How Do You Take Notes?

[Ed Hansberry]

I am looking for help in taking notes. I take notes in a wide variety of settings. A number of books I enjoy reading have a lot of information I like to put in outline for bullet point form. I have some podcasts that contain information that I will often jot down for later use. Of course, work provides the biggest source for taking notes. Years ago I thought a mobile device would be an ideal solution for keeping all of these notes in one place as well as always having my implements for taking notes with me. How naïve of me. :? Since 1998, I have not seen a single note taking application or database application that lends itself ideally to this for my mobile device, and I think I have looked at them all and installed most of them. I use HanDBase for a journal of sorts to record phone logs and key events, but it is rather limited when it comes to freeform note taking. Unfortunately for my wallet, I even own a license to some mobile note taking applications that I have long since uninstalled as being too cumbersome or limiting. I am waiting for Evernote to release a Pocket PC application, but they have been promising that since 2004 so I suspect I'll accumulate a few more gray hairs before that day comes.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2006/20060625-notetaking.jpg" /><br /><br />Even when it does, <a href="http://www.evernote.com">Evernote</a> may not be the solution. I use it on the desktop as a solid replacement for the "Notes" feature in Outlook, but having a laptop means using it for anything other than sitting down and inputting notes is out of the question. A laptop is too cumbersome to be spontaneous. I am optimistic it will (someday) work when released.<br /><br />All of that said, maybe I am not even taking notes the right way. <!>I am a Steno Pad person. It is smaller than an 8.5X11 pad and yet still a usable size. Will that ever translate into a Pocket PC experience? I don't know. I readily admit I let technology get in the way of doing something right or effective. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to use my mobile device when, for a particular purpose, something else would work better. I finally gave up on trying to use it as a music player. Maybe WMP11 for Windows Mobile will fulfil my needs. My point is, I should really learn to take notes well in the real world before I try an translate that to the mobile electronic world.<br /><br />When in a structured environment, such as a classroom or a meeting, I am an effective note taker. That isn't the problem. It is when I hear a bit of info I want to jot down, catalog and use in the future that I get bogged down. I have multiple levels of criteria for determining where to record my to-do lists for example. Is it really simple? That is a task. Is it a series of tasks? ListPro. Is it a long series of tasks? Pocket Plan in conjunction with Microsoft Project on the desktop fills that bill. Is it just an interesting tidbit of info? Well, that could go in ListPro I suppose, but it really isn't designed for that. I run into the same problem with note taking, both electronically and in the real world. A post-it note is out of the question for longevity, but it is often the first place I scribble down some bit of info I will need later - with later being defined in terms of hours or minutes, not days. My steno pad would hold it of course, but how do I find all of those interesting tidbits? They are spread across many pages over many notebooks, which is about as effective as winking at a woman in room when the lights are out. Plus, paper really falls flat when you want to expand upon your notes. You wind up doing them over instead of trying to squeeze in more info with arrows trying to help you keep it all straight. Most of all, paper isn't easily searchable. Half the time I can't find my steno pad, much less a note in it. It may be in a different steno pad altogether. (Note: having 3 pads going simultaneously is a stupid practice. Trust me. I speak from experience here. :( )<br /><br />So, how do you do it, or do you do it at all? How do you take every thought down, every idea, concept, a collection of musings, all the way up to notes for an entire semester? Paper, silicon? At this point, I honestly don't care if my Pocket PC is the answer. I would pay $100 for a serious note taking application that helped me collect and organize notes. If I could get that to work well, I would use my Pocket PC to take notes in Word then transfer them later. Maybe Evernote is the answer and I just haven't figured out how to use that bewildering tree on the left to properly organize things. Keep in mind that when I say organize, I mean assign a category or categories and have some sort of chronological structure to it. That tree in Evernote strikes me as haphazard for some reason. I am seriously anal about that kind of thing. That is why I never could get Microsoft's OneNote to work for me. That tabbed thing drove me nuts. I don't want that "page" experience. I have a steno pad for that. A Tablet PC is out of the question, as is any other piece of hardware larger than my K-Jam - at least for the portability side of things - those other devices are too large to have with me at all times. From a desktop perspective, my laptop is fine.<br /><br />I am very serious about this too. Point me to a book on how to effectively take notes. I am that kind of person. I <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?link_code=ur2&tag=ehansberry-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0671212095%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1151187513%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_1%3Fie%3DUTF8">read a book on how to read a book</a>, something I highly recommend you do if you read non-fiction books. I am open to reading a book on how to take notes too, but it has to be broad, more than how to take notes in school, or how to take notes in a book - something "How to Read a Book" covers quite effectively. I want "How to take notes for every conceivable situation in your life."<br /><br />Thoughts, opinions or sharing your similar fruitless quests for taking notes welcome.

[jhuddle]

One of the slicker methods I have seen recently is to use one's blackberry to take notes on and email to one's own email. Then simply spell check and cut and paste into whatever permenent solution suites your needs. I like MSWord, just because I am very comfortable with the MSOffice applications.
The one draw back is you need to let your coworkers and clients know you are taking notes and not checking email during your meeting.

[Silver5]

I simply make sure to creat all of the folders for Notes and/or Word documents that I will be making on the device and try (though I do forget sometimes) to remember to save all of my documents to the correct folder after writing them. This way I do not have to rely on external programs and I am not doing anythin that I am not accutomed to doing on the desktop computer. Keeping it simple doeshave its benefits.

I prefer to use Word for inputing most notes because it is more configuarable than Notes, while I use Notes while on calls or for recording (of course), but the folders are the same. You can make sure these folders stay at the top of the drop down menu by adding a "_" in front of the folder name. No scrolling down through 20 folders to find your favorites...

[msafi]

My problem with note taking in Pocket PC is that I cannot have more than one window open at the same time. Therefore, I cannot, for example, dial an extension without committing the numbers to memory, or I cannot write down a non-copy-pastable peice of information from another program without having to jump back and forth between windows. We need a solution to this problem, too.

[ctmagnus]

I scribble (literally) in PhatPad and later reenter the text in the text notes pane of the program (I don't use Calligrapher for character recognition in the program). I may or may not copy that text to a more permanent location later, depending on the nature/subject/relevency of it. But if I do it's either into PhatNotes or ListPro, or possibly the relevant area of Pocket Informant.

[dan.carter]

Great Topic Ed, and a lifelong search for me too. I know what I want but have yet to find it. Here's my list of requirements:

Must be electronic (I've been paperless for years.)
Must have fast, simple search (Can't do this with paper.)
Must provide fast, simple entry (No endless fields.)
Must sync between PDA and desktop/laptop computer
Must allow chronologic ordering (for journaling)
Must show list view after search
Ideally would allow images (From web pages etc...)

Don't want much do I? I believe EverNote could be ideal, but don't expect to see PDA version anytime soon if ever. The new OneNote 2007 with instant search and OneNote Mobile has promise, but no search in the Mobile application. PhatNotes is close to perfect, but search is a little clumsy. The Windows Mobile Notes application could be very good because it syncs with Outlook Notes, but becomes very slow on the mobile device when you have many notes. I've tested with 350 notes, and sorting by date takes 2 minutes.

So, if I had to votes for the best I've found so far, it would be PhatNotes. Clumsy search and no images allowed, but otherwise meets all my criteria.

I hope your topic will provide us with more prospects...

Dan

[Brad Adrian]

Wow. It's like deja vu all over again.

I've been struggling with this very same problem for a LONG time, too. I've ended up testing a bunch of different applications that each has one or two things that it does well, but have found none that does all (or even most) of what I need.

