Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Reviews
Get organized: a survey of digital junk drawer apps
A while ago I decided to bring some sanity to the way I do things and organize all my stuff. I'm working on a design thesis in my multimedia undergrad degree, I'm constantly doing research for my blogging work, and I have countless other projects and ideas that were growing in both size and disorganization in my Home folder. When I decided to finally start getting organized, I realized I might not be the only person in this position, and I figured I would turn my research and testing experiences into a post; a sort of survey of what some call 'digital junk drawer' applications.What follows is a pro and con summary of four of the most popular junk drawer apps I looked at, but read this post with a few of my criteria in mind:
- I like keyboard shortcuts. I like them a lot. Being able to highlight a chunk of text in a browser or a PDF I'm reading and hitting a couple of keys to send it to a junk drawer app is far more efficient and less workflow-intrusive than having to use a mouse to drag and drop it to some far corner of my display.
- I decided not to touch apps that employ entirely different paradigms such as the wiki-like VoodooPad; I'm not denying the usefulness of these other ways of working, but adding that entirely new level to this survey would've meant putting this post on the back-burner for longer than I would like.
- I'm using a MacBook Pro 2.0 Ghz with 1.5 GB RAM, and while I synced my notes library across these apps to gauge performance 'n all that jazz, my library is a mere 500 notes (URLs, PDFs, etc.) strong, so your mileage may vary.
SOHO Notes (formerly StickyBrain) $39.99
Pros
- Can handle any files (with option of aliases or truly importing into database)
- extensive support for input methods - drag and drop DockNote, keyboard shortcuts for groups or even appending to individual notes, etc. (SOHO Notes doesn't even have to be running)
- nested groups (folders)
- multiple databases
- sharing databases
- seamless .Mac syncing
- Searching - via menubar or a widget (SOHO notes doesn't need to be running)
- audio recording notes
- different and customizable note styles (true Stickies, 'float on top' option, background images, etc.)
- blog integration (though I believe only Blogger-compatible)
- iPod export
- tabbed editing
- Must install its own database server (Mac OS X Tiger includes an SQLite database server, which, for example, Yojimbo uses)
- Doesn't quite feel as Mac OS X-like as the other apps. Needs installer
- Group icons not customizable; must chose from pre-defined list
- Fairly hefty system resource consumption
- not AppleScript-able
Pros
- Can handle many (but not all) file types
- Can index logs from iChat and Yahoo Messenger (though I don't know about the new Yahoo Messenger beta that was just released)
- Export to iPod notes
- Can automatically 'classify' items, Pro version offers more powerful do-it-for-you type features
- Multiple, customizable views
- Automator Actions (Pro)
- Download manager (Pro)
- Dashboard widgets (Pro)
- multiple databases (Pro)
- AppleScript support (Pro)
- Steeper understanding curve of apps surveyed
- very un-Mac OS X-like
- Group icons not customizable at all I stand corrected - sjk commented that group icons, in fact, are customizable, and it sounds like it's a very Finder/Get Info-like task to do so
Pros
- refreshing KISS philosophy
- very Mac OS X-like feel
- Drop Dock option for easy importing into individual groups
- Handy bookmarklets
- To my knowledge, it's somewhat AppleScript-able
- Group icons are completely customizable
- Seamless .Mac syncing
- One of the lowest resource loads of apps surveyed
- KISS philosophy needlessly limits the app in frustrating (sometimes minor) ways
- No nested groups
- Export/sharing/emailing options aren't up to par
- No tabbed editing
Journler - Donationware
Pros
- Can handle any files (with option of aliases or truly importing into database), includes handy 'Resource view' for entries to help track down each relevant file (audio, ZIP, app, PDF, etc.)
- best iLife integration, hands down - incorporates media browser, Address Book browser, one-click video/audio recording, send to iWeb, etc.
- blog integration (via iWeb or various blog APIs)
- Friendly diary/journal-oriented options
- Handy calendar helps keep track of activity
- Adds new import option in system-wide Services menu with keyboard shortcut
- Very well-written, cross-referenced/linked Help file
- Lowest system resources used
- iPod export of individual notes or entire groups/library
- nested groups
- tabbed editing
- favorites bar
- Mentioned only because it's becoming a standard: No syncing options (.Mac, FTP, etc.)
- UI could use a little help; strange use of serif fonts in a few places
- Not many other complaints; I have to admit, I love this app
While I love the pure Mac OS X experience that Yojimbo offers, SOHO Notes and Journler tie in my book at the top of this list. From the perspective of browsing or doing research and using a junk drawer app to toss stuff into, SOHO Notes wins hands-down for offering such extensive options and keyboard shortcuts for importing information and virtually any kind of file. Journler has also won a place in my Dock for offering such a fantastic iLife-infused experience. While SOHO Notes has the industrial strength researching and collecting activities down pat, Journler has the iLife side of the fence covered equally as well.
