MyInfo 6 is released today. I`ve bought the pro version (there`s a good sale price for upgrading from the regular version 5 to pro version 6), and it looks very good.
http://www.milenix.com/myinfo/myinfo6std.html

Among the new features are hoist, and the ability to open multiple documents, which is great for writers, and others who need to scan back and forth from one article to another. One limitation is that the open windows, other than the main window, are read only, but that will likely change in future.

So far I am very pleased, and highly recommend MyInfo.

Daly

I've only used MyInfo on a couple of occasions; see here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1370/10 for an example. I have a very positive opinion of the program but I hadn't found much that made it stand out for my own needs.

The recent development may change all that though; among others, MyInfo 6 includes a feature I had only seen in the most expensive mind mapping applications: the ability to import a Word document and preserve its structure, creating an outline based on the various styles. I haven't tested this extensively yet, but I am nevertheless impressed.

I've always thought that mind mapping programs are overpriced, whereas some much more moderately priced outliners can do much of the same.

I've only used MyInfo on a couple of occasions; see here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1370/10 for an example. I have a very positive opinion of the program but I hadn't found much that made it stand out for my own needs.

The recent development may change all that though; among others, MyInfo 6 includes a feature I had only seen in the most expensive mind mapping applications: the ability to import a Word document and preserve its structure, creating an outline based on the various styles. I haven't tested this extensively yet, but I am nevertheless impressed.

I've always thought that mind mapping programs are overpriced, whereas some much more moderately priced outliners can do much of the same.

This does look interesting - I've tried MyInfo before, and not been desperately impressed (didn't work quite as well as it said it did, if you see what I mean). But the new features are tempting. One of my favourite organisers of a few years back was WinOrganizer, which also allowed you to open multiple notes and edit them, but alas, it doesn't seem to have been in development for a little while now.

My only gripe with MyInfo is that it doesn't support multi-user applications. However, I do like the fact that the Pro version allows you to export your entire notebase as a website - that's nice.

Cheers,
Bill

MadaboutDana wrote:

MyInfo is that it doesn't support multi-user applications.

This, sadly, is the case of many of the programs we discuss here.

However, I do like the
fact that the Pro version allows you to export your entire notebase as a website -
that's nice.

Several outlining programs can do this, but MyInfo's implementation is surely one of the best. It's very flexible and the result can be published on a website out of the box via FTP --including attachments.

I have downloaded the trial today of v. 6 of the software and it is utterly unuseable for doing academic research in which the end product is a journal article. There is simply no way to relate a citation to a note ---called a "document"---I guess you could insert the citation into the note itself but that would not enable you to write about the cited article as a whole in one section of your article. To do this, you need a relational database which allows you to create topics and their descendants in a tree-like structure. Brilliant is the product that fits the bill although I am still working on mastering export of selected topics to MSWord. www.brilliantdatabase.com

Mitchell Kastner wrote:

I have downloaded the trial today of v. 6 of the software and it is utterly unuseable for
doing academic research in which the end product is a journal article.

Nor is it marketed for that purpose; if that is your need, you would definitely be better off with a more specialized product. MyInfo is however a very useful general information manager, with features that also make it a good, if not perfect, writing tool for many. I have used the program to write many non-technical articles. The new hoisting feature will add to its utility in that respect.

I'm glad that you have found Brilliant to work out well for your own purposes.

You might want to take a look at the rather unusual TreeLine, which allows you to build semi-relational/semi-hierarchical databases in a tree/note combination. There's nothing else quite like it around (and it's free...!). You'll find it at http://treeline.bellz.org/

Cheers,
Bill

I use several such tools: MyInfo, MyNotesKeeper, Treepad, and UltraRecall. Each of these has strengths, but the "FrankenNote" idea (I forget the original term) hasn't yet been realized. One of the weaknesses of MyInfo is its poor handling of file attachments.Other programs, like MyNotesKeeper and MyBase, do a much better job of allowing you to attach multiple PDF articles, Word documents, audio clips, video interviews, spreadsheets, etc. to a single node. For research purposes, this is imperative. However, MyInfo does provide a strong multi-column hierarchical tree pane that allows you to capture, format, and export bibliographic information. It is also one of the more "polished" products currently under active development.

