OneNote competitor?

I'm not sure if One Note comes with the MS Office for mac... but if it doesn't is there a competitor to One Note? I'll be using my mac for a lot of note taking and it would be nice to have something like One Note.

Any ideas?

 

Anything that MS Office has on the Windows version the Mac MS Office has as well.

 

Awesome.

 

There are many good OneNote alternatives for OS X. This is one area where OS X has a much richer selection of software tools than Windows. Also, this software tends to be more mature and more full-featured than OneNote. Circus Ponies Notebook and Aquaminds Notetaker both started development back in the NeXT days, and both are really quite mature now. Even OmniOutliner has been around slightly longer than OneNote, and is in its third full version (actually, 3.5), while the second full release of OneNote is still months away.

This area is so rich you may even have trouble choosing. Here is a list of software to consider. Each puts a little different spin on the notebook concept; find one that works well for you:
- ZenGobi Curio
- Circus Ponies Notebook
- Aquaminds Notetaker
- OmniOutliner
- Hog Bay Mori
- Tinderbox (this one has a crude UI, but is really powerful under the surface)
- Flying Meat VoodooPad

A related area of software you'll want to investigate is information gathering and processing tools. Here again, there is a richer set of software available for OS X. Some software to consider:
- DevonThink
- Yojimbo
- SOHO Notes
There is also some overlap with the first list of software I gave you.

Finally, Office for Mac includes a lightweight notebook view that isn't in the Windows version and reminds people a bit of OneNote. But personally I'd go with one of the pieces of software listed earlier. I use OmniOutliner, but that's because it fits my way of working and it's fully scriptable.

 

OMG thats a lot of options Alan. Thanks, when I get my unit, i'll definently have to try some of those out!

 

Omnioutliner comes already installed on my Macbook.

 

Access? Visio? Frontpage?

 

Yeah, but access is terible (for real databases). I'll be using oracle for my database development and well... visio... it's not bad.

Frontpage... why? it's a terrible WYSIWYG.

 

Yeah, dunno about visio... I don't use MS office really at all and I don't know much about Visio.

Anyways if MS didnt release the same thing on one version for another operating system but nonetheless release something I think thats considered a bit anti-trust not sure, it kinda falls into a grey area.

 

OmniGraffle is a fantastic Visio alternative on OS X. I've been using Visio since version 2.0, and honestly, most of the stuff added after version 3.0 (even before the MS purchase of the company) degraded the usability of the product. On the other hand, I really enjoy using OmniGraffle. The defaults are excellent. The way it handles fills, drop shadows, and layers, as well as the keyboard navigation, are all superior to Visio, IMHO. What OmniGraffle doesn't have is the "ShapeSheet" concept behind the scenes, but I'm not convinced most Visio users know it's even there.

 

Do you by any chance know if it can do sequence diagrams, database diagrams (ERD) and other SW development diagrams? Visio does it, but it handles them really bad(except for ERD's).

 

That wouldn't really fall under anti-trust regulations. Either way, Microsoft does not really make them identical. The last time they actually made the Mac and PC versions identical was back in the Office 6.0 days, I think (when the Mac version was actually a direct port of the Windows version, and was generally terrible).

So no, Microsoft Office 2004 does not feature many of the components of Office 2003 (especially not most of the professional ones like Visio, etc.). OneNote doesn't have an equivalent in Office 2004 (although there is the Notes view that was pointed out).

 

I'm not really sure about how good the stencil sets are for these, because they're not really diagram types I'm familiar with. However, just looking at the stock set of stencils, it comes with diagrams for ERDs, various types of UML, and a few other things. You'll probably find what you want. I'm not sure how useful it is, but here's a sample software diagram done with OmniGraffle:
http://phrogz.net/RubyLibs/RubyMethodLookupFlow.pdf

 

I've used OneNote in school...it's working for my needs but I'd be very inclined to see what else is out there. Buuuuuuuuut I'm on a PC so from the sounds of it that limits my options.

OT: That being said, I think there aren't any viruses written for the Mac because people are too busy DESIGNING RICH, COOL, FEATURE-INTENSIVE PROGRAMS. *sigh*

 

? that almost sounds like a complaint about not having viruses on macs.

or just sarcasm I'm not picking up

But yeah, we won't really see mac viruses heavily spread until they take a much larger share of the computing world. But regardless, Mac won't have as many as developing them is much harder (i believe) for a mac.

