Sunday, September 04, 2011
Five Best Note Taking Applications
LifeHacker: Whether you're headed back to school this fall or you just want a better way to keep your notes, memos, and other tidbits of information organized, you have a number of applications to choose from. Some of them just help you get your thoughts down quickly, others sync with online services that organize your notes for you.
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I love reviews like these. The only software they've mentioned here that I'm familiar with is Evernote, which I love. The problem is that now I want to go out an buy the other products even though they probably won't do anything to help me stay organized since I already have a routine that works for me.
I would suggest to anyone else reading this that they check out Wunderlist. It's a simple, free, list-making program. It can sync across multiple devices. I like it because you can physically check things off.
Possibly the most useful note-taking application on this post is the last one. Writing things down (in real life) has never failed me.
I like the pen(cil) and paper was a category in this list. I use my computer (ical) to keep my day-to-day schedule organized, but I also have to write things down in a day planner for the occasions when I'm not on my computer. As far as taking notes goes, I usually do that on paper as well, or use Microsoft Word. The Microsoft OneNote that was mentioned in the article seems like it would work well for me, but I think I would get overwhelmed if I started using too many different softwares for specific reasons. I prefer having certain task-managing softwares that can be muti-purposed so that they're efficient to use for more than just one task.
I also liked that pen and paper were on the list. Pen and paper seem to be the easiest system for me. I like writing things down and having the hard copy in front of me. I also remember my notes so much better hand writing them. i think thats because i concentrate on what I'm doing while typing notes rather then the notes themselves. It also seems easier to just flip open my note books to the right sections and just write things down then creating multiple files or organizing on the computer
I took notes on a tablet PC using Evernote for all of my classes in high school, and it worked very well for the most part. It was nice that I could still have handwritten notes and drawings but be able to search through them. I still use Evernote to clip webpages and jot things down in a centralized place.
I also have several paper notebooks: one small one that's always with me (and faster than taking notes on a phone), a larger one where general topics go if I have it with me, and then notebooks for class.
I like having as much information as possible instantly accessible, so, with the exception of most class notes, I either act on the paper notes immediately or else transfer them or tasks based on them to the computer.
All these note taking programs, scheduling programs, and other programs just makes me feel behind on the technology front and that I could do so much more to be efficient. I used OneNote in high school for my physics class. It was a great way to take written notes and use a tablet to draw out all the diagrams. Since technology is still not fully accepted in classrooms or other situations having one way of taking notes doesn't always work. Pen and paper seems like the only way that you can fully capture everything and then put it in an electronic form. The online programs seem the best to me since you can access it anywhere. If you want an electronic not taking program I would definitely go with one that has the most options for universal access!
I'm sure that many computer programs are great for taking notes, and I should probably check them out, but I still have to go to my all time favorite: pen and paper. With a pen and paper it is possible to take notes, draw diagrams, paste pictures in, and organize a notebook very easily. We learned in class last year that you remember notes better if you've hand written them. I find that if I type up my notes I lose the personalization that I have when I hand write them, which is fine if they need to be presented to someone else. However, if I hand-write my notes I remember better where I wrote what, and what it said. I'm definitely behind on technology, and maybe I should catch up, but there are fairly few essential things that pen and paper can't do that computer programs can when it comes to taking notes.
I've never heard of any of these softwares but after this review I'm very interested in checking them out. I've always had trouble organizing everything in my life and I'm always trying to find an easier way to organize everything so I never miss a deadline or event. I'll have to check these out.
But the truth is I always end up going back to a pen and paper. When I actually write something down as opposed to typing it, it just sticks better in my mind. I was really happy to see that in the article they mentioned pen and paper. We get so caught up in electronics now-a-days that we forget some of the best inventions were the first ones.
I guess I have to check these before deciding my best form of note taking, but pen and paper seems to work best for me. Maybe it would be smart to type things up after class. What I wonder can be replaced about pen and paper is how easy it is to improvise. If all of a sudden you need to make and arrow from one note to another, or put something secondary in a little starred note in the corner, or even make unconventional short hand symbols. I like that I can use whatever method of record that comes to mind with a pen and paper without trying to figure out how exactly to do that. But I should check out these software, maybe they did solve this problem.
