Help me find a personal database/info manager!
December 17, 2012 7:16 AM Subscribe
Looking for the perfect personal database/information organizer. It's not quite DevonThink or Evernote…specific requirements inside:
I'm looking for a program to organize all my research, filing, etc., and I haven't quite found the perfect program yet.
DevonThink is really close: I love the flexibility of folders and tags, the robust search, and the ability to look at materials offline on my iPad. Minor features I like include the "Send to Devonthink" services on my Mac for easy capture and the ability to create documents with templates. But, the one thing Devonthink lacks is a cloud service: I can only get files to my iPad and back by syncing the iPad, and storing databases on Dropbox is not recommended. I don't have the skill to (securely) set up a Devonthink Pro server that I could access from the outside world, unfortunately.
Evernote is another contender. Again, I like the filing options, and how easy it is to share materials from my Evernote database with others. But, Evernote's cloud isn't quite what I want. It looks like I can only have offline access on my iPad if I pay for Evernote Premium. I'm willing to pay money, but only upfront—I am allergic to subscriptions.
MeFi, is there a program that will do what I want? Most of my information will be in text, PDF, or Word documents; I might have occasional pictures or other office files (e.g., Excel) but nothing incredibly unusual. I'd like to access my data from my computer, idevices, and possibly from the web, but that last is not a must-have. Offline access, however, is a necessity.
I'm looking for a program to organize all my research, filing, etc., and I haven't quite found the perfect program yet.
DevonThink is really close: I love the flexibility of folders and tags, the robust search, and the ability to look at materials offline on my iPad. Minor features I like include the "Send to Devonthink" services on my Mac for easy capture and the ability to create documents with templates. But, the one thing Devonthink lacks is a cloud service: I can only get files to my iPad and back by syncing the iPad, and storing databases on Dropbox is not recommended. I don't have the skill to (securely) set up a Devonthink Pro server that I could access from the outside world, unfortunately.
Evernote is another contender. Again, I like the filing options, and how easy it is to share materials from my Evernote database with others. But, Evernote's cloud isn't quite what I want. It looks like I can only have offline access on my iPad if I pay for Evernote Premium. I'm willing to pay money, but only upfront—I am allergic to subscriptions.
MeFi, is there a program that will do what I want? Most of my information will be in text, PDF, or Word documents; I might have occasional pictures or other office files (e.g., Excel) but nothing incredibly unusual. I'd like to access my data from my computer, idevices, and possibly from the web, but that last is not a must-have. Offline access, however, is a necessity.
Having been on a remarkably similar quest, I'm going to risk sounding like a jerk by suggesting that the solution here is to learn to live with Evernote's subscription model. I'm hugely impressed by it and it's now completely integral to my work.
posted by oliverburkeman at 11:32 AM on December 17, 2012
posted by oliverburkeman at 11:32 AM on December 17, 2012
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On a Mac, this will be Spotlight for search, and you could throw in Yep for tagging.
But really, I wouldn't overuse tags.
How you sync that is up to you. Sparkleshare works with your own server if you don't like the cloud. I really doubt you want or need to sync all of your documents. Imagine if one of your devices got misplaced.
posted by devnull at 7:31 AM on December 17, 2012