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How Do You Manage the Information In Your Life?
An anonymous reader writes "How do you manage the multitude of information sources in your lives? How do you keep track of the electronics or programming projects you're working on, or the collection of photos you took from your last holiday, or the notes and reading you're doing to learn a new language? Do you have a personal wiki, a blog, or maybe a series of tablet based notes, or voice recordings? Or is it pen and paper, and a blank book for each different hobby? I'm a student, and like most of you, have a few different interests to keep track of (as well as work). But I realise I also have a little OCD, and struggle a bit to keep on top of information (whether hobbies or personal life) in a way that I feel I have complete control over. So how do you all do it?"
I know I will get a lot of flack for not offering a Linux, FOSS, or "cloud" based solution but I really feel OneNote is the best personal information organization tool out there. I keep all my class notes, personal records, everything in there. You can attach or link to external documents just by dragging and dropping. It automatically synchronizes between my laptop and desktop. My laptop is actually a Tablet PC so I can hand-write my class notes right on the page. Then I can search for words within that handwriting instantly. If you drag a picture onto the page then you can even search for words within that picture. So you can just take a picture of someone's card with your cell phone, drag that into OneNote anywhere you like and be able to find that instantly later. OneNote is basically an outlining program but it has a lot of features of a word processor. However, do not attempt to use it as a word processor because it is not designed for that. You can organize all your stuff into "Notebooks" which constitutes anything under a particular folder you simply designate as a notebook. Each Notebook can be anywhere you want to store it. Then you create "sections" within that notebook which are each an individual file. Then you create pages in that section. The pages can even be organized into a hierarchical structure with up to three levels. Then you put your data on the pages in an outline or table format. You can put just about anything you want onto those pages. You can copy web pages or embed pictures or other files. When you double click on those files they open up in their native application.
Believe me I am no Microsoft apologist. I use to have a poster on my wall that said "Bill Gates is the Devil." But I love OneNote. I have tried many other outlining, note-taking, document organizing programs in my life. None were anywhere near as good or as flexible as OneNote. You can check it out here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/