Even a product that's so widely used and well written as PhatNotes falls short of my goals in a lot of important ways. I think part of the reason is because, as you've mentioned, Ed, we all have our idiosynchratic ways of organizing our thoughts. So, there may be some kind of book about how to take notes effectively, but since the ways we organize, structure and process information is already pretty much written in stone, I'm not sure how much help it could be.

I guess I'm more inclined to continue struggling to find a tool to facilitate how my brain works than try to re-mold my processing to fit a particular methodology or tool.

[dmillikan]

I use PhatNotes.
My notetaking goal was to make it quick and simple but also have a chronological log of my daily activities...similiar to a right hand page of a daytimer diary. Syncing with Desktop was a requirement.

Though not perfect, I keep entry simple within PhatNotes by (1) Hide the "category and/or subject" field to keep entry quick, (2) one database setup for work or personal so i don't have to bother choosing, (3) view my notes by creation date, ascending order, with Preview on the bottom half of the screen. (4) only show the filename and date/time created columns when viewing...grouped by date.

So, to take a note on my Pocket PC phone (PPC6700) I tap the PhatNotes icon, click on the new softkey, then start typing. Having a miniature keyboard helps a lot although I do like to use the transcriber mode.

You can also search but it could be easier.

Sometimes when jotting really quick notes I use PhatPad application...but not much.

Not perfect and I am also keeping an eye on EverNote or OneNote. I think PhatNotes could be the best application for me with a few more functionality tweaks on the viewing / searching notes.

[topps]

I too have struggled with this for a long time. Some thoughts:

1. Currently I used OneNote 2k7 - brilliant app which is the best thing MS has done in years. Well worth exploring in depth. On a TabletPC, it is outstanding but also very usable without pen input. Lots of worthwhile features. Now my main notetaking app for a wide range of things.

2. OneNote has a Win Mobile applet - but I've not been very impressed with it so far. And the sync is one way - create the note on the device. Send up to laptop but changes are not bidirectional - oh well, that would be a bit too much to hope for.

3. Best notetaker that runs in outline mode that I have found is Streamliner by Kopsis Engineering.
http://kopsisengineering.com/streamliner/
However, it has not been updated since 2003 and I don't know if it runs on Win Mobile 5 devices.

4. PhatNotes - I got quite excited about this one, especially when it looked like it would integrate with Pocket Informant. That seems to have stalled. I really like how OneNote 2k7 integrates fully with Outlook - this greatly extends its usefulness. If OneNote Mobile did that, I would be so happy.

5. For brainstorming, I use a mindmapping program from Germany called Pocket Mindmap. Also has not been updated for a while.

http://www.pocketmindmap.com/

It does very nice sync with MindJet MindManager. Very powerful - amazing for a PDA app. But it is a bit complex for just quick notes. Depends on whether you are right-brained or not.

[crimsonsky]

I don't see where anyone has mentioned using DayNotez for the Pocket PC (www.natara.com). I first encountered this program and initially couldn't imagine why I'd use it. However, after trialing it on the Palm, I later bought it for the Pocket PC and have loved it. I also have PhatNotes for Pocket PC but find DayNotez easier and more apt for note-taking, especially in business meetings. DayNotez allows you to do drawings, writing and typing and you can do voice recording with it as well. It automatically inserts the time when you create a note (which can be changed) and you can set categories and colours as well. One of the most valuable things it does for me is one of the simplest - it allows you to set a followup flag which can you can filter on. It allows you to define your own filters by note text, keyword, contact and/or followup and private flag.

I previously used PhatNotes for note taking, but find DayNotez to be much more appropriate for ad hoc note taking.

Don

[WorksForTurkeys]

The application I always thought would be ideal, is InfoSelect. Unfortunately the authors seem to be anti - Windows Mobile, and insist on developing their PDA client only for the old, obsolete, and soon to be unsupported PalmOS.

I had hoped EverNote would fill in the gap but I don't think those guys will ever develop a real PDA client: they've been promising one since the early betas of the full product, but nothing has ever happened.

I currently use PhatNotes, but its not the ideal solution; like OneNote, on the PDA it seems like it's all there is. Both are a far cry from my needs, tho.

[FBL3]

PhatNotes Professional Edition.

It''s easy to format. Syncs with desktop; can be sent as an email, and retains the formatting.

I ended up purchasing both PhatNote programs. I came apon the sale with 10 minutes to go to make the ~$12 purchase, hardly enough time to check them out.

One program shows the yellow post-it notes on the desktop. But the Professional edition is an easy to access, word processor, with lots of features.

[stanip]

I have the same frustration on note taking (more a work related problem for me) and have tried different tools but so far, none found perfect.

1) Tool useability itself: ideally quality output for INTEGRATED handwriting note and keyboard input (am using an Universal) and Full screen usage.

Phatpad provides best quality for handwriting note but it divides up keyboard input from handwriting notes which is not ideal. MS Notes has it but unfortunately the handwriting note quality is poor (esp when you change the zoom and the lines go crazy). Both cannot do full screen and fail to maximize on the limited display on PPC. MS Notes can do zero formating which makes using it for long note taking undesirable.

MS limites the file save and retrieve to only 1 level which make filing total inefficient.

2) Actions integration with task and appointment: many apps have "project" view now which is good. But I find a tool "Project-ing" which allows one to use it like a simple Listing/Mind-map type of tool with integration to task and appointment which is pretty neat.

3) Subsequent search for content : Ideally a search should be there to quickly look for info inside a file. Cross-files search might not be as critical (at least for me) in my opinion if files could be better organized.


Honestly, if MS can fix the Notes by improving the handwriting quality, allowing it full screen, add in some simple formatting features (font, color, underline, highlight) and improve on filing flexibility, it is pretty close.

I'll use Project-ing (or Mind-map) for action managements and integration with task and appointment.

:)

[topps]

I don't see where anyone has mentioned using DayNotez for the Pocket PC (www.natara.com).

I previously used PhatNotes for note taking, but find DayNotez to be much more appropriate for ad hoc note taking.

Don

Thanks for the heads up. I'm gonna give that one a whirl.

[jalenz]

I find this topic very close to my heart so I will briefly share my story. I have worked in the IT field for 20+ years and have been in management for 10+ years for a large company. I have found being organized was an important piece of the puzzle in being effective in my job. Keep in mind that organization is only 1 piece my job, i.e. if I were a terrible people person yet organized...being organized would not do me any good. 8+ years ago, I felt my life was too out of control and lack of organization was costing me lots of extra time and stress! My vision was to have a complete electronic life management system for both my work and my personal life that would allow for note taking, maintain todo list, managing my Outlook mail, organizing my Outlook appointments, electronic files, hardcopy file folders, contact list, pictures, maintain continuous time log(note taking on how I spend my time) etc. and all of this organized in a very hierarchical structure, i.e. items report to other items in the real world. In addition, I wanted to have a PDA as part of this overall solution so I could leverage it anytime, anywhere. Oh...yah...I also had the goal of all of this taking less than 2% of my day in admin, i.e. how long should it take to type in a quick note? Long story...made short, after not finding a good solution and having strong technical skills including database design....I built my custom solution(when time permitted!) via various technologies of which the latest is MS Access on desktop(integrated with Outlook) and eVB/SQL CE on a VGA pocket PC (Toshiba e805). Although I can see years of potential improvements(as time permits!), my current custom solution is nothing short of amazing in being able to take notes, refer back to them, look them up by any possible search criteria, etc., etc., etc.. I use this system constantly at work and this system has saved me on so many occasions. I have confidence that I can always find just about anything I want pretty quickly.