In terms of performance, responsiveness, speed and searching, all four of these apps felt on par with each other, but as I mentioned earlier: I'm on a pretty fast machine with what is likely a comparatively small library of notes (these apps typically boast the ability to store and index tens of thousands of notes, so my 500 means I'm sitting in the kiddie pool on that front). In addition to searching inside themselves, I believe all of these apps (with the exception of DEVONthink, though I might be wrong) are also searchable from Spotlight.
Obviously, which app you use will be determined by your unique needs and interests, and this list is by no means comprehensive or complete. All of these apps offer more features than I highlighted here, and some of them could easily be deal makers and breakers for you. I simply wanted to inspire those of you who, like me, needed a little help and inspiration to - if I may borrow from BareBone's Yojimbo slogan - "master the onslaught".
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hawk said 12:57PM on 7-11-2006
I tried StickyBrain once. It looked cool... except that I had to literally slap it around to make the database engine work. It was also rather slow to start up for some reason (this was on a DP1.5 G5).
I'm trying out Yojimbo, and like it. DevonThink is way too pricy. I'm going to give Journler a whirl when I get home...
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Randy said 1:01PM on 7-11-2006
This article came with amazing timing! I've been researching these types of programs lately and I hadn't run across Journler. I'm anxious to try it out and see if it fits the bill.
Food for thought, the author does offer it free of charge, but if you like it, help out and donte.
Randy
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Bill Eccles said 1:12PM on 7-11-2006
Here's my favorite: IMAP.
Together with OSX's included Mail application or a suitable PC equivalent, IMAP allows me to keep my clippings, scraps, tidbits, and other digital detritus in a searchable, organized virtual space that is accessible from anywhere--and I do mean anywhere. If you're lucky enough to have a webmail app like SquirrelMail running alongside it, you can get that phone number or whatever it is from anywhere in the world. I just create a draft message with the tidbit, give it an appropriate subject, and file it away. Or I send it to myself. Either way, it's now "there" for me to find later.
If I do the Pro/Con thing, here's what I came up with:
Pros:
Free
Should be accessible from anywhere (service provider-dependent)
Searchable (mail application feature-dependent)
Holds documents of any type
Automatically synchronizes between computers
Password-protected
Has the familiar, friendly interface of your mail application
Contents are encrypted if IMAP/SSL is used
Cons
Does not index attached documents
Does not keep tidbits in a "form," such as a business card format for addresses
No integration with anything else (iLife, for example)
Server-limited storage (total storage space and message size may be limited)
Contents are not encrypted unless IMAP/SSL (or SSH tunnel to the server) is used
But for me and my few notes, it's perfect.
Bill
(For the uninitiated, IMAP is not a program, but a protocol used to access a mail server remotely. Unlike POP, it maintains the mail store on the server. If you set up two or more mail clients on different computers and tell them both to synchronize at startup, changes made on one client will be reflected on the other.)
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Dan said 1:23PM on 7-11-2006
I've tried em all, including other ones like Mori (Hog Bay Notebook) and Caboodle. I ultimately picked Journler #1 because it's Donationware (ahem...not free) and it has more features than most of the other apps; DevonThink was nice but too heavyweight in my opinion, and the whole 'AI' thing didn't work out too well for me. StickyBrain was also big and clunky. Yojimbo was pretty close but I couldn't justify $40 for an app when I could just use a bunch of RTF files for free. If Journler had Wordpress support I could even ditch Ecto.
It's lightweight and it'll handle PDFs, podcasts, video, blogging, global Services shortcuts, smart folders, Spotlight...what more do you need?
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Kel said 1:23PM on 7-11-2006
I came from iOrganizeX, wich I still keep up to date. I love so much about it, but it never had a decent way to handle organization of URLs, when compared to most of the app mentioned above. I finally gave in and went with the KISS approach too - Yojimbo. The simple, straightforward approach works well for me and I assume small features will come along ONLY as required.. Something BareBones software does well.
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CJ said 1:27PM on 7-11-2006
What about Circus Pony's Notebook!!!
Great app!
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alangenh said 1:57PM on 7-11-2006
I wonder why no one mentions MacJournal when they're writing about these things? That's the one I ended up with, and yes, I tried a lot of them. Admittedly, Journler wasn't universal binary when I tried it and that got it ousted, and SOHO Notes didn't exist yet.
I wrote up a post about the ones I tried; it's here:
http://alangenh.blogspot.com/2006/06/pim-review.html
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Wry Cooter said 2:16PM on 7-11-2006
I thought iClip might come in handy.
But still my main organization is; All downloads go to the download folder, where I might pull related files into subfolders. And all other saves, stuff I create, goes to the desktop, where I will pull them into their own subfolders later. If I BBedit to save directly to a text folder, I would not see the document as an active reminder is is usually meant to be.
The biggest problem is my NOT using stickies, or some other scrapbook, like perhaps iClip, for such minor purposes. I actually still create Folders on the desktop just so their titles will be small notes.
OS X has sort of deemphasized notebook apps, but consider the mess we might have, if it had not taught us to put Applications in the application folder, or if we did not have the dock, and used aliass of the apps on the desktop. At least that level of wise separation has been built in to some degree.
