Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with notes

i want my evernote!

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:59:39 -0800

How do you organize your work notes when your company security is really tight? I cannot use Evernote or any web-based tool. I cannot install any programs on my laptop or run anything from a USB drive (I can't even plug in my iphone to charge it). I have Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and LotusNotes (which I HATE). Bonus: this is a new position for me and I'm a bit lost. I have a new job as a requirements analyst. I seem to be doing ok, but I'd really like to be better organized and my normal ways of doing this are not available to me (Evernote, being able to sync my ipad to some sort of online thing like Dropbox or Evernote, etc.).

I can use a laptop in meetings.

I'd like to have a better record of what was decided when that is easily searchable. If all my notes were in Evernote, I could just search for the phrases or names or whatever and find it. I've read through a lot of the askme's about note taking but they don't seem to apply to the type of meetings I have - the ones I have are people discussing concepts and ideas, rather than next actions. I don't come away from those meetings with a list of "to-do's" or anything like that. It's all very nebulous and abstract. We spend a lot of time talking about the definition of "is", if that helps.

I've been told I'm doing just by fine by managers and my coworkers, but I feel out of water not having my usual tools at hand. And I don't know how to take notes when so much stuff that comes out of meeting will end up being related to 10 different things. A wiki would be the absolutely most ideal thing for this. (We do have a requirements matrix but it's not easily updateable and I can't make personal comments on it that only I can see and it's not really kept up to date anyways. It is an issue but it's not something I can fix. I have to work with it.)

I would just put all the notes about a certain topic together on one word doc, but then I don't have the date/time/who of that meeting and all the other topics that were discussed at that meeting. Or I can have a doc with the meeting notes and bullets for topics but then I have to have a separate doc to cross reference with that one. It just seems overly complicated and I feel I'm thinking about it wrong. I'm not sure if I'm making sense. I can reply to the mods if more clarification is needed.

Thanks for any help!

Speedy, no-frills notes to email from Android?

moira — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:24:15 -0800

Is there a free or cheap android app that will let me touch an icon, type in text, and touch another icon to have the text automatically sent via email to myself, preferably with a predetermined subject line? Browsing through apps shows me a bunch of complicated apps with lots of features, folders, and button-clicking involved. I just want to be able to send simple text memos to myself in a minimum of time, without storing or synching or organizing.

If there's another quick way of getting text memos from my phone to my computer for later processing, I'm open to it. I use a Mac.

(I'm new to Android, sorry if the answer to this is obvious.)

iPhone notes app that shows number of notes on icon?

capricorn — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 06:34:55 -0800

When I have email on my iPhone, the Mail app displays the number of unread emails on the Mail icon on the home screen. I want an app like Notes that does this with the number of notes - and not through emailing my notes to me. No other fancy features desired, just something that gives me an easy visual reminder that I have notes to check.

Basic PowerPoint question re: speaker's notes

sardonyx — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:44:57 -0800

How does the speaker's notes function work in PowerPoint? I've got to give a presentation today and I have to use PowerPoint (2007 on Windows). The trick, I've never really used the software to give a presentation, so I want to make sure I know what I'm doing.

The laptop will be hooked up to a projector. I have speaker's notes added to the bottom of each slide.

I want to ensure the slides that are visible to the audience on the screen don't have my notes on them. What's the simplest, easiest way to do this?

Looking for software to catalog work notes

filthy light thief — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:06:26 -0800

I write a lot of notes for my work, which I type up to keep for my records. My current way to organize these notes is as separate files per day, labeled with the date and a descriptive title. This is decent, but doesn't allow me to easily reference old notes by topic, especially when there are numerous individual references under a single broader topic. Are there programs to help catalog notes and journals by themes, or cross-reference topics, in a vague database format? I'm working in Windows.

How to take notes in CS classes?

estlin — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:35:09 -0800

I find taking notes in my Computer Science classes challenging. Can you share with me your techniques for taking useful notes that are specifically helpful for CS courses? Some situations that are tough:
- sometimes the professor gives us deliberately buggy code and asks us to talk through its issues - what's the best for replicating the debugging process in my notes?
- sometimes we get many many slight modifications of the same basic program
- sometimes there's stuff I don't fully get, or stuff I know I'll want to refer to in the future - how to keep track of these?

