Paul Jacobson

Taking notes elegantly

I’m mulling over buying a license for OmniOutliner even though I have a paid version of Circus Ponies’ Notebook. This internal debate may seem pretty silly because I already have a pretty good note taking application (Notebook) which has a couple features that OmniOutliner lacks (like taking the form of an actual notebook with loads of dividers and page types).

At the same time I have started using OmniGraffle more often and I love its simple look and feel (even though the Inspector options befuddle me quite a lot). OmniOutliner will fit in perfectly with OmniGraffle and also serves as a great, straightforward note taking app. There are two issues. The first is that an OmniOutliner license (for the normal version) is close to $40. The second issue is that Notebook 3.0 is coming out in the next few months and even the upgrade fee there is cheaper than OmniOutliner’s license at a mere $20 or so.

I’m sure I have asked questions about these two options before but does anyone have any thoughts about Notebook and OmniOutliner? Are they mutually exclusive or can they productively co-exist side by side on my Mac?


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8 responses to “Taking notes elegantly”

  1. Ethan Schoonover avatar
    Ethan Schoonover

    Disclaimer: I work for Omni and am a long time OmniOutliner Pro user. That being said, I think there is a case for both apps.

    Circus Ponies Notebook is a totally awesome Mac app and from everything I’ve seen if you liked version 2 then version 3 is going to knock your socks way way off. You may never find you socks. Ever. That far off.

    I used to be a big OneNote user back in the dark days when i was stuck on a PC and Notebook is the closest thing to that kind of all-in-one information organizer that I’ve seen (but with a much nicer UI and user experience). I like DEVONThink as well but it doesn’t have the neat stuff like sketching and quick charts that Notebook 3 will have. Plus, the Circus Ponies folks seem like good people.

    Our OmniOutliner (and OmniOutliner Pro) app is much more about structuring ideas and information, and I think it matches up well with any general purpose information management tool like Circus Ponies Notebook, DEVONThink Pro, etc. I love to collect ideas and information in something like Notebook and then once I’m ready to develop the idea further into real writing I get to work in OmniOutliner Pro.

    I’m hoping to get some more examples up on the Omni website with details on how you can use the app for writing, lists, structure documents, etc. In summary, it’s a great general purpose structuring tool that matches up well with general purpose collection tools like Notebook.

    Reply
  2. Ethan Schoonover avatar
    Ethan Schoonover

    Disclaimer: I work for Omni and am a long time OmniOutliner Pro user. That being said, I think there is a case for both apps.

    Circus Ponies Notebook is a totally awesome Mac app and from everything I’ve seen if you liked version 2 then version 3 is going to knock your socks way way off. You may never find you socks. Ever. That far off.

    I used to be a big OneNote user back in the dark days when i was stuck on a PC and Notebook is the closest thing to that kind of all-in-one information organizer that I’ve seen (but with a much nicer UI and user experience). I like DEVONThink as well but it doesn’t have the neat stuff like sketching and quick charts that Notebook 3 will have. Plus, the Circus Ponies folks seem like good people.

    Our OmniOutliner (and OmniOutliner Pro) app is much more about structuring ideas and information, and I think it matches up well with any general purpose information management tool like Circus Ponies Notebook, DEVONThink Pro, etc. I love to collect ideas and information in something like Notebook and then once I’m ready to develop the idea further into real writing I get to work in OmniOutliner Pro.

    I’m hoping to get some more examples up on the Omni website with details on how you can use the app for writing, lists, structure documents, etc. In summary, it’s a great general purpose structuring tool that matches up well with general purpose collection tools like Notebook.

    Reply
  3. Ethan Schoonover avatar
    Ethan Schoonover

    Disclaimer: I work for Omni and am a long time OmniOutliner Pro user. That being said, I think there is a case for both apps.

    Circus Ponies Notebook is a totally awesome Mac app and from everything I’ve seen if you liked version 2 then version 3 is going to knock your socks way way off. You may never find you socks. Ever. That far off.

    I used to be a big OneNote user back in the dark days when i was stuck on a PC and Notebook is the closest thing to that kind of all-in-one information organizer that I’ve seen (but with a much nicer UI and user experience). I like DEVONThink as well but it doesn’t have the neat stuff like sketching and quick charts that Notebook 3 will have. Plus, the Circus Ponies folks seem like good people.

