Notebook Software - $$$ or Free?

In my last blog, I briefly mentioned a new category of software, aptly named Notebook. It would be more correct to call it super enhanced rather than new. Notebook software, which is designed to allow you to make notes and arrange them in categories, has been around for some time. The new enhanced versions go beyond that...they allow you clip web pages with a single button click on your browser and they are immediately copied into your notebook. You can also make your own notes using templates such as to-do lists, shopping lists, and more. Think of it as if you were a student. You could organize your notes taken in the classroom, categorize them by each individual course, then add research for term papers, either from notes you make from books or from pages on the Internet. Now, you can do this digitally instead of having loose paper notes stuck in a big folder.

And, trust me on this one, this is exactly what many college and high school students are now doing. Now, I can hear your next question...can't you bookmark pages in your browser? Yes you can, of course...but how many times have you clicked on a bookmark and found it has disappeared from the Web? With good notebook software, that won't happen. You may have also found interesting articles on the Web that you want to read sometime but don't have time at the moment you find them. Then, how often do forget all about it? That has definitely happened to me. Now, I click on a button on my browser menu and it is transferred immediately into my notebook. And, for some unknown reason, I find that I have read every article in my notebook.

After doing a lot of research on this subject, I found that there are two products that really standout in this field...Microsoft's OneNote and EverNote. OneNote costs anywhere from $60 on up as a stand-alone product or you can spend more and purchase a version of the Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 and it is included. OR...you can get EverNote for free. It is not as a choice as you might think. At least it wasn't for me.

On the positive side, OneNote has a fantastic interface...using main categories and two levels of sub-categories. It also uses tabs, just like a regular notebook. It is great eye candy and works exactly the way I would want my notebook to work. I just love the interface and would happily spend the money to purchase it...except it has one fatal flaw...something that pretty much kills it as a possible purchase. When you clip a Web page to OneNote, it doesn't render it exactly as you saw it on the web. In fact, it takes out all the spacing between paragraphs, pretty much running all text together...and making it very difficult to read. Graphic designers have known for years that white space in a document is just as important as text when it comes to making sure something is read. Of course, one can manually go in and put in the spaces, but that defeats the purpose of easy-to-use software.

In doing my research on the subject, I found many, many complaints from users on this subject...and I found that Microsoft has not addressed this issue at all, either in replies to complaining customers or in software updates. This is the second version of OneNote and it is not fixed yet.

One the other hand, when you clip a page to EverNote, it pretty much copies the page exactly as you saw it on the Web. You can clip the whole page or just the text you want (if the Web page has a lot of ads on it) and it will appear in your notebook perfectly. Now, why can't Microsoft do this? And...EverNote is a freebie! Amazing.

But, frankly speaking, EverNote's user interface is nowhere near as good as Microsoft's. You can create categories and sub-categories and they appear on the left side of your page, but sometimes they can be confusing. You can also use a list of articles that appear on the screen above the clippings themselves, but if you have too many articles or notes for one category, you have to scroll up and down to find the one you want. And EverNote runs all of it's clippings together, which can drive you crazy if you over-scroll.

Now, what I have just described to you is the current EverNote, version 2.2. They also have the new EverNote V.3 which is still in beta. But, it shows a great deal of promise. I like it very much, although it is still missing some of the better features of V2.2. But I am sure they will be eventually added.

The big change for V.3 is that it puts all your notes on the Web as well as your computer, making it easy to access anywhere there is an Internet connection...and to synchronize if you use more that one computer. It's interface is much easier to use, although I still wish it had tabs.

If you would like to read more about OneNote and even download a 60 day trial copy, just head over the Microsoft Web site. EverNote 2.2 is available on the EverNote Web site, although the site is very confusing right now as they start to make the transition over for V.3. There are some good tutorials for V2.2 on the site, but you have to hunt down the best ones by doing a search on the site.

As for V.3, you must get an invite from EverNote to be a tester. I did and I have the ability to invite 10 other people to become testers. If you are interested, drop me an e-mail and I will get you an invite. As I said, I think V.3 is going to be a very good product, but, damn, I want those tabs!