As I mentioned in the entry "0027 – Switching Platforms", I switched from the OpenOffice Writer journal that I had been using to a KeepNotePortable journal. The problem with the OO journal was the size. It had grown to almost 100 pages and it was difficult to maintain. I was looking for a tool that was easier to organize along the line of folders or a wiki type tool. I am happy with the results of my platform test. That being said, there is a learning curve involved in using KeepNote Portable.
Linking withing the notebook itself is done by pressing the link button and then typing. The program will automatically look for entries matching the title of what you typed. This is not well documented and it took me a while and I work in IT. I hope I saved someone some time.
When pasting, make sure to selected the type of text you want (plain text, quote, etc.). Not doing so will cause it to be pasted approximately as you copied it. It your text contained a local hyperlink, the link will be pasted as a link but your link may be broken. Really annoying.
There is not spellcheck in the Windows version but in the Linux version, which is unfortunate.
The notebook uses a folder/page structure, which is nice as it helps organize things. It makes a parallel structure on your drive that matches the notebook strucutre and copies, for example, pictures into those folders so your links will continue to work. I am happy with that feature. What takes some getting used to is the fact that when you add a page, you have to remember to add a CHILD page to a level if you want a subordinate page. Just adding a page will get you a page at the same level. You can, however, add subordinate pages to pages, which is a nifty feature and prevents you from having to add unnecessary folders.
You can move entries in the tree with drag and drop, which is also a comfortable feature.
You can add files to pages and these are automatically added as child folders. The notebook editor also saves your work if you happen to changes notes while your working. You can move to a note and then come back to the original without losing your work. You should still save the notebook before closing it.
The notebook also allows you to define helper applications, for example your favorite text or graphic editor and this allows you to edit from your notebook without having to specifically start the application. You can also create new file extensions and define the program you want those files to open with. For example, I use OpenOffice Draw for my maps. I can define a file extension for my maps and then tell the system to always edit to those with Draw.
It is not all great, but it is good and I am happy with it.
KeepNotePortable is available here.
No comments:
Post a Comment