    Our OmniOutliner (and OmniOutliner Pro) app is much more about structuring ideas and information, and I think it matches up well with any general purpose information management tool like Circus Ponies Notebook, DEVONThink Pro, etc. I love to collect ideas and information in something like Notebook and then once I’m ready to develop the idea further into real writing I get to work in OmniOutliner Pro.

    I’m hoping to get some more examples up on the Omni website with details on how you can use the app for writing, lists, structure documents, etc. In summary, it’s a great general purpose structuring tool that matches up well with general purpose collection tools like Notebook.

    Reply
  4. Ethan Schoonover avatar
    Ethan Schoonover

    Disclaimer: I work for Omni and am a long time OmniOutliner Pro user. That being said, I think there is a case for both apps.

    Circus Ponies Notebook is a totally awesome Mac app and from everything I've seen if you liked version 2 then version 3 is going to knock your socks way way off. You may never find you socks. Ever. That far off.

    I used to be a big OneNote user back in the dark days when i was stuck on a PC and Notebook is the closest thing to that kind of all-in-one information organizer that I've seen (but with a much nicer UI and user experience). I like DEVONThink as well but it doesn't have the neat stuff like sketching and quick charts that Notebook 3 will have. Plus, the Circus Ponies folks seem like good people.

    Our OmniOutliner (and OmniOutliner Pro) app is much more about structuring ideas and information, and I think it matches up well with any general purpose information management tool like Circus Ponies Notebook, DEVONThink Pro, etc. I love to collect ideas and information in something like Notebook and then once I'm ready to develop the idea further into real writing I get to work in OmniOutliner Pro.

    I'm hoping to get some more examples up on the Omni website with details on how you can use the app for writing, lists, structure documents, etc. In summary, it's a great general purpose structuring tool that matches up well with general purpose collection tools like Notebook.

    Reply
  5. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hi Ethan

    Thanks for your feedback! I have been thinking about an integrated option the last day or so. I noticed that Notebook and OOP will work with the OPML format and this makes it convenient to create notes in OOP and import them into Notebook and use Notebook as a filing system in a way. So this involves a little more work and seems to go in the opposite direction to your preferred workflow so I am really looking forward to seeing your examples on the Omni website.

    I guess it would have been simpler to stick with Notebook because I have had a license for Notebook since I had my PowerBook but I really enjoy using OOP (get a kick out of Notebook too!) and want to find a place for it in my toolkit without necessarily getting rid of Notebook (especially if v3 is going to be THAT good).

    Reply
  6. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hi Ethan

    Thanks for your feedback! I have been thinking about an integrated option the last day or so. I noticed that Notebook and OOP will work with the OPML format and this makes it convenient to create notes in OOP and import them into Notebook and use Notebook as a filing system in a way. So this involves a little more work and seems to go in the opposite direction to your preferred workflow so I am really looking forward to seeing your examples on the Omni website.

    I guess it would have been simpler to stick with Notebook because I have had a license for Notebook since I had my PowerBook but I really enjoy using OOP (get a kick out of Notebook too!) and want to find a place for it in my toolkit without necessarily getting rid of Notebook (especially if v3 is going to be THAT good).

    Reply
  7. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hi Ethan

    Thanks for your feedback! I have been thinking about an integrated option the last day or so. I noticed that Notebook and OOP will work with the OPML format and this makes it convenient to create notes in OOP and import them into Notebook and use Notebook as a filing system in a way. So this involves a little more work and seems to go in the opposite direction to your preferred workflow so I am really looking forward to seeing your examples on the Omni website.

    I guess it would have been simpler to stick with Notebook because I have had a license for Notebook since I had my PowerBook but I really enjoy using OOP (get a kick out of Notebook too!) and want to find a place for it in my toolkit without necessarily getting rid of Notebook (especially if v3 is going to be THAT good).

    Reply
  8. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hi Ethan

    Thanks for your feedback! I have been thinking about an integrated option the last day or so. I noticed that Notebook and OOP will work with the OPML format and this makes it convenient to create notes in OOP and import them into Notebook and use Notebook as a filing system in a way. So this involves a little more work and seems to go in the opposite direction to your preferred workflow so I am really looking forward to seeing your examples on the Omni website.

    I guess it would have been simpler to stick with Notebook because I have had a license for Notebook since I had my PowerBook but I really enjoy using OOP (get a kick out of Notebook too!) and want to find a place for it in my toolkit without necessarily getting rid of Notebook (especially if v3 is going to be THAT good).

    Reply

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