Good morning folks:
I finally bit the bullet and bought an iPad. I had been vacillating for a while, and then one day when I was looking at the stacks of pdfs on my desk at work I decided it was time to go paperless. I bought one of the new iPads, the one with the A6 processor and retina display. I loaded Papers(The program) onto it and synced up with my Papers 2 library on my mac. After a while(2700 pdfs on the mac)the sync was done, and now I have all of my pdf on the iPad. I went in to look at a few papers and they look beautiful. I do a lot of immunochemistry and read a lot of immunochemistry papers and the color figures look magnificent on the retina display. When I read a pdf on paper I write notes to myself, and highlight stuff. Papers will hopefully allow me to do that on the iPad.
All this was a preface to the question-What other apps do I put on the iPad? I have a calendar app(Pocket Informant)which works well. I also have an RSS reader(Reeder, I love this on the mac, not so much on the iPad) What about outlining apps? What about apps for information management? Papers works great, but I also use Devonthink on the mac.
I will probably not do an significant amount of writing on the iPad. emails and such.
I realize that we have had discussions about a number of different apps over the last little while, and I could go back and look through what the thoughts of the group were, but I figured that others would be interested, and it would be nice to have a list.

Many thanks
Jim

Here are my favourite (most frequently used) iPad apps:
- GoodReader and PDF Expert - for reading, annotating PDFs. I use both because they have slightly different highlighting options and format the email export differently. I keep all my PDFs in GoodReader and use PDF Expert occasionally for multi-colour highlighting.
- Nebulous Notes - main text-only note-taker, synced with Dropbox (replaced Notebooks for iPad and native Notes).
- CarbonFin Outliner - syncs with web app and exports into Natara Bonsai.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary - replaced Dictionary.com.
- Notability: recently replaced Penultimate for hand-written notes and SketchbookX and TouchDraw for concept-mapping.
- iThoughtsHD - mind-mapping.
- imo.im - instant messaging via Gmail especially.
CHM+ Lite - for reading .chm help files.
- Dropbox
- Passwords+
- BBC iPlayer (UK only)
- 4oD (UK only)
- TV Guide (UK only)
- Met Office (UK only)
- Clock Pro - for world time
- The Radio

Native iPad apps I use heavily:
- Mail
- Safari
- Reminders
- Messages
- FaceTime
- Contacts
- Calendar

Have but rarely or no longer use:
- Informant Pro
- iA Writer
- DocsToGo
- Instapaper
- iAnnotate PDF
- Notebooks for iPad
- Toodledo
- Evernote
- Wordpress
- Wunderlist
- Inspiration
- Mindjet Maps
- Dictionary.com
- TouchDraw
- Google
- Mendeley
- and many more not worth mentioning...

I've been going through the same evaluation process on my iPad Mini.

I've been trying out almost any app that sounds interesting. So far, these are the ones I'm finding most useful (but please read this list as preliminary):

For outlining, I have found OmniOutliner most useful so far.

For mind maps, I really like iThoughts, though I am also using Mindomo, since it has a desktop app as well as an online version, so they all can stay in sync, but also allows you to keep local copies, so you're not out of luck if you can't get online.

For general personal information, I use PocketInformant.

For structured data, I use Bento, which syncs to the computer version nicely.

For keeping a daily journal, I've found Day One works really well, especially now that it has better search and tagging.

I'm still fussing around trying to find a good note-taking app. There are essentially three factors I'm considering as I work through this evaluation:

1. Ability to share with other apps, getting info from one app to another, and from the iPad to my MacBook and/or PC.
2. Local storage of information; no requirement for cloud access, the ability to share through the cloud.
3. Ease of use, including the added keyboard functionality for cursor control and other useful keys.

To some extent or the other all apps fall short in one of these areas. Here is a partial list of some that intrigue me:

- ThinkBook: has an innovative user interface and allows you to combine todos and notes in a hierarchy. Interacts with Dropbox.
- Catch: a nice, clean interface. Create todo lists or text notes. Sync to online app. Requires monthly subscription to get full use (which I have not done).
- Circus Ponies Notebook: Perhaps the most powerful of all these apps. Lots of things to like about it. What has killed it for me is that it is dreadfully frustrating to get the cursor into the text I want to edit.
- Evernote: This is, of course, the most logical choice, but for my own perverse reasons, I seem to keep rejecting it.
- Notebooks: I continue to want to make this work, but I don't find the organizational interface convenient, and I had trouble with it freezing up when interacting with Dropbox (though they may have fixed this with the latest release).

