It just occurred to me that we haven't done this thread in a while.

So, what is everyone's set-up circa 2011?

For general outlining, I'm alleviated my envy of Mac outliners with the fabulous and free Noteliner.

For project related notes, I've been digging OneNote 2010, while using Evernote to collect random bits of info (i.e. someone mentions a band I should check out, note gets put into Evernote on my phone and I review it on my desktop later.)

Though, I kinda wish stuff wasn't so scattered.

Recently, I've been playing with Toodledo for task management, not so much with the web app but with the dozens of apps like Pocket Informant that can sync to it.

Oh, and Gmail for e-mail and task management to an extent (starred e-mails = must do)

I'm always trying different software, but here are the ones I use regularly:

Toodledo (web + iPhone): Managing my daily tasks

BrainstormSW + OPML Editor: Brainstorming, outlining out ideas, organizing thoughts

OneNote 2010: Collecting random ideas, Inking hand-written ideas on my Asus EP121 Tablet PC
(Side note, I love tablet PC's for inputting handwritten notes and using the touchscreen for organizing ideas)

Flying Logic: Flowing out big picture ideas quickly

Instaviz (iPhone): Flowing out ideas how ideas connect while I'm on the go

Carbinfin Outliner (iPhone): Outlining when I'm on the move

UltraRecall: Storing interesting web links I find as I'm surfing the web

Dropbox: Crucial for keeping all my info sync'ed, as I'm inputting from different devices

Nice, I'll recommend OPML Editor as an alternative to org-mode. Any chance you'll post your notes on switching between it and BrainStormWFO?

@Bob
Nice; hadn't seen OPML Editor mentioned for a while; is it still being developed/maintained?

@JB
David Tebbutt had written a detailed post in the old Thinkerlog about transferring content from Brainstorm to the OPML Editor. Any chance of restoring that someday?

Sorry, my question to Bob about OPML Editor should have been to Tradercclee

I wouldn't get so easily confused if I made a Quoted Rely, but this doesn't always work.

My basic setup --the one which has withstood the test of several months:

- Mail: Google Apps email with IMAP access / Thunderbird

- Collection of material: Evernote

- Text development: Brainstorm

- Project plans: TreeSheets

- Working files: Dropbox

- Bits and pieces of reference information: UltraRecall (contacts), LinkStash (weblinks)

One important factor for making my info management programs compatible, was the creation of a common tag hierarchy; I've had to re-create this in every relevant program, but it was worth the effort.

Some newer tools that seem to be here to stay:

- Sense: though not as intuitive as I would like, it's getting better, and its micro/macro view is unrivaled

- Yammer: for daily activity journaling

For task management, I'm still cycling between GQueues, Brainstorm and Noteliner --and also my head as a result.

Not a bad system at all Alex, those choices make a great deal of sense. I could see myself using some of those as extensions in the roles you mentioned. Specifically Evernote for collection, Treesheets for project mapping and UR for contacts. What's Sense for?

I'm gonna start using org-mode for my time logging, as it's become necessary again. It's all handled automatically after a little setup, and then the auto-screenshot log to verify and correct the record after I finish.

Alex, I'll look into restoring the old blog, probably a lot of valuable info there. No idea if it's possible.

Outlining = Workflowy

Basic reports = Workflowy + M8 Free Clipboard (clipboard manager) + openoffice

Task management = Workflowy + Google Calendar + check plus for Google calendar

Information capture = Evernote

Pen and paper

Trying lots of other different applications as well particularly looking for simple project management

Andrew

OK, here is a snapshot of my ever-changing set-up:

iPod/iPad:
- Notebooks for iPad for capturing notes and slotting them into a hierarchy (synced with Dropbox);
- iThoughtsHD for breaking down tasks into a mindmap or outline (emailed or exported into CarbonFin Outliner);
- CarbonFin outliner for outlining short text and developing longer lists of tasks;
- Toodledo for to-do lists (synced with Pocket Informant HD on iPad and Google Calendar and Firefox addon on PC);
- Pocket Informant HD for calendar functions mainly (syncs with Google Calendar);
- Wunderlist to share tasks with the wife (syncs with desktop app);
- Instapaper for capturing website content to read later;
- iA Writer occasionally for short writing tasks;
- GoodReader and PDF Expert for PDF reading and annotation.

