5. DEVONthink
I got this for free from MacHeist, which was probably the only novelty for me. It's really more of an information manager than a notebook so in terms of saving pages online without having to bookmark them, this app will get the job done. If you need to categorize your life in folders and include pictures, document, and the like, this is the app for you.
This didn't appeal aesthetically to me though. It felt like a fancier version of Finder with extra buttons, so I didn't bother to tinker around with it.
4. Circus Ponies Notebook
This app is, well, a notebook. Literally, with its ruled paper and spiral binding (changeable to 3-hole binding!). It has tabs, post-it notes, and stickers of every color! It automatically creates a table of contents (by using your page headings) and an index (using every word you will ever type). You can import PDF files and mark them with the same post-it notes and highlighters, just as you would mark SCRA. It makes sounds when you switch from one page to another. There's even an iPad version for it. They say this is the Mac's version of One Note.
As pretty as the layout is, I've only used it for outlining and didn't like it. The stickers and highlighters that I found so appealing at first soon became annoying because they'd disappear or do something I didn't want them to do. This is not good if you're on deck in class and want to quickly view what the ratio for the case was again.
I also didn't like the outlining that much because it was too cumbersome to switch from the parent idea to child and back. For some reason I had to press everything twice.
3. Together
Together is the app I almost paid full price for. It's pink. It's pretty. It's has that 3-column clean look like Evernote without the ads. Unlike Evernote, I could import every kind of file in the world. Like DEVONthink, it's more of an information manager than a notebook, so I didn't find that note-taking option that great. And I've read of online reviews that said that Together slows down after your first 1000th file.
Since it was really a toss-up between Together (40USD) and Evernote (FREE), I went with the latter.
2. Pages
I rarely use MS Word anymore after discovering Pages. It could just be my computer, but Word feels "heavy" in the sense that it's not responsive in that it takes a while - maybe it's just a millisecond - for the keys I press to actually appear on the screen. This is probably negligible for some, but the lag time annoys me. Also, Pages has never crashed on me.
I like making outlines, and Pages has to be my favorite. I type, and the letters appear on screen. I can switch from parent idea to child idea in no time. Copy pasting something also NEVER ruins the outline, unlike in Word. Actually, Word outlines tend to jumble the parent-child ideas a lot if you press something wrong! This app helped me for Evidence and Spec Pro.
1. Evernote
I've been using a combination of Evernote and Pages for quite some time now and I like it. Evernote looks very clean. Since it's totally free, you get the best deal out of it. Evernote is available for Mac and Windows and syncs with almost all devices you can think of. So all my notes/notebooks in my computer sync with my iPhone, and this is a godsend during times when I don't want to lug around a heavy laptop.
They say Evernote has OCR capabilities, but this doesn't seem to work on me, so I hope I'm not doing anything wrong. It's also unfortunate that I can't import Word files/Pages outlines in Evernote because the free version only allows you to import pictures and PDFs. There's also a monthly limit to what you can upload, but this isn't a problem for me since I don't even go past half of it. They do have a premium service which gives you higher monthly allotment and allows you to import any kind of file in the world. It's 5USD a month, but why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free?
No comments:
Post a Comment