Word processor that organizes docs like OneNote does.

December 9, 2009 5:44 AM

Word processor that organizes my docs right there in the interface?

I'm looking for a word processor that does something Microsoft OneNote does. It simulates a binder with notebooks so that my documents are all organized right in the GUI of the program. Unfortunately, I don't like OneNote for various reasons, so I'm trying to find another program that does this. I don't need any of the OneNote features apart from those of basic word processing, i.e. font selections, font colours, bold/italic, bullets and tables. Preferably with tabs!

Anything like this exist? If not, anyone want to help me program one? :-P

posted by giggleknickers to computers & internet (8 answers total)

Evernote might fit the bill.
posted by ceri richard at 6:12 AM on December 9, 2009

Pagefour might do what you want.
posted by bove at 6:18 AM on December 9, 2009

OneNote fits the bill so perfectly, I can't help but wonder what things you dislike about it (this would also help us find a suitable replacement).

I've found many times that the perfect software doesn't always exist and we have to decide which one's merits outweigh their hassles.

Anyway, back on topic: The previously mentioned Evernote is great in many respects, especially organizationally (tags/categories, great search, free online synchronization and ease of use, cross-platform ubiquity, etc). Personally, however, I cannot stand the word processing segment of the app. I have no idea why, but they programmed it counter-intuitively to any modern day word processor, such as MS Word. Note that I'm speaking about the Windows version of the app, the Mac version seems to be somewhat more enjoyable to use. Still, Evernote is my bread-and-butter notetaking app because of its cross-platform and constant cloud-sync capabilities. (For the record, I strongly prefer OneNote from a purely interface/application/local features standpoint).

Have you thought about using a strictly online app such as Google Notebook? You get OneNote-like organization, automatic online backup (and there are methods to sync offline), a decent word processor feel, and tight integration with your browser/Google/the Web at large.

(In the same vein as Google Notebook are its competitors: ZoHo Notebook likely being the strongest contender).

If you're a fan of minimalist note taking (Cornell style), Notalon is ideal. Word processing features are limited to the basics (you might say essentials). Worth a look.

Another option is a personal wiki. Lots of possibilities here: TiddlyWiki, PBwiki, Luminotes, etc. Luminotes is a strong contender due to its ease of use and portability.
posted by sprocket87 at 7:23 AM on December 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

I was thinking I need something like that -- although i just need a simple text editor. What I'd love to see, if you really want to code it, is the usual directory tree navigation pane on the left (or right of course) with the following twist:
the navigation pane is divided in a top and bottom pane; the bottom one is the usual dir/file tree, but you can drag items or dirs to the top pane so that you're viewing just a subset of thee whole tree. This is because i usually find myself editing items in directories that are so far apart that i dread having to look for them in the whole tree.
The way i'd use it is this: open editor: drag 4 or 5 directories in the top navigation pane so i can easily find their files, and forget about the whole tree.
Are you looking for a client side app or a webapp though?
Im also seconding tiddlywiki if there is a plugin to save a tiddler to a file, provided that it works with your OS/browser combo (cant get it to work on opera on linux so far)
posted by 3mendo at 8:12 AM on December 9, 2009

@3mendo: TiddlyWiki is inherently offline (its a standalone, download-able file). Or did I misunderstand?

And 3mendo, your first request could probably be handled with a combination of a tabbed note editor with an explorer pane and/or multiple Windows explorer windows open in the background, no?

@ the original poster: Also check out AM-Notebook, a pretty plain-Jane note tool that looks like it might fit the bill perfectly for you (even the Free version should fulfill most of your requirements).
posted by sprocket87 at 8:38 AM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh, and how could I forget Keynote?! The original app is no longer developed but is still complete; development is continuing with the Keynote NF project.
posted by sprocket87 at 8:44 AM on December 9, 2009

sprocket, yes, tiddlywiki is inherently offline (but also online if you want, what the name of that site? I forgot) and probably well suited for word processing as opposed to coding, especially with some good plugins (rich text editing for example)
<>
But if i were to code this I'd like a desktop app. An explorer pane is exactly what i was thinking of, at least for the bottom pane of my theoretical left pane; the top pane would still be an explorer pane, but it would only show directories and items that have dragged into it.
It can probably be done with a regular explorer pane by using a a temporary dir that gets popoulated with "hardlinks" to items that have been dragged.
But since we're talking fantasy software, I'd like it to support working on remote files via FTP/SSH, and 1) ftp support in explorer wouldnt cut it 2) I couldnt get that dokan ssh filesystem driver to work windows, so...
do you know of any unix editors that have an explorer pane?
<>
Onenote is also very cool on the desktop so i'd second it too.
posted by 3mendo at 8:43 PM on December 9, 2009

found it!
http://visualtw.ouvaton.org/VisualTW.html
Basically tiddlywiki with most of the cool plugins preloaded, including tabs.
posted by 3mendo at 11:12 PM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]