"Hook" app links related documents together

Posted by MadaboutDana
Jun 13, 2019 at 08:47 AM

I was an enthusiastic Curiota user, but I now save interesting tidbits (usually web pages/articles/PDF docs) as PDF files into a specific set of folders (set up as an automatic destination in my Mac Services) which are automatically indexed by FoxTrot Pro. This has turned out to be the most efficient way to access information. However, I also use Notebooks to manage these folders/files (in many ways, Notebooks is like a kind of ultimate file manager), and this combination (of FoxTrot Pro with Notebooks - which has a good search function of its own, of course) has turned out to be exceptionally powerful and flexible. You can bung any old file into a folder managed by Notebooks and the latter will automatically index it and display it as required.

Mind you, Notebooks on the Mac still doesn’t handle PDFs very well (yes, it indexes, displays and searches them, but doesn’t deal well with the detail of individual files, so no highlighting of search terms within PDFs, for example). I know Alfons is still working on that. Notebooks on iOS handles PDFs absolutely fine.

The new version of Dropbox (the enhanced desktop app, the upgraded iOS app) is an intriguing option, mind you. More info here: https://www.dropbox.com/features/new

I’ve got a test version running on my desktop. It’s not as terribly exciting as Dropbox are making it sound, but it’s quite neat, and very usefully expands Dropbox beyond basic file management. You can add comments to files, star and pin folders/files, write notes to yourself (in any folder), set up to-do lists, etc. If you’re a Dropbox user, it’s definitely worth the upgrade. It’s also potentially very useful in team situations, for sharing files/comments/notes. We use AutoTask (formerly Soonr) for our business file management, but this new iteration of Dropbox could tempt me to shift over to the latter.

I’m still hoping Apple will acquire Dropbox. Although iCloud has some interesting new features (like folder sharing) which suggest Apple could be moving in the same sort of direction.

Cheers!
Bill