RGdot

Tag: notes

  • FreeText: Freeware Notebook

    FreeText (Version: 1.1) is a lightweight, freeware notebook. It is somewhat basic and it is probably best suited for taking quick notes and be able to organize them on a simple page.

    FreeText
    FreeText offers the chance to create folders and subfolders or perhaps nodes in what it calls Logic Frames. A Logic Frame becomes a root node that can be expanded and collapsed and given a title. Inside the box that is then created one can start typing and also add comments anywhere by clicking Comment.

    Tables and images are supported. Tables are initially 4×4 but row(s) or column(s) can be deleted by highlighting and added by highlighting and using copy/paste. Images can be added from a file –  and saved to a file – and edited. The Edit button shows the list from the system’s right click context menu for images.

    FreeText does have basic find and replace and all notes are automatically saved and backed up with the frt extention in the system’s Document’s folder. Additionally they can be exported and imported via the File menu for use between machines although they still retain the same frt extension. FreeText works on XP and newer, including Windows 8.

  • 7 Sticky Notes: Probably The Most Complete Sticky Notes Program

    7 Sticky Notes (Version: 1.9.0) is an attractive, feature rich freeware desktop sticky notes program. When installing there is an option to run and use it in portable mode but it requires registering 3 files – ExTVwU.ocx, ExLVwU.ocx and EditCtlsU.ocx with the system – for it to work, this is done automatically if one chooses to proceed.

    7 Sticky Notes

    When first launched 7 Sticky Notes starts with a large note with an attached window to configure and customize it. Sticky notes like the default one and others can be customized with rich text features, background colors and transparency. There is also recurring alarms but also a sleep mode. The sleep mode lets the user hide a note for a set period or at a particular time and set an action too. It can shutdown, restart, log off, open a file (click the ‘Pick’ button and drag the mouse to a program window and 7 Sticky Notes will automatically enter it in the Action text field) or a command executed (anything that can be entered in Windows’ Run dialog).

    7 Sticky Notes has configurable hotkeys for creating new sticky notes, showing notes, hiding notes, switching desktops (see below for more) and opening its Notes Manager. Notes can be hidden and shown by clicking on the program’s tray icon as well.  It also features rollup and roll down, automatic sizing, note arrangements, file and image attachments (see below for more), themes, passwords for various actions such as opening the Notes Manager, unlocking notes, changing the program options and opening the program itself. There is also a restricted mode which locks all options and makes 7 Sticky Notes act like a static desktop. There is a backup feature and an online synchronization tool that works with DropBox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, SugarSync and basically any other service that syncs files. A full explanation is available at http://www.7stickynotes.com/help/onlinesync_whatis.php

    The file attachments feature has two modes. When a file is dragged over a sticky note an Attach pad becomes visible and a shortcut can be created to the file but also if the file is dropped into the Attach pad while holding down the Ctrl key it is added to the database and becomes part of it and is no longer just an external shortcut.

    7 Sticky Notes

    7 Sticky Notes has a notes manager where lots more than simple edits can be done to the notes. Notes can be imported, exported to files, locked, hidden, duplicated, searched, printed, copied, recycled and more.

    Others features different or unique to 7 Sticky Notes are multiple desktops, a desktop switcher and the Drop pad. Notes can be grouped and shown as desktops. Desktops are therefore basically categories or groups. Many desktops can be created, ordered, one chosen as the initial one or all shown together. Hotkeys and visual effects for switching between them are available in the program Options. The Drop pad to the right of the Notes Manager window is a sort of favorites area where sticky notes can be dropped into and batch operations such as search, print and move performed on them.

    7 Sticky Notes

    7 Sticky Notes deserves to be called impressive and should be highly rated. It runs on Windows 2000 and newer.

  • ClipCube: Freeware Notetaker And Clipboard Manager

    ClipCube was reviewed while an old beta version here on RGdot, now it is back. The current version is 1.1 and comes with a new look and a new site. It is still freeware and still doesn’t require installation. With a new emphasis on being a note taker and keeper – complete with tags – in addition to its clipboard history feature it more useful than it has been.