On the PC:
- MS Word 2010 outliner (just started to use);
- Natara Bonsai for quick outlining of shorter texts;
- Whizfolders to keep longer notes in a hierarchical outline;
- Surfulater for capturing websites;
- MLO for tracking project-specific tasks (basic project planning and management);
- CMAP Tools for quick concept mapping;
- Xmind for quick mindmapping;

Getting ready to use NVivo as a project-specific tool to analyse a large amount of data; will need to evaluate timeline mapping tools soon; and learning about Scrivener for Windows (also considering Writing Outliner), to write the thesis at the end.

My setup:

Writing
* OpenOffice.org Writer with Duden Korrektor (the best German spellchecker) for everything I write, format, print or export to PDF
except
* Word 2007 for articles and books I write and pre-format for my publishing house
* Scrivener for Windows and Mac for a series of short novels
* Scrivener for Windows for a new book on creativity

Autocorrection, boilerplate...
* PhraseExpress

Info collection
* OneNote 2007 for the projects I started in the last years
* Evernote for new projects and for projects that I work on on several PCs
* InfoSelect - one legacy database, which will be dumped soon, however

Web page collection:
* Evernote

Outlining and brainstorming
* Noteliner
* XMind

E-Mail, calendar, address book
* OUtlook

Todo list, project planning and project tracking
* OpenOffice.org Calc
* Goalscape

Data exchange
* Dropbox

For a new project I will try Personal Brain.

First I thought a wiki system based on ConnectedText might be a nice tool. But I find it too cumbersome to switch between editing and viewing mode , to have to insert double CR/LFs at the end of each paragraph (and remove them again when reimporting into my word processor) and to insert the markup commands.

All I need (ha, how modest) is a tool that lets me enter or import notes, link to documents on my hard disk (or my Dropbox folder), lay them out visually, arrange them freely, link them, format them, export all or part of the notes. Something like Tinderbox or Curio - but it has to be on Windows as I will work on the project on my Windows machines not on the Mac.

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.)

My aim is always to reduce the number of programs I use, but in practice the list seems to grow.

Outliner: Noteliner (most significant find in recent years)
Email: Thunderbird
Data collection/capture : Clipcache Pro, Instapaper
Calendar/tasks : Google as "server", using various apps as client (Rainlendar and Thunderbird on Windows)
Boilerplate management: PhraseExpress
Indexing documents/email: Archivarius 3000
Writing: Scrivener, PageFour, Mempad, Notepad2

I also occasionally make use of OneNote.

Considering: Any programs where sync is the programmers' top priority -- I am now using Windows, Android and WebOS devices.

Programs where I spend most of my time: Thunderbird, Notepad2 and FeedDemon (RSS reader).

Biggest change in working methods in last year: I use a Kindle for reading most documents/long articles.

My current setup:

PersonalBrain - Todos, Notes, Favorites, Files
MindManager - MindMapping, Writing short instructions (usage of software), Outlining for presentations and documents
Word - Writing (really!)

Dominik

The software I use regularly:

* OneNote, for notetaking, outlining, organizing research, to do list. Features I like the most: painless synching with three computers via SkyDrive, tables, outlines, search, tagging, ability to link to any paragraph. Has an iPhone app but it's not there yet.
* UltraEdit, text editor for writing, programming
* Excel, R, for data analysis
* Clipmate, for storing short-term clips, cleaning up text before pasting in other programs
* WinSplit Revolution, for arranging programs on screen, multiple monitors at work
* Dropbox, for storing most files, some portable apps for use on multiple computers, inc. iPhone
* Instapaper, for saving articles from Web to read later on Kindle or iPhone
* PlainText for notetaking on iPhone and synching with other computers via Dropbox
* xPlorer2, for copying, moving, previewing files
* Gmail and Outlook
* Chrome extension SingleFile when I occasionally want to save a web page as is
* LastPass, for storing passwords
* Bayden SlickRun, for quick access to programs, websites

