Just a quick response to Mark: we've started to use the MailStore Server (www.mailstore.com) to archive (and retrieve) our e-mail, and it's absolutely brilliant: very low resource requirements, various access methods (a desktop client for Windows, but also a very good web front end), and an excellent search engine. It's saved us huge amounts of time and stress! It's not expensive for what it does, either, in view of the fact it's effectively a gigantic information repository. The server has various options for user/group management, including its own, but also support for Windows IDs, directory services and so on.

There's also a very good free version (MailStore Home), which is just as powerful but runs as a straightforward Windows application (no server) and doesn't have scheduling (the server scans your mailbox and downloads everything/the folders you choose at times of your choosing; it also indexes the e-mails and their attachments according - again - to your preferences). Both versions are compatible with a huge range of different mail services and protocols. Thoroughly recommended to all smaller businesses (and bigger ones, in fact).

Cheers,
Bill

Oh, and it's German, too, which - in my perhaps biased view - is a Good Thing.

Wayne K wrote:

1) PDF Revu. I spent several frustrating years trying to find a good
PDF mark-up tool. Now that I've found it, it has truly changed the way
I work. When I have to do a job I often try to organize it so I can
make maximum use of Revu just because I know things will go better that
way. I use it at work all day nearly every day.

Wayne - I do my PDF annotations almost exclusively on the iPad these days (GoodReader, mainly), but I'm wondering, what is that "extra something" that would put PDF Revu above let's say PDF XChange Viewer or Adobe Acrobat Pro?

Sadly, our corporate bureaucracy is just too big and far away to hope to convince it to adopt MailStore, even with the benefit of MailStore being German-made.

My company has a mail archiving system -- adopted fairly recently though I don't recall the name -- but it's slow crap. I also sometimes forward email to my personal Gmail just to be sure I can retrieve it later.



MadaboutDana wrote:

Just a quick response to Mark: we've started to use the MailStore Server
(www.mailstore.com) to archive (and retrieve) our e-mail, and it's
absolutely brilliant: very low resource requirements, various access
methods (a desktop client for Windows, but also a very good web front
end), and an excellent search engine. It's saved us huge amounts of time
and stress! It's not expensive for what it does, either, in view of the
fact it's effectively a gigantic information repository. The server has
various options for user/group management, including its own, but also
support for Windows IDs, directory services and so on.

There's also a very good free version (MailStore Home), which is just as
powerful but runs as a straightforward Windows application (no server)
and doesn't have scheduling (the server scans your mailbox and downloads
everything/the folders you choose at times of your choosing; it also
indexes the e-mails and their attachments according - again - to your
preferences). Both versions are compatible with a huge range of
different mail services and protocols. Thoroughly recommended to all
smaller businesses (and bigger ones, in fact).

Cheers,
Bill

Dr Andus wrote:

What are your top 3 (outliner, PIM, writing, note-taking) tools right now? Do they form a toolchain (fit in
a workflow)?

Coming late to this: My top three pieces of software more or less mimic the workflow I used to use in pre-PC (paper and pen) days:

(1) For data gathering and preliminary analysis, I use Idealist, an ancient free form textual database that I have been using since the late 1990s. It very effectively mimics the index card (Zettelkasten) systems used by academics to gather research data in the days before personal computers.

(2) For synthesis/outlining, I have recently switched to Freeplane (having previously used the free version of XMind for a number of years).

(3) For writing up, I mainly use Word (not my personal favourite among word processors, but I have to use it for editorial purposes since it is the de facto standard within the publishing industry).

Yours
Lawrence

1. Ultra Recall
2. Pdf xchange viewer
3. Dtsearch

Tomasz Raburski wrote:

1. ConnectedText - for keeping and managing notes and pieces of
information
2. Mendeley - for managing references and my pdf archive, and for
annotating pdfs
3. FocusWriter - for most of writing

Hm, I don't know how I managed to miss FocusWriter till now. I thought I've tried all the distraction-free writing apps, but clearly not. Out of all, this one I like the best so far. It's a nice effect to be able to split the screen with WinSplit Revolution and have FW on the left half (just a blank grey screen), and O4D on the right. I just wish it worked with my "speed writing tools" such as Dragon and WordExpander...

