Freeware February: Notational Velocity

In yesterday’s Freeware February post we reported on some innovative notebook software. I’m not sure if I’ve come out about this yet, but I am a complete and total text editor/notetaker/note storage application nerd. I am always on the hunt for that “one note-taking application to rule them all.” I haven’t found it yet.

So instead, I leverage the strengths of lots of different text apps, including this little gem: Notational Velocity by Zachary Schneirov. The simplicity of the software is what’s great about it: all it does it record notes and make them searchable. The interface is so simple you could cry, if you’ve looked at some of the bigger commercial apps. You’ve got one entry field that serves as the place to both create and search your notes. As you type in the field, the app performs a full-text live search of all existing notes - either select the correct note to view it, or hit return to generate a new note instead. This can take some getting used to, but once you grok its simplicity, you could well get hooked.