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AllMyNotes users?
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Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 27, 2015 at 04:01 PM
I’d agree with The Other Bill that if you like AllMyNotes, you’ll definitely get on with MyInfo.
AllMyNotes is just a weeny bit inadequate all round, really, especially given Ken’s list of needs/preferences.
And you don’t necessarily need the Pro version – the ‘straight’ version is pretty powerful already.
The other pretty cool note-based task management tool is CintaNotes, which lives comfortably in your taskbar and is tag-based. Since gaining tabs, it’s become a very powerful tool for managing multiple priorities. You can isolate tags to a single tab, or share them between tabs.
I keep hoping they’ll produce CintaNotes for Mac/iOS, but it’s not looking likely.
Posted by PIMfan
Mar 27, 2015 at 06:29 PM
Ken -
If you are still in evaluation mode for potential apps to help with task/note tracking applications, you might also want to check out LeaderTask (http://www.leadertask.com).
Reading through your inquiries on this forum has lead to recognize that we both have requirements to keep detailed notes regarding tasks. LeaderTask has a UI that I find very effective, however it’s biggest limitation is probably the lack of a fully detailed PDF manual - the current help is primarily online. Here’s some features that it has that might make it a consideration for you:
- It is a Windows desktop client, that has the ability to synch and save data in the included cloud storage (bundled with the app). The cloud storage uses Microsoft Azure.
- It includes mobile clients for both Android and IOS.
- The typical usage scenario goes something like this:
A work effort is required, so I create a new Project in LeaderTask. Projects are the key organizational grouping unit in LeaderTask.
I then determine if others will be working on the effort also. If so, I create contact record for them with phone, email, etc. Contacts are used to assign Project Tasks to and to request status,etc.
Once I have the contacts in place, I then begin creating items for the project.
Project items consist of Tasks and Notes, both of which are hierarchical and can quickly be created using keystroke shortcuts as either a sibling note/task or a child note/task. Once you’re comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts, I find that I can actually quickly create an outline for my projects very quickly. You can also use keystroke to quickly rearrange your hierarchy of items.
Each task/note can have an associated due date (LeaderTask uses the word “Term”), and alarms can be set.
I then create any desired categories, which can then used to color code items such as “Urgent”, “Brainstorm”, etc.
Earlier I mentioned that items in a project are either a task or a note. This is where LeaderTask has the one killer feature (for me) that comes into play. Each item (whether a task or a note) can ALSO have any number of associated embedded RTF documents. These RTF notes are created via a simple click of a button and will show the associated Word Document icon in the item detail display. For my tasks, when I have a meeting or a conversation regarding the work I am doing, I create an RTF note in the task item and then create my notes. Because they are RTF, they are then easily opened for later cleanup in MS Word if needed. LeaderTask also does something that I haven’t seen in other similar applications. It allows you to then COMBINE multiple RTF notes of items and generate a single consolidated document with the content. By using this feature, I can create separate RTF notes for a task, but then quickly print a consolidated set of (for example) all of the research notes I wrote for a task, including an RTF note I might have created to hold all of the web links I collected for the effort.
It also include a highly configurable set of filters that you can then use to manage your tasks. By setting a due date for each task (again, this can also be done for notes), when you click on the Today button next to the calendar, all tasks not completed that were scheduled to be in progress will be displayed. I use this feature to quickly and easily see what tasks I should have in progress today. Using this list, I can then “work” my active task set, and set items as “In Progress”, “Waiting for Someone”, etc. If I mark a task complete, it is then removed from the Today view. This keeps me focused on what work I need to do.
Some more features:
The views also allow customization to - for example - create a view of all tasks I have assigned to others. Or another view that shows all tasks/notes that are categorized as Urgent.
Projects can also be marked as Complete, which removes then from the active view, but keeps them accessible for historical records.
Group-based task assignment is also supported if you have multiple users of LeaderTask. In this mode, it supports Discussions on items so that your team can comment and remark regarding the status and progress of a group-shared item.