I'm asking because among my classmates, I see three types of note-takers:
a. People who use Microsoft Word or a different word processor to just type notes like I'd do for my history classes - works, but formatting gets all messed up, no handy color coding of different components of the language, and just generally unwieldy if you want to experiment with each snippet of code.

b. People who work directly inside their text editor (we used gedit last semester, using emacs now). If we're working on variations on a change calculator, they save change1, change2, etc - I feel like it's harder to get a sense of the lecture without clicking through every one of those. And what do you do when the professor goes into theory mode and you end up needing to take notes for 5 minutes straight?

c. People who don't take notes at all, who feel comfortable with only thinking through and understanding something once - That is great for them, but I really like being able to recreate sudden blasts of understanding in my notes and reviewing them before exams or when I'm stuck on a bug or whatever.

Metafilter, I know you're lousy with computer scientists and technical folk - here's your chance to shine!

Sending myself a message

Skyanth — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:07:32 -0800

I'm trying to send notes from my iDevice to my Mac, and I'm wondering if such software exists. I don't mean 'Note'-notes. I have a synced note system in place already and I also use Pastebot. These are not the things I'm looking for. Let me describe the situation:

I'm in bed, reading my RSS-feed on my iPhone, as I like to do. Suddenly I see a post about some software or website I'm interested in, like this: http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2012/11/listening-to-podcasts-piecemeal-huffduffer-instacast.html. Wow, I think to myself, I have to check that out. I have to send myself that link so that I can get to it when I'm behind my main computer. I mustn't forget!

This is where my itch comes in. I can create a todo for myself (too much trouble) or send myself an email (this works best, but I don't like sending myself emails). Ideally what I'd like is to send my Mac a message from my iPhone (or a number of messages), so that it/they sit(s) there waiting for me when I finally get to my workstation.

Synced notes (simplenote/nvalt) are not immediate enough. If I do it that way, I'll find the note at one point, buried between the others, and I'll go 'oh yeah, that's that post I was interested in three months ago'. What I like about the email solution is that it sits there waiting patiently, but that I'm sure to see it when I start my day behind the computer.

So... anyone know of a nice software solution?

Cross-platform (Android and iOS/iPad) annotation of ebooks

lillygog — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 07:08:28 -0800

Do you have a workflow for cross-platform annotation (Android and iOS/iPad) of ebooks? Is there a particular note-taking app that will work with DRMed ebooks AND sync my notes across tablets? In an ideal world, I'd highlight/take notes/annotate the ebook on my iPad and have those notes magically show up when I open the same ebook on the Android tablet. Is this easy to do, or hard?

Recommend a replacement for random Notepad windows

Capa — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:26:44 -0800

Recommend a replacement for random Notepad windows Throughout the day I take down random bits of information by launching a new Notepad window and typing away. They're convenient because I can resize them, move them around, etc. The problem is that if I lose power or my PC reboots for some reason, all those notes are gone.

I've tried "Sticky-Note" type applications in the past, but always end up going back to Notepad because of it's dead simplicity and speed. Essentially I need something super clean, lightweight, easy to use, and most importantly auto-saves. Recommendations?

Transparent notes on your desktop

demagogue — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:51:12 -0800

I'm a big fan of Mac OS X's native application, Stickies. Screenshot here: Stickies on overkill. You can make them translucent -- but is there a way/application to make them totally transparent, so that you'd only see the text, floating on top of your wallpaper?

How to be a better note taker for meetings?

mercredi — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:31:58 -0800

What do you do before, during, and after a meeting to end up with concise, but accurate and useful notes? Technical/practical and framing advice welcome. As a junior member of the policy meetings I'm in, I often end up as the note-taker. I don't mind this role, but I wish I could be better at it.

Obviously, increasing how quickly I type help, but I'd also like to be better at listening for the stuff that's important to take down verbatim, and what stuff is better summarized. I'd also like to be better at balancing note-taking with being involved in the meeting.

Ideally, I'd end up with something that was not a transcript, but that had verbatim quotes for some key policy points.