for me all of these are very important parts of "personal information management":

voice notes: Olympus VN-8100PC
outlining: Ecco Pro
journaling: Ecco Pro
time tracking: ManicTime
Email: Gmail, Thunderbird, Pop Peeper
RSS feed reader: Google Reader
Webpage Saver: Firefox Scrapbook with Autosave
Spreadsheets: Google Docs, Excel, OpenOffice Calc
Money Manager: Microsoft Money
File Finder: Voidtools Everything, Locate32
PDF Printer: Bullzip PDF Printer
PDF Reader/Annotator: PDF X-Change Viewer
File Manager: xplorer2, Windows Explorer, STDU Explorer
Program Launcher: Bayden SlickRun
Contacts: Google Contacts, Outlook
Calendar: Google Calendar, Outlook
Instant Messenger: Yahoo Messenger, GMail chat, Skype
Document Scanning: Paperport
Image Management: Windows Live Photo Gallery, Picasa, Irfanview, Xnview
Phone: Google Voice
Screen Capture: PicPick
Sync Tool: Dropbox
Password Manager: LastPass

Lots of room for improvement, lots of strengths and weaknesses, etc.

jim

shatteredmindofbob wrote:

Though, I kinda wish stuff wasn't so scattered.

Hi, my workflow changed dramatically to de-scatter data. For me, having a central data store is invaluable for archival and cross-referenced search, thus the switch to Ultra Recall. Previously, I used EssentialPim Pro, Mybase 5.5.1, Onenote and Web Research 3 - all of these are replaced by UR. No, I don't work for Kinook! Other potential all-in-one apps I considered were InfoCube, Zoot and recently ConnectedText.

My rollcall:
Ultra Recall - GTD, web clippings, notes, email archive, work files, home data, research
Outlook 2010 - locked into due to work, email and @work GTD
Mendeley - Organize PDFs and share with colleagues (Important ones to save are copied to UR). Also for bibliography system in Word.
Notepad++ - text editing and coding
Storybook 3.0.0: story creation, this update makes the program really useful so I will post separately about this
Thoughtoffice: brainstorming

I plan to add Flying Logic 2 when (if) I can justify the license cost.

Best, /Pavi

I live in the world of a Windows PC at work and a MacBook for personal use. Here are the information management applications I use most:

Work (Windows):
- PersonalBrain for general information management and my "commonplace" book, because I keep a version on my MacBook and can sync my databases easily.
- Zoot for capturing bits of information that crop up all day long (phone numbers, registrations, etc.), also makes for a good tool for tracking purchases (which I have to make frequently for my job).
- Noteliner for outlining, brainstorming.
- OneNote, which is a bit redundant to PersonalBrain, but I find that OneNote is great for some things PB is not good at and vice versa.
- NoteTab for writing
- Currently exploring the idea of shifting information from Zoot to ConnectedText

Personal (Mac):
- PersonalBrain (see above)
- Tinderbox for creativity, analysis
- DevonThink for random bits of information (registrations)
- Scrivener for writing longer pieces
- DayOne for snippet journaling
- MacJournal for full journaling, one-up writing

Steve Z.

The corporate world I work in requires Outlook, so all of my email and calendaring is done in Outlook 2007.

Earlier in the year, I took a stab at trying to put my world into Emacs org mode, but wasn't able to really get it integrated into my personal information workflow. I have since regained feeling in my left pinky :-)

They keystone event for me this year was getting involved in the Zoot 6 beta/RC. Zoot 6 (aka Zoot XT) brings power and flexibility (albeit with some complexity) that I haven't had since my Ecco days. I have great admiration for InfoQube, but could never really get my head completely around it.