So the search continues. I'll be interested in reading about your search.

Steve Z.

Hi.

I am also still evaluating. What I use on a regular basis:

- Dropbox for syncing
- Index Cards and Notebooks for notes and new writing projects (beta-testdriving Texts for iPad and for Windows)
- Evernote for accessing my info database
- Office2 HD for editing Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs (I also bought DocsToGo but the app refused to open some of my LibreOffice/Word 2007 files)
- Goodreader for annotating PDFs
- Grafio for charting
- Bamboo Paper and Artrage for scribbling
- Creative Whack Pack by Roger von Oech for fun and inspiration

Many thanks to all who replied. I am taking a look at the list and trying to decide what to put on my iPad. Once I have made some decisions and done some evaluations I will let everyone know what I decide on. Also, having the iPad for a little while, I can give my take on what works well and what doesn't.(Obviously, this will be very idiosyncratic.)

On another, related, note-I was reading an article on ars-technica this morning about Microsoft porting a version of Office to iOS. The article is here:http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/12/in-bringing-office-to-ios-microsoft-is-playing-a-dangerous-game/

I was reminded in the article that Microsoft already has a version of Onenote on iOS. I had forgotten that. Has anyone tried Onenote for iOS? How is it? I used to run Onenote on my work computer(running Windows XP)and I liked it. There are lots of other outliners that run on the Mac, so I haven't really missed Onenote. I might like to have a version on my iPad.

Jim

Outline+ is compatible with OneNote. It can sync notebooks stored in Dropbox. It's a bit pricey, though.

Okay, I'll answer my own question-Onenote for iOS is not worthwhile. That's kind of sad. On iOS it is a not very capable outliner and note taker. One of the things that I liked about Onenote on the PC was the ability to just put your cursor into the page and start typing anywhere. You could then go back and organize things later. Can't do that in Onenote for iOS.

So, back to the list that I had put together and that people have been posting here.

Jim

You might take a look at MagicalPad, which allows you to click anywhere in a workspace and start writing notes. It has essentially two types of item: a text box and a list box. The list box can have hierarchy. You also switch to mind map mode, which creates a link to any new boxes you create. I haven't actually used it much. This is one of those apps that is probably better on the regular sized iPad -- if feels a little cramped and the icons are a bit small on the Mini.

It costs $4.99 -- sort of on the cusp of cheap enough to buy on spec to try out. There is more information on their web site:

http://www.magicalpad.com/

Steve Z.

OneNote on iPad is pretty good, actually. Not as good as the original, but it does allow you to maintain the basics, and has a fairly good search function.

OneNote+ is very good indeed, but has a couple of weaknesses: it doesn't support checkbox lists (unlike Microsoft's client), and although it allows you to type anywhere on the page, it doesn't support outlines either (indented lists yes, actual folding outlines no). On the other hand the developers are frightfully enthusiastic and it's in regular development.

A pure iPad equivalent is the very good, very powerful Notability, which supports text boxes, sketching, diagrams, and all kinds of other stuff. But it has no direct desktop equivalent (it can output in many different formats, mind you). It's the closest thing to a "native" OneNote for iOS, in my view. A rather simpler but also satisfyingly powerful option is ableNote.

Other super-powerful notebooks it's worth mentioning are Circus Pony Notebooks (powerful but mildly annoying), Taposé (based on a Microsoft project that never happened) and Notebooks (mentioned in various threads in this forum). CPN and Notebooks both have desktop clients (CPN for Mac only, Notebooks for Mac and PC).

Finally, in view of this forum's outliner focus, it's worth mentioning OmniOutliner (very powerful rich text outliner with Mac desktop client - quite expensive, though) and Cotton Notes (very rapidly evolving outliner that has only recently been launched, but is already looking very interesting). Both are one-pane outliners.