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arkowi said 2:16PM on 7-11-2006
I am interested in your multimedia undergrad degree and your thesis. Any links or info? Feel free to email me.
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CJ said 2:33PM on 7-11-2006
what about circus pony's notebook!!!!
great app!
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B B said 2:56PM on 7-11-2006
In terms of performance, responsiveness, speed and searching, all four of these apps felt on par with each other...
I'm not sure how many documents/entries you have, but SOHO Notes is in no way equal to DEVONthink in any of those categories. SOHO Notes just doesn't scale as well. I have nearly identical DBs in both (DEVONthink actually has more as contrary to the above descriptions DT handles more types than SOHO Notes) and the speed, hangs and crashes are in no way similar.
Listen, I like both apps and use them both time-wise about equally. I don't even consider them competitors. I happen to have both filled with the same docs for testing for a few weeks, but otherwise DEVONthink is the deep searching/large catalog program (forget Spotlight, DEVONThinks search is better - as is the companies EasyFind). SOHO Notes is the quick (often timed) notes/reminder app. It can do far more than it at first seems, but don't start loading it with 100 page docs, 3 MB files, or expect to do detailed searchs.
These apps both have their advantages, but I can't believe either was stress tested if the results were considered similar.
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Dan said 3:08PM on 7-11-2006
B B:
The title of the post specified "Digital junk drawer apps"...and while DEVONThink can be used as a 'junk drawer,' it is most useful as a large-scale research app, not something you throw an URL into and expect to find it easily 2 hours later. DEVONThink is fantastic for what it does, if that is your need, but it doesn't scale (down) very well in my testing of it. The average user also does not usually want to learn fancy search rules just to find their archived content; probably why the Spotlight developers kept it as simple as they did (for good or bad).
Many people are not aware that you can drag text snippets and URLs onto the desktop or into a folder and they will automatically become files with the URL or text content. You can also type short text notes into Quicksilver and save them. Yeesh, I'd save the $40 if that's all I had to do.
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Tony said 4:43PM on 7-11-2006
I use a combination of Yojimbo and VoodooPad. (I use VoodooPad to store faq-type info, tutorials, etc. for work. The wiki-like structure is perfect for that. Plus the newly released update has tabs.)
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sjk said 4:49PM on 7-11-2006
[from DEVONthink "Cons"]
Re: very un-Mac OS X-like
Can you elaborate on the "very" a bit? I agree the UI could be more "intuitively predictable" and polished in places though being a Cocoa app that integrates quite well with OS X helps compensate for those UI shortcomings.
Re: Group icons not customizable at all; large collections can become visually cumbersome to browse, defeating purpose of getting away from using a simple folder system in the first place
Any DEVONthink item's icon can be customized by pasting to it in the Information window (Tools > Show Info, shift-command-I), similar to how it's done in Finder's Get Info window. Awhile ago I noticed customized icons weren't preserved after an export/import; need to double-check and send a bug report if that's still an issue.
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Jan said 5:58PM on 7-11-2006
I just bought Devon Notes through MacZot. I have to admit though that I'm finding it tough going. The learning curve is steep, and I'm wondering if it's work the effort. I'm going to give Journler a try
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sjk said 6:01PM on 7-11-2006
Followup to my previous post:
At least in the Pro version, custom DEVONthink icons are now preserved when items with them are exported/imported. Simply dragging items to "export" them won't preserve custom icons; generic ones are used.
Creation/modification dates on files are inherited from their corresponding items when exported or dragged from DT. And the inverse is true when importing or dragging files into DT. Not every "digital junk drawer" and outliner app I've tried behaves like that so if that's an important feature to you then it's worth checking.
I've been satisfied with how well DTP handles certain subtler things, like that date preservation, in ways I usually prefer. I've noticed quite a few things that seemed too trivial to mention and pleasantly surprised to find them "fixed" in a future release. Having that kind of rapport with the developer, both spoken and silent, is a primary reason I use DTP and other DEVONtechnologies products.
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Jan said 6:10PM on 7-11-2006
*worth* not *work*
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Virginia said 7:44PM on 7-11-2006
I've been using Stickybrain (earlier SOHO Notes) for a year or so now, and really like it. I've been flirting with Yojimbo, but it seems to me that it's geared much more strongly towards entering information than it is to actually retrieving it. Am I right in thinking that the only way to get info _out_ of Yojimbo via a search is to go into the main application window, type your search into the search field, and see what comes up? I LOVE Stickybrain's Flashlight interface with hot-key access. Can somebody tell me whether Yojimbo offers something similar? Or can I search Yojimbo via Quicksilver?
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Thomas said 7:50PM on 7-11-2006
I'm trying out apps too and I like the VooDooPad Lite price (free) but YoJimbo seems better at organization. I just HATE how it handles images though.
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Christian said 8:40PM on 7-11-2006
I agree. Images should be droppable in the drawer as well, and where are the customizable smart-folders?! Yojimbo is just to simple. It is flashy and cool and intuitive. But once the data is there, there are not enough sorting-options.
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