Zengobi has released version 14 of Curio

https:/zengobi.com

Take notes. Organize files. Collect research. Brainstorm in mind maps. Track tasks with a to-do list. Drop in an equation. Sketch out an idea. Get more productive! Curio’s intuitive, freeform notebook environment provides all the integrated tools you need to be more productive and focus on getting things done.

I've used Curio for many projects and purposes over the last 10 years or so and have enjoyed its quality and approach to a visual notebook -- far more feature rich than OneNote, Notebooks, NoteTaker or similar. Curio 14 introduces lots of improvements. If you don't need a digital notebook then you don't need Curio. If you need a digital notebook then Curio is the best choice, I would suggest.

Just macOS, sorry. No Windows. No iOS/iPadOS. Probably never for those.

Curio has been one of the programs that haven’t quite clicked with me despite earnest attempts. There are enough smart people using and recommending Curio to make me think that I am approaching it in the wrong way or with wrong expectations.
I used it for on the spot brainstorming for which it was excellent, if a little close to what I could have done with Keynote at times. To me using it in the long-term for note-taking felt somehow “heavy”. Could you explain how you are using it and what features distinguish Curio from other such programs in your workflow?
This forum is about CRIMPing, right? I may need some help to justify giving it another try.

I think the examples shown on Zengobi's website or in its YouTube channel show what I and (I assume) others do with Curio.

Note taking with Curio? First question is "what is a note"? The answer is different for each person I suppose.

I do not use Curio for note taking the way I use Dynalist -- Curio is too slow and fiddly for me for use as an outliner. I don't use Curio (with macOS Sidecar or similar) to take hand written notes -- for the same reasons. But I do build up visual "note books" with Curio when I want to relate text to media to mind maps, etc., just as shown in the examples I mentioned. For example, for years I've kept a daily journal whose pages resemble collages built up from text snippets, web clips, my own drawings, and other pieces. Curio works well for me for this.

Like every other character in the CrimpUniverse -- "what good is X?" "It depends."

For me, it's one of those 'sounds better in theory than it is in practice' kind of deals.

I found its cumbersome factor way too high for its usefulness and, after a few months, I found myself asking "why am I doing this?" So I chalked up its purchase to a life-lesson and walked away from it.

As always, different strokes for different folks.

I find Curio about as fast as One Note, if I'm using it similar to how I would use One Note. For instance, for a One Note-like experience, don't add idea spaces, add RTF files.

To me, it's like Tinderbox made easy to use - but I'm not a Tinderbox user, so I may not have an accurate or fair view of what Tinderbox does.

For me Curio is like a child with OneNote and PowerPoint as parents.

It's more a graphic program for generating presentations from notes then the note taking itself.

Just like OneNote my huge problems are that all graphic representations become very fast unproductive and too complex when you have lots of notes (and a lot is as small like 50).
Then you cant get around lists and searchs. The only help i get from curio is a better brainstorming during the initial creation. But after this all the lack of easy reorganization is hitting hard.

With mindmaps you have at least some auto layout algorithms that can help you rearrange the data when it becomes big, but then it loses all the benefit of nice and condensed presentation. Curio offers nothing to help you.

I think Tinderbox (which i do not own and never used beyond the 20 notes in the free version) is a bit better then Curio because you can use the outline mode as an equally supported view into your notes.

For me, Tinderbox was too much like an IDE for information - but part of that impression is probably my fault for not understanding the Tinderbox way of doing things.

Regarding performance, the Curio welcome file is pretty big. I think there are close to 300 "idea spaces" in it.

But if it doesn't serve your use, then it's not a good tool.

Lothar Scholz wrote:

For me Curio is like a child with OneNote and PowerPoint as parents.

It's more a graphic program for generating presentations from notes then
the note taking itself.

Just like OneNote my huge problems are that all graphic representations
become very fast unproductive and too complex when you have lots of
notes (and a lot is as small like 50).
Then you cant get around lists and searchs. The only help i get from
curio is a better brainstorming during the initial creation. But after
this all the lack of easy reorganization is hitting hard.

With mindmaps you have at least some auto layout algorithms that can
help you rearrange the data when it becomes big, but then it loses all
the benefit of nice and condensed presentation. Curio offers nothing to
help you.

I think Tinderbox (which i do not own and never used beyond the 20 notes
in the free version) is a bit better then Curio because you can use the
outline mode as an equally supported view into your notes.

I agree that the utility of Curio can be hard to grasp, possibly because it is not directly comparable to other programs. For a few years, I was doing a weekly Idea Space in Curio and daily diary updates in the now defunct Circus Ponies Notebook. After a few years, I went back to review both and was surprised to discover that they sounded like they were written by two completely different people. The text based outlines in CP Notebook captured my dominant hemisphere, while Curio captured creative, non-verbal parts of me. One captured what I did and what I had for supper, while Curio captured my hopes, beliefs and aspirations.

While Curio can be used as an outline-based, linear note taker, I agree that it is a bit cumbersome compared with programs designed expressly for that purpose. But it excels in other areas. I have used Curio to mock up logos and visual campaigns, and to find the best words to describe a business for use on a web-site. I have used it to take heavily visual notes on software use, where screenshots, arrows and callouts all help the final product. I most recently used it to create “mood boards” of various solutions for a home renovation project, with different idea spaces for flooring, lighting and so on. I generally do not find mind mapping useful because nodes can only contain a few words. In Curio I can create a few sentences and style them with a background and text box. Through use of clicking and modifier keys, similarly styled text boxes can be created using a variety of arrows and connectors. As I work out the flow of software use, I can place a software’s icon onto this kind of map - and Curio maintains a library of these often used images, while new ones can be found using the Sleuth function in Curio.

Perhaps the best description of Curio is that it is “thinking software.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ed_vCOKY4

Perhaps the best description of Curio is that it is “thinking
software.”

That's what I use it for.

The performance issues mentioned in this thread must have gotten fixed before I started using Curio, which was about six months ago. The Welcome to Curio database has at least 300 idea spaces, all of which are fairly "busy". it doesn't seem to show performance issues, at least to my eye.

If I had to choose between One Note and Curio, I would greatly prefer Curio -- but I respect opinions counter to mine.

Love this.

washere wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ed_vCOKY4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q62gRiUrylw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Drqs5WB1EUc

.

I have recently retired and have started using Curio again. It is actually now my productivity hub. I love it.

I have my entire life in there Home, Garden, Hobbies, Family, Finance, Journalling. I agree it is more of a visual thinking software but it also functions well as task management/project management. You can link it to Calendar and reminders.

What is "a productivity hub"?

Paul Korm wrote:

What is "a productivity hub"?

I suppose it is where I brainstorm and project plan add tasks and calendar options.

It is the effective centre of productivity workflow for me.

By productivity I mean thinking about projects, planing projects and improving my unit of output by comparison to the time and energy of the input.

Paul Korm wrote:

What is "a productivity hub"?

I suppose it is where I brainstorm and project plan add tasks and calendar options.

It is the effective centre of productivity workflow for me.

By productivity I mean thinking about projects, planing projects and improving my unit of output by comparison to the time and energy of the input.