If you're into TiddlyWiki, you might like to try TiddlyNotes (excellent German product) or TWMobile (also excellent, and allows you to import/export tiddlywikis to your heart's content).

Otherwise I strongly recommend Blogsy for blogs (I use a WordPress blog), Catch for online notes that can be synchronised between any number of platforms, and ReaddleDocs for managing files in various cloud-based repositories and on your iPad: a true golden oldie, and better than many more recent apps. Oh, and Readdle also produce the definitive PDF editor/annotator, PDF Expert, which is one of the App Store's most popular apps.

Cheers,
Bill

Franz Grieser wrote:

- Index Cards and Notebooks for notes and new writing projects

Franz - would you mind saying a bit more about how you're finding Index Cards?

MadaboutDana wrote:

On the other hand the developers are frightfully enthusiastic

And I'm sure you were awfully pleased to have found their product :-)

Oh how delightfully unreasonable the English language is...

(Sorry for the diversion; couldn't resist it. Possibly because as I don't have any iOS device so am unable to contribute to the actual topic).

That's terribly decent of you, Alexander!

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

MadaboutDana wrote:
>On the other hand the developers are frightfully enthusiastic

And I'm sure you were awfully pleased to have found their product :-)

Oh how delightfully unreasonable the English language is...

(Sorry for the diversion; couldn't resist it. Possibly because as I
don't have any iOS device so am unable to contribute to the actual
topic).

Well, I mean, dash it all, old man, you've got to say things as you find 'em, don'cha know? And I think it's simply spiffing that there are so many splendid fellows out there all beavering away, producing lovely little apps for you and me. So I like to give them as much encouragement as I can - do my duty, as it were.

Yo dudes!

Hi.

Dr Andus wrote:

Franz - would you mind saying a bit more about how you're finding Index
Cards?

I find it good for notetaking and brainstorming on the go. Creating notes, moving notes, color-coding notes and even stacking notes is straightforward, exporting to a RTF file works fine.
But it is a one-way street: You cannot import text or RTF files from a PC or Mac. I.e., you cannot edit notes both on the iPad and the PC/Mac. What I also miss: Splitting notes (yes, I know, I am spoilt by Scrivener).

So: It is not really what I expected. I had hoped Index Cards would be some sort of stripped-down Scrivener for the iPad, which it is not.
Therefore I am still searching for an app that allows me to seamlessly work on files both on the iPad and on my Windows PC. Maybe the combination of Outline+ and Outlook 2010 will be the solution (until Scrivener for iPad is available).

Franz

Well, OneNote and the various OneNote clients for iOS are definitely a good option.

Otherwise there's the iOS text editor plus Dropbox plus Windows text editor approach (quite popular, as you'll have gathered!). This isn't quite as desperate as it sounds, because an increasing number of iOS text editors support Markdown, which means you can use something like Resophnotes (or my favourite, MarkdownPad) on Windows.

But if you want to go slightly more sophisticated you could try something like Textilus, which is Dropbox-compatible but handles RTF files.

There are some unusual alternative options, too, like Celtx (a low-cost alternative to Scrivener). The Windows version of that (Celtx Plus, the paying version) syncs with the iOS version. It's actually quite powerful.

I share your suspicion of Evernote. I like Alfons Schmid's Notebooks, but seem to remember you didn't get on with it. The PC client is very friendly, however.

Or you could try something like Tonido, which allows you to treat your desktop machine as a web server. There are a load of widgets (quite powerful applications) available for Tonido that support simple cross-platform transfer from your iOS device to your Windows desktop and vice versa. And it's free. It's a very useful alternative to the thousands of web-based services that have sprung up everywhere (e.g. Workflowy).

Finally, I'm watching with interest to see if the developer of Cotton Notes (now one of the best iOS outliners, and fully OPML-compatible) is going to produce a desktop client. He's been dropping hints...

Cheers,
Bill

Franz Grieser wrote:

I find it good for notetaking and brainstorming on the go. Creating
notes, moving notes, color-coding notes and even stacking notes is
straightforward, exporting to a RTF file works fine.