I thought I should also clarify that I take about 95% of all of my notes using my PDA because it is the most convenient for me. Not to confuse anyone but I also use my PC for about about 75% of my PDA note taking by using a software program called Pocket Controller that allows me to use my laptop screen and keyboard in controlling my PDA which makes for very quick note taking. It is really pretty cool stuff....I am referring to what some of the technology available today (520mhz PDA, VGA 640x480 screen-great for note taking!, SQL CE, Pocket Controller, etc, etc).

So...I am just another person out there who has similar needs and it amazes me just how similar some of our needs are. In my case, I have mostly solved my own dilemma but what I have done is not replicable to others at this point. If someone develops some great software that does what I am doing...then I will be happy to buy. If not, I would be happy entertain any ideas on how I could redo this so it could be made into commercial software and thus available to others as I have such as strong vision on what is needed.

[CorporateJay]

I decided my journal (notepad, temporary, date dependent) notes should be separate from my reference (memo, permanent, date independent) notes.

Most of my journal notes are Pocket Informant journal entries. Of course, they are all categorized. I can sort all my journal entries chronologically and filter by category if necessary.

Journal entries are created from a task if applicable. This gives me the ability to see only the journal entries relevent to the task. For example, any record of work to complete a task is stored as a journal entry.

For reference notes, it depends on the information. I enter additional information about a task or appointment directly in the task or appointment as a note - who assigned the task, conference call number for the meeting. I use Pocket Word if I want to keep general information available on my PPC. Some notes are kept in Pocket Excel because it is simple table data and may require some calculations. Most of my reference notes are in eWallet for security (passwords, account information, etc).

Since I maintain a separate place for journal notes, I don't require my reference notes to be sorted in chronological order. I find them mostly by name or folder.

BTW, I enter all information in my PPC and keep all information on my PPC. This "one input, one output" approach is the main reason I have been able to get rid of the notepad. The applications I use can be improved but I am still way ahead of my colleagues using paper.

[JohnJohn]

I use the Calendar feature in Outlook. First thing every morning I make an All Calendar Event that is called "Conversations &amp; Ideas". Making it an all day event sends it right at the top of each calendar view either on the laptop, PPC or BBerry. As I sync through out the day the note keeps getting updated.

This way also makes it really cake for searching.

This year I started adding the contact name down in the "contacts" part of the Event; makes it a one click operation to find the person again.

[Lex]

I -take- notes with paper. I rewrite and store them in a few places on my PPC, usually in ListPro or PWord. Several years ago I lost two hours of notes from a training meeting while using Streamliner. They simply disappeared as I was entering text. I don't think any PPC app can equal paper's speed of input and data permanence. (Understanding the limitations of water, fire, and dogs eating homework.)

[tregnier]

I use OneNote 2007 Beta and it's excellent. Someone wrote:
2. OneNote has a Win Mobile applet - but I've not been very impressed with it so far. And the sync is one way - create the note on the device. Send up to laptop but changes are not bidirectional - oh well, that would be a bit too much to hope for. I did not find this to be true, because my notes go both ways after installing the OneNote mobile to my Axim 51v.

I use OneNote with Fitaly or Calligrapher, depending upon my mood (and handwriting). Best solution I've found so far.

[thefunkunfaked]

I've had no trouble typing up thousands of pages of Cisco CCIE R&amp;S notes on my XDA Exec, either in class, or studying on the train, airplane, bus, subway, at home, wherever.

It is very helpful if you have templates. I use Word/Excel/Notepad.. OneNote helps to ease it all a bit.

Now what I could REALLY use is a Viso Mobile! :lol:

[mcsouth]

I can certainly relate to this topic - I, like others, have struggled with this issue over the years, and still do not have a good, repeatable solution that works consistently yet.

Bigger picture - corporations are finally starting to realize just how much critical information walks out of the door every time they let someone go, or they leave for "other opportunities". I'm not sure very many corporations truly recognize just how much the downsizing or rightsizing trends really cost them in terms of the sheer amount of information lost that was never really captured anywhere effectively. As a result, there is a huge industry built up around content management systems (Note: I'm not referring to contact management systems, such as a sales org would use, but a CMS solution that all employees access and use).

A few years ago, I was a lowly aftersales person on a new project design group, and heard horror stories of how a design oversight required radical redesign on a frantic level in order to keep the project on track. Talking to another engineering friend after the fact, I related the project woes, to which they replied in shock that they had experienced the same issues on a prior project years earlier, and had developed a much more elegant solution.

Point is, I don't think anyone has come up with a solution for managing information that works for everyone on a wide scale, although several are trying.

I used the Franklin Planner system for several years before moving to a PDA. Their solution was to encourage you to take notes, sketches, etc on the day that occurred, and then to put the date and a brief title of the information on an "index" page at the beginning of the month. When those monthly pages were removed from your planner, they went into a binder on your shelf, and theoretically, you could go back to that monthly index to find that information again - assuming you used a title that made sense a year later. This sort of worked for me, except that after a while, you ended up with a large set of binders you needed to wade through, especially after a year or two.

I tried the Franklin Covey software on the pda when I started using a Palm years ago, but it never seemed to work as well, or maybe it started to show the inherent limitations too well.

Today, I use ListPro on my iPaq to capture notes, and other tidbits of information that I want to access later. I have a huge ListPro file that has several folders, each containing several lists, so that I can sort of categorize things when I enter it. Of course, reality is that this is a simple flat system, without a very rich method for retrieval. The fact that it doesn't allow "digital ink" inputs such as sketches, etc, also limits its usefulness at tiimes.

Like Ed, I have a tendency to revert to paper frequently. My note pad of choice is 6" x 9" steno book, coil bound. I burn through a couple a month, and it is always a challenge retrieve the information later, unless I take the time to transfer the information to my computer/PDA. I have tried using our office copier to scan the pages to email, but the resulting PDF files are not the best choice for this either. I have also tried to create Word files that I end up heavily bookmarking to allow me to rapidly jump to different sections of the file, but this only works when I have information specific to one or two projects in that file - not random information.

After a while, it starts getting confusing when you start trying to dig through all of the files of information on your computer/PDA - trying to maintain some kind of file structure that makes sense, and evolves along with the work environments and my moods is a challenge.

My impression is that this is a near universal issue, and there are lots of attempts at solutions, but there is no "killer app" that really does this for most of us yet - at least not that I've found.

[lcsolla]

I currently use HPC Notes, which I Sync with Outlook. I would rather have Microsoft improve its Notes module in both PC and PPC platforms, so that everything worked in one place, but HPC Notes is fine, to the point that I consider it essential.
Now, what I need is (1) to create a minimum number of database categories in HPC notes, without overdoing it, and (2) to avoid duplicating items, even when they should logically go into two or more categories. What I do is (1) ascribe an item to the more relevant category (I have categories such as Articles, Books, Photography, Computers, University and Miscellaneous), and (2) add keywords to the item, inside square brackets. I shall for example take note of a certain book in the category Books, and add the keywords [history, England, Henry VIII]. The search all databases feature shall find it when I look for any of these three keywords (or any word in the note, for that matter). On the other hand, I shall file a note about a book on programming in the Books category, but add the keyword [computers] to it, instead of duplicating it in the computers category. It works reasonably well, as long as I use sensible and easy to remember keywords.
I am fifty now. A long time ago, in a pre-Windows era, I used Lotus Agenda in the PC (can you still remember Lotus?). It was a powerful and interesting piece of software, but you had to struggle to really take advantage of all its power. And the matrix printer printouts were not that attractive then. More recently, I tried AskSam for Windows. Much easier. Would AskSam for the PPC be an interesting proposition?.