I found this article enlightening- I for one have never even investigated these or any organizational computer program. I have always been on the true blue pen and paper team- but might want to give such systems a chance. The fact that such software can synch all of your documents, browsing pages, and notes to one place seems surreal. Could this be too good to be true? I think that Evernote or even Springpad could be a dream to some, and might even be more effective for me, but I feel that I will always fall back on handwritten notes and to-do lists, no matter whether my reminders end up in a planner, sketchbook, or napkin! I truly am technologically challenged, and scribbling out tasks just works for me. But hey- who knows what how organized i could be with just a little help from these systems.. i'd definitely give them a try!
It's great to see what else is out there in terms of note-taking. I recently moved over to Microsoft Office for Mac after using OpenOffice for the last four years, and I really like Word 2011's built-in notebook view. In addition to what Pia mentioned, I use tadalist.com as an easy to-do list organizer. It's simple, but effective.
While I appreciate all of these types of applications (and do use them occasionally), you must figure out if they will in fact keep you organized and save you time.
In my experience, it takes just as much time to set up a completely new system of organization as it does to just organize the system you have. I guess the one exception to this would be if you are starting something completely new and would need to completely reorganize yourself anyway. Because regardless of whether it is a iPhone based system or pen, paper, and folder, there is that initial hump to get over where you get in the hang of actually executing the system that you have put in place.
Basically, when looking at these types of systems, make sure that the positives of the new system far outweigh the negatives that come from having to switch your habits.
I'm so glad pencil and paper made it to this list. In general I do not like organizing aids that do all the work for me; applications that "organize everything without your help" make me uneasy. I suppose these applications are very useful for folks who are not very organized people or who find it tiring to work to keep themselves organized. I happily use technology for more complicated sorting or calculations that I cannot easily do by myself, but when it comes to note-taking I want to be completely in control.
Well, at least the Pen(cil) and Paper category made it on to the list. I think that people have become incredibly reliant upon digital forms of note-taking. What baffles me is that if you don't have digital devices that can speak to each other, it is hard to keep things regularly updated. You can't always bring a computer around with you, but you can bring your phone, or paper. I think that having an iPhone helps tremendously between computer syncing, but that having one central location to put all of your notes and to-do items is preferable.
I think a lot of the note-taking software applications are really helpful for other people. I think they all provide very useful features. But what good are those features if you aren't able to continually revise and update that information. You need to question if these applications will actually increase your efficiency, or if the constantly changing technology will bog down your process.
What I find fascinating (and a little bit disturbing) is that the whole idea of "note-taking" is so that you can remember and find information at a later date, and yet all of these programs (except for pencil and paper) is marketed in a way that minimizes your actual involvement in the organization of these notes. For me, half of why note-taking in a notebook or typing on a computer, which I find almost as good as pen/paper, in class or in a meeting is that the actual act of consciously writing something down and organizing it in a certain way helps me to remember it. With programs designed to do the organizing and flagging for you, half of the effectiveness of taking notes is gone for me. I know a lot of people that use note-taking programs and it seems to work for them, but I don't think I will ever be able to give up Microsoft Word bullet points and the value of a quickly sketched star next to something especially important.
Funny enough I don't know any of these applications; I guess I'm still stuck in the pen, pencil and paper era! In reality applications do and can help you organise information more effectively, especially if you are managing many things. However becoming dependent on them is just as dangerous. Sadly I do also rely on my calendar reminders.
I would love to start using a note taking app like one of these but i find that most of my teachers are not supportive of technology in the classroom. I would love to be taking notes on my iPad but teachers generally don't like that. I am trying to eliminate as much paper as possible from my school work this year, any notes or handouts that I am given I have been scanning and I put in my dropbox so I can access them easily from any of my devices so nothing gets lost of left at home this included my notes but I would be able to skip the scanning step if technology in the classroom was more supported.
I personally am a fan of microsoft words Notebook option. I personally don't have the time to set up some fancy app on my computer let alone afford an iPad to take to class with me. Microsoft word's notebook option is just as it sounds, a note book on your computer and it saves as a word document. this does wonders for me as i am really bad at keeping track of all of my notes and having a digital form of it makes life that much easier for me.
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