(Generally I'm working in Word or Google Docs, but could be open to other platforms)

Stalking is so 1975

cartoonella — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:27:05 -0800

How to handle weird notes from apartment neighbor Hubby and I live with our cat in an apartment on the sixth floor of a U-shaped building. The day we moved in a few weeks ago, there was a handwritten note on the floor - someone had shoved it under the door apparently - scolding us that we were leaving our lights on all day and all night, and would we please either turn them off or close the blinds. The note was unsigned, but it had a distinctive handwriting.

We had just moved in, and we figured the light issue was a situation arising from the fact that the unit had been unoccupied for a while. Not our fault! We forgot about it.

Over the summer it got unbearably hot in our place. We eventually bought a portable AC unit, but for a couple of weeks we were just leaving the windows open. The place is a studio, so when the people in the other arm of the U across the way are looking out of their windows into ours, they're seeing our bedroom. We wanted to minimize that as much as possible, so we've been doing what we can to keep the blinds closed but turned at a slight angle so we can still get a bit of circulation.

Yesterday I got home before my hubby and discovered another note on the floor. The paper and handwriting looked similar to the note before. This time it was a super friendly communication:

"Hi, apartment neighbor! I have some extra cans of food I don't need! Let me know if your little black cat could use some of this! Feel free to come over any time! I'm at home in the morning, in the early afternoon, and in the evening, and I'm right across the way from you. Cheers! Barth"

It took me a second to realize that this wasn't our neighbor across the hall, it was the creep who'd left us the first note.

Then I'm thinking: ugh, I'll be he's seen me too! Garden-variety perv, and I'm freaked out thinking that he might have seen me in various stages of undress. And this guy isn't content with just being an anonymous peeping tom - no, now's trying to lure me over there with the promise of free cat food!

I'll be installing some curtains, but in the meantime I don't at all feel safe at home, even with hubby. We were keeping our door open to get a cross breeze, but I won't be doing that anymore. Our relationship with the landlord hasn't been great since we had a late payment, but we're fine otherwise. I've been reluctant to get him involved, but - I really dislike the idea that someone I don't know from Adam is keeping track of me and physically coming over to our unit to shove unwanted notes under the door.

Is it harassment at this point, or? Any thoughts welcome.

I would like to fit the entirety of my brain into a plain-text database.

CustooFintel — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:38:01 -0800

Android and Win7 compatible. Tag-based and cross-referenceable. Future-proof. Fast. I have a feeling that my perfect, personal information database solution is lurking right under my nose. But where is it? I'm looking for a database program. Or maybe a notes program. Or an offline wiki. My requirements are fairly simple, but very specific:

1. Compatible with Android and Windows 7. Either with a built-in online sync, or with offline files that I could sync with DropBox or similar. A web-only platform might be acceptable if it was very good.

2. Tag-based organization.

3. Can cross-reference tags. What I mean by this is, I can search for all entries which have tag A and tag B. I would also like if I could search for all entries which have tag C but not tag D, but I consider that gravy.

4. Capable of handling and sorting 1000+ entries quickly.

5. Capable of storing multiple, independently-organized notebooks.

6. Future-proof. I mean, as future-proof as one can reasonably expect. I want to be able to use this same set of data for the indefinite future; decades perhaps.

All that I actually need for each individual entry is one plain text field, and one tags field. I don't need entry titles, or extra metadata, or the ability to save pictures or sounds, or to share my entries with other people, or anything else—though I don't necessarily mind those features existing, so long as they don't slow the program or get in the way.

The closest I've found so far are Evernote, Simplenote, CintaNotes, and tiddlywiki. Each of them has some factors that prevent me from diving in:

Evernote is powerful, has programs for Android and Windows AND a web version, and has pretty good tag support. But it's a bit slow and clunky, and has an enormous number of features that I do not intend to use. It allows multiple notebooks, but you can't search through just one notebook's tags; if you have ten notebooks, all of the tags from all of them get lumped together.

Simplenote is regarded by a lot of people as basically a streamlined, text-only version of Evernote, which almost makes it perfect for me. Unfortunately, there are no good Android apps for Simplenote (with the possible exception of JadeNote), and the website is not really suitable for use on a phone. The way it organizes tags is also wonky, although I suspect this may be due to my inexperience with the program.