I can go on and on about this app. I’m pretty stingy with my CRIMP funds, and this application is one of the ones I downloaded an evaluation copy and ended up purchasing when I was done. It has WAAAAYYY more functionality than what I’ve described here and for me it strikes the proper balance between functionality and ease of use. It has just enough customization capability, but does not go overboard in providing features I wont use. It quite simply is one of the most powerful task, note and action tracking applications I’ve ever used….An I am a former Ecco Pro user and currently also have Zoot.
While I wish it had better detailed documentation and that the Russian developers were more responsive, it just may fit your needs and I would recommend you check it out based on what I’ve seen you list as your requirements. If you have questions about it, I’d be happy to share more of my experience if needed.
d
Posted by Ken
Mar 27, 2015 at 07:03 PM
Thank you for the suggestions. I am looking at several of them, but only have a bit of time to do more research right now, so I’ll throw out my initial observations:
Cintanotes - Clean, fast interface w/portable installation. But, there is no way to create a simple table in a note. And while you can create numbered lists, or use bullets, you cannot have checkboxes. If these were available, I would be much more interested.
NimbusNote - I need to try it out, but there were some initial concerns about the company raised in earlier posts, so I am not sure if that is going to be an issue or not. I need to play with it for a bit to get a better understanding of what it offers.
LeaderTask - This looks to be a full featured program, and I need to find some time to really see what it offers, not unlike NimbusNote. It seems that some programs like Cintanotes (and Allmynotes) can be grasped quite quickly, and others require a bit of a learning curve. I am happy to put in the time, but it is not something I can allocate on a whim, as it will most likely require my full attention. Hopefully more observations later this weekend.
Thanks again,
—Ken
Posted by Ken
Mar 27, 2015 at 07:25 PM
Forgot about MyInfo. I remember testing it when Petko was coming up with a portable version. I will look at it again, but as I need the portable version, I am a bit concerned about the $99USD price, especially relative to many of the alternatives. But, I will give it some consideration.
—Ken
Posted by Ken
Mar 31, 2015 at 02:19 AM
I had a bit of time to look at some alternatives over the weekend, and spent some quiet time thinking about my options a bit more, with the following conclusions. I ruled out CintaNotes because despite offering hierarchical tags, it did not offer tables, rich text, or searching across notebooks. And the entire documentation and availability of additional information on NimbusNote seemed a bit off. I may be rushing to judgement, but I really like to know more about a program, and its support system, before signing up. MyInfo and LeaderTask just did not grab me for a variety of reasons, and I was almost all ready to select AllMyNotes when I went back to work this morning. But, I wanted to give my Office suite of applications one more review before concluding my research.
I first focused my attention on the Task module of Outllook. It was just flexible enough to offer a number of features that I wanted, and with some time and attention, I might have been able get it to work for me. But, in closing out the search, I took one more look at OneNote to see if I could find a way to make it work. And, to my surprise, I found a number of features that I never knew existed. I did not realize that OneNote had icon tags that can be attached to any note. And, for the checkbox icons, the search will allow you to display all of the unchecked tags. The search will also allow you to sort the tags by a number of criteria, and as the search covers an entire notebook, I can quickly find and sum up items that have been flagged accordingly. Very handy. OneNote also offers a very powerful set of formatting features, including tables, so I have a lot of freedom as to how I want to organize and display my data.
So, for the time being, I am giving OneNote a spin. I may try AllMyNotes again, as I believe that the developer has put some very nice features in the program, but I am still trying to figure out what is being offered by him other than that he is not Microsoft. OneNote seems like a very full featured program, albeit an information gathering program, but I can see how it could also be used for task management for an individual. The icon tags and their search and display window are quite powerful if you know how to use them. I am curious to see how this arrangement works out as I try to move forward. It is not the solution that I was expecting, but I am open to trying it, especially since it was where I landed after much analysis.
—Ken