Rather unexpectedly, a new version (2.0) of Awesome Note has appeared in the Apple Apps Store, and it's rather good.

It syncs using Evernote or iCloud, as before, but not Google Drive; that's been dropped, due to a variety of unsolvable technical issues.

And the developer even answers e-mails now! Only to say that while they have been contemplating a desktop version, it's still a (very) long way down the road.

The new Awesome Note not only lets you create notes and to-dos in its own folders; it also allows you to keep track of all your calendar appointments, Apple Reminders and so on from a single interface. It's rather elegantly done. The whole interface has been updated and streamlined. Still looks idiosyncratic, but with considerable style!

I thought Awesome Note had gone the way of ThinkBook, but both of them have had something of a revival. Well worth a look by iOS-based bunnies.

Sorry folks, I prodded the slow-responding (on my browser) 'post' button a couple of times, which appears to have created a couple of entries for the same topic. Quite entertaining!

Perhaps you could nuke the redundant one, Steve?

Thanks!
Bill

Ah, usual issues of iCloud synchronisation. Folders don't appear to transfer well between devices. But the Evernote synchronisation is as good as ever, so this would be my preferred option.

Speaking of which, I've been very impressed by the recent improvements in OneDrive synchronisation: OneNote is no longer the complete PITA it used to be. I'm finding files are syncing very rapidly indeed between my Mac, two iPads and the new HP tablet thingy. OneNote has effectively become one of the most powerful cross-platform tools available, especially with its ability to embed documents. An intriguing and somewhat unexpected development.

Makes me wonder how much longer small developers like BRID can continue competing. Apart from OneNote, Apple Notes is the most obvious competitor, although Awesome Note's reminder/calendar functions do add significant value. But of course Evernote offers the same features (although not quite as neatly done), plus rich-text formatting, which Awesome Note still doesn't support.

It's a dog-eat-information-manager-of-your-choice world out there, pardnuhs!

I have Onenote on both my Mac and my iPad. I downloaded it because I used to use it on my PC back in a previous life. It works reasonably well as an info manager. I have several different notebooks, each with different sections and pages. And it is easy to use.

However, in my quest to replace Notesuite, I tried to use Onenote as a receptacle for clippings when I am browsing. I am afraid that I am a bit disappointed. In contrast to your experience, Onenote clipping is kind of slow on my computer. That may be due to the network that I am on at work, but it is pretty fast otherwise.

What I have been using for the last week is my old friend Devonthink Pro Office . I have had this program for some time, and it is a great place to store large sets of data. Way back I used to use it for clippings, but I stopped when I picked up Notesuite.

Devonthink Pro Office is pretty fast, even with the large databases that I have in it. And once it's in there, I can search it and organize it six ways to Sunday.

Right now all that's missing is the ability to synch it with my iPad. I know that you can get Devonthink to go, and I am thinking about that. However, one of the problems is that both my Mac and my iPad have to be on the same network to synch. Not a big deal, but it gives me pause.

Jim

jamesofford wrote:

I have Onenote on both my Mac and my iPad. I downloaded it because I
used to use it on my PC back in a previous life. It works reasonably
well as an info manager. I have several different notebooks, each with
different sections and pages. And it is easy to use.

However, in my quest to replace Notesuite, I tried to use Onenote as a
receptacle for clippings when I am browsing. I am afraid that I am a bit
disappointed. In contrast to your experience, Onenote clipping is kind
of slow on my computer. That may be due to the network that I am on at
work, but it is pretty fast otherwise.

What I have been using for the last week is my old friend Devonthink Pro
Office . I have had this program for some time, and it is a great place
to store large sets of data. Way back I used to use it for clippings,
but I stopped when I picked up Notesuite.

Devonthink Pro Office is pretty fast, even with the large databases that
I have in it. And once it's in there, I can search it and organize it
six ways to Sunday.

Right now all that's missing is the ability to synch it with my iPad. I
know that you can get Devonthink to go, and I am thinking about that.
However, one of the problems is that both my Mac and my iPad have to be
on the same network to synch. Not a big deal, but it gives me pause.

Jim

(Somewhat OT) I yield to no one in my admiration for DevonThink Pro Office in its role as an information silo on the Mac, but as Paul Korm has recently noted in another thread, the list of successful Mac developers who have found it difficult to create successful, sync-able apps on iOS is growing longer - and it includes the developers of DT.

I've come round to the view that the best location for information files on the Mac is in the native OS X file system managed by the native file system, especially since the adoption by Apple of tags. In the file system you can index files and folders using DT if you wish, search files and folders using, say, Houdahspot, encrypt them, enhance the management of them using Yep, Leap or the likes of Path Finder or Total Finder, and easily copy selections of files or folders to Dropbox, say, for reading on the iPad.

(Incidentally, and even further OT) I am still looking for a piece of information-management software that isn't a "silo" or everything-bucket, and will successfully perform all the functions I list above, but is also "platform-blind" in the sense that it will manage information-folders and files on my desktop and laptop and in accounts with cloud-based platforms just the same (Mac/Windows crossover would of course be even better, but very unlikely). There are pieces of software that are on the way there, such as the Mac search app Found, and others that are trying to get there, but none that I know of that has arrived. It seems to me that such software will be part of the future; creating "silos" on the desktop has worked well so far, but in a mobile world their time is passing. If anybody knows of any such "platform-blind" Mac software, please do say!

Off-topic for the original posting, but germane to the discussion:

Has anyone tried Alfons Schmid's Notebooks?(http://www.notebooksapp.com/ I took a quick look at it the other day after I saw it mentioned here. It looks interesting.
Apparently there is a version for iOS, a version for the Mac and a version for the PC.
It looks interesting. But before I plump down my $9.99, I was hoping to get some more info on how well it works.

Jim

jamesofford wrote:

Off-topic for the original posting, but germane to the discussion:

Has anyone tried Alfons Schmid's
Notebooks?(http://www.notebooksapp.com/ I took a quick look at it the
other day after I saw it mentioned here. It looks interesting.
Apparently there is a version for iOS, a version for the Mac and a
version for the PC.
It looks interesting. But before I plump down my $9.99, I was hoping to
get some more info on how well it works.

Jim

I have a license for it, purchased when NoteSuite began to go AWOL. My thoughts: efficient, reliable, unsurprising, with features varying from platform to platform (possibly this latter has now changed). But my meagre usage leaves me hardly qualified to comment. However, I do remember Notebooks fans posting here around the time NoteSuite was all the rage, and I'm sure a search will turn up their views.

@jamesofford

Alfons Schmidt's Notebooks (OS X and iOS versions) have been discussed here frequently:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/search/index/notebooks