CintaNotes is absolutely perfect, but is Windows only and doesn't sync with anything.

Finally, tiddlywiki looks promising, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand it. It seems an iffy prospect to get a version which supports cross-referencing tags, and good Android support.

Using Apple's Native Notes and Reminders for GTD with Mountain Lion

letstrythis — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:45:06 -0800

GTD Question for Apple users: Is anyone using the baked in notes and reminders apps successfully for their GTD workflow? I've used a lot of third party apps, but with Mountain Lion it now seems worthwhile to use the apps Apple syncs automatically. Thoughts? Links? Suggestions? Thanks.

What is the best way to digitize all my old notes from school?

jModug — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:57:16 -0800

What is the best way to digitize all my old notes from school? Hello,

I'm a second year dental student, and I'm looking to make all of my handwritten notes digital. After one year of taking notes and receiving handouts I can't take the volume of paper that has accumulated on my bookshelves. Currently, I want to make all my notes/handouts/old exams into digital files.

I thought scanning into PDFs might be an option, with some OCR integrated into it. I'm willing to spend some cash in order to make this happen. I'm also open to completely different ideas on how to do it that I haven't thought of.

Anyway, here is my setup. I have a mac, ipad, iPhone, and a basic HP scanner. I would like to make the files universally compatible with all computers so that I can throw things on dropbox and look at them anywhere if I need to or if 10 years down the road I switch to another platform I won't lose compatibility. As far as I know that pretty much limits me to PDFs which is fine. (As I mentioned I'm open to other file formats as well)

In summary, I need to know the best way to begin the scanning process, what software to use for mac, and how to cut down on file size with minimum quality loss, and if I need a new scanner or not to do this well.

Thank you so much!

no digital love

threeants — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:45:56 -0800

Index card lovers unite! Looking for non-digital ways to manage citations, sources, etc. for academic research projects. I know I probably eventually need to enter stuff into EndNote or what have you, but I'd find an analog organizational method the most helpful. I'm a very tactile, kinesthetic sort of person and any system that involves entering things to disappear into a digital black hole isn't something I can successfully sustain. I love writing things down...it feels fun to me, so I actually do it.

Anyone have any suggestions? Hoping for something more methodical than simply "write things on paper" but also not something with a zillion moving parts. This may place me as an outlier in dumbness, but I found Getting Things Done way too intricate, confusing, and theoretical for me to really grasp.

Ideally I'd love a system that involves just index cards or something, and derives its flexibility and power from the way you note/organize them, but I won't be too picky.

Thanks!

Ok, it's possible I am just grasping at straws to find an excuse to own an iPad.

pupstocks — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:37:49 -0800

I'm trying to figure out if a iPad is what I'm looking for to help me reduce my physical books, particularly cookbooks and printed (from the internet) recipes. I want to know first whether iPad is the way to go for my specific needs (details within) and then, if an iPad is what I want, which generation iPad & apps would help me do what I want. Or maybe there is a better solution? I'm an avid cook with a large cookbook and cooking magazine collection that grows every year. I also bookmark and/or print recipes from blogs etc. My typical procedure when trying a new recipe is to print the recipe or make a photocopy of the cookbook page. I then make copious notes on the page during and after cooking the recipe. I halve (at least) most recipes, so I always write that information on the page as well.

What I would like to do with an iPad (or whatever) is have my pulled-from-the-internet or page from a book (this could be an ebook from which I PDFed the relevant page) and then be able to make handwritten notes on it with a stylus AND, preferably, attach typed notes as well (like... maybe with a post-it type of thing?) and possibly also attach photos. It would be awesome if it could coordinate with my main computer (a MacBook Pro) in some way, too! For example, if I want to type notes, I'd love to be able to do that easily from my computer and have it zap on over to the iPad. In case it's relevant, I also have an iPhone. I'm an iPerson, apparently. And if the data could be stored in such a way that losing the iPad wouldn't result in me losing all my data, that would be ideal.

