OneNote Replacement for WinMo

[Napz]

After months and months of pining, it's official: OneNote Mobile 2010 sucks (i.e., it doesn't meet my personal needs) because it lacks access to categorical structure from the desktop version and won't allow me unified note access from Windows to Windows mobile. As a result, my motivation to buy the desktop version (previously a foregone conclusion) has all but disappeared. I'm an avid user of onentoe 2003, and only held off buying 2007 because I read 2010 would have a real mobile version.

The obvious replacement is Evernote: but I wrote it off months ago because the official WinMo client is online access ONLY. It turns out (as I happed upon just today), however, there's an API, and one guy has made an unofficial client that does offline access for winmo: Ploze.

Now the free version of Evernote isn't a full replacement for me, as I do use OneNote for a few things I'd prefer 1) not to stow in the cloud 2) would like to have SSL on. I'd actually be willing to pay for premium evernote (just as I was willing to shell out for OneNote), but I don't like subscriptions in general. I like to keep my monthly expenses minimal. Still, the free version covers 90% of my notes, so...

I'll be reporting back. In the meantime, any advice is welcome. I'll probably be exploring to see if there are any cool unofficial desktop clients as well. I don't care a lot about web clipping or pictures (though maybe after I try it I will), I'm just looking for a good notes platform.

[daniel_fnsc]

Does snaptic offer a winmo client? It's very similar to evernote but has more offline options for smartphones...personally, I find it to be snappier.

[Bennett R]

That's my definition of that word.

It is too bad that Snaptic doesn't make a winmo client. It is quite good and very flexible. You have complete access offline, can use html, can create tags by putting a "#" symbol in front of any word, automatically recognizes certain kinds of objects and you can export your notes to SD card as a text file (minus objects, but useful nonetheless to have a versionof your notes that is readable on any computer but doesn't exist in the cloud). Oh, and your notes are on an https server.

3 Banana Notes rocks! Unfortunately, not for WinMo.

The funny thing is, in going through notes apps, it is really hard to find the trifecta-- notes always persistent in all 3 places-- the desktop (laptop), the cloud and the phone. Evernotes has the desktop and cloud. 3 banana notes had the Cloud and the Phone, but it exports ok. I've decided having a backup and manually updating Outlook is preferable eo desktop and cloud since I mostly only (but not always) use notes while mobile or when they are quicker to look-up by pulling out the phone than stopping what I'm doing on the desktop.

[djfox_2001]

It sucks to be you!

[Happyshirt]

Mi An, your killer feature is categorical structure? Would outlined notes do for you? Any other feature?

LeaderTask is a kinda project manager of Outlook-ish UI. Not pricy, has been offered several times at GOTD, and there's a free WM app, not clouded sync though but desktop sync. Take a look at it. Might suit your needs, but it's not quite an EN alternative. No graphics and so on.

[babycheeks(=]

As for the rest of the alternatives, it seems most are intended for iThings, and a few for Android. One left for Palm OS. Ah, and NoteSync has promised a mobile version coming soon, can't tell the platform though.

EDIT: ThinkingRock has a free version of the service and a mobile companion for WM. But it's a GTD-ish thingy, just try it to attempt an EN-ish thingy.

[orlowskikevin]

The next biggest feature of OneNote I love is instantaneous saves -- it isn't like auto save where it saves every x minutes, every change is saved immediately.



Cloud isn't a huge priority for my notes, and I can do without the clipping side of things. I'll definitely look into it though it appears geared more towards smaller clips of text and it almost looks like the UI for notes as opposed to tasks is buried a little and maybe even absent in the mobile version. It does strike me as a very cool task manager though.

It looks from your suggestions that you some GTDish types of things, yes? Several of the things you've listed are things I've never seen despite a lot of googling on WinMo topics. Do you have a nice GTD setup on WinMo?

[NHL FAN]

I love that sort of features. Just, love it to leave an app and know I'm not losing anything.


Well that's a good clarification. I only use OneNote in my PC though I understand there is some three-side assembly where it can be used PC-local, WM-local and clouded. As you use OneNote, I thought your requirements involved the clouded side.


Exactly, it's the kinda project manager type of app. The excellent thing about it is that you can establish a good number of features to have a very deep granularity. Categories, outline layout, progress, priority, whew. However, you're totally right, it's about organizing in the outline approach, and it works better with text snippets instead of extensive paragraphs or something. I can't tell how does the mobile version works, I only use the desktop (and seldom, I admit), but it seems that the mobile (that's intended to sync to the desktop) mirrors enough if not all the desktop features. Notes can be appended to entries, a-la-Outlook, so I do find a good use to this approach. The mobile version is freeware, and you can use it standalone, or consider it a trial in order to consider the desktop version furtherly.


Actually not Mi An, but now that you point it out, I notice that my posts can mislead to think otherwise. I'm not a GTD advocate, nor do I use WM (don't own a device in the platform at all). It happens that I'm something of an app hoarder, like Silly Rabbit (software junkie, perhaps? ), and I'm in the permanent quest of the Ultimate Note-Taking App (and the Ultimate PIM, and the Ultimate Journaling App and... well you got the picture). Besides, I must think about the future, and who can tell, maybe I will move into WM some day.

I've been trying to settle down into some note-taking app, but it's taken me the best part of the year to find one that makes me feel at home. Into this search, it's been revealed to me that much of the note-taking and journaling software is currently merging PIM capabilities. My guess is that most people, when they feel compelled to follow a planner, start with ye olde paper notepad-used-as-planner, and when they look out for software for the purpose, they feel at home with a note-taking app that incorporates PIM or PIM-like capabilities. So that must be the reason of said weird merge; they started with a paper pad, turned it into a planner, now they got an app, that is like a paper pad, so make a planner out of it again. As for GTD, this philosophy is striking hard all around the Net. Think it's like the current benchmark to teach anybody to follow a planner. So the whole blend comes in as natural.

I've also found out there are much much more options for note-taking software, past EverNote and 3Banana and Google {whatever}, take a look at this sample. Most of this, when it can sideload a mobile version, seldom will consider Palm OS or WM. iThing and Android are much preferred lately. But the requirementes preferred around rabroad are starting to shine for their absence (local stored in mobile, optional sync, clouded good if present but can be dismissed ). I think we will have to move to other platforms, pal

I am no GTD advocate, though I do notice the advantages in this philosophy. I'm a FranklinCovey advocate, but sadly the setup I have for it is full of holes, courtesy of FranklinCovey itself, cause the philosophy does work, but their software doesn't.