DEVONthink & EverNote: Tools for Taking Notes
I've heard a lot about DEVONthink for the Mac. It's being used by notable authors such as Steven Johnson.Since people can't seem to stop talking about it, I went to investigate what all the hoopla is about, and it appears to have a really nice keyword smart grouping function for notes.
Being a PC/Windows guy, I went in search of something similar. I found EverNote. It allows 'smart grouping' - also known as keyword categorization, and a host of other neat features. The best part? The basic version is free. The retail version supports handwriting features--but if you're like me, you don't really care about that stuff and the free version functions perfectly without the extra features.
Some people might ask, "Why not use Mind Manager or FreeMind?" That's a great question, and I love those apps, but they are better for hierarchical organization and visual mapping. I don't necessarily need all that for making clip files of odd news, or organizing snippets and tidbits of inspiration.
In other words, EverNote makes a good InfoBucket or InfoScoop, for lack of a better term. My notes don't have to be super organized, in fact I prefer them not to be. Notation for me is a very quick and dirty process. All I really need is a way to sort my notes effectively by topic, and EverNote handles all that nicely without much trouble.
It's free. Give it a try if you're looking for some note-taking software, or simply if you like to try new tools.
Anyone using DEVONthink or EverNote?
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