-- Glen

MadaboutDana wrote:

You might want to take a look at the rather unusual TreeLine, which allows you to build
semi-relational/semi-hierarchical databases in a tree/note combination.
There's nothing else quite like it around (and it's free...!). You'll find it at
http://treeline.bellz.org/

Cheers,
Bill

Interesting program. Thanks for the recommendation, Bill. Do you know how stable it is?

--Ken

Mitchell Kastner wrote:

I have downloaded the trial today of v. 6 of the software and it is utterly unuseable for
doing academic research in which the end product is a journal article. There is simply
no way to relate a citation to a note ---called a "document"---I guess you could insert
the citation into the note itself but that would not enable you to write about the cited
article as a whole in one section of your article. To do this, you need a relational
database which allows you to create topics and their descendants in a tree-like
structure. Brilliant is the product that fits the bill although I am still working on
mastering export of selected topics to MSWord. www.brilliantdatabase.com

Well, we all find our own solutions to these problems, and I'm glad you've discovered something that works well for you. On the other hand, I use MyInfo every day for creating scholarly articles and books; I suppose it just fits my way of working.

I should add that I'm pleased with version 6: it brings us at last a couple of features that have been much requested on the MyInfo forum -- hoisting and the ability to have several notes open on the screen simultaneously.

Well, I've played around with the latest unstable version, 1.3.5, (and unstable versions before that, mainly 1.3.3) and I never had a crash or even a flicker. I notice that certain significant software components have been replaced in the very latest version, but as I say, I've not noticed any issues. Having said that, I haven't really hammered it, either - I did try loading bitexts (dual-language databases) into it to find out what it could do with them, and that worked very well with several hundred "segments" (basically sentences/short paragraphs in source and target languages), using an HTML-coded table at the data output end. It's a simple, elegant piece of programming, in my experience. Working out just what you can do with it takes a little time, however!

I have a couple of questions for those experienced MyInfo users:

1. Does MyInfo save web sites or pages in its database for archival purposes (similar to Surfulater)?
2. I haven't a need for portable USB install, so is there any significant reason to go pro?
3. Is it possible to collect, process, and write in MyInfo and then export to Word for final editing and formatting?
4. When working with MyInfo, do you create multiple documents for each project or do you maintain one master document with everything included (similar to InfoSelect)
5. If choosing between MyInfo, Whizfolders, or Ultra Recall, which one wins?

Thanks!

Chris Eller

BTW - if interested, Petko sent me a link to the pro trial version: http://www.milenix.com/download/MyInfoProTrial.exe

WSP, like you I am a fan of MyInfo, especially now with the multiple open window and hoist features. I have always appreciated having the columns, which can accommodate various kinds of metadata.

I'm interested in how you use MI for academic writing, and would be appreciative indeed if you were able to post a brief description of your method.

Thanks.

Daly


WSP wrote:

Well, we all find our own solutions
to these problems, and I'm glad you've discovered something that works well for you.
On the other hand, I use MyInfo every day for creating scholarly articles and books; I
suppose it just fits my way of working.

I should add that I'm pleased with version 6:
it brings us at last a couple of features that have been much requested on the MyInfo
forum -- hoisting and the ability to have several notes open on the screen
simultaneously.

WSP wrote:

Mitchell Kastner wrote:
>I have downloaded the trial today of v. 6 of the software
and it is utterly unuseable for
>doing academic research in which the end product is a
journal article. There is simply
>no way to relate a citation to a note ---called a
"document"---I guess you could insert
>the citation into the note itself but that
would not enable you to write about the cited
>article as a whole in one section of your
article. To do this, you need a relational
>database which allows you to create
topics and their descendants in a tree-like
>structure. Brilliant is the product
that fits the bill although I am still working on
>mastering export of selected
topics to MSWord. www.brilliantdatabase.com

Well, we all find our own solutions
to these problems, and I'm glad you've discovered something that works well for you.
On the other hand, I use MyInfo every day for creating scholarly articles and books; I
suppose it just fits my way of working.

I should add that I'm pleased with version 6:
it brings us at last a couple of features that have been much requested on the MyInfo
forum -- hoisting and the ability to have several notes open on the screen
simultaneously.

How do you handle citations with the program?
How is this program any different than Writing Outliner which is an MS Word add-in?

Sometimes the same snippet of research is relevant to more than just one topic. With a relational database that utilizes a tree-structure it is simple to put the same record in multiple folders. If I sounded harsh, you are hearing my frustration in not finding an outline tool built on a relational database. I cannot imagine why MS Access does not have that functionality. Btw: Brilliant does not have QBE (or if it does I have not found it) and I just have not had the time to write queries.

