From time to time I use OSX and have a real boner for DevonThink. My problem is that I also have to use other platforms, and am wondering if there are any alternatives to DevonThink that are cross platform?

That would depend on what aspects of DevonThink's functionality you are looking for elsewhere.

The attributes that make it stand out in the Mac world as an information manager are twofold in my opinion: its ability to handle reliably relatively large personal databases (millions of words, tens of thousands of documents), and its so-called artificial intelligence features (which as I understand them boil down to sophisticated concordance-matching, searching and classifying). Of course it offers other bells and whistles in its various versions, but these are the core.

There is nothing on the Mac platform to rival it for these abilities. I haven't tried all its Mac rivals but those I have tried slow up or choke on quantities of information that DT can digest with ease, and none offers concordance-matching.

In the case of Windows, I suspect there are personal databases or PC search engines that can handle relatively large data volumes, but none that I know of that offers concordance-matching as a search mechanism.

I don't know about other platforms. But if so-called AI/concordance-matching is important to you, then DT may be the only game in town.

I should have added that I don't know of any such cross-platform tools.

Another solution of course would be a multi-user database on a server accessible from different platforms.

That is of course not what DT is. However, I believe the current version of DT Pro Office has a web feature, which I haven't used but which may be worth your while exploring.

As Hugh implies, I do not think you will find anything quite like DevonThink that is cross-platform. I can only think of two info managers that are cross platform: PersonalBrain and Evernote. I'm sure you're familiar with both of them.

I've been using PersonalBrain a lot lately, and I am enjoying its totally unique user interface, which is unmatched in allowing the user to both drill-down on information and still see context. It has lots of thoughtful features for exploring and finding information, and it reputedly handles huge databases with ease. While it is cross-platform, and you can use the same database on a PC and a Mac via a service like Dropbox, you have to be careful to never try to use them simultaneously, and you have to be sure to close the database on one computer before opening it on the other.

Steve

Thanks you guys. That is kinda what I figured. I may give PersonalBrain another go.

I think Zotero is also worthy of mention here, although it's more of a specialized app with major limitations in comparison to DevonThink. Aside from its power as a reference manager (it's intended function), it does serve in many respects as a robust cross-platform database.

Zotero runs as a (free) multi-platform Firefox add-on, and in addition to references and notes, it can store any sort of file. The big (perhaps deal-breaking) limitation is that full-text searching of attachments is limited to PDF files, although eventually that may change. (There are some possible workarounds for searching non-PDF files, but I won't go into it here.) Databases are automatically synced via the cloud, although for more than 300 MB (as I recall), one must either purchase reasonably-priced server space or use one's own WebDAV server (which is what I do). Alternatively, one could store one's database on a flash drive and tweak the settings so that Zotero always accesses the database from the flash drive.

Other features that make Zotero shine are its robust tagging and folder features (items can be assigned to multiple folders/subfolders), its facility with storing "snapshots" of web pages and with the creation of rich-text notes, and its powerful advanced search and saved search rules. (Also note that, unlike DevonThink and EverNote, file types are not changed upon import into the database.) Another downside that should be mentioned is that searching can become slow with large databases.

If one has no need for storing bibliographic information, Zotero might be an odd choice, but it's an all-round impressive program (certainly the most powerful Firefox add-in I've come across), and the developers are responsive and helpful. Zotero doesn't compete with DevonThink (and isn't meant to), but it does overlap in certain key areas. As a cross-platform PDF and notes database, I consider it best in class.

Lucas

Take the time to look at all the useful video tutorials at the web site. There are a lot of them, and they really do a good job showing all the thoughtful features that they've built into PersonalBrain.

For me, the weakest aspect of PB is the note editing window. It works fine, but it isn't as supple as a full-featured word processor.

Steve

L. S. Russell wrote:

Thanks you guys. That is kinda what I figured. I may give PersonalBrain another go.

Steve,

I agree that the PB notes editor is not ideal; therefore, I use Atlantis to do any serious editing or markup because of its power, ease of use and configurability. Atlantis, a rtf based word processor, allows the addition of a toolbar button that copies to HTML format flawlessly allowing quick paste into the PB notes window.

Al

So am I to take that there is no DevonThink alternative for Windows? Or just no cross-platform alternative?

shatteredmindofbob wrote:

So am I to take that there is no DevonThink alternative for Windows? Or just no
cross-platform alternative?

I was writing about cross-platform alternatives, but as far as I am aware (or can recall) nothing on the PC has the AI feature that DevonThink has. The AI is really DT's distinguishing feature. If you don't care about the AI, then there are a host of PC alternatives, and you can ask 10 people on this site and probably get 10 different responses as to which is the best one. I still think Zoot is the most powerful overall, though I am feeling my way slowly through the new version, which is now in beta.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

as far as I am aware (or can recall) nothing on
the PC has the AI feature that DevonThink has.

I think that Atlas.ti http://www.atlasti.com/ as well as some of the software mentioned here https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/Text+Analysis+Tools could provide such functionality, though not necessarily the other information management capabilities of DevonThink. The price tag may be off the scope discussed in this forum.

There are two low-cost programs often discussed here that for me have proved valuable tools when organising texts: Brainstorm and Zulupad. Both can automatically recognise identical text strings and link them together, though they work in a slightly different way:
- Brainstorm entries are paragraphs (from 1 to 65,000 characters); identical paragraphs are recognised upon entry
- In Zulupad you can create links from keywords, phrases or paragraphs; thereon, each time you enter the identical text it will automatically become a link

It's not semantic or AI, but still very useful IMHO.

Thanks for those two links, Alexander.