Thanks for that, it does look interesting.

Therefore I am still searching for an app that allows me to seamlessly
work on files both on the iPad and on my Windows PC. Maybe the
combination of Outline+ and Outlook 2010 will be the solution (until
Scrivener for iPad is available).

SplashNotes Outliner (http://www.splashdata.com/splashnotes/ might be one option, as it has a desktop companion. [Disclaimer: I haven't tried the iOS app.]

SplashNotes seems to have succeeded where Natara Software had failed: they managed to transition from the Palm world into the smartphone world. I have evaluated them back six or so years ago for the Palm+Desktop option.

The standalone Windows desktop version is very similar to Natara Bonsai, as it is a 2-pane outliner that can be used as a 1-pane outliner. I liked the way it looked but went with Bonsai as the latter was more feature-rich.

It seems that for the Mac version they've turned it into a 2-pane outliner, but I may be wrong. But it does look a lot less sophisticated than the Win version.

So SplashNotes can be added to the list of single-pane outliners (once you close the Outline File List):
http://www.splashdata.com/splashnotes/desktop/

Dr Andus wrote:

The standalone Windows desktop version is very similar to Natara Bonsai,
as it is a 2-pane outliner that can be used as a 1-pane outliner. I
liked the way it looked but went with Bonsai as the latter was more
feature-rich.

So SplashNotes can be added to the list of single-pane outliners (once
you close the Outline File List):
http://www.splashdata.com/splashnotes/desktop/

Actually it gets a bit confusing (just like with the Bonsai downloads). It seems that there are at least two different Windows desktop versions around:

1) A ribbon menu version (that I haven't tried): http://www.splashdata.com/splashnotes/desktop/ You can get this by e.g. opting for the iPhone/iPod Touch version of the desktop companion.

2) the classical version, which you can get by choosing the Palm or Windows Mobile version. This is the one that is similar to Bonsai:
http://www.splashdata.com/splashnotes/palm/index.htm

A brief update on my search.

First, thanks to everyone who posted with suggestions. I am working through them and looking at my options.
Second, I am quite happy with my iPad. It has filled the niche that I thought it would, and it does it well. I am paperless, at least with regard to my work. I have been using Papers on the Mac and on the iPad to search, organize and read pdfs. The retina display on my iPad is very nice for this. Indeed, it is easier to read the pdf on the iPad than it is to print it out and read it on a hard copy. The text on the retina display is excellent. I was afraid that I would have eye fatigue from reading on the screen, but that hasn't been the case. And figures are much better on the iPad than on paper.
The combination of Papers on the Mac and on the iPad works well. The sync between mac and iPad is good. All of my papers are now on the iPad, and the ability to organize them in Papers makes it easy to use. I am working through coming up with a way to mark papers that I have read so that I can keep up more easily with current stuff. Perhaps a Tag? At any rate, this is working well.

I also took a look at the outliners mentioned here. I think that I have settled on MagicalPad as at least part of the solution. (http://www.magicalpad.com/ It has the free-form text entry that I like from Onenote, but has more going for it than Onenote did. Rearranging and organizing things typed in to MagicalPad is easy to do. You can merge notes into an outline, or take pieces of an outline and make them free-standing. As a note taker it works very well, and I have started using it for that on a daily basis. You can use it as a task manager, though I haven't done that as yet. It also has a Mindmapper built in.

I still need a more structured outliner for some of my work. MagicalPad is good for kind of ad-hoc outlining. I am still looking for something a little more heavyweight. Omnioutliner is looking that way at the moment.

As I progress through this thicket, I will keep the group updated on what I have been using. Also, when I have finally settled on a set of components for my day to day work, I will let the group know.

Jim

An overview of some to-do apps for iOS:
http://www.macdrifter.com/2012/12/a-task-management-vision-quest.html

I've recently come round to the Pomodoro Technique but can't stand the ticking noise of the real egg timer and don't find PC apps for it convenient. Instead, I wanted to use my iPod Touch.