Daly de Gagne wrote:

WSP, like you I am a fan of MyInfo, especially now with the multiple open window and
hoist features. I have always appreciated having the columns, which can accommodate
various kinds of metadata.

I'm interested in how you use MI for academic writing,
and would be appreciative indeed if you were able to post a brief description of your
method.

Thanks.

Daly, it's difficult to describe briefly, but here are a few major points:

First, for anything I do, I tend to accumulate a lot of references (mainly articles and books). If I think they're items that I may want to consult for several projects, I may put them (each item a separate document) in a topic called simply "Bibliography" (by now holding several thousand items). But if they are more specialized references that are likely to be used in only one project, I put them in the topic for that project; I place them under an appropriate heading in the tree and add a "bib" tag for each document, so that I can search for bibliographical entries only in the topic if I want to. In either case, I create an attribute called "Done" (i.e. "yes" or "no") and have a series of tags for libraries and other sources where I can consult these books and articles (e.g., "LC" for Library of Congress, "Google" for Google Books, etc.).

Then I can run a search (in the search box) that reads, let's say, "custom:no tag:LC tag:bib", and that will immediately give me a list of all the items I still need to see at the Library of Congress. And of course, if I wish, I can add other words or tags to that search in order to narrow it down a bit. If I have already ordered an item at the LC, I add "ordered [date]" in the text of the document, and a search on "ordered" will tell me what books and articles should be sitting (if the library gods are smiling upon me) on my LC reserve shelf.

As for more general note-taking, I try to create a tree structure that makes sense out of a lot of miscellaneous material, but unfortunately near the beginning of research project, I have only a hazy notion of how it will all be organized eventually. So I settle for a rough-and-ready system of organization as I take notes (using cloning and cross-linking to some extent), but at a later stage, when I am ready to start outlining the book/article/whatever, I create a separate topic that will reflect how the book [etc.] is actually going to be shaped. At that point I tile two open topics on the screen; on the left, my notes (usually including my bibliographical citations); on the right, an outline. In MyInfo, as you probably know, it is extremely easy to create links to a particular document in a topic or even to a particular paragraph within a document. Hence my outline (in the right panel) consists mainly of links to passages in the topic (my original notes) in the left panel.

The actual writing can then be done (if I wish) with three topics tiled on the screen: notes on the left; outline in the middle; and the final text on the right.

Incidentally, since most of my writing is historical in nature, I always create a custom date attribute. With that attribute, I can easily sort my notes (documents), no matter how they are arranged in the tree, in chronological order. I find that very helpful.

I hope this doesn't sound too cumbersome. It works for me, because it more or less replicates (but much more efficiently) the system I used in pre-computer days. In that antedeluvian era I took all my notes on 5 x 8 cards or slips of paper and organized a piece of writing by sorting the cards into piles on the floor of my study. My study is much neater now.

Mitchell Kastner wrote:

How do you handle citations with the program?
How is this
program any different than Writing Outliner which is an MS Word add-in?

Sometimes
the same snippet of research is relevant to more than just one topic. With a relational
database that utilizes a tree-structure it is simple to put the same record in
multiple folders. If I sounded harsh, you are hearing my frustration in not finding an
outline tool built on a relational database. I cannot imagine why MS Access does not
have that functionality. Btw: Brilliant does not have QBE (or if it does I have not
found it) and I just have not had the time to write queries.

Mitchell, see my reply to Daly above for a more general description of how I use MyInfo.

As for your questions, I don't think of MyInfo as primarily an outliner, though I certainly use it as one from time to time. For me, it's mainly a note-taking program, and with its tree, its tags, and its attributes, it offers some fairly ingenious ways of organizing information. It's possible that cross-linking between topics (something that MyInfo does very well) might solve the problem you describe, but I'm not sure. As I said before, what works for one person may not work for another.

Petko, the developer, on his MyInfo blog has *very* belatedly announced the release of MyInfo 6 (which actually came out last spring). I mention this here only because the blog post provides a useful summary of the newest features.

Sorry, I forgot to add the URL: http://blog.milenix.com/

WSP wrote:

Petko, the developer, on his MyInfo blog has *very* belatedly announced the release
of MyInfo 6 (which actually came out last spring). I mention this here only because the
blog post provides a useful summary of the newest features.