 

Yeah. For what it's worth, problems in the underlying OS have as much to do with it as marketshare. I think Microsoft has tended to use the general "we have some many viruses because we have such dominant marketshare" excuse, because it does sort of absolve them of any culpability (that is, people don't think Microsoft was negligent and instead think they have just been a victim of massive success). Certainly marketshare is a big factor, but the OS and software itself also is responsible. If MS hadn't left such gaping holes in Windows, IE, Outlook, etc. many of the most serious viruses wouldn't have necessarily been able to spread so easily.

This is something MS and Apple and everyone else needs to remember (note that even Firefox has had some potential security issues); you can't hide behind marketshare, etc..... whether you have 1% of the market, 5%, 10% or 90%, a virus can take advantage of security holes and inherent flaws in how software is put together.

-Zadillo

 

True zadillo, I did mean that since they don't hold a larger market share, most people won't bother trying to write visures. If you take the point of creating a virus as to disrupt the most number of users/servers or gain as much information as possible from the largest amount of people the fastest, then doing a virus for Mac simple isn't a viable option.
Windows on the other hand is fairly simple...

It certainly doesn't absolve MS from taking responsiblity and using it as an excuse. They need to make the OS much more secure. Granted, every OS will have a security flaw, just like even unix systems can have security flaws.

 

Hrm, I took at look at Omni's site and it doesn't state much about doing technical / engineering diagrams. I'm hoping they look more professional than some of those screenshots. Bringing in a diagram that looks all... bubbly to a meeting wtih some of our university provosts could be... unpredictable

 

Okay, I pretty much tried all those programs out and none of them really compare to one note.

Mori seemed to be the best one, but doens't allow drawing straight on the page unfortunantly. Overall I think thats what I'll end up using as it's easy to organize classes and dates and stuff.

Anyway, thanks for the help. Hopefully we'll see a one note version on mac sometime soon.

 

Thats surprising that the OmniGroup software didn't meet your needs, did you try the standard or professional version?

I always see nothing but raving reviews for OmniGroup's stuff.

 

I didn't try the pro app, just the one that comes with OS X. It's not bad. But it's not great.
I mean, it's not much of a note taking tool. More of just what it says it is... an outline tool. And it's great for that. Just nothing else. The pro version didn't really add anything new thats impressive to it.

Omnigraffle is a neat program, though there are a few things that are really holding it back from being a great program. But maybe thats just cause I haven't unlocked it's abilities yet.

 

Isn't taking notes basically an outline?

Thats how I always seen it as.

You write a title, then a subject/topic/word and underneath that you put in useful information related to it. I know a quite a few people who use OmniOutliner in classes for notetaking, or right before Exams they will compile it all together in OO and print it out, because there are some classes that let you use notes on Exams/tests/quizzes and such.

I know for a fact, that the Pro versions of OmniGroups software are where the real treats are, however its different for everyone who likes what. Anyways, OmniGroup does indeed have a rich software collection.

Good luck in your search.

 

Yeah, see the way we take notes, they don't go like that.

Often, we need to do diagrams and other notes that outline style really cannot provide for.

 

If you're into diagrams, OmniOutliner may not be the right tool for you. However, it's worth considering using it in conjunction with another tool, like FlySketch -- i.e. when you want to draw a diagram, press the FlySketch hotkey, draw, then drag what you've drawn to OO (or whatever program). Also consider VoodooPad, which has integrated sketching. I'm sure you've also tried ZenGobi Curio, which is heavier on the diagramming.

I do agree that it's easier to do diagrams and tables within OneNote, but on the flipside, I find the core outlining UI in OneNote is pretty rudimentary and not particularly usable. (I think the boxes/pages metaphor is fundamentally flawed, especially for later editing/reorganizing.) The way my mind works, I consider outlining the most important part of notetaking -- this is why I was using Ecco Pro rather than OneNote to do notes when I was on Windows -- but different people work in different ways. Choose something that works for you. (You can always run OneNote in Parallels if it's a major stumbling block for you.) I'm a law student, so the material may have something to do with my views. I did my undergraduate degree in mathematics, and I never would have used a computer to take notes in those classes; too many equations. Believe it or not, one of the law students around here uses MS Excel (on Windows), for taking notes because she wants the freedom to move things around in a unitary way and she feels OneNote's boxes just get in her way, but she still wants the ability to add spatial information. Different strokes for different folks. At least there are a lot of different choices on OS X.