Dr Andus wrote:

Hm, I don't know how I managed to miss FocusWriter till now. I thought
I've tried all the distraction-free writing apps, but clearly not. Out
of all, this one I like the best so far. It's a nice effect to be able
to split the screen with WinSplit Revolution and have FW on the left
half (just a blank grey screen), and O4D on the right. I just wish it
worked with my "speed writing tools" such as Dragon and WordExpander...

I love this app. It's really fast (compared e.g. to WriteMonkey). The only thing it's missing is the option to put notes.

Tomasz Raburski wrote:

I love this app. It's really fast (compared e.g. to WriteMonkey). The
only thing it's missing is the option to put notes.

Thank you for mentioning it. I've just had a very productive writing session with it (even without Dragon and WordExpander), so it's rapidly becoming a favourite!

You may be interested to take a look at this blog:

http://blog.scrybr.com/

Some of these FW themes are really beautiful, but some may treat them as a sin against minimalism.

Tomasz Raburski wrote:

You may be interested to take a look at this blog:
http://blog.scrybr.com/
Some of these FW themes are really beautiful, but some may treat them as
a sin against minimalism.

Thanks. I'm definitely a Puritan (default grey is so me), though who knows, maybe some vintage paper or parchment theme might do wonders for my productivity? ;-)

Okay, sorry for getting to this late, but my current top 3 (on my Mac) for my work as an anthropologist:

1. Tinderbox. For note-taking, outlining, brainstorming, journalling, etc. Unbeatable for its power, verstatility, configurability, etc.

2. VoodooPad or WikidPad. As a personal wiki, database, etc. I switched from (otherwise superior) ConnectedText to WikidPad for better alias handling. But now I am in the process of switching over to VoodooPad for better Unicode support (also has good alias handling).

3. The Hit List. An amazing outline-capable task management app that has nifty features that can be useful for note-taking too. (Easy keyboard-based tagging, processing, filing of notes.)

(On Windows, my top tool is OneNote.)

Lucas

1. TheBrain. This is my repository for both miscellaneous and project-specific stuff, and I can keep it synchronized across my work Windows PC and my home MackBook. I can drag in almost any type of file to organize it. But I don't find TheBrain is very good at actually creating an organizing notes, so I also use...

2. Evernote. This is the application I use to capture notes and other textual data. Sometimes I store the information in Evernote, and other times I transfer it to an application like Devonthink on my MacBook or...

3a. Zoot. This remains and important information management application for me on my office PC. Of all the applications I've tried over the years, Zoot still seems the best to me of balancing the advantages of a free form database with those of a structured database.

Honorable mention:

3b. Scrivener. I am using Scrivener to write a history book, so I am using it extensively at the moment. When not occupied with a large writing project, I may not open Scrivener for several weeks, which is why it didn't make the actual top three.

4. Tinderbox. Just because it is my favorite application, though I don't rely on it as heavily as the others. I am hoping that may change when and if we get the promised iPad version... or, even better, the long, long awaiting Windows version.

Steve Z.

1, Workflowy - It took me a while to warm up to this one, but with the addition of an iPad and iPhone, being able to outline anywhere, at all times, sold me on it. It has weaknesses (can't multiple select items, for instance), but overall it reminds of BrainStorm or Ecco. It's technically not a desktop app, but it does have offline access, and I find its speed to be equal or better to most desktop apps.