[captgoodhope]

Now what I could REALLY use is a Viso Mobile! :lol:
This claims to be able to convert visio documents:

http://pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=10421

There was also a company doing a program called 'First' or 'Prime' or something, that was like pocket visio, but they seem to have dropped out of sight. Repligo should work for one-way sync as well.

As far as notes, I'd like to see a combination of ListPro, PhatNotes and PhatPad (or Evernote for the pda). Preferably with Evernote's handwriting recognition, which is great.

Oh, and it'll have to do record level syncing so if I make changes on both the pda and desktop, I don't have to overwrite one of them.

We should all get together, come up with what we really need that's flexible enough for everyone, and put pressure on someone to develop it. :mrgreen:

Would AskSam for the PPC be an interesting proposition?.
I've always wanted mobile AskSam, but they don't seem interested in doing it. If Evernote for the pda ever came out, it would be very close to AskSam.

[thefunkunfaked]

Now what I could REALLY use is a Viso Mobile! :lol:
This claims to be able to convert visio documents:

http://pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=10421

There was also a company doing a program called 'First' or 'Prime' or something, that was like pocket visio, but they seem to have dropped out of sight. Repligo should work for one-way sync as well.

Ah, refreshing. Appreciated! :D

[buzzard]

This is one of my favorite topics because it's interesting to learn what other people do for note taking.
I use Outlook Tasks for work related projects. I just start a new task for each project and type everything in the notes section in chronological order. This way I have everything related to one project in one place. I tried taking notes at meetings with a pad or with notebooks but I didn't like having to attend a new meeting on an old topic that I knew I took notes on 3 months or so ago. I'd spend all sorts of time trying to locate the notes. By keeping notes by project I have one place to look and can read everything I ever wrote on that one topic, no fumbling through countless notes trying to find everthing and it's in chronological order so I don't have to guess what happened first or second. I update these tasks after meetings when the information is still fresh. I sync the tasks to my 4700 and have it with me at meetings for review. Another helpful effect of this method is when I leave my current job I can turn over all of these tasks to my replacement and they will have all of the various projects history available to them.

At meetings I use PhatPad for quick notes and I use PhatNotes for brief memory joggers, especially for reminders (order a perscription, pick up that new car wax, etc.). For my own personal use I don't use Outlook Tasks, I use List Pro but I keep the information in it exactly the way I keep tasks at work. For example when I was looking for someone to put a new roof on my house I kept track of all of the information by date for that single topic and could review who I talked to and what their estimates included. After the work was done I kept track of any problems that came up (e.g. minor leaks). Again the single project approach works for me.

[tsapiano]

I don't necessarilly think it's the software that is the problem - the issues I've had with digital note taking have mostly been with shortcomings in the hardware used to convert the stylus movements into digital ink. The main caveats that I've found when inking notes are:


Insufficient digitizer resolution - On most devices the resolution of the digitizer is quite low (compared to conventional paper) such that one needs to write in huge letters to get anything legible recorded. Unfortunately, combine that with a 4" screen and you can't get much information recorded without having to continuously scroll around. While fine for jotting down a quick phone number, anything else becomes quite difficult. IMHO the precission of these systems would have to be significantly improved to make this a viable replacement for a conventional notepad.
Unreliable/slow recording - When writing a note, one is typically writing very quickly and most devices I've seen aren't always capable of keeping up. If I'm using a device to take notes, I need to know that if I make a stroke with the stylus it will be recorded regardless of how fast I'm writing and what else the device is doing. That is, the process handling the input from the digitizer really needs to have full real-time priority (so that it can't be slowed down by anything else) and a sampling rate faster than the hand can manipulate the stylus (neither of which seem to be true in current implementations).
Slow device startup - While PocketPCs are very fast to start up when compared with conventional computers, they still take a couple of seconds to get up and become responsive. When you need to jot something down quickly, you can often flip the cover of a steno pad and write it down before a PocketPC is ready to start.
Ability to compensate for tilt - When writing long notes, it's natural for me to change the position of my wrist in order to reduce stress. Unfortunately, many digitizers get thrown off when the tilt of the pen shifts and the point getting recorded no longer falls directly below the nib. This isn't a problem when working with normal UI elements, but when trying to write/draw structures that require discrete strokes it can cause significant trouble. Calibration works well when the pen is always held in the same position, however humans manipulate instruments in complex manners so that isn't always a fixed value. Wacom has this capability on their standalone graphics tablets, so it should be feasable on TabletPCs as well (would be nice on PocketPCs, but not sure how you'd do it with a touch screen).
Presure sensitivity - The on/off nature of most digital ink systems can sometimes make it more difficult to read smaller print. The ability to detect the ammount of presure being applied and vary the density of the recorded ink would also make these notes more readable. While this isn't terribly important for text portions of the note, it can be a significant impediment when drawing quick diagrams.


The fundamental aspect here is that digital note taking systems need to be as simple and transparent as taking a pen to paper. TabletPCs running OneNote are pretty close, but their size and battery lives limit their utility to more formal note taking. PocketPCs are about the right size, unfortunately they are generally much more prone to the above issues.

[r@dimus]

not to point out the obvious, but what about simply using Pocket Word to take notes, file the resulting documents in folders named after the high-level topics, and if you need to find anything specific use the built-in search feature?

[Cybrid]

I don't necessarilly think it's the software that is the problem - the issues I've had with digital note taking have mostly been with shortcomings in the hardware used to convert the stylus movements into digital ink. The main caveats that I've found when inking notes are:
....
The fundamental aspect here is that digital note taking systems need to be as simple and transparent as taking a pen to paper. TabletPCs running OneNote are pretty close, but their size and battery lives limit their utility to more formal note taking. PocketPCs are about the right size, unfortunately they are generally much more prone to the above issues. While I will fully concede the need for a PPC note app to be quick on the draw, as using paper. I think that having used letter recognizer for a sufficiently long enough period of time, I write nearly as fast as I do on paper. Gerard having used PPC's almost exclusively is even faster.
While a keyboard is great for longer stuff, less physically demanding....I own PPC keyboards I've hardly used.

For myself, I've found that my dependence on paper note taking is primarily from a refusal to clutter my PPC with work matters. I take the notes and once dealt with/ passed onto some other schlub. It is gone. I'd end up printing half the crap later if I put it on my PPC.

I too kept extensive notes on the PPC for all sorts of general personal projects but realized my zeal for wanting to be organized far outweighed my need for it. Much of what I was putting in was far too inconsequential or quickly dealt with to need a reminder.
For the others, a Pocket Informant note/general Note/Word seem sufficient.
PI for items that need follow-up and links
General note for writing a quick something I will not need tomorrow.
Word for the items that I'd like to keep. Usually some article, book review that I want keep. The odd Journal entry/ thought that may need revisiting at a more appropriate time.
I'm sure many of the mentioned 3rd party solutions are better but I atleast don't seem to need it.

[Ed Hansberry]

not to point out the obvious, but what about simply using Pocket Word to take notes, file the resulting documents in folders named after the high-level topics, and if you need to find anything specific use the built-in search feature?
Ouch. I would have dozens and dozens of folders and hundreds if not thousands of documents. The File|Open display on the Pocket PC would be rendered even more worthless - especially now in WM5 since the root of storage cards are listed.

