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Posted by Daly de Gagne
Nov 27, 2018 at 01:52 PM
Oops, I just checked the Notebooks site again, and I see that a Notebooks folder in Dropbox is available on another computer on which Notebooks is installed. So I may take another look at Notebooks.
Thanks again.
Daly
Daly de Gagne wrote:
I wonder if there are plans for a new Windows version of Notebooks.
>
>Also, if the Notebooks folder is stored in Dropbox, will the files be
>available on more than one PC? I have recently discovered to my chagrin
>that keeping files in Dropbox doesn’t mean an automatic sync with some
>programs - for example, it does for MyInfo, but not EssentialPIM.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Paul Korm wrote:
>That’s an interesting question. Notebooks and Keep It both keep your
>>files, in their original formats, in external folders freely accessible
>>in the file system. Notebooks doesn’t create any special
>>“Notebooks”-formatted files. On the other hand, Keep It can create
>>.kpnote “files” (macOS packages, really) that are not portable to other
>>apps. But both apps can read/write ordinary text files.
>>
>>Functionally, I think Keep It relies a little more on external editors
>>than Notebooks, but both apps let you open a document in, say, a PDF
>>annotation app and save the changes back to the library seamlessly.
>>
>>For me, it’s more a matter of taste. There are functional differences
>>—for example, Notebooks can be used to assign tasks to documents and
>>track them—but overall I don’t think there is a huge reason to
>prefer
>>one over the other, subscription costs aside. We’ll have to see what
>>Notebooks 2.0 offers vs. Keep It, then the time comes.
>>
>>satis wrote:
>>>Can anyone speak to the current differences between KeepIt and
>>>Notebooks? (I have the latter but haven’t been using it, but a lot of
>>>people, like everyone at MacStories, seems to be using KeepIt
>>[sometimes
>>>alongside DevonThink]).
Posted by Franz Grieser
Nov 27, 2018 at 02:05 PM
Daly de Gagne wrote:
>I wonder if there are plans for a new Windows version of Notebooks.
I asked Alfons on his blog whether the Windows version will still be compatible after he introduced major improvements to the MacOS and iOS versions.
His answer: “we will do our best to make sure the versions remain compatible”
>Also, if the Notebooks folder is stored in Dropbox, will the files be
>available on more than one PC? I have recently discovered to my chagrin
>that keeping files in Dropbox doesn’t mean an automatic sync with some
>programs - for example, it does for MyInfo, but not EssentialPIM.
I use Dropbox to sync my Notebooks folders and notes between Windows, MacOS and iOS. No problems in 2 1/2 years that were caused by Notebooks or Dropbox.
Posted by Amontillado
Nov 27, 2018 at 02:36 PM
Franz Grieser wrote:
washere wrote:
>>I just say: NO.
>
>Wow, washere. That must have been your shortest post here.
>Nevertheless as difficult to understand as usual. What are you referring
>to? (Really, I am interested)
The healing and therapeutic power of NO is intuitively obvious, something I discovered while researching Ed Wynn’s character in the early 60’s Mary Poppins movie.
That was long before my research ideas coalesced in DEVONThink, or even that wonderful pre-cretaceous DOS knowledge database, Peabody. Or Sherman. Or whatever it was.
I always used my tablet in those days. My Big Chief tablet.
NO was a big part of my life, as it was in Ed Wynn’s portrayal of Uncle Albert, and I suspect you have found…
Oh, wait. I thought you meant Nitrous Oxide.
Never mind. Funny how my mind works. Particularly when there’s NO in the wind. Seems funny, anyway.
Posted by Amontillado
Nov 27, 2018 at 03:14 PM
Almost forgot. I’ve also been thinking twice about Ulysses. It’s one of the few utilities I don’t mind subscribing to.
Actually, I do mind, but I can stomach the idea. It’s an actively supported package that I would faithfully keep updated.
On the other hand, one of the things that Devonthink does for me is provide a wrapper to iCloud syncing. I don’t want to install dropbox because I don’t like their security model, and I’d rather not add additional syncing things on my laptop.
I don’t like iCloud because of its lack of control. I can’t force a sync, and there is no status utility. There are also hidden things in iCloud. When I deleted Ulysses out of protest against their subscription, I thought I completely deleted it. Then, when I went back because Ulysses is pretty cool, all my old documents were still in iCloud, just not visible in iCloud Drive.
When I sync a Devonthink database, I can see the sync progress. It appears I can trust that.
Right now, a typical creative writing effort will have a mind map or two, an outline or two, perhaps some notes, and my draft in Ulysses.
I’d much rather have everything in one place, in Devonthink. Ulysses will edit outside files, as in DT, but I keep thinking about simpler ideas.
For instance, just writing markdown in DT itself, compiling with pandoc.
In fact, I might even use RTF in DT, but the styles support is DT’s weakest feature. If there was a version of Nisus for IOS, that would be an alternative.
Wherever my migrations take me, I like some degree of consistency and portability between IOS and MacOS.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Nov 27, 2018 at 04:03 PM
@Amontillado: it sounds as if Scrivener would be a good fit with your needs; it’s not just a writing tool, it’s also a very useful information repository (with a good search function). The dual-window mode is also an excellent feature if you’re looking for an all-in-one writing/info management tool. And of course it’s also cross-platform (Windows, Mac, iOS).
As for iCloud status, or lack of it - yes, that used to annoy me until I discovered a neat little utility called, tarara! iCloudStatus (http://www.thealchemistguild.com/icloudstatus). I can thoroughly recommend it.
As for Notebooks and Dropbox - yes, Alfons set it up to handle Dropbox (almost) right from the start. There were a few teething problems, which he tackled with his customary thoroughness, and synchronisation is now absolutely rock-solid (and has been for years). But you can also use the WebDAV server of your choice - in fact, Notebooks can also function as a WebDAV server, if you wish.
Like Scrivener, the iOS version of Notebooks supports dual-window mode, which is very convenient if you’re writing and accessing research results simultaneously. A major weakness of the existing desktop version 1.0 is that it doesn’t; it doesn’t even allow you to open multiple windows. But according to the screenshot of version 2.0 on Alfons’s website, the new version will indeed support multiple windows, which is very good news. He also hints at extra features in the desktop version (which has been completely rewritten) that don’t yet exist in the iOS one! A CRIMPer’s Christmas delight!
Cheers,
Bill