2. Evernote - Digital junk drawer.

3. Notepad++ - Programming and general text editing.

I am also an academic, but not in a university that provides much space for research, so untill the summer I am mostly preparing/updating lectures, rather than actual thinking research, but this is what I am using at the moment
Zotero for collecting references/pdf's [plus the occasional note]
MyInfo for most of my daily writing/outlining/notetaking and clipping tasks
Outline 4D for assembling the various bits into an outline [at the moment for then putting into PowerPoint for the lectures]
[I also put loads of stuff into Evernote from my Android phone, but not much seems to happen to it once I get it there].
Jeff

Tomasz Raburski wrote:

I love this app. It's really fast (compared e.g. to WriteMonkey). The
only thing it's missing is the option to put notes.

I've totally fallen for FocusWriter, I've installed it on everyone's computer in the family :) But I stuck with ClicKey for typing sounds, as for some reason there is a lag with FW's own sound.

(1) Devonthink Pro Office - indispensable - that it is Mac only precludes switching to Windows

(2) Evernote - more cross-platform capable than DT
(3) Pages by Apple

-----------I
Hon. Mentions: OmniFocus; Taskpaper

Chris Murtland wrote:

1, Workflowy - It took me a while to warm up to this one, but with the
addition of an iPad and iPhone, being able to outline anywhere, at all
times, sold me on it. It has weaknesses (can't multiple select items,
for instance), but overall it reminds of BrainStorm or Ecco. It's
technically not a desktop app, but it does have offline access, and I
find its speed to be equal or better to most desktop apps.

Chris - thanks for mentioning Workflowy. I was intrigued by it when it first came out but as a browser-only app it didn't fit into my system. However, with offline iPad and iPod Touch app access and sync with server, it becomes an entirely different proposition.

I've been having trouble finding a satisfactory to-do list system for PC+iOS, as the traditional hierarchical lists (ToodleDo, WunderList, Apple's Reminders) just get cluttered too quickly and become increasingly less usable. I always end up using several at the same time, and none properly.

But just playing with the Workflowy iPod/iPad apps for a few minutes today, I started to get a sense that maybe Workflowy could really be the solution to my problems. By being able to zoom in (hoist) at any level and being able to tag items like #URGENT etc., the disadvantages of hierarchical organisation disappear.

And it seems to be very flexible for designing a custom-made productivity system. I'm getting a similar feeling to when I finally grasped how a desktop wiki works. And Workflowy does have something of a wiki about it. Zooming (hoisting) is accomplished by clicking on a link, so it does work like a kind of a wiki.

Dr Andus wrote:

Chris Murtland wrote:
1, Workflowy - It took me a while to warm up to this one, but with the
>addition of an iPad and iPhone, being able to outline anywhere, at all
>times, sold me on it.

One thing I haven't been able to work out is how Workflowy deals with sync conflicts, such as when you have made separate changes to iPod and iPad versions offline, forgot to sync them when got home, made changes to the server version with the browser, and then synced the iPod and the iPad versions at different times (so you have 3 different versions). What happens then? I tried to test it but couldn't quite figure out what got lost or kept...

Dr Andus wrote:

One thing I haven't been able to work out is how Workflowy deals with
sync conflicts, such as when you have made separate changes to iPod and
iPad versions offline, forgot to sync them when got home, made changes
to the server version with the browser, and then synced the iPod and the
iPad versions at different times (so you have 3 different versions).
What happens then? I tried to test it but couldn't quite figure out what
got lost or kept...

Since I have started using it heavily, there have only been a few, brief times when it couldn't sync and went into offline mode. Granted, I haven't been anywhere off-grid where I'd have to rely on offline access heavily. Normally, it syncs automatically (and very quickly and frequently), so usually by the time I switch to my iPhone/iPad/PC, the latest changes are already available.

It's a good question, though; my guess (and it's only a guess), is that the latest version of changes would override the others.

Dr Andus wrote:

I've been having trouble finding a satisfactory to-do list system for
PC+iOS, as the traditional hierarchical lists (ToodleDo, WunderList,
Apple's Reminders) just get cluttered too quickly and become
increasingly less usable. I always end up using several at the same
time, and none properly.