Curiously the single piece of pure desktop text-analysis software that I'd previously heard of, Textanz, isn't mentioned in the list on the second link. Textanz is aimed at writers, not corporate or governmental data-miners, and is on the PC platform. It was last updated in 2009; a note on its website placed in 2010 says that a cross-platform Java version is being developed, but as the note spells its own software "Textans", I don't have high hopes!

Incidentally, Personal Brain, mentioned further up this thread, is now beta-ing version 6.

Textanz: http://www.cro-code.com/textanz.jsp

H

The main problem I found with using Personal Brain as a PIM is that it can't handle large quantities of text in the notes. If you create a few dozen thoughts with lots of text in the notes, the Brain slows to a crawl. I tried using the Pro version this way once and the thing choked after I'd added about 50 thoughts.

Personally, I can't find a use for the Brain. It's too big and complicated to use for simple brainstorming (something lightweight like Freemind is better for that) and it's not robust enough to use for storing a lot of text information. So at this point I can't find any use for it. I bought the Pro version several years ago, but I probably won't upgrade to the new version 6.

I guess it's main use would be to create huge interconnected webs of small snippets of information.

OneNote is the best PIM available for Windows, in my opinion. It has a great web capture capability. You don't have to have the application open to make quick notes. You can use it to create traditional outlines (very ergonomic) and it can handle huge quantities of text and graphics with no loss of performance. Plus it has the advantage of being a Microsoft product (one of their best if you ask me), so it's not likely to vanish into the Outliner graveyard in a year or two.

I've been trying to make PB my go to information manager for the past few months, so far with limited success (which is actually an endorsement). Here are my somewhat premature observations:

I agree with Gary that PersonalBrain is not a good place to write and store long texts. I have not run into the performance issue Gary describes, but I haven't tried to load PB with lots of long text notes, because I find the note editor very weak. I would not use PB as a substitute for an outliner or writing processor.

Also, I do not think it is a great mind-mapper for brainstorming, although you could certainly use it as such.

Where PersonalBrain shines is in linking information, both internally and externally. If you want to store long notes in PersonalBrain, the best way to do this is to open a Word document as a template for a thought, write all you want, then save the document. It is now linked to that thought (a thought being any single item floating around in the "plex"). You can save the document internally or externally. If used properly, I think PersonalBrain can be very powerful, because it provides the structure for all the information in your workflow, but allows you to use other applications that handle various aspects more effectively. Keep an Excel spreadsheet for tracking an ad campaign alongside PDFs of the ads. Of course, you can do this in OneNote too -- or the folders in Explorer even. The advantage of PersonalBrain is showing relationships among this information, as well as having simple, effective ways to search and find the information quickly. (What bothers me with OneNote [and I'm using 2007] is when you search for information, you often have to wade through many different pages to find what you're looking for -- and it has no "favorites" either, so you can't have quick access to frequently needed pages.) But if you want to use OneNote and PersonalBrain together, that's easy too, because you can copy the URL for a OneNote page as a link in a PB thought and have quick access to that page.

So, if you're looking for one program to handle all your information management needs, you might be disappointed with PersonalBrain. But if you're looking for an application to bring all your information together for rapid, sensible action, PB may work well for you. That's, at least, how I'm now approaching it.

Steve Z.

If this has already been mentioned, I apologize for missing it. But I want to highlight one characteristic of PB has that very few programs of its quality have. Its completely cross platform including a fully functional Linux desktop version. It also got a web interface that is in its infancy but which shows a great deal of potential. This is all the more amazing to me because of the complex graphical nature of the program.

Tom S.

Hugh wrote:

Curiously the single piece of pure desktop
text-analysis software that I'd previously heard of, Textanz, isn't mentioned in
the list on the second link.

I suggest you add it or inform the Textanz people; the resource is a wiki after all :-)

The cross platform aspect is one of the main reasons for my using it too. The other is its impressive interface, great for info stands.

The java web interface has actually been available one way or another since version 1. At the time (2002 I think) they provided a development kit which could be used to integrate the web interface in a website. The company then focused on the enterprise market (TheBrain EKP) and stopped providing such functionality to its consumer clients. It took several versions to make it accessible again --I think it was in version 5.0. My understanding is that they rebuilt the program from scratch around the java application to make it cross platform, leveraging the development.

I expect that the core engine is now the same in both the web and desktop applications, which should provide a significant economy of scale in terms of development.

That said, I will agree that it is a formidable accomplishment.

Tom S. wrote:

I want to highlight
one characteristic of PB has that very few programs of its quality have. Its
completely cross platform including a fully functional Linux desktop version. It
also got a web interface that is in its infancy but which shows a great deal of
potential. This is all the more amazing to me because of the complex graphical nature
of the program.

Hugh

Curiously the single piece of pure desktop
text-analysis software that I'd previously heard of, Textanz, isn't mentioned in
the list on the second link. Textanz is aimed at writers, not corporate or
governmental data-miners, and is on the PC platform. It was last updated in 2009; a
note on its website placed in 2010 says that a cross-platform Java version is being
developed, but as the note spells its own software "Textans", I don't have high
hopes!

I wouldn't count Textanz as a text-analysis tool. What it does

- create a concordance (= a list of words used in a text)
- create a list of frequently used words and phrases
- show how often each word is used
- show where in the text a selected word is used

That is pretty useful for writers: I use the tool for checking my texts for repetitions.

But it's not really what I consider text ANALYSIS.

Just my 2 cents.

Franz

Hugh.

I just took a look at the https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/Text+Analysis+Tools list. The list tools comparable to Textanz - e.g. TextSTAT and Wordstat. So, you're right: Textanz is missing from the list.

Franz