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Zoot???
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Posted by Gorski
Jan 24, 2013 at 03:17 AM
I’ve been an on and off Zoot user for more than a decade who’s been using the latest version intensively for about a month. I love Zoot for the ease you can dump info into it and slosh it around. No other information tool is as flexible, in my experience.
Here’s my take on a few issues raised by Steve:
> Zoot now handles formatted text, although I find how this works somewhat awkward, whether due to the design or just my mis-understanding of how it works, I’m unsure.
If your’re editing an html or a web archive page you have to switch to an edit mode, which is awkward but not surprising. Editing rich text, at least for simple things like bold or highlighting, is no different than any other editor. You don’t have to switch to edit mode if it’s just rtf.
> Zoot now interacts with the “cloud.” I haven’t used this feature, so can’t comment.
You can send info from Zoot to Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Google Docs, Readability, Instapaper, etc. I don’t use this a lot but it generally works fine though in a few instances paragraph formatting is lost or there are other bugs (which Tom always fixes immediately if brought to his attention). I’m also using it as an RSS reader and it’s working well so far.
> Zoot now has an optional data pane similar to Ultra Recall—again, haven’t really used this feature.
I like that you can now attach a comment to an item rather than your notes having to be part of the item itself.
> Easy info capture (although I think Zoot has fallen behind apps like Evernote in this area).
You can dump info into Zoot with a single keystroke or mouse click. I don’t know how it could be any easier. Or you can choose to edit, tag or categorize the info first. I don’t generally like to capture whole Web pages, though it does that with good fidelity. I don’t know how it compares with similar programs.
You can now link directly to a Zoot item with a URL or shortcut, which makes it handier to use it with other programs like OneNote.
- Stability. I don’t believe I’ve ever lost data in Zoot in a dozen years of use.
Nor have I, though there are little annoying bugs that crop up frequently still. Tom has fixed the ones that bothered me so it’s working well for my needs now. It’s much more solid than it was a few years ago and I think he’s improved the look and feel (I don’t like the default dark theme but you can choose your own theme and customize it further; I prefer “Frost”)
Posted by Cassius
Jan 24, 2013 at 04:23 AM
Does anyone know which, if any, PIM file types can be directly imported into Zoot (with only a click or two)?
Posted by Gorski
Jan 24, 2013 at 04:47 AM
You can import text files, image files, html files, Word/rtf docs, CSV files or you can specify your own delimiter on import. You can also import bookmarks.
Posted by Pavi
Mar 11, 2013 at 11:32 AM
I am glad Zoot XT came up again, because I am very close to converting to it from Ultra Recall. It appears to be extremely powerful and customizable, albeit with a learning curve. My needs include sorting and cross-referencing many items from work and personal (ie. email, documents/PDFs, code, scans, journal entries, contacts, webpages), and to have this be useful as a searchable information repository and task based project management center. I haven’t found any item type that doesn’t need to be linked to another, although I could have separate work and personal databases if needed.
The main reason for me to switch from UR and Outlook is that email is not practical to sync and categorize in UR in large volumes. It can be done, but there is always sync time (which grows as your email folders grow, to unusable times), and a bit of extra work to clone email to other areas. In short, it is not as streamlined as I would like.
I have always thought that a “complete” solution such as Zoot XT or InfoQube should be considered, but the learning curve would add time - and I have already spend considerable time and effort with UR. I also considered MyInfo, Mybase, TreeProjects, Rightnote, among others.
While Zoot XT has no calendar, syncing to Outlook allows it to be visualized, and the excellent Vueminder calendar is also an option.
There are too many features of Zoot XT to praise, but the main trump card is having an integrated mail client. Being able to tag mail with category, context, etc. and process it immediately is quite important. I haven’t adapted my daily methods to Zoot yet, but plan to set aside a day or two to make a full conversion.
Lastly, is seems that Tom Davis (the author) is now devoted full time to making a full help file and video tutorials, so users can expect more information about how to use some of its more esoteric features soon!
Best, /Pavi
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Mar 17, 2013 at 07:00 PM
Pavi wrote:
>There are too many features of Zoot XT to praise, but the main trump
>card is having an integrated mail client. Being able to tag mail with
>category, context, etc. and process it immediately is quite important. I
>haven’t adapted my daily methods to Zoot yet, but plan to set aside a
>day or two to make a full conversion.
I for one would be very interested in hearing more about the results of your efforts. I am not happy with any of the IMAP clients I have tried with Google Apps (the premium version of Google Mail), and with about 12 Gigs of mail I need to find a solution sooner rather than later.