I have a Kindle already, and I absolutely love it ... but only for reading novels and the like that don't use images. (My Kindle is a model from a couple of years ago with a keyboard.) I continue to buy physical cookbooks despite my desire to save space in my home and trees primarily because I enjoy seeing the beautiful photography and find it instructive. My goal with the iPad would be to reduce future purchases of physical books and to reduce the amount of paper and toner I'm using by printing physical copies of recipes all the time.

So to reiterate, my questions are:

1. Is an iPad what I want for this? If so, what apps do I need? Or do I want something else entirely (Kindle Fire??)?

2. If I want an iPad, would I be happy enough with an older model? Anything else I need to consider here? If having an original version iPad would be slow/irritating in some way, I'll just wait until I can afford the latest.

I don't really want applications specific to recipes because I think I would like to use this same method for things like art/craft instruction books, textbooks, etc. I usually have a lot of studying going on, typically on a wide variety of topics!

Thanks guys!!

Where can I find studyblue alternatives?

mekko — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:58:45 -0800

My favorite study website removed its note-taking feature. I want to find another virtual backpack service with as many options as studyblue used to have. Any recommendations? So, basically, I used to use studyblue.com to take notes, make flashcards, practice quizzes, etc. I found it convenient to have all my notes cloud-sourced on one page, without having to upload anything unless I wanted to.

I'm starting school again this summer so I was looking forward to using their service.

Until I found out, this afternoon, that studyblue removed its note-taking feature. I thought it was an April Fool's joke at first but no, they actually removed that feature. You can sync with Evernote, which means creating yet another online account, thus making everything needlessly complicated. (Why not retain the notes and add the syncing feature, if only for paid/premium members?)

For me, notes were about 60% of the reason I used studyblue. I liked being able to take notes directly into the website, having the notes save automatically, and being able to access them on the same page as the flash cards and other files. I would have been happy to pay for the note-taking feature if need be, but since even premium members can only sync/upload notes now, I think it's time to look elsewhere.

I have a PC (Windows XP) and a Mac (OS X Leopard). Although I'd prefer to use something that works on both machines, I'd be satisfied with something that just works on one machine.

I don't need or want something that syncs up with twitter and facebook, save to avoid creating another account (e.g. "sign in with twitter."). Also, spreading out all the class notes, terms, etc. over multiple places, each with their own logins and GUIs, makes things unnecessarily complicated.

Any recommendations you can offer for virtual backpack websites/programs are greatly appreciated. I've poked around evernote and quizlet. Neither seem to be what I'm looking for, as described in the above paragraph. (I use Google Docs for other things, but I don't think you can really make flash cards through docs––about 30% of the reason I used studyblue in the past.)

Googling tips would be greatly appreciated too. I'm not really sure what search terms to use to find these kinds of programs and sites.

I should also say I'd be willing to pay up to ~$150, though before I pay, I'd like to be sure I'm not going to wake up one morning and find that a key feature has been disabled. Especially not in the middle of the semester.

TL;DR: I would like to find another website or computer program where I can both take notes and make flashcards, and keep these files organized by course in one location. The ability to create practice quizzes, like this one, would be a big plus.

Thanks!

I want to write-up, but Academic Research has re-wired my brain!

0bvious — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:35:59 -0800

The way I research (academic or otherwise) is increasingly incompatible with the tools I have. Reams of handwritten notebooks, and hundreds of word docs vs a highly tagged website only add to my self-created confusion. I'm drawn to Tinderbox software as a possible solution, but as an adamant PC user I'm locked out. How do you order your research? / How to write-up my PhD now my brain is fried? I'm over halfway through a PhD and finding the writing up difficult, mainly because I have to store so many disparate notes and references in my head (having located them in said notebooks, word docs and all throughout my website).

My PhD is kind of experimental, in that the thesis component of my work will also be submitted as the portfolio (practice-based research).

It means I not only have to write up research, but write into my research, if that makes sense.

I say this, not downplaying the enormous amount of creativity and effort all types of PhDs require. I just think I'm at the stage where my research notes are killing my thinking.

Basically, I feel like hyper-connected culture has rewired my brain to such an extent, that 'traditional' gathering-up-research methods are failing me.

Please advise!

