Even though almost all the work I do is on computer, scraps of paper still pile up on my desk, scribbled with phone messages, notes, to-do items, and shopping lists. Of course those notes should be stored in my computer, not in messy little stacks all over my office. But I can't bring myself to set up individual documents--or find an appropriate folder--for what are essentially fragments of information.
I could use the Stickies utility, but I can never remember where the stickies go when I close them. Dedicated apps like Microsoft Entourage (or Outlook) have slots for phone numbers, appointments, and to-dos, but some notes just don't fit into those pigeonholes. I need a personal information manager for random information.
This kind of application, basically a container for random stuff, is called a free-form database, and it's designed to let you file and later find fragments without having a highly structured filing system. There are a handful of freeform databases for the Mac, and my plan is to test-drive several of them. This month I spent some time with DevonThink, from Devon Technologies.
DevonThink comes in two flavors: the $40 Personal Edition, and the $75 Professional Edition, which supports more file formats, allows you to create scripts to automate tasks, and includes a couple of handy widgets. One widget lets you quickly search an open DevonThink database, and the other lets you make a note to your database. The trial downloads for both the Professional and Personal editions are operational for 150 hours of (noncontinuous) use before you have to pay the registration fee.
Like most free-form databases, DevonThink's workspace is a window that looks a lot like an e-mail inbox. You can import files or create them from within the program itself, and edit them in the window. The most important tool in the workspace, though, is the search window in the toolbar, because the whole point of databasing your info-bits is to be able to put your hands on them when you want them. You can customize the search using a pull-down menu, so you can use logical operators (like AND and OR) and decide whether your search terms should be case-sensitive, among other choices.
Another advantage of bringing files into DevonThink is that it views a wide variety of files, so you can quickly browse through HTML, text, or graphics without switching applications. It won't import Excel files, though, and there is a limit to the number of graphics files you can have in a DevonThink Personal database. You can, however, conserve hard drive space by linking to graphics and PDFs rather than copying them into your database.
You can drag and drop most kinds of files directly into the DevonThink main window to add them to your database, but with e-mail you have to open the message and highlight the contents you want to import. I would have liked to be able to drag and drop a subject line to bring in the message, but no dice.
DevonThink helps you make associations among your notes by showing you files that are related when you click the See Also button in the main window. You can also see what the program calls a "concordance," or index, of your database that shows all the words in your database and how frequently they occur. You can create file associations yourself by grouping files together in folders within the program. The Professional Edition automatically groups files, while the Personal Edition requires you to group them yourself, though it's very easy to do.
For large-scale writing and research projects, DevonThink looks like a terrific tool, and it would have come in handy for a recent editing project of mine that involved keeping track of dozens of short Word documents. But I would want to be able to search in Excel files as well, and for just keeping track of phone messages and other workplace detritus, DevonThink is probably overkill, and a bit overpriced. But if Devon added the widgets to the $40 Personal Edition, I would give that stance a serious rethink.
More on Blog Authoring: MacJournal
When I reviewed blog authoring apps a couple of months back, I omitted a couple. This month I had a chance to circle back and look at Mariner Software's $30 MacJournal. This is a tried-and-true word-processing application that organizes documents using a diary metaphor. If you want a clean, easy-to-use interface for your writing, you could do worse than MacJournal. It's recently been updated to version 3.1.2, which incorporates a Spotlight search window into the interface, and has some other minor fixes.
It's very easy to compose text in MacJournal, and you can drag and drop images directly into your journal entry. Posting your entry to a blog also seems fairly easy, on the surface. Once you're done with your entry, choose Entry, Share from the menu, and choose your blogging service. If your blog type isn't there (Blogger, LiveJournal, and .Mac, plus e-mail are the choices), you'll have to consult the manual. Posting to Blogger was easy, and with a bit of tweaking, I was able to post to a Typepad blog as well.
But in neither case did my graphics get uploaded with my post. I had to upload them to my blog servers separately. I also had to correct my headline on the Typepad posting, although the text block formatting went through fine. But I couldn't figure out how to find my entry on .Mac, and the manual was no help.
There is a lot to like about MacJournal as a creative writing tool, and the price is great. Occasional bloggers will find its remote-blogging tools adequate, but prolific posters will want a more full-featured app.
Windows Cohabiting With OS X
In my last column, I speculated on the probability of someone hacking an Intel-based Mac so that it would boot into Windows, but doubted that it would happen before those systems are more readily available, despite the temptation of such a challenge. Well, I'm glad I didn't bet my lunch money on my hunch, because someone's already done it, and thrown in Linux, to boot. Unfortunately, the details were removed from that Web site. But maybe more of these experiments will crop up before the year is out.
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