After using the beta for several months, I recently purchased Zoot 6 and have been using it daily since June for the following activities:

- Free form note-taking
- Web page capture
- Task tracking and to-do lists
- Contact management
- Journaling

So much capability in Zoot 6, and I'm really enjoying the "discovery process" around using/leveraging it - necessary since the documentation isn't yet ready! Being the CRIMPingly-sick info tool addict I am, I should not be surprised... lol....At this point, it's looking like my traction with Zoot will be long term.

The other tool in my roll-call is ConnectedText. I haven't upgraded to v5 yet, and my usage of it is primarily just for knowledge management via it's basic wiki capabilities. I'm not a coder and just use the most basic of ConnectedText features, but it another application I admire for all the power it offers. It's another one of those rare tools that I categorize as only limited by the amount of time I am able to spend learning it.

PIMfan

Info Management Tools:
Using Now:
PersonalBrain 6 - primary tool (I'm writing this note in PB now)
Topicscape Pro - secondary - good for capturing data but a bit cumbersome
Zoot 6 - I have been using since 4. Love it still for archiving email, tracking recent web page surfing (this is a great and somewhat unique feature, RSS feeds, and the Safe
Evernote - for all the random stuff ad for things I want to synch

Backburner:
InfoQube - I used this last year estensively for a project and I liked the way it reminded me of ECCO, but not using it much at the moment
Surfulator - have it and use but not much recently
UltraRecall- ditto

---------------------------
Thinking and Outlining:
Using Now:?
ConnectedText (just upgraded to 5) - primary tool - reminds me of Transtext
Noteliner -good all around tool I use for todo lists, on the fly notes, quick proto-text workup
Writing Outliner - nice tool that plays well with MS Word 2010 and its new and pretty good embedded outlining capabilities (you can't escape MS Word for corporate work)
Mindsystems Amode - like it but it has some bothers - but it works well on my Tablet PC for note taking

Back burner:
Everything - you name it, I have probably used it at some point and it may be on my machine now - trying to whittle the "current" list down to just a few

--------------------------------------------------
Email: corporate work and personal email
Current: Oultlook 2010
SharePoint?

Back Burner:
Everdesk - loved it but no current development and lacks full integration

-------------------------------
Information Visualization and Brainstorming:
Current:
Flying Toaster (still on version 1)
Visio (work related Sys Eng and data driven diagraming)
VUE

Backburner:
Lots of stuff - including lots of academic and open source software

--------------------------
Research collection:
Current:
Citavi

Backburner:
IdeaMason

-----------------------------
Other Necessary Tools
MS Project
MS Excel (the true king of all tools)
MS PowerPoint - the necessary evil
Copernic Desktop and Agent
-----------------------------------------
Some stuff I'm playing with:
Komodo Edit
Goalscape
SouthBeach modeller

------------------------------------
Mac stuff - I gave my Macbook pro to my wife, but may go back at some point - favorites there were:
NEO outliner (TAO)
Omnigraffle
DevonThink PRO
Tinderbox
Papers

I have several part-time jobs that all involve speaking, writing, and presenting; so the software I use is for the communicating process, not as an organizer or to-do list manager.

Rough Draft - Probably one of the tools I use the most. It's a freeware txt/rtf editor. For basic writing, including simple formatting like bold/italics, nothing is simpler or easier.

Inspiration - Probably the only outliner I use as an outliner. I don't use its mind-mapping features, but as an outliner for writing, it works the way I do. (Note: I don't use mind mappers, their process doesn't seem to work with me.)

ConnectedText - I love this program, can't speak highly enough about it. I use it to collect things, and develop relationships between ideas and concepts. I also appreciate the fact it has two modes: an editing mode and a display mode (you can't make changes in display mode).

Sense - Recently purchased this, not the most intuitive, but powerful in seeing the structure of my writing.

Finally, an honorable mention. Often, when I start the creative process I have no clue where I''m going, or what the relationships are between various ideas I have. I find PowerPoint indispensable here. I fire it up, switch to outline view, and start blasting ideas, one per slide, until I've got them all down. Then, I can drag them around until an outline pops out that I can go with. A quick export to Word, and I can either work there, or go on and pull it into one of the other programs.

