Outliner/PIM roll call: Fall 2011

Posted by Lucas
Sep 24, 2011 at 05:53 PM

These days I’m running Parallels (bought at student discount) on a Macbook Pro, so I’m using a mix of apps:

Tinderbox (Mac): For being creative. It’s the app that seems most closely to mimic the way I think. Great for single-pane outlining combined with outstanding organizational features. I also use it for things like foreign words lists and editing LaTex.

ConnectedText (PC): For being disciplined. If left to my own devices, I would only outline and never write in prose. But I need to write prose for my academic work. ConnectedText helps me focus on generating prose-based summaries of each of the topics I’m working on. And I appreciate that it allows footnotes.

InfoQube (PC): An extraordinaly powerful app that includes much of the functionality of Tinderbox and Ecco Pro. I use it mainly when I don’t have access to a Mac, but once the Google Calendar sync is finalized I’ll probably use it more generally for planning. Definitely one to keep watching.

The Hit List (Mac): flexible hierarchical task management with tagging and smart folders

Zotero (cross-platform): Reference storage and organization.

TextMate (Mac): text editor with useful “project drawer”. Also good for static, tab-based outlines. (I also like jEdit.)

OmniOutliner (Mac): still use this classic occasionally for straightforward outlining

Ecco Pro: Still use this extremely reliable classic when I’m on a PC.

What I’m missing:

A good online/offline single-pane outliner. Something like Checkvist that would also work offline.

A diagramming app with robust Euler/Venn-type functionality (not for mathematical purposes, but rather for visually representing the overlapping inter-relationships between ideas). The closest thing I’ve seen is Frieve Editor.

A personal scheduling app with powerful automatic scheduling (like in Microsoft Project) and two-way Google Calendar or iCal sync. (Achieve Planner goes in the right direction but falls short for my purposes. OmniPlan also comes close but lacks two-way sync.)