Hm, I stopped using KeepIt some time ago due to various frustrations, but the list of features in the new version 2.0 is making me dribble (slightly; I'm trying not to be unseemly!).

Check it out, Mac/iPad/iPhone lovers: https://reinventedsoftware.com/blog/2022/05/04/keep-it-2-0/

It's not trying to be DEVONthink, but it's doing a pretty good follow-up impression.

Cheers!
Bill

Bill (or anyone in he know)... how similar is Keep It to Microsoft OneNote?

I am using Keep it 1 daily.

Of these listed feature, I think the Finder integration is probably the most useful because deleting files in Finder is not getting sensed inside Keepit1. The improved search is also nice. I have to do file deletion twice.


But, I think the rest of the features listed there are mere gimmick. I am already satisfied with KeepIt 1. I am not going to upgrade.

It is extremely good application. It works great with Devonthink.
The reason I use Keep it besides DT is because DT is a huge mess; a jungle of stuff; that I have hard time to concentrate (focus) on the items that I am working on currently. I use it as a means to isolate the notes I want to focus right now.

The floating window is very good to take notes while reading pdf documents.



The Bundles are also great for managing projects--to move files around folders (smart folders) without moving them on the disk. Saved searches offer a further organizational layer.

Overall, it is great tool for writing. What is special about this app for me, in contrast to most other note taking apps these days, is the native support for rtf. I love RTF because I can highlight, underline and color texts with ease.

It is not like Onenote. Onenote stores data in internal database. Keep it stores them transparently in the finder folder. Files made inside Keep it can be edited by other tools. That is so good. You might emulate Notenote's hierarchy of folders by embedding folders under folders. But, that would be inefficient given you have much potent tools such as Saved searches and bundles under your disposal.

Apart from the differences Dellu mentions, OneNote is also a very different animal in terms of its note-taking setup, which is based on a whiteboard concept. The Keep It editor is a much more standard RTF editor, without whiteboard pretensions.

Microsoft is sucking everything up into the Cloud (u need to use OneDrive with OneNote) and OneNote files are in a propritary format and the export function kind of sucks. I loved OneNote but MS is going into a whole different direction. I'm thinking KeepIt in combination with DEVONthink might be more to my liking. As a side note I came across the following quote Gary Lang (Gary's Newsletter): "Basically, think of OneNote as an OS, with OLE for live, embedded objects and tasks. People really want this, but only with a OneNote-like front end." Indeed!

Thanks for the replies everyone!

And if you want to stay with a OneNote-a-like model, it's worth bearing Outline (macOS, iOS) in mind; it's OneNote-compatible and has been quietly developing away in the background for quite a few years. It's a much, much better app than it used to be, now with a proper search function.

The other, totally free and independent app worth mentioning is Growly Notes (macOS only), which is excellent; the developer is ex-Microsoft, and offers a wide range of free software on his website (https://growlybird.com Growly Notes is basically a OneNote clone, and again, has been around for quite a while.

Neither of them does something which the desktop version of OneNote does still do, namely allow you to fold indented subparagraphs.

bartb wrote:

Microsoft is sucking everything up into the Cloud (u need to use
OneDrive with OneNote) and OneNote files are in a propritary format and
the export function kind of sucks. I loved OneNote but MS is going into
a whole different direction. I'm thinking KeepIt in combination with
DEVONthink might be more to my liking. As a side note I came across the
following quote Gary Lang (Gary's Newsletter): "Basically, think of
OneNote as an OS, with OLE for live, embedded objects and tasks. People
really want this, but only with a OneNote-like front end." Indeed!

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Dellu wrote:

I am using Keep it 1 daily.


But, I think the rest of the features listed there are mere gimmick. I
am already satisfied with KeepIt 1. I am not going to upgrade.

It is extremely good application. It works great with Devonthink.
The reason I use Keep it besides DT is because DT is a huge mess; a
jungle of stuff; that I have hard time to concentrate (focus) on the
items that I am working on currently. I use it as a means to isolate the
notes I want to focus right now.

I own Keep It 1 but never became familiar with it. Do you can give more information/examples (or links) about Keep It working together with Devonthink and why it is an extremely good application. Maybe I will give it another try. Thanks!

Bernhard wrote:

I own Keep It 1 but never became familiar with it. Do you can give more
information/examples (or links) about Keep It working together with
Devonthink and why it is an extremely good application. Maybe I will
give it another try. Thanks!

You need to look at where KeepIt stores its notes: it stores them : /Users/username/Library/Group Containers/D75L7R8266.com.reinvented.KeepIt/Keep It

- All the folders you are creating within the app are transparently created in that folder. You an index the "Files" folder in Devonthink. Any change you make DT will be reflected back to Keep it, and vise versa.

The reason why I like it better than the other apps is due to this transparency of the file storage: and seemless support for tft or rtfd format.

You also have Labels, Bundles, smart Searches (saved searches), tags and other organizational tools in there. You can create hyperlink between notes, if you are into that kind of stuff.

The search is also very efficient. For your personal notes, it is absolutely capable app. But, I never import or store Pdfs, even if I know it supports it. PDFs go to Devonthink.