I did a quick search for Pomodoro apps and there seem to be a lot of bloated apps out there. But I just wanted the simplest Pomodoro timer possible. I found it in Repeat Timer Free.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/repeat-timer-free-repeating/id481229967?mt=8

The free version is limited to a cycle of 3 repeats but that's good enough for me (you can just restart the next cycle of 3 Pomodoros with breaks manually instead). I do like the ticking noise for the breaks though, which it allows for.

Some plain text apps (w/ Markdown) for iOS and OS X discussed in this blog post (plus a PDF maker):

http://savageminds.org/2013/02/15/living-in-a-plain-text-world-tools-we-use/

The following looked particularly interesting to me (apologies if some of these have already been mentioned on this forum):

- Byword - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byword/id482063361?mt=8
- Notesy for Dropbox - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notesy-for-dropbox/id386095500?mt=8
- Drafts for iPad - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drafts-for-ipad/id542797283?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
- PDF PROvider - http://www.dar-soft.com/index.php/products/pdf-provider

My own most recent favourite is Notato, which doesn't just include Markdown, it also includes MultiMarkdown, plus support for math with LaTex, plus support for images, plus a very nice search engine that even highlights search terms! Wow, CRIMP heaven! The only thing it doesn't support yet is folders, but it's still very new, so give it time. I'm very impressed!

Cheers,
Bill

I haven't had a need to use iThoughtsHD in recent times, so I was quite surprised by the amount of new features that have been discussed in this thorough review:

http://ipad.appstorm.net/reviews/productivity/ithoughtshd-grow-ideas/

It's amazing what pops up on the iOS scene, even in the way of Productivity apps (as opposed to tedious games and other such rubbish we CRIMPers disdain... hem!).

My current fave is UX Write, a word processor app that is actually also a mighty outliner. It's come out of nowhere to challenge other word processors (Pages, but also e.g. Documents to Go, OfficeHD, QuickOffice etc. etc.) using a very clever combination of HTML display and Word (specifically .docx) compatibility.

The author has lots of plans - currently it doesn't include a search function, for example - but it has one feature in particular that will appeal to the strange specimens who frequent this forum: outlining.

In short, it's bloody brilliant. It takes Word outlining and turns it into something truly friendly - effectively a very elegantly designed two-pane outliner. It allows you to shunt sections around in the outline pane if you want to. You can switch off the outline pane (or replace it with the equally elegant formatting pane); you can 'pin' it or 'unpin' it. In short, it's one of the nicest implementations of an outliner I've found on the iPad.

All it needs now is a search function - but apparently search and replace are on the roadmap, so I'm a Happy Bunny!

Okay, so it's a bit more expensive than many iPad apps (ca. USD 24, I believe - sorry, I generally work in GBP). But it's deffo going places!

Cheers,
Bill

MadaboutDana wrote:

My current fave is UX Write, a word processor app that is actually also
a mighty outliner. It's come out of nowhere to challenge other word
processors (Pages, but also e.g. Documents to Go, OfficeHD, QuickOffice
etc. etc.) using a very clever combination of HTML display and Word
(specifically .docx) compatibility.

Thanks for the heads up. The video on their site does make the app look quite sexy. Though that's a hefty price tag for an iOS app. I made the mistake of buying Documents to Go for some similarly large sum many years ago, and it turned out to be a major disappointment.

Nevertheless, UX Write does look a lot more promising. It's still a mystery to me though that Microsoft with their thousands of programmers and gazilion dollars couldn't come up a with a decent app in this arena all these years...

While on this topic, I've recently installed the Google Drive app to edit some Google spreadsheets and was pleasantly surprised. I should try their doc format too...

In short, it's bloody brilliant. It takes Word outlining and turns it
into something truly friendly - effectively a very elegantly designed
two-pane outliner. It allows you to shunt sections around in the outline
pane if you want to. You can switch off the outline pane (or replace it
with the equally elegant formatting pane); you can 'pin' it or 'unpin'
it. In short, it's one of the nicest implementations of an outliner I've
found on the iPad.

In fact I don't recall seeing a two-pane outliner for iPad before. Though I haven't been looking - I'm very much a single-pane kind of guy. Nevertheless I can see the appeal for those who are looking for a 2-pane outliner for writing or for word processing actual MS Word etc. documents.