    ClipCube

    After running it click the tray icon to show or hide its window. The left side of the program window is where you find the search box and tags. There are three default tags or categories and they are Clipboard, Links and Scratchpad. The notes are on the main or right side with the newest ones first on the list. In addition to automatically capturing the clipboard you can create a new note by clicking Ctrl+N, the + button or right clicking the tray icon. Edit a note with Ctrl+Space or the editor button (the keyboard looking icon). Select one or more items or notes and click the tag editor button to move a note to the Scratchpad category or other existing ones. Create new tags using the same tag editor, Alt+N or by right clicking in the tags area.

    ClipCube, via its tray icon, has another interesting feature called “Trim incoming text”. This trims white space from the beginning and end of any copied text.

    The preferences include toggling ‘system tray’ mode on and off – this is same as click close to minimize or click close to exit – stay on top, monitor the clipboard, clear clipboard on quit, show tooltips, edit a note on double click and others. By default ClipCube keeps 500 clipboard items or notes, this can be changed to 100, 2000 or 6000. This limit applies only to the notes tagged with Clipboard and not others like Scratchpad.

    Hotkeys are available at http://zodcode.com/clipcube/manual. A Mac version is in the works and depends on donations.

  • PNotes: Feature Packed Sticky Notes Freeware

    PNotes (Version: 9.0.110) is a sticky notes program, while cluttering the desktop with notes is not always the optimal method of keeping reminders and other text PNotes does it well and allows the user to easily hide the sticky notes and maintain a clear the desktop.

    PNotes

    PNotes’ features are accessible via a right click on its tray icon. To begin one can create a note, loads saved notes, create a note from the contents of the system clipboard or create a diary note. The latter features a configurable date format as its title. All note configuration options are accessible by right clicking inside a note or on its top or bottom section (title and toolbar sections respectively.)

    Notes can be favorited and assigned to groups so that they can be managed in batches, for example different colors or different visibility added to a more than one sticky note at a time. Notes can be rolled, unrolled, tagged and linked together as well. They can also include images.

    PNotes has extensive preferences, hotkey support and a control panel. The latter is like a central repository to manage the sticky notes. The preferences includes settings for transparency, font and the visibility of the toolbar – which include controls for text color, bullet lists and others – on the sticky note itself. Skin support is complete with width, height, color, padding settings just to name a few. Ready made skins can be downloaded as well.

    Sound or note centering (to bring a note to one’s attention) is part of PNotes’ scheduling or reminder feature, a reminder can be added by right clicking on the bottom or top section of the note. Docking is a useful feature to move notes into different sides of the screen and adjust their distance.

    PNotes offers extensive number of options in how notes behave and how to interact with the program. Forcing new notes on top, double clicking on the tray icon to create new note, using notes contents as its default name and many more. Protection is another important part of PNotes. Notes can be password protected either individually or as a group, they can be encrypted and automatically backed up. PNotes can also synchronize notes between a USB key and a local machine automatically. Notes can be pushed and pulled to and from a FTP server to be synchronized with local versions. The Misc tab in the preferences has option to launch a web search with a note’s text as the query or to open external programs.

    PNotes

    PNotes’ control panel shows or previews notes that are in the program’s database. Here one can create notes, change note group icons, launch the built-in back up or synchronization feature, export chosen notes as text files or search inside notes.

    Hotkeys can be applied to almost any action. The most important one for this user is the ability to quickly hide or show all notes. Of the many hotkey choices available the show/hide section is probably most useful.

    PNotes is available with or without an installer and should work on all Windows versions. Spell checking using the Hunspell library can be downloaded and used, the program as a whole can be password protected as well.

  • Freeware No Frills Clipboard Manager: ArchiveClipboard

    ArchiveClipboard (Version: 12.7.17 tested) is multi-platform open source and freeware clipboard manager. It doesn’t boast many features but it does one job and that is to keep more than one clipboard item stored or archived. When an item is copied it is kept in the top section of the program, subsequent clipboard items bump the previous ones to the lower section where they are archived to be kept forever.