What's the perfect tool? I can't imagine there is one. But a lot of programs I'd love to use are not intuitive to me. I'd put here noteliner, sqlnotes and several others. I see their power, but they don't work the way my mind does. What I want is something that saves my work in an open format, so I can use whichever tool is best for the task. Since most of what I do is writing, I'd love to see an editor that saves as HTML with formatting in a css file. (yeah, I won't hold my breath).

Dad-Gum you guys. Because of you and these magnificent lists I found two apps I had just to have and purchased them. The two are Instaviz and Instapaper, both for my iPad2.

My workhorse is NoteMap (PC) and CarbonFin Outliner (iPad).
I use Word and Excel because they're installed on our school district's computers.
For simple music composition and printing my arrangements, Noteworthy (PC)
InformantHD synced with Google Calendar & Toodledo.
TextFreeHD because we don't get cell phone service where we live.

My workhorse daily apps.

You need one of those natural keyboards that has offset keys and big fat alt and ctrl keys to use emacs. I have on and hitting the modifier keys is effortless. on a normal keyboard yes it would be a nightmare.

I'm currently working on a data/information management system overhaul, but this is what I'm on at present:

OneNote 2010 - project information, prospect information, library and archive.
Authoring and manuals - Writing Outliner Word plug in
Website creation - Personal Brain, Namo WebEditor 2006
Family Tree - Personal Brain
Data processing - Visual Foxpro
Book keeping - Quickbooks
E-Mail - Outlook 2007, Eudora 7
Task Management - Outlook 2007, Sciral Consistency
PowerPoint Slide Library - Zoom
Future planning and graphics, brainstorming - Goalscape, Flying Logic, VUE
Browser/Internet bookmarks - Opera
Desktop search - Google
Appointments - Filofax

Trying to find a place in my workflow for: GS-Base, LiveScribe

Moving away from: Whizfolders, Quickbooks, Excel, Ariadne

Considering moving towards: Alpha 5 (instead of Foxpro), ConnectedText (though I have some gripes, which I'll broach in its own thread)

Some programs I have tried and don't come up to scratch or fit my work methodology - TreeSheets, IdeaMason, The Journal, Evernote, EverDesk, Watership Planner, ToDo Paper, HanDBase, Archivarius 3000, Tasktop, HelpMaker, Great Family, ListPro, InfoQube, Ultra Recall, Zoot ...

Graham

MyInfo -- My workhorse. I use it for note-taking and organizing information for nearly all my writing. It's powerful enough for my purposes (and is gradually improving), and I might add that it looks exceptionally attractive on the screen.

Evernote -- For any miscellaneous information that doesn't have to be terribly well organized. Occasionally I do experiments with other kinds of notes (such as family history), because I like its syncing and sharing capabilities, but the lack of a hierarchical tree stops me in my tracks every time.

NoteTab (Standard) -- It's nearly always on my taskbar. I use it for extremely quick-and-dirty notes, for simple lists (addresses, passwords, etc.), and often for writing first drafts.

UltraEdit -- I feel I ought to use it more. It has great capabilities (its tiling of multiple files is breathtaking from a writer's point of view) but a very geeky interface.

Family Historian -- A British genealogical program. It's not as flashy as some of its competitors, but its interactive charts are amazing. The charts create an intuitive and visual way of maneuvering around within some complex data.

ProCite -- A nice but thoroughly dead bibliographical program. I haven't added any information in years, but I still keep the icon on my screen because I occasionally need to liberate some old data from it.

Dropbox -- I couldn't live without it nowadays.

On the iPad I have a lot of note-taking apps that I almost never use. In theory Evernote ought to be the most helpful, since it syncs with my two computers, but in reality it's klunky and slightly unreliable on the iPad. Some of the plain-text apps strike me as potentially more useful. I've come to realize, however, that note-taking on an iPad is just not all that comfortable, even with a bluetooth keyboard: that's what God made laptops for.

On the other hand, I like having a calendar app on both my iPad and iPhone: I use Informant (which syncs with Google Calendar), and it meets my simple needs brilliantly.