Besides, Word can't handle drawings/sketches very well.

I am loving the responses to this thread. No solution. I see a lot use PhatPad, which is one of the apps I own but don't have installed. The lack of mixing text with writing is a deal breaker for me, not to mention their being adamant you buy Calligrapher for handwriting. It wouldn't matter if PhatPad were perfect, I despise Calligrapher.

Still no answer though, but I see many are in the same boat. Misery loves company. ;-) One question I asked hasn't been answered at all - does anyone know of a good resource to teach you how to take notes? http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/04/recovering_the_.html is a pretty good start it seems. I never rewrite my notes, and that may be a significant part of the problem. Always in a rush. I need to revisit this.

[bystander]

As far as note taking references or readings...

One of the best that I have seen is what you have quoted but also
-http://www.lifehacker.com/software/note-taking/
-http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Note_taking
-http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/sso/regwel/advice/mature-success/4.pdf
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note-taking

Happy reading. Hopefully others will share more definitive sources.

Best wishes....

Bystander
:D

[dan.carter]

crimsonsky mentioned "DayNotez for the Pocket PC (www.natara.com)". This application appears to have promise, a few things PhatNotes doesn't. Has anyone else has good luck with it? Any fatal flaws?

I may give it a trial...

[gamboagarcia]

I've been in the cheap / easy way for years now. I've created a pocketWord template, just like the memo template included, with 2 endless fields.

Keywords:
Topic:

Whenever I have an idea or simply need to jot something down, I go and create a new document from the template called "jot note", and write directly via "letter recognition" (which is the best input method for me).

When done, I go back to the top and fill some Keywords for the note like: date, home, bills, idea, money, buss, improvement, quote, names, etc..

When I need to retrive info from my joted notes, I just do a simple Find with the keyword in mind.

A friend of mine, which I share the template to; use the same file for all his notes and does the search in the file itself.

With this method I have an actual copy in my Laptop, and Desktop always. :wink:

BTW: try Mindmanager, it will help you on creative note taking, using mind maps. I use when I need to plan something, or when working in a hard thinking proyect!!

[iscogd]

I am also struggling with same problem, and actually quite frustrated.

In my opinion it is not logic to have several applications for same tasks (taking notes or tasks), as you miss the all organization. It doesn't matter if you search your paper pad or ten apps you have installed on your PDA. I used for long time all mentioned sofwares, and non helped me being more organized.

Personally for notes taking, at the moment, I returned back to paper pad, until I will try new software.


In regards to your question, how to write notes - sorry but I don't know about such book, due to that each of us writes is notes in different way, and highlight different words, thus there is no one rule that works for everyone. Most probably this is why some of us find applications perfect, and others like me still searching for perfect app.

At the moment I use the combination of PDA and paper binded together under one binder for example www.timesystem.com.

By the way, I belive the decribe problem, is one this industry engines, as we all change manytimes our PDA, hoping that next one will be our perfect solution.

[Anthony Caruana]

I have three different approaches that I use depending on where I am and how I feel.

1 - My PowerBook and Word for Mac. There's a really nifty Notebook function (a lot like OneNote) that allows to type notes and record audio at the same time. What makes it really slick is that the audio can be "hooked" to the notes I type. This works well at seminars and presentations.

2 - A simple voice recorder. I just record the thing I'm listening and then listen to it later when it suits me. As I'm a journalist, this is handy for interviews and the like. It means that I can keep a conversation going without having to stop to let my written word catch up with the spoken version. Another plus is that sometimes the significance of a comment is missed in the heat of the conversation and I don't catch a really interesting quote till later.

3 - The old fashioned way. A Moleskine notebook and Fisher space pen (fine point). Sometimes I just like to write instead of type.

[dsacgt]

I think I can point you all to a piece of software that will blow you away in helping with many of these problems www.mylifeorganized.net
I have used it for over a year and nothing else comes close. It is not strictly a note-taking program, but can be used as such. It is best as an organiser - and for actually doing something (taking an action) on those notes you take. After all, if you take no action on them, there might not be much point collecting the notes to begin with.

It has a desktop (pc) and ppc client, and has flawless syncing between them and multiple pc's. It also has a very active support community.

For me the shortcomings at present are: 1)no mac client 2) no audio notes 3) would love to sync wirelessly over 3g network to a cenrally stored file (well for when the new 3g PPC phones arrive!). But none of these stop it from being a fantastic piece of software. In combination with Outlook (unfortunately you can't avoid Outlook in an MS exchange workplace) and SPB diary, I'm totally covered.

Admitedely it doesn't do sketches, but I find it faster in the long-run to take the time to type info in. This works unless you must do lots of diagramming on a ppc - but I doubt most people really need to.

Now I've shared that tidbit.....I was hoping someone could point me to a truly functional audio noter software. I want one that works after one-button press of the record button and stops after letting go of the button. In addition it MUST not open a save dalog box or window of any kind. I just want simple flags on my today screen reminding me that I have recorded a new note and I should review it. I believe it's a bug with WM2003, but with all audio note programs I have ever tried (the best is pocket dictate but it's not really an audio 'notes' program), you cannot get notifications on the today screen until the built-in audio program has been opened. Only then does it save the audio note to a file that can be sent to a today screen notification. Absolutely stupid!
If I could get a simple audio notes program that works in this basic way I would be very grateful. I'd also appreciate if someone could tell me if WM5 has the same issue with needing to open the built-in audio program to make notes available to today-screen notification plug-ins?

[r@dimus]

not to point out the obvious, but what about simply using Pocket Word to take notes, file the resulting documents in folders named after the high-level topics, and if you need to find anything specific use the built-in search feature?
Ouch. I would have dozens and dozens of folders and hundreds if not thousands of documents. The File|Open display on the Pocket PC would be rendered even more worthless - especially now in WM5 since the root of storage cards are listed.

Besides, Word can't handle drawings/sketches very well.

I'll concede on the issue of Word's inadequacies of image handling.

However, I cannot help but wonder if you're approaching this issue the wrong way. Do you want to have a way to look at a structured hierarchy of some kind where you can drill down and go to exactly the note you want? Do you REALLY want to do things this way with thousands of documents? What do you do about documents that could be relevent to more than one spot in the hierarchy? I cannot help but think that when it comes to large amounts of data like this it's best to take a lesson from Google Gmail. Don't categorize it, or at most give just a basic level of categorization, and rely on search.

For the sake of argument, let's assume you have WM5 and you're going to make your notes in Word Mobile. You could use Total Commander to set up a basic hierarchy of folders. Under that you those you could make another level of subfolders if desired. When you make a note, open Word Mobile, go to the root folder of your hierarchy, and open a new docuemt. Scrawl in your notes, and close the document. Word will save it in the root folder. Then use Total Commander to move the document under the appropriate folder in your hierarchy. If you need to add more notes to that file, use Total Commander to go to the file and open it. Make your changes, close it, and Word will save it back to whatever location if was opened from. This little trick will get you around Word's inability to look at more than one level of folders in the file system. When you want to find a spedific note, use Total Commander's search function (which is much nicer than WM5's Search app) to run a keyword search to find it.

However, given what I know of your requirements I have to wonder of a PPC is really the right tool for the job here. If you need to work with diagrams and images in your notes then the more screen real-estate the better.

