MarginNote for OS X is available

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Posted by Paul Korm
Dec 28, 2015 at 09:45 PM

MarginNote for iOS is PDF annotation app + mind mapper + outliner. This is more like three different views of your notes. It’s an interesting product for annotating PDFs and taking notes. The annotations can be arranged however you wish in the mindmap view and additional notes added to them.

The developer has now released an OS X version. I think he’s waiting for the Mac App Store before making an announcement on his web site, but the non-App Store version is available for trial—and in-app purchase—from his Facebook page or:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/marginnote-product/macapp/MarginNoteX.dmg

The non-App Store version does not sync with iCloud (it syncs with Dropbox). I have been working with it for a bit and find the OS X version is a faithful porting of the iOS version, and it will be a good addition to the category of OS X PDF annotation tools.

Posted by DataMill
Dec 29, 2015 at 02:26 PM

I’ve been using it on my iPadPro for quite awhile and it’s very interesting to use with memorable topics I encounter. I emailed the developer and he sent me a link to the OS X version.

It seems very stable and helpful. I shoot files back and forth to the iPad via wifi and that seems just fine. I’ve exported the mind map to OmniOutliner on my Mac and that works well, also. I don’t own iThoughts for the Mac but I have it on my iPad and that transfer seems very solid.

For $32, the OS X version seems decent to me.

-Mike

Posted by jamesofford
Dec 31, 2015 at 04:26 PM

This seems really similar to LiquidText, which I have been using for some time. LiquidText works great on the pdfs that I read for work-generally journal articles. Is there anyone who has used both and can comment on the differences? Obviously, Marginnote has the mind mapping capability that LiquidText lacks. Does that add a lot to the utility of the program?

Jim

Posted by Paul Korm
Dec 31, 2015 at 05:15 PM

I’ve been using MarginNote and LiquidText and can point out a few differences:

MarginNote has an OS X version, LiquidText does not. I think a LiquidText version on a desktop or laptop would be quite different than the IOS version because it depends so much on touch interaction with the user. MarginNote can sync “notebooks” between the two platforms.

MarginNote can export in mind map (.mmap) and OmniOutliner format, for the mind map and outlines, respectively. As well as in Anki format (flashcard app). LiquidText exports an annotated PDF or the highlights and comments as RTF. MarginNote can export/import from Evernote. LiquidText interacts with the common cloud services for importing PDFs and exporting PDFs or notes. LiquidText can export an annotated PDF that uses standard PDF annotation objects. MarginNote cannot export an annotated PDF.

Both apps can import from built in browsers, it is a little less obvious how to do this in MarginNote.

Notes in MarginNote can be tagged and color-coded. A MarginNote highlight extract can have a title and comment added to it. In LiquidText you have to add a comment separately.

Outlines and mindmaps can be rearranged in MarginNote and the rearranged report exported. Notes and comments can be rearranged in LiquidText, but exporting doesn’t seem to honor the user’s arrangements, so the exported RTF would have to be edited after the fact.

I believe MarginNote got its start as a app for students to create flashcards for studying, so that metaphor continues in many of the features of the app and its design. Personally, I prefer the outline and/or mind map exports because they can be reworked more easily for my purposes. But LiquidText is better if a polished, close-to-final report is what the user needs. I also feel LiquidText has a better UI—hard to explain the value of that. Both apps are somewhat fiddly and take getting used to, IMO

Posted by bigspud
Jan 5, 2016 at 04:28 AM

gday korm and all.

I’ve taken on using marginnote, the use of mindmap is great alongside the document.
If dreams were free, I’d have all the power in the data world if Marginnote could clip and annotate the actual text in its selections and export to devonthink. the devonthink AI would respond extremely well to the small chunks actively drilled down into valuable pieces from marginnote.
IS there a coder out there who could script that?

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