 

I tried voodoo pad. I was not impressed with it at all.

I can't remember if I tried Curio or not. I'll have to double check that.

I didnt' want to have to actually use 2 different programs to do stuff. I may end up having to just resort to using parallels and one note...
ah well, i still need to experiment with them more. There are features I like in many different apps, but I havent' see one that has all those great features together.

Hrm... maybe I should start developing something that has the best of all the apps

 

Best List of Personal Notebooks

This was just on the front page of digg. Seems relevant to the discussion.

~Pip

 

That's not a bad idea, if you have the time and inclination. I'd encourage you to go for it! One thing to consider is that a lot of these apps are scriptable via AppleScript (Aquaminds NoteTaker also lets you embed Java plugins on the notebook page itself), so it may be possible to customize one to your desired workflow without having to start from scratch.

If you have a technical background, I'd encourage you to download Ecco Pro sometime and give it a whirl just for interest's sake. It's a Windows app that still has a cult following because there is a powerful data model (each line item on a notepad is, behind the scenes, a row in a database with extensible columns, and notepads are just views on this live database). For instance, you can enter a list of Todos, and have different notepads ordered by project or by context (or by anything else) live. That's just scratching the surface of what it can do. Because any item can have any set of fields applied to it (i.e. any schema), a memo can simultaneously be a todo and it can simultaneously be a record of a phone call or anything else. There hasn't been anything like it since in terms of combining a notebook metaphor with data-driven concepts. It's still structured and outline-based, so it doesn't solve your desire for freeform OneNote-style notes, but I suggest looking at it because it offers one perspective on what might be done to take notetaking programs in different, powerful directions, and it's interesting to speculate on what directions OneNote could have been taken with just a bit more structure and a bit more power. (If OmniGroup could be persuaded to add live views to OmniOutliner plus hideable columns and direct iCal integration, it would be pretty close to Ecco, though undoubtedly not as elegant.)

 

This is pretty much why Apple made AppleScript and Automator, these were made to replace what some people feel that are missing, and these two technologies most notably AppleScript is pretty much mostly just limited to your imagination, with some creativity you can easily fill in the gaps that you feel exist in current programs.

 

Hollownail, I took another look at ZenGobi Curio tonight. It's really come a long way since I last looked at it. You should give it a spin. I think it will meet your needs for a OneNote replacement, e.g.:
http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/gallery/pages/college/images/screen1.jpg
I like some of the more structured features as well, e.g.:
http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/gallery/pages/projectManagement/images/screen1.jpg
especially the support for both flags and tags:
http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/gallery/pages/projectManagement/images/screen4.jpg

 

hollownail, I was just curious, what did you think of Circus Ponies Notebook?

http://www.circusponies.com/

I was at the Apple store and saw it, and it actually looked pretty robust to me. Just sort of curious if you tried it and if so what you thought of it, what it might have been missing, etc?

 

Hrm, I don't remember. It says I already have a license... 0.o
I can't remember if i did use that one now.
I'll take another look at the zengobi though. Too bad I won't have money to put toward anything until January.

 

I'd definitely be curious to hear what you think of NoteBook; mainly just because that had one of those "product comparison" charts on the back and it seems like they do offer a lot of features the other programs don't, and I'd be curious if it was closer to what you were looking for.

 

I think Hollownail's point was that notebook software based on a strict outline structure didn't really work for him. Notebook enforces an outline structure, so it doesn't meet his needs. It's about what notetaking metaphor works best for a person. If a person works with outlines almost exclusively, does a lot of reorganizing/restructuring, and appreciates a structured approach, software like this works great. On the other hand, less structured software like OneNote works better for other people. Reorganizing outlines is a more of a pain in OneNote, but being able to position things in arbitrary ways is nice. Depends on how a person works.

 

Ahh, I see. Just from the screenshots I got the impression that NoteBook allowed some pretty freeform organization, so I was thinking it might be closer.