    ArchiveClipboard

    ArchiveClipboard also supports images and file paths and they are archived in separate categories. Right clicking any item in the archived section presents options to preview it – where it can also be edited – to cut it , to copy it, to paste it or to remove it forever. It feels redundant to have cut or paste operations for an archived item but nevertheless the option is available.

    Mobile device apps and synchronization are on the roadmap. ArchiveClipboard is java based, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux systems and is available in both 32bit and 64bit versions.

  • Freeware Notes And Clipboard Monitoring: NoteClip

    NoteClip (Version: 2.50 tested) has recently become freeware. It tries to be a clipboard monitor and note keeper in one. Using it requires a bit of getting used to because it may take time to feel comfortable with how, where and within which group (post, data, essay, etc.) a note or clipboard item is kept.

    NoteClip

    The clipboard function of NoteClip is not exactly emphasized as by default the clipboard monitoring is off (toggle it on by clicking  the ‘more’ dropdown near the top right of the program). However the program does have a secondary way of capturing text. The Ctrl+1 keys create a new note from highlighted text and Ctrl+2 appends highlighted text to the last note.

    Initially notes – captured via hot keys or created using the quick notes (Ctrl+Q) window – are sent to the draft group. New groups can be created by right clicking one of the existing groups and notes can be dragged from the draft or any other group to another.

    Various options are available when a note title is right clicked (see image). Notes can be edited by clicking on the Edit column beside them and either editing them within NoteClip or using an external editor. The program also has a search function which works across all notes and groups.

    NoteClip can read text files and create new notes using file names as their title,  this is done by choosing ‘Create from text files’ from the aforementioned ‘more’ dropdown menu. Additionally there is a built-in back up and restore tool (Accessed via the small arrow near the top right of the program.) NoteClip requires Windows XP and newer and does not write anything to the registry.

  • MyTetra: Cross Platform Notes Organizer

    MyTetra (Version: 1.30 tested) is an open source and cross platform note taker, notes organizer or PIM. It doesn’t have the most modern interface but it is a good option if looking for an organizer.

    MyTetra

    MyTetra is tree structured. Its structure is item (or sub item) with separate note(s) within each item or sub item (see image). It comes with a base item and sub items or siblings or other items can be added.  MyTetra has an unusual characteristic, it requires each item to be divided into notes, the nodes in the tree themselves don’t hold any text, just a list of notes that belong to them. Notes are added by clicking the Add Note (top middle of interface) button.

    Note content appear below the notes list. The note editor includes paragraph, justification, font, indent, list, table and image tools. Additionally there is an Edit HTML button to edit or work in pure HTML.

    Search is a strength of MyTetra. One can search within an open note, if necessary, by clicking the Find button to the right of the font selection dropdown but more usefully the find section occupying the lower part of the program can search across all notes and all fields (tag, author, url, title or content or text). If the find area is not visible it can be toggled on at Tools—>Find In Base. Tags belonging to an open note are visible under the note area and are clickable to aid in searching for other notes with the same tag.

    MyTetra supports copying and pasting nodes so one can create duplicates. It also supports encryption (Tools —>Settings —>Crypto) and Synchronization over a version control system like Git (Tools —>Settings —>Synchro). It is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and FreeBSD.

  • Aml Pages: Feature Rich Notes Manager

    Aml Pages is described as a tree-structured notes manager. It supports plain and rich text as well as webpages, images and attachments. As a fan of such software, whether freeware or shareware as in the case of Aml Pages, here on RGdot I have reviewed and written about many notes managers or organizers.

    Aml Pages

    To start with Aml Pages begins by creating what it calls a document or perhaps re-using the sample that comes with Aml Pages. I believe the interface, especially when looking at the sample or demo is rather busy but if notes structure are convenient for the user this becomes easy to manage soon. Aml Pages probably meets many requirements if one is comfortable with a two pane tree system for keeping notes.

    Aml Pages can create nodes with different colors, fonts and icons to make each stand out if necessary. Each node can be tagged which often eases future retrieval. One interesting extra is the ability to not only sort (right click anywhere on the tree and choose sort) the notes tree by date, category, type, size, title and others but also filter (may need to expand the tree area to see the filter drowdown (see image above)) them to show those created/modified in the last 6 hours, today, yesterday, last week or those largest, smallest or created within the current Windows session.