- Another feature I like better in Keep it, than in DT is the floating feature. I open one window, floating, all day, to take my reading notes. I think and reflect on it; and send all or part of it to my drafts (if I am having a draft). If I don't have a drat already, I will collect the reading notes within a bundle until I have sufficient ideas to put them into a draft.
- When ideas get complicated, I open Scapple to sketch them on the white board. Scapple boards can also be imported to KeepIt.


The great thing about Keep it (in contrast to Devonthink) is it makes your notes visible. DT puts them into the jungle. You need a fine tuned system to make your notes stand out. Having no other source than the notes, KeepIt makes the notes very visible to you. You read them, modify them, group them, tag them.....make them useful (put them to draft). That the whole point of collecting notes. Isn't it? It is to be productive; to generate sth new to the world.

- I have been a user of Tinderbox for quite some time. But, I learned from my mistakes: I was sinking my timing tinkering with the app rather than being productive on my subject.

Thank you very much Dellu! It seems I should revive Keep It and give it some more time to test.

Dellu wrote:

The great thing about Keep it (in contrast to Devonthink) is it makes
your notes visible. DT puts them into the jungle. You need a fine tuned
system to make your notes stand out. Having no other source than the
notes, KeepIt makes the notes very visible to you. You read them,
modify them, group them, tag them.....make them useful (put them to
draft). That the whole point of collecting notes. Isn't it? It is to be
productive; to generate sth new to the world.

I don't think DT operates so differently from Keepit. DT has a dour appearance, I get that, but I'm not sure DT puts things in a jungle.

For instance, when you double click on a group in DT, it either opens in a new window or just focuses on the group in the current window. You choose in the preferences. I like to keep "open groups in new window" turned off, because the right-click open function always opens in a new window.

A lot of times I turn off the sidebar and then double-click the group I want to focus on.

I think the main reason I tolerate DT's Eeyore-ish appearance is nested tags. I get a lot of mileage out of tag hierarchies.

Amontillado wrote:

For instance, when you double click on a group in DT, it either opens in
a new window or just focuses on the group in the current window. You
choose in the preferences. I like to keep "open groups in new window"
turned off, because the right-click open function always opens in a new
window.

A lot of times I turn off the sidebar and then double-click the group I
want to focus on.

I think the main reason I tolerate DT's Eeyore-ish appearance is nested
tags. I get a lot of mileage out of tag hierarchies.

That is right. I known you can focus a group and work on that. I know, you can just immerse yourself to DT and do everything in it. I appreciate people who can do that. I know DT is just sufficient for anything you want to do. It is a world of its own.



It might be just how my mind works; since I have a lot of stuff in DT, I get my mind wandering a lot: going back and forth between groups, tags and other resources such as the pdf articles. I also need to juggle a lot of windows to move back and forth to get where I have been there.

So many things I can do and so many ways of doing it in DT, I find it harder to concentrate on the issue (topic of study) on hand for longer period of time.

KeepIt is much simpler. What you have is just your Bundles/folders on one side, and list of notes in the middle. The simplicity makes it easier to focus on the issue.

That is just my experience.

Creating a separate library (database) within DT just for notes would probably have solved my issues with the mess. That idea never came to me. I have just one database for everything.

Dellu, I understand your experience and I share it, I have realised that the function that KeepIt fulfils for you, in my case I get it through Alfons Schmid's Notebooks. Your comments have encouraged me to integrate Notebook with DevonThink through the indexing of its library, so that now I have started to use them in an integrated way as you suggest. Greetings to all and thanks for the fruitful discussions.


Dellu wrote:

KeepIt is much simpler. What you have is just your Bundles/folders on
one side, and list of notes in the middle. The simplicity makes it
easier to focus on the issue.

That is just my experience.

tberni wrote:

Dellu, I understand your experience and I share it, I have realised that
the function that KeepIt fulfils for you, in my case I get it through
Alfons Schmid's Notebooks. Your comments have encouraged me to integrate
Notebook with DevonThink through the indexing of its library, so that
now I have started to use them in an integrated way as you suggest.
Greetings to all and thanks for the fruitful discussions.

I am glad you find helpful ideas.

yes, Notebooks is another simple, but effective application. I have tried it a few years ago when looking to simple, but effective apps. I even liked it better than Keep It at the time. If I remember correctly it also has internal task management capabilities. What made me to decide against it was the inability to create rtf files. That was a deal breaker to be because I like RTF format a lot.
- I especially would like to write in black and blue colors: and because I want to avoid plagiarism.

When I am reading articles, I write in normal black colors when I am quoting or paraphrasing the author; and write in blue when I am adding my won reflections and ideas. I can directly copy those blue texts; but need to be careful with the black ones. That has been with me forever. Emulating this into Markdown turn to be difficult. (and the other format was html, if I remember; i don't like that format because no other app (text edit) can easily edit it).

So, I just stick with rtf.
I decided to go with Keep it. Otherwise, they are very similar; and both are capable apps. The transparent storing of the notes is a great quality of both apps.