Forum Posts Feed
Best personal information, knowledge and idea manager software?
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Hillman
Dec 14, 2013 at 02:08 AM
May I suggest Info Select 10 plus Lotus Organizer 6.1. They will perfectly match your requirements.
Despite IS 10’s shortcomings compared to IS 2007 (database and export function), it is a powerful information management software. You can store all kind of file extensions, prepare notes, and capture web contents (amongst other tasks). Whilst the first IS 10 releases occasionally crashed (on both, XP & Win 7), several patched versions have been released in the meantime and IS 10 now runs very stable on both, XP & Win 7. BTW: There also exists a portable version of IS that you can run from a memory stick. Moreover, IS is one of the oldest outliners around (since 1986, known as Tornado). I started using it some three years ago and all my information (e-mails and correspondence as PDF) go into IS. It is just amazing. I use Lotus Organizer 6.1 in conjunction with IS 10. It arguably is the best PIM that ever existed. Unfortunately, IBM stopped selling it back March 2013. However, you can easily obtain the IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.8.2 (that contains) LO on eBay. Also, it has been confirmed that it will run on Win 8! I use it extensively for time planning, personal information, and contact management. With that respect, LO is quite sophisticated, since you can cross link information, i.e. between Contacts, Calendar, To Do, and Notepad. Also, I use it for organizing weblinks (Web section). As IBM has halted sales and support of LO, it can be considered as “deadware”. However, there still is a well-frequented forum hosted by IBM. Lastly, and that perhaps is the biggest advantage, you can export LO data in .dbf format and also import from that format. This means that despite LO being “deadware”, it is open towards other software, so you are not trapped in it.
On the other hand, I would not recommend Evernote. They had some security issues (hacked passwords) and of course, your data is in the cloud. Also, I believe it just is too impractical for heavy daily use. Ultra Recall frequently is mentioned as the favourite outliner. However, their support forum suggests that there are functionality issues.
To conclude: Stick to tried and tested outliners and PIMs. I do it and only can recommend Info Select 10 and Lotus Organizer 6.1.
Posted by Steve
Dec 16, 2013 at 12:05 PM
I was pleasantly surprised to see Lotus Organizer 6.1 recommended. I agree it’s one of the best PIM’s for business ever. In many ways, unique too. I liked it very much. If you can still find it for sale, give it go.
I can attest to Lotus Smartsuite 9.x running under Windows 8.1 very well. WordPro and Approach used frequently. Lotus 123 and Organizer are not, though 123 is still fired up periodically for its ease of printing spreadsheet sections.
Smartsuite will be permanently put out to pasture in September of 2014: http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS913-091 I’m very sorry to see it go. That said, if you really like it and want to keep it working for many years to come there is the Lotus dedicated site http://www.xpertss.com/ that is a fabulous resource.
For many reasons, I moved my PIM (tasks, contacts, calendar primarily) to http://www.chaossoftware.com/ Intellect about 5 years ago. Very solid, very good.
Steve
Posted by Cassius
Dec 17, 2013 at 06:31 AM
notbalok wrote:
In your opinion, what is the best application running on PC (mobile and
>cloud are only options, not essential) and compatible with internet
>browsers (it can capture web contents) that covers above task?
===============
If saving Web pages is really important, check out myBase (with WebCollect plug-in) at wjjsoft.com. It is the fastest Web page saver that I know and I’ve never found a real bug in it. It probably has more features than you’ll ever use.
Posted by 22111
Dec 21, 2013 at 02:05 PM
Hillman and Steve, you both should open a new thread where you would detail your respective use of application / “workflow”, I think both ideas are quite exceptional in this forum, far from the “usual suspects” mentioned here over and over again (and this in spite of the fact that this forum doesn’t (technically) permit screenshots).
As for IS/LO, “workflow”/interaction would be of the highest interest, whilst for ChI, it would be interesting to know which shortcomings you have to live with, and also what is your experience with the current version (of which users say it’s a nightmare, see cnet.com and other other for (obviously legitimate) user comments).
I think ChI is one of the most beautiful Windows applications, and for me personally, that’s a very strong argument for software. But then, ChI does not seem to have too much functionality at the end of the day (cf. 2 different top-ten-reviews.com comparisons where it appears), and then, there seem to be all those bugs, etc. they seem to have introduced into their very latest version, whilst previous ones seem to have been perfectly stable.
(In fact, I liked my ChI trial (previous version) so much, visually, that I often wished to buy it and to do some “work” with it, and then waited for a (possibly more complete) new version, and now, those user reviews I read, make me flinch, and how could it be otherwise. And then, there is always the problem how it will react when there is really much data in it, independently of its possible inadequate/insufficient processing ability for that data.)
Posted by Hillman
Dec 23, 2013 at 10:03 PM
@22111: I am not sure whether a special forum for Info Select / IS 10 and Lotus Organizer are needed, since they represent the earliest outliner and PIM software. Both, I believe, are quite well known and best of breed. A few days ago, BTW, there was a new IS 10 release. It is now IS 10.00.100. So, whilst the Yahoo forum may be very quiet, IS actually is being maintained and improved. The Lotus Organizer 6.1 cross-link function I mentioned can be described as following (it actually is called “Links”):
You can create links between discrete pieces of information in different sections in Organizer or between entries in the same section. Creating links lets you cross-reference associated Organizer material. For example, you can link an appointment in your Calendar to a person in your Contacts section for quick access to that person’s phone number. You can also create multiple links from an appointment scheduled in Calendar to all the Contact records of the people attending the appointment and to a Notepad page that holds the meeting agenda. In addition to linking information, you can also link Organizer information to other files or applications. For example, you can link a scheduled budget appointment to a spreadsheet that contains budget forecasts. You can link Contact records to a comment about that contact, such as meeting notes. You can also link Organizer information to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address on the Internet. For example, you can link a sales meeting to your client’s home page on the Web. To keep track of your linked information, you can create a Notepad page with links to all the information for one project or to your most commonly used applications.
Should you need further information, I can highly recommend the following website: http://pcs-bihn.eu/lotus-organizer/programmdetails/index.php . Unfortunately, it is in German only. The company comes from Western Germany and actively develops add-ons to LO 6.1. They also sell LO 6.1, together with their add-ons. On their website, they provide ample information on LO 6.1 However, I do not know whether their LO 6.1 is in German or multilingual. I forgot whether there are language options in LO 6.1, since I always use English.
@notbalok: I wrote that Lotus Organizer 6.1 forms part of IBM SmartSuite 9.8.2. That, however, is not the case, as I just discovered. I recently ordered SmartSuite 9.8.2 (the last commercially available version) and noticed that it contains LO 5! So, the only way to get hold of LO 6.1 would be getting in touch with IBM. Sorry for that error on my side.
@Steve: You were right. IBM announced back in May 2013 that they would stop supporting SmartSuite in September 2014. I had a look at Chaos (ChaosSoftware) some time ago. What really bothered me were the limited import / export functions. I want the .dbf option, since I key in my contacts in dBase IV for DOS since 1991. I think that if you decide to work with a certain PIM, you really need 100% commitment, i.e. switching back and forth is not an option. So, I decided to stay with LO which it appears I will be able to use for some more years.
As far as the cloud functions are concerned: For me, this is a no-go. I value privacy and my data is not part of the public domain. I got a tiny 32 GB memory stick with me all the time (but not encrypted with Truecrypt, mind you). It contains all the data plus software I currently need. The rest is on external USB drives.