Well! I love it! TreeProjects is back with a bang! I've been drafting a brochure using Scrivener for Windows and TreeProjects side by side, because in a number of significant respects they're actually very similar. And impressed though I am by Scrivener, I'm afraid TreeProjects wins: it's easier to use, it's (much) faster, and it actually indexes the files it stores (Scrivener does store lots of different kinds of files - but doesn't index them. Definitely a weak point!). TreeProjects even supports in-place file editing, which is really rather neat (not that I feel any particular desire to do that, but it's clever). The attached file preview in TreeProjects is also much faster than Scrivener, which is rather ponderous when it comes to viewing files.

Scrivener does have its Scrivenings feature, plus the amazing "compile" function. But I'm not convinced they outweigh the speed and convenience of the updated TreeProjects. I'd be interested to hear other views on this, especially from MyInfo users (a similar concept).

What's won me over, after a period of time working pretty intensively with both programs, is that you can build a database of relevant literature, drafts etc. very quickly in TreeProjects. You sort-of can in Scrivener, too, but there are more bits and pieces to remember: TreeProjects does many of the same things, but uses simpler tools (tags, references etc. rather than groups, collections, folders that can be more than folders and so on). I guess it's very much a personal preference, but my vote goes to TreeProjects this time round. Let's see how Scrivener continues to develop (it's still early days).

Yaroslav - the thing most obviously missing from the current iteration of TreeProjects is in-file links - you can't create links from one note to another within a TreeProjects file (i.e. by creating a link from selected text), although you can link to more or less anything else. Yes, you can create aliases ("References"), but it's not quite the same. That would be my next big feature request!

Cheers,
Bill

Just wondering something. I typically attach PDFs to notes/topics/items (e.g., import journal articles and then take notes on my readings.) However, I have found that relatively few tools index the attached PDF files, or help in managing file attachments. Here is my observation:

Those programs that index PDFs internally:
1. UltraRecall
2. myBase
3. TheBrain 7 / PersonalBrain
4. Smereka TreeProjects

Those programs that do not index PDFs internally:
1. ConnectedText
2. MyInfo
3. MyNotesKeeper
4. TreePad X
etc.

TreeProjects has impressed me with its internal viewer for Office documents, but I don't see a viewer for PDFs? By the way, TreeProjects is the only one that I haven't purchased yet . Any other programs out there that will both index and internally preview PDFs, as well as provide good notetaking capabilities? By the way, I like Adobe's embedded preview (as used in MyInfo) just fine.

-- Glen

Zoot also indexes PDFs and other files internally.

Hi Glen,

TreeProjects added PDF preview in version 2.0. If you don't see a preview, check if you have a PDF viewer installed (almost any popular viewer will do, like Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, or PdfXChange). TreeProjects uses other viewers for previewing, rather than brings its own.

Yaroslav

Hi Bill,

Thanks! Internal links are really long overdue. Good news is that I'm already working on them, and expect to release the support in version 2.3 (January).

Yaroslav

Actually, on the issue of PDF preview, I did have a slightly odd experience there. I upgraded to the latest version of TreeProjects, but it didn't seem to connect up with Adobe Reader. So I exited, then restarted, and it promptly suggested I download and install the Adobe PDF iFilter (providing a helpful link, too). So I did that. Now I can indeed preview PDF files inside TreeProjects, but it appears to be using the Adobe Reader facility rather than the iFilter (I'm not complaining - the embedded Adobe Reader is actually rather good). Just a little quirk I thought I'd mention...

Another little quirk: sometimes Smereka TreeProjects causes high CPU activity the first time you launch it - it sits there causing the CPU to blast away at about 50% (no indexing going on, either). This is easily resolved, simply by closing then restarting TreeProjects, whereupon it behaves nice and quietly as usual (I like the fact that by default, TreeProjects doesn't take up many system resources). Maybe something to take a look at - but then again, may be due to the fact that at the time I noticed this, I had just upgraded BUT hadn't yet rebooted: it's always a good idea to reboot one's machine after installing a significant upgrade, in my experience (certainly in Windows, and yes, even on iPad!).

But I can confirm that PDF and Office in-place preview both work very well, and are also pleasingly fast. Oh, and I'm delighted to hear about the internal links!

Cheers,
Bill

Hi Bill,

You wrote: "sometimes Smereka TreeProjects causes high CPU activity the first time you launch it - it sits there causing the CPU to blast away at about 50% (no indexing going on, either)"

It is searching and removing old temporary files it created during previous runs. If your system temp folder grows big (due to TP and other programs activity), the searching may take a while. I will move temporary files to a dedicated subfolder in the temp folder, so that the search will not be needed.

Thanks for noting the glitches in the PDF experience. I have not observed these on any of my virtual machines and am not sure what causes them. My guess is that during the first launch after installation, PDF readers may display "first configuration" dialogs that don't work well with the inline mode. I will experiment more.

Ah, yes, that would explain it - I haven't had a good temp file clean-out for a little while (my favourite: CCleaner - any other thoughts on this?). But some way of making that a separate process would probably be desirable, otherwise you run the risk of irritated users thinking that TreeProjects takes up much more of the system's resources than is, in fact, the case!

As for the PDF thing - it was a passing oddity, but didn't appear to affect TreeProjects in any way. And I don't mind having Adobe's PDF iFilter installed in any case (other apps do use it, in fact).

No, all in all, an excellent update to an already powerful program.

im a super crimper... and after try several outliners im using smereka in my daily tasks.

never got an error, delay, dataloss... works fast like a charm (fast and lightweight).

the developer is quite responsive, and... now is improving the software every day.