    Styles and formats can be used and created (Format—>Styles) to give text different colors and fonts. Existing styles can be applied by using the drop down on the far top right of the text area. There is also Format—>Text Templates that can save highlighted text for future re-use. Aml Pages also supports syntax highlighting for the usual like C++, Visual Basic, Java, HTML and other languages. Some of the additional efficiency features include inserting dates (F5 or Insert—>Date and Time) and capturing screenshots (Insert—>Screenshot).

    Aml Pages opens with two processes, the second is the Aml Assist whose icon sits semi-transparent on the corner of the desktop. It’s main use is to be the drop for text and other media dragged from browsers or other programs such as Microsoft Word. Right clicking the Aml Assist icon provides settings for its use and a configurable hotkey for automatic text grabbing.

    The bookmarks feature adds more usefulness. Any part of a document can be bookmarked via a right click. The same right click gives additional ways to find, view, manage and a count of the bookmarks. For even easier later retrieval Aml Pages has tabs on the left hand side of interface to show all bookmarks in one view. The same area offers the different views available.

    Aml Pages

    There is also sticky notes support, most easily created via right clicking the Aml Assist icon. These will ofcourse stay on the desktop even if the program itself is minimized.

    The program’s search has a good number of options as well. The search can be restricted to selected nodes or folders, categories or tags, or creation or modification dates.

    Aml Pages has autosave options (Tool—>Settings—>Autosave) and keeps backups which are then visible in Backup Explorer (Tools—>Backup Explorer). From the same Tools menu one can setup encryption for opening the program or password for opening documents.

    On the program’s site there are many videos and a tips and tricks page highlighting more of Aml Pages can do. On that note I found two potentially useful features. File—>New has two extra options, one is creating a blank document with nodes named from A-Z (or other first and last letters) with optional prefixes or suffixes. The other is creating a diary sort of document with any start and end date as node titles. There are also plugin which include everything from Auto Completion to Spellchecker to Aml2Dropbox (for synchronization of documents) and to Aml Export to save a document in XML format.

    Aml Pages should work on Windows versions going back Windows 98 and it currently costs $19.50.

  • NoteItDown: Simple Notepad Alternative

    NoteItDown (Version: 1.2 as of this post) is a no-install, portable freeware Notepad alternative. Its features are basic and it is lightweight. It has the .rtf, rich text features such as changing text and (text and note) background color, adding or removing indent, aligning text and changing fonts.

    NoteItDown

    Notes are saved in a tree structure and while the global search (File—>Find notes or Ctrl+F3) displays results in a separate window the search function above the note area searches the current note and displays matches incrementally as in a search as you type. The Insert menu features Date and Time, Date and Time options.

    Links and email addresses are converted automatically and by default notes are saved automatically. On startup NoteItDown prompts the user to choose a location to save the notes or data, the three options available are the system application data, the program’s own or browse and pick any other folder. NoteItDown requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

  • Drag And Drop Notes: Freeware Notes Repository

    Drag And Drop Notes (Version: 1.1 as of this post) is a simple if somewhat unpolished note taker. Select any text in any application and drag and drop it in the program window to create a note.

    Drag And Drop Notes

    Drag And Drop Notes is basically a repository. There is no real organization in the way notes are saved, they are just added to a cell below others. It has a recycle bin (or is it history?) feature, one especially handy since a simple right click on a note deletes it. Clicking on the recycle bin icon brings up a window with deleted items ready to be restored. Double clicking a note brings up an edit window and notes can also be created manually using the + icon. Additionally images – local and web – are supported and so are local files. For images their ‘original’ location or path is saved as a note and a copy stored in the program’s Files folder (by default AgataSoft\AgataSoft Drag and Drop Notes\Data\Files) making Drag And Drop Notes a defacto document, but only image, manager.

    Notes are always saved automatically. Drag And Drop Notes works on Windows XP and newer.