Can someone identify this paper currency?

parrot_person — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:33:47 -0800

Can someone identify this paper currency? My boyfriend found a bunch of foreign currency, some of it pre-WWII, in a drawer he was cleaning out. We identified all of it save this one.

I'm not even sure what country it is from, but I spent a fair amount of time Googling and then comparing it visually to some Chinese/Japanese/Taiwanese paper currency lists I found. Nada.

Notes with pics, please?

deezil — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:53:58 -0800

What's a good Android App that will allow for inline picture additions into a text document and does not require an internet connection to work? We've got some field technicians working on cataloging equipment in our buildings on campus, and we've got a nice shiny set of new Android tablets to do so on. What I'm looking for is an app that will allow our technicians to take a picture, add some text, take another picture, add some more text, ad nauseum as they are out in the field gathering specifications and pictures of all the equipment. Storage can be local, or cloud synced, but as they're in boiler rooms with poor Wi-Fi, we can't depend on it being an always on connection. Evernote is working in a convoluted method right now, but I hate that they have to create notes so they can break up the pictures. Google Docs won't allow for adding pictures inside a text document. Any ideas? Free is almost a requirement, because I have not a lot of budget to work on, but small paid apps may be able to work as well.

How do you track & use ideas from your previous sketch books, journals & diaries?

ooklah — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:43:21 -0800

For those that keep a journal/diary/sketch book: When you start a new book, how do you continue to track and use the good ideas and projects in your old books that you'd like to pursue? I regularly keep a book that holds my thoughts, daily summaries, ideas, meeting notes, sketches, etc. I'd like to come up with a system or work flow that helps me get the most out of my books and prevents me for losing good ideas. Keeping all of these out on my desk is slightly impractical.

Anyone out there ever digitize and catalog a large number of books like this? (I have 25 or so) IF so, how did you deal with the digitized info?

Lastly, if anyone would like to share pointers on their personal method for journaling and marking up your books to keep track of items, I'd appreciate your insight, links and collective wisdom. Thanks!

Dropbox-backed note apps for iPhone/iPad

acb — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:28:49 -0800

Can anybody recommend a good Dropbox-backed text-based notes app for the iPhone? I'm looking for the following properties:

Notes should be plain text files, not wrapped in HTML/SGML/XML/RTF/any other crud

it should be able to edit files not created by itself.

It should support hierarchical folders, ideally within a designated notes folder in Dropbox

It should store the contents of the nodes folder locally, allowing the user to edit them offline, and sync them with Dropbox when it next gets a connection; i.e., if it becomes useless without a data connection, it's not good enough.

Being able to intelligently resolve conflicts between notes updated on the client and server (or at least not falling to pieces if that happens) is a plus. (If subversion and git can do it, surely personal productivity apps can.)

I'm looking to consolidate my notes around Dropbox. At the moment, I have a number of notes in an oldish, slightly idiosyncratic locally-synced iPhone app (SEPV's Notes+), which I chose mostly because its system of categories was a good match for my PalmOS memos, and some other notes in Dropbox. I want to replace the former, and ensure that the latter are accessible offline on my phone.

How to thank estranged relative?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:33:30 -0800

What do I say in a thank-you note to a relative I am on the outs with? Currently a very close relative and I are not communicating. We are not likely to reconcile soon. Email and the phone are not considered "safe" by either of us, but yet - they sent me a small birthday gift. I would like to write them a thank you note to acknowledge that I received the gift and appreciate the thought, but I am stumped. What is a nice, neutral way to write my thanks that has no baggage attached? Every time I start, it devolves into things I would rather not say.

Keyboard Log Me Please

panoptican — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:00:06 -0800

Looking for something almost like a keylogger that can be invoked with a hotkey. Basically, I want to be able to press some keyboard combination to invoke a keylogger, type away whatever it is that I want to type without the screen looking any different, and then press that keyboard combination again to store what I typed in a text document. I want to do this because I would like to surreptitiously record verbatim conversations that I eavesdrop in at various locations.

Ever use such software?

It'd be really cool if there were such a program that could store the text in a Google Doc, but I doubt that exists.

The closest I've got to making this happen is by using Launchy, but that's not invisible.

I'm on Windows.