Elements.
Readdlemate
Suspended
Thanks for all your thoughts and comments.
We are the developers of PDF Expert for iPad, we always listen to our users.
The update will be released soon with lots of improvements you've been asking for: full text search, eraser, text line writing (with different fonts and sizes), and much more.
Our new note-taking + free hand writing app is coming to the appstore in a bit. We will keep you informed. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts with us.
Kind regards,
Den
We are the developers of PDF Expert for iPad, we always listen to our users.
The update will be released soon with lots of improvements you've been asking for: full text search, eraser, text line writing (with different fonts and sizes), and much more.
Our new note-taking + free hand writing app is coming to the appstore in a bit. We will keep you informed. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts with us.
Kind regards,
Den
glad someone is listening. i paid 10 bucks for iAnnotate and those guys woudnt respond to my email sent 2 weeks ago. Its good to see that you stand by your products and keep on updating them and I think note taker/text editor with UI like PDF expert would be really nice. it would be also great to see an Evernote support for all your apps.
Yes. The PDF Expert developers are pretty responsive. And, it is extremely difficult (not quite impossible) to contact the iAnnotate developers.
The PDF Expert developers really need to step up their game, though. iAnnotate released a major update, and for the same price you get so much more than PDF Expert, and iAnnotate now has a very clean user interface.
More importantly, in my tests PDF Expert renders PDFs much more slowly. They have just got to get faster if they want to keep competing. I wish them luck! They've got a great product now that just needs to be taken to the next level.
well I use both. I had PDF expert for the past 2 weeks and I have to say that lack of smooth scrolling is really getting to me. It also seems to me that iAnnotate fixed the bug that I emailed them about, despite them not replying to me. So in the end I like iAnnotate more for larger documents when doing prolonged reading and annotation while I use PDF expert for quickly marking up smaller documents that I need to move back and forth between different online storage services.
PeterSmith
macrumors member
"Owing mostly to its old age [LaTeX] is a horrendously complicated system." Yes and no. From the average users point of view, mostly no.
Writing highly structured documents in LaTeX, with bibliographies, cross-references, etc. etc. is actually very straightforward. (How difficult, after all, is it to use commands like "\section" or "\noindent" or \begin{enumerate}?)
Where it can get complicated is if you want to change not the structured content but the precise style of the output (the exact layout used by numbered lists, for example). A massive level of control over such things is available. But authoring is one thing, page-designing is another, and most authors will be happy to go along with the built-in defaults, or to borrow pre-existing style files. In that case, using LaTeX isn't horrendous at all.
Writing highly structured documents in LaTeX, with bibliographies, cross-references, etc. etc. is actually very straightforward. (How difficult, after all, is it to use commands like "\section" or "\noindent" or \begin{enumerate}?)
Where it can get complicated is if you want to change not the structured content but the precise style of the output (the exact layout used by numbered lists, for example). A massive level of control over such things is available. But authoring is one thing, page-designing is another, and most authors will be happy to go along with the built-in defaults, or to borrow pre-existing style files. In that case, using LaTeX isn't horrendous at all.
I never thought of it before but recently I've really started appreciating the scrolling feature in iAnnotate. It really does help with larger documents that you're only skimming through. I've now become much better friends with iAnnotate since the recent update. I still think highlighting is a bit smoother in PDF Expert, but I'm increasingly tending to work in iAnnotate. I'll probably keep going back and forth between the two.
I'm wondering whether to invest in the DevonThink to go iPad app. Does anyone have experiences with that? Like others mentioned above, I've seen mixed reviews.
I'm also uncertain at which level to create my databases in DevonThink (mac version) - i.e. larger topics with lots of sub folders, or differentiate the data bases more. Any input on that greatly appreciated. I'm finding the learning curve a bit steep and the lack of proper tutorials frustrating. I think it's a great app, though.