[stanip]

To offer a simplier option to mindmap, I like the "Project-ing" tool alot. It allows integration with calendar, tasks and files (notes) while you are planning out your projects with tree diagrams.

http://www.birdsoft.biz/project.htm (works for MW5)

This does not solve for note taking but worth taking a look for those who wants to be better organize. And it can connect your actions with your Notes.

[clevewaterman]

The main reason I have not yet switched from Palm OS to WinMob is my note taking software, Bonsai Outliner (http://www.natara.com/Bonsai/index.cfm) by Natara. It does everything. Bonsai outlines are fully searchable, desktop sync both ways, yada, yada.

When Bonsai goes Pocket PC, I will convert. It is just a matter of time, since Natara has already made a Pocket PC version of DayNotez.

[Phillip Dyson]

I just want simple flags on my today screen reminding me that I have recorded a new note and I should review it.


I don't know if this is compatible with WM5.0 but it might give you the notification that you want.
http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/audionote.shtml

[Brad Adrian]

crimsonsky mentioned "DayNotez...
Do give it a try, and be sure to put it through its paces. I had both it and PhatNotes running at the same time so I could compare them, and nearly bought DayNotez, mostly because I like its use of categories.

I ended up buying PhatNotes, though, because in the end I kept having sporadic formatting problems with DayNotez, especially if I edited notes with both the Pocket PC and Desktop. If you DON'T need the desktop companion, the roundtripping problems I saw would be eliminated.

What I learned, though, is that in most cases it's worth using a product until the trial is almost over; that way you're sure to encounter as many different situations as possible.

[Steve Jordan]

My notes rarely require images, so just typing suffices for me. I've used Notes, Tasks and Pocket Word for note-taking... sometimes two apps at a time, which makes it easier to share bits from doc to doc.

The tool I needed to make it work for me was a hard keyboard. Using the note-taker was always too slow and imprecise for me. Unless I was taking very light notes (which the screen keyboard sufficed for), I could take notes as easily as I can type, and store the docs in a heirarchy folder system similar to the one described above. I have no problem using a sub-sub-subfolder system, although mine rarely go more than 2 levels deep.

I am often seen in meetings with my handheld propped up on my foldable Belkin keyboard, and I get a few looks. But when I take notes, they are complete and effective, and it keeps me well-organized.

[bvkeen]

Great topic, with really good points raised by a lot of folks in their approaches to note taking. While good note-taking and management are essential to good time management, I have avoided mentioning it on my time management site because I, too, have never found just the right tool for implementing note taking on the PPC. Because the discussion in this thread is so good, though, I may find a way to reference it from my site.

Personally, like you Ed, my note taking is done on paper, for the most part (although not always), either on a steno pad or moleskin tablet, and the "good stuff" finds its way onto my PPC into PhatNotes. So I use paper for the note-taking part and PhatNotes for the management part. I haven't tried OneNote 2007, yet, because it won't work on my x50v and I think implementing it on my Treo 700w would be a joke - screen is just too small for me for anything but simple task and calendar stuff (57 year old eyes are partly to blame). However, Dell had another one of their deals this weekend on the x51v so I have one on the way and may try OneNote 2007 desktop and WM5 beta to see how well it does.

Thank you, also, for your good points about how to read a book and take notes on it. It is an important skill that I didn't realize I had lost until I look back over the past few years, during which I have read hundreds of books trying to "figure it all out" after my wife passed away, and I now realize I couldn't tell you a tenth of what "I learned" from those books (and so I continue to re-learn much of it). Hopefully, with your caution in mind (and a good book on how to read books), I can re-read some of those books and actually really learn something from them this time.

[wbuch]

I apologize if someone has covered this already, since I didn't have time to read all 40+ replies.

Ed, in reading your post, it seems to me that what would benefit you would be a whole system of organization. Have you ever read the book Getting Things Done (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/sr=8-1/qid=1151423332/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4397790-5225403?ie=UTF8)? It's a complete system on getting and staying organized, and doing it all stress-free. I think it readily applies to your note-taking, since that's just another form of "input" in our lives. In a nutshell, his system is to have one or more "collection boxes" (inboxes) (of which your chosen notetaking app would be one), and then at some point later to "process" them, i.e. to decide on each item if there is an action associated with it. If there is, you organize it, otherwise you file it as reference. Of course there's much more to it than that but it just struck me that his book could help you immensely in organizing all your notes. I'd be interested if it's helpful to you!

Will

[Brad Adrian]

I agree that this has been a more intriguing topic than I would have thought; in a way, it's encouraging to know that this is something many of us struggle with.

In the end, my choice of tools and techniques is pretty strongly driven by my desire to utilize my Pocket PC(s) as much as possible (mostly because I just think they're cool. W?BIC!!!). So, I've tended to adjust how I do things to the way my Pocket PC does things. For example, when Transcriber and Calligrapher first came out, they were "okay," but the recognition was sporadic and I was spending more time making corrections than I was actually taking notes. BUT, since I've been using Calligrapher for so many years and I've become a bit more careful in my handwriting and Calligrapher has become much, much more powerful, I've found that I can use it and an application like PhatNotes for most of my note taking, report writing, journaling, etc.

It's clear from this discussion that there's no perfect solution (Is there ever?). I'm most content when I'm willing to adjust (just a bit) how I do things so that the technology I use can do what I need and adapt to my way of doing things.

That said, I think a trip through "Getting Things Done" wouldn't hurt, either.

[Phillip Dyson]

Have you ever read the book Getting Things Done (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/sr=8-1/qid=1151423332/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4397790-5225403?ie=UTF8)?

I've had that book for almost a year. But never got a chance to finish it. :oops:

[ctmagnus]

Have you ever read the book Getting Things Done (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/sr=8-1/qid=1151423332/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4397790-5225403?ie=UTF8)?

I've had that book for almost a year. But never got a chance to finish it. :oops:

:rotfl: I've had it for just as long, and I haven't even started it yet. :oops: :oops:

[wbuch]

The beauty of it is that you don't have to read the whole thing for it to start paying off. After reading the first 5 chapters (118 pages, or about 1/2 the book) you can start the "collection" process (i.e. gathering up everything in your environment which is a "loose end" into your inbox). After that you can just read each subsequent chapter and proceed with each step after each one.

[Brad Adrian]

I've had it for just as long, and I haven't even started it yet. :oops: :oops:
This just in...!

The weekly Procrastinators Club meeting has been postponed until next week. ;)

[Ed Hansberry]

However, I cannot help but wonder if you're approaching this issue the wrong way. Do you want to have a way to look at a structured hierarchy of some kind where you can drill down and go to exactly the note you want? Do you REALLY want to do things this way with thousands of documents? What do you do about documents that could be relevent to more than one spot in the hierarchy? I cannot help but think that when it comes to large amounts of data like this it's best to take a lesson from Google Gmail. Don't categorize it, or at most give just a basic level of categorization, and rely on search.
...
However, given what I know of your requirements I have to wonder of a PPC is really the right tool for the job here. If you need to work with diagrams and images in your notes then the more screen real-estate the better.
I never said the PPC is the right tool for the job. It may not be. I certainly won't set up a basic level of categorization on the device and just search. Search is abysmally slow on WM5 with everything in persistent storage. It can take 5-6 minutes to search through 200 email message for a word, and that is just a few MB of data, maybe 2-3MB.

If it was "gmail fast" or even as fast as Evernote, sure, what you say would work. The technology just isn't there. :(

[Ed Hansberry]

My notes rarely require images, so just typing suffices for me. I've used Notes, Tasks and Pocket Word for note-taking... sometimes two apps at a time, which makes it easier to share bits from doc to doc.
I almost never requre images, as in pics, but I do draw small flow charts and the like, so having text mixed with simple line art is a necessity for me.