But just playing with the Workflowy iPod/iPad apps for a few minutes
today, I started to get a sense that maybe Workflowy could really be the
solution to my problems. By being able to zoom in (hoist) at any level
and being able to tag items like #URGENT etc., the disadvantages of
hierarchical organisation disappear.

Yeah, it really has a feeling of minimalism and speed to it. That is useful to me in a task manager, because I find I end up fiddling around too much or getting distracted by the software itself if there are a lot of fields and settings to slog through. It essentially works as fast as I can type, and, as you say, hoisting + filtering by tags really keeps it from feeling messy.

Chris Murtland wrote:

1, Workflowy - It took me a while to warm up to this one, but with the
>addition of an iPad and iPhone, being able to outline anywhere, at all
>times, sold me on it. It has weaknesses (can't multiple select items,
>for instance), but overall it reminds of BrainStorm or Ecco.

USD49 annually is a bit steep though for the Pro version of what still seems a beta in many respects (if we compare it to the free or very cheap other iOS apps). On the other hand the unlimited hierarchies and hoisting are pretty ingenious. I'll have to see when I run out of my free 500 monthly tasks...

Dr Andus wrote:

USD49 annually is a bit steep though for the Pro version of what still
seems a beta in many respects (if we compare it to the free or very
cheap other iOS apps). On the other hand the unlimited hierarchies and
hoisting are pretty ingenious. I'll have to see when I run out of my
free 500 monthly tasks...

An important consideration, it seems to me, with one of these subscription-based web apps is where are you if the company goes out of business, raises their prices, changes their policies, changes their system in ways you don't like, proves to have porous security, or you just can't afford it any more? Is all the data you've put into the app/system still useful? Can it work fine locally on the apps on your devices? Can you keep it sync'd in other cloud-based systems like Dropbox? Is it readily exportable to other formats for use in other apps?

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not that comfortable with relying so heavily on some faceless company to keep my work safe and accessible.

I'm not suggesting anything in particular about Workflowy, which I've tried and liked. This is just a general comment about any such cloud-centric PIM.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

An important consideration, it seems to me, with one of these
subscription-based web apps is where are you if the company goes out of
business, raises their prices, changes their policies, changes their
system in ways you don't like, proves to have porous security, or you
just can't afford it any more? Is all the data you've put into the
app/system still useful? Can it work fine locally on the apps on your
devices? Can you keep it sync'd in other cloud-based systems like
Dropbox? Is it readily exportable to other formats for use in other
apps?

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not that comfortable with relying so
heavily on some faceless company to keep my work safe and accessible.

I'm not suggesting anything in particular about Workflowy, which I've
tried and liked. This is just a general comment about any such
cloud-centric PIM.

Hi Steve - I agree with your general points. Thanks to its simplicity (so far), this is not as much of a problem with Workflowy, as the Pro version comes with Dropbox backup and even in the free version it's very easy to export it as a simple list (though one would need to remember to do that regularly).

I'm just moaning about the size of the annually recurring price tag for a service that is still rough around the edges...

Dr Andus wrote:

USD49 annually is a bit steep though for the Pro version of what still
seems a beta in many respects

Well, everything is relative. I'd just unwillingly participated in Wunderlist's strange market research gimmick, whereby they send you an email entitled "Wunderlist Pro: Your early access pass", with a button saying "Purchase Wunderlist Pro now for USD4.99/mo," and when you click on it, they say:

"This was a test to see which pricing point our users like best. To show our appreciation for your help, we would like to give you: 3 months of Wunderlist Pro for free!Please enter your email address below, and we'll let you know as soon as your free 3 months of Wunderlist Pro are ready."

I'm not amused. Moreover, the normal annual cost would come to USD59.88, which is 10 dollars more than Workflowy. I haven't been all that impressed with Wunderlist 2, so if I was forced to choose, I'd definitely go with Workflowy.

And this underhanded marketing research/promotion effort put me off even more.