[Ed Hansberry]

I apologize if someone has covered this already, since I didn't have time to read all 40+ replies.

Ed, in reading your post, it seems to me that what would benefit you would be a whole system of organization. Have you ever read the book Getting Things Done (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/sr=8-1/qid=1151423332/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4397790-5225403?ie=UTF8)? It's a complete system on getting and staying organized, and doing it all stress-free. I think it readily applies to your note-taking, since that's just another form of "input" in our lives. In a nutshell, his system is to have one or more "collection boxes" (inboxes) (of which your chosen notetaking app would be one), and then at some point later to "process" them, i.e. to decide on each item if there is an action associated with it. If there is, you organize it, otherwise you file it as reference. Of course there's much more to it than that but it just struck me that his book could help you immensely in organizing all your notes. I'd be interested if it's helpful to you!
Thanks. This could be very helpful. I've put it on my wishlist and will order it in the next few days or so when I can bundle it with something else to save on shipping.

Not off to a great start am I? I just added something to help me get more organized and finish stuff better to another "to do list." :lol:

[alese]

...Thanks. This could be very helpful. I've put it on my wishlist and will order it in the next few days or so when I can bundle it with something else to save on shipping.

Not off to a great start am I? I just added something to help me get more organized and finish stuff better to another "to do list." :lol:

Ed, just so you know: http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/18821?book=Getting_Things_Done:_The_Art_of_Stress-Free_Productivity

It reads beautifully in VGA on my Universal :-), and (at least for me) it is very helpfull. The only thing is that I still struggle with how to keep everything in sync between my PC and mobile devices.

[murph72]

...because in the end I kept having sporadic formatting problems with DayNotez, especially if I edited notes with both the Pocket PC and Desktop.
Hi Brad. I'm the developer of DayNotez for Pocket PC. Formatting problems when syncing between PPC and PC are usually caused by an old version of RichInk.dll (DLL shipped with ActiveSync). Anyone experiencing a problem like this should check the readme file installed with DayNotez on how to check this file version and the Natara recommended version to use.

Also feel free to contact Natara support with any DayNotez questions you might have. We are happy to help with issues such as this.

[johnm]

Ed, just so you know: http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/18821?book=Getting_Things_Done:_The_Art_of_Stress-Free_Productivity

It reads beautifully in VGA on my Universal :-), and (at least for me) it is very helpfull. The only thing is that I still struggle with how to keep everything in sync between my PC and mobile devices.

I don't really have time to read books anymore, but I do spend at least 1 1/2 hours a day in traffic. My primary pocketPC use case these days is audio books. So our good friends at audible.com ...

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_SANS_000347&amp;BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Only 2hr 48min abridged. Should be able to find time for that.

[bvkeen]

Ed
GTD is a great system, and the book (audio) will benefit you much. However, it will not address notetaking on a PPC for a couple of reasons. One, David Allen is a huge fan of write it down, throw it in your in box. and process it later. Two, unless he's changed in the past several months he still uses one of the Palm Tungsten models.

[wbuch]

Ed
GTD is a great system, and the book (audio) will benefit you much. However, it will not address notetaking on a PPC for a couple of reasons. One, David Allen is a huge fan of write it down, throw it in your in box. and process it later. Two, unless he's changed in the past several months he still uses one of the Palm Tungsten models.

It won't directly address notetaking on a PPC because it doesn't specify exactly how you should take the notes. He leaves it open to whatever method you're most comfortable with. Your inbox could just as easily be a specific category or folder on your PPC as it could a physical inbox for paper, so his system doesn't preclude that. I think what Ed really needs is a *way* to collect, process, and organize his notes, which GTD handles beautifully, and not necessarily any specific implementation of a notes program.

[Brad Adrian]

... usually caused by an old version of RichInk.dll (DLL shipped with ActiveSync). Anyone experiencing a problem like this should check the readme file...
Gulp! I have to admit that I do not always go through README files when I install an application. I've taken the steps outlined and will give DayNotez another try.

Thanks!

[gcorth]

As a fan of outliners since DOS and GrandView... Streamliner is not supported. PocketThinker is pretty smooth and has both desktop and PPC moduls.

geoff

[pcwhitch]

I don't have much to add other than that this is an area which I continue to search for that ultimate system, as well.

My biggest issues are...
1. Lack of discipline to really use and stick to a system. I bounce around between PhatNotes, PhatPad, Tasks (i.e., using PocketInformant's Journalling feature), or just using paper.
2. Can't have (according to corporate policy, any-way) non company-installed software on my work computer. That eliminates synching PhatNotes Pro or PhatPad with my work PC. I do occassionally take notes in PhatNotes, then e-mail them to myself.
3. The lack of discipline mentioned in #1

[pjtrader]

This just in...!

The weekly Procrastinators Club meeting has been postponed until next week. ;)
Whew, I thought I'd missed it! :lol:

But seriously, this topic caught my eye as I am trying to become better organized, yet am convinced I don't necessarily have a life that needs to be more organized. Combined with a persistent procrastination gene, everything just gets fuzzier.

I've spend the last three hours looking at a lot of the tools listed here. I haven't had a PPC since my Dell X5 gave up the ghost two years ago, even though I desperately want another one (probably be the XV6700 PPC phone).

But not to bore you more...thanks to everyone who posted their favorites and gave great suggestions! Especially those of you who tracked down Getting Things Done via e-reader and audible.

[bleeman]

For the longest time I had Post-It notes everywhere, legal pads in stacks and just about anything else you could think of. I then bought my first PocketPC (ipaq 3600) in 2001 and started using it's Notes option and was in 7th heaven. Over the years, this approach worked very well, but I found I was still using paper for big items as like others have mentioned, I found the small screen tough to work with on big issues. About 2 years ago I stumbled across OneNote and loaded it on my laptop and fell in love with it. Little did I know that was the beginning of the end of my love affair with my PPC's. The more I used OneNote, the more I lugged my laptop around everywhere and my iPAQ 5555 (I'd upgraded a few times over the years) sat at home more and more.

In February 2005 CompUSA advertised an Averatec Tablet PC for $899 after rebates and instant savings and I took the plunge. I couldn't believe how much more useful OneNote became with a Tablet. The Averatec was okay but I found the more I used it the less I liked it as it had several serious drawbacks (short battery life, running hot, some clumsy design issues). So in November of 2005 I bought an HP TC4200 and my love affair started anew. That was when I finally passed my 5555 along to my wife. I decided I was tired of the various carriers (SmartPhones) and vendors (PocketPC's) wanting to get me to buy the latest and greatest equipment in order to get updates to the Pocket O/S. I now take my Tablet with me everywhere. I don't use paper any more and I've been extremely spoiled with my Cingular Broadband Connect card that keeps me online everywhere I travel. No more hunting for Hot Spots. OneNote 2007 has improved my experience and the search engine is great. I've never been an extremely organized person and used to refer to my filing system as the "pile system" i.e. "I know it's in one of these piles". Well, with OneNote I can still "pile" notes right and left, but it's search capabilities let me track it down anywhere. It doesn't matter if I typed in the text or it was hand written. With the "Send to OneNote" buttons in IE and Outlook I can instantly move data into a notebook as needed. It also has a very useful screen capture utility that I use for documentation purposes.

So bottom line, with all of XP's features available a nice 12" screen to write on, continual connectivity, and a not to unreasonable 4.6lbs I'm one happy camper. I know it's not for everyone, but for me a Tablet PC and OneNote 2007 are the answer (Although I will admit, I'm watching the UMPC's very carefully :-) )

[buzzard]

2. Can't have (according to corporate policy, any-way) non company-installed software on my work computer. That eliminates synching PhatNotes Pro or PhatPad with my work PC. I do occassionally take notes in PhatNotes, then e-mail them to myself.
I'm trying out putting most non-company applications that I had on my company laptop on to a USB drive that I bought. As long as the program files are in the My Documents folder on the laptop as usual, the actual program on the USB can read them and you can sync as usual with your PPC. At the moment I have ListPro and PhatPad on the USB. The USB has a secure side (password required) as well as a non-secure side so it's better than most USB's that are 100% non-secure.

It's not exactly 100% compliant with no non-company applications on the company computer, but it's at least in the right direction. :)

[Thinkingmandavid]

At the Attorney Generals Office, the ppc software will not allow us to take notes on a particular case. There is no tab for just adding notes to a case. You have to click on 'to do', and then select from a drop down menu what you are doing, but strangely enough no place for just 'noting the case' :roll:

I dont mind using my ppc for not taking, but the problem for me is that I like having lots of space to write on. I take notes quickly, drawings, and add extra little comments of my own and there is not enough screen space for that. I need to see it all at once for proper reference and decision making.

Ed this is great topic. :) I wish there was the perfect note taking software that was 'one size fits all'. :way to go:

I agree with mcsouth, the franklin pda software was not near as useful and I did not like it. I felt it was a complete let down from their paper products, and their outlook product.
I wish they would create a superior pda software for the ppc but unfortunately have not.

I also used email for note taking as jhuddle who wrote,"One of the slicker methods I have seen recently is to use one's blackberry to take notes on and email to one's own email. Then simply spell check and cut and paste into whatever permenent solution suites your needs. I like MSWord, just because I am very comfortable with the MSOffice applications. "
I did it using a laptop. I find it is easy to file the information because the subject is specfic for filing to the corret folder. I can keep it in the email account for quick reference, or I can keep it saved on my hard drive in Word. I like this because everywhere I go it is accessible from a pda, kinkos, or laptop at Starbucks.

r@dimus said, "not to point out the obvious, but what about simply using Pocket Word to take notes, file the resulting documents in folders named after the high-level topics, and if you need to find anything specific use the built-in search feature?"
The main draw back for me is not being able to write directly into word.

[juni]

I'd love to try one of these:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02novel.html

:)

[pcwhitch]

I'm trying out putting most non-company applications that I had on my company laptop on to a USB drive that I bought. As long as the program files are in the My Documents folder on the laptop as usual, the actual program on the USB can read them and you can sync as usual with your PPC. At the moment I have ListPro and PhatPad on the USB. The USB has a secure side (password required) as well as a non-secure side so it's better than most USB's that are 100% non-secure.

It's not exactly 100% compliant with no non-company applications on the company computer, but it's at least in the right direction. :)

That definitely sounds like something I'll have to try. Thanks for the suggestion!

[pjtrader]

And if you haven't run across them yet, there are several "portable apps" at http://www.portableapps.com that are expressly designed to install to a USB drive and not require the host computer's registry at all. Office type apps, audio players, file utilities, among others, can be found there.

[dringo]

Guys have a look at www.fannsoftware.com and their fantastic program Trenotes. It is my most used program after PIM's and would maybe solve some of your requirements.

[Brad Adrian]

... usually caused by an old version of RichInk.dll (DLL shipped with ActiveSync). Anyone experiencing a problem like this should check the readme file...
Gulp! I have to admit that I do not always go through README files when I install an application. I've taken the steps outlined and will give DayNotez another try.

Thanks!
As an addendum, I DID make the changes suggested in the README and so far it seems to have taken care of the formatting/roundtripping issues I was having.

I'm taking DayNotez for another spin!

[BoxWave]

Wow. So I just came back to the boards recently, and I have to say -- this is is an amazing topic. I have hundreds (if not thousands) of hand written notes (commentary) on various philosophy/religion etc... I, too, considered EverNote, but I didn't think it was the end all to my situation either.

Very interesting read everyone

-Wing Yew

[BoxWave]

I'd love to try one of these:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02novel.html

:) :(. no subscription...

[PPC to go]

I have found the discussion here to be valuable and as a result have investigated and tried a number of the products discussed. Based on my desire to have something to take notes on my PC and PDA and become a repository for lots of existing notes, documents, and links to programs I have decided to give MS OneNote 2007 a try. I have used it for a couple days and so far am very very impressed with it. I haven't done much to sync with my PPC yet, but that looks good for what I want as well.

[Phillip Dyson]

So, its been 2 years. Anyone care to update their choices for note taking?

[Reid Kistler]

So, its been 2 years. Anyone care to update their choices for note taking?

Speed read through the posts, wondering how managed to MISS such a large number of entries on a topic am so interested in - only to find out in the end that the list is 2 Years Old!?! Perhaps can claim that it is simply too late here to expect anyone to be Truly Observant! :o

In any event, the posts were very interesting, with one thought that stands out: there simply is no ONE Perfect App / Method for note-taking. While there MAY be a Best App for the purposes of a certain individual, another person can have equal success with a different app - or even a combination of apps.

That said, am still using PhatNotes Pro, with "Live" notes taken down using FITALY. For MY Usage, the INPUT method is equally as important as the storage app: the FITALY-PhatNotes combo permits taking notes in real time ("live"), usually with Formatting & Spell Checking along the way (or, hopefully, Immediately Following a meeting / presentation at the latest...).

But I segregate Note-like activity, and also use ListPro, eWallet, & Pocket Informant on the PDA - each for specific Types of data, and with enough consistency that it is almost unheard of to look for a data bit in the wrong app.

ListPro, eWallet, and PhatNotes all have desktop versions, which helps with both data access & entry / formatting. (PI data transfers to Outlook, of course.)

Still, have hundreds (or thousands...) of documents on the desktop that simply do not seem important enough to have constant access to, and find that folder structure & various Indexing programs work well in helping to find the info they contain. (Vista's Indexing program works OK, but PaperPort, X1, or Copernic offer more options: use the first two when working in Vista, and the latter two when in XP.)

Current technique has evolved over the past 6 years or so. Prior to that time notes / reference material was restricted to a desktop &/or notebook computer &/or PAPER, and apps used ranged from TakeCharge!, to MemoryMate, to EccoPro, to DayTimer (perhaps the single best app for storing & recovery of a wide range of data types for individual or small work group), and on to ACT! (too contact centric) & GoldMine (overkill for anything but business use).

PIM's have always been noted for their "PERSONAL" nature: the program that seems perfectly intuitive & unbelievably useful to one, often appears a befuddling enigma to another....:confused:

[Brad Adrian]

Well, Ive started to use my Tablet Convertible for meeting notes, but using Calligrapher's handwriting recognition. Microsoft's is okay, but you have to tap <Accept> after every sentence. Calligrapher just converts it automatically.

So, if you're so inclined, try a Tablet PC with Calligrapher!!

[Phillip Dyson]

That's right. I'm pulling this one out of the crypt again.
I'm looking for something that might have a cloud component as well.

If Exchange Activesync supported OneNote or even notes my problem would be solved.

Perhaps if I just use Word and create a dedicated LiveMesh folder I could use that.

I think I saw GoogleDocs supports windows mobile. But I don't know if that allows for editing.

Perhaps I should give Evernote again.