This has been the best for me... you go register for free on their site. They give you a toll free #. You save this # in your cell phone. Anytime an idea hits you, you call the # and speak whatever it is that's on your mind. Jott then sends you an email (pretty fast turn-around!) with your message typed out. I was surprised to see pretty accurate spelling of names! I've been sharing this site with friends and co-workers. It's a free service. Enjoy. & btw, your blog is great! I'm going to link to one of your posts... Thanks again!
Glen Stansberry
· 1 year ago
Hi Christina,
Actually, Jott is under the phone tools. Thanks for the in-depth explanation though! :)
Metroknow
· 1 year ago
Wow Glen - great comprehensive list. I use a moleskin primarily, but I also use Google Docs and Samurize for online stuff. I love the alpha blended view of Samurize for my desktop, although I am slowly switching over to Mac - at which point Quicksilver is my best choice.
Great work - Duly Digg'd :)
Jared Goralnick
· 1 year ago
I use a lot of these...but the one I use most isn't on the list: Microsoft OneNote. While it can be used for both a quick idea and a hour long brainstorming or note-taking, its search, audio, video, hand-writing recognition, organizational tools, and interface are a pleasure.
Art Gonzalez
· 1 year ago
Moleskine notebook is my trusted tool. Is very handy and stylish.
I've used almost all of these apps in various degrees, each with their own quirks. Where I'm stuck is defining an actual system between them. Do I use JOTT to just send notes to my RTM account? Or do I use JOTT to handle the list itself. Do I sync it with 43Actionss? What about Evernote, do I keep to-do's in there? Do I snap photos with my iPhone of my notes in my moleskine? And when I do, do I send them to Evernote or Jott? Hopefully you see my problem here.
I'm just wondering how my fellow readers are USING these in conjunction with each other. Or is one tool doing it all for you guys?
Bill [Proud user of an iPhone, RTM, Evernote, 43Actions, JOTT, Moleskine, GMail, Gcal, toodledo, etc, etc]
Lindsay
· 1 year ago
Great list. Note2Self sounds like it would be great for me, as I usually have my brilliant (and idiotic) ideas while I'm out walking the dog or on the road listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I usually have my iPhone with me and use the notes feature which is kind of slow (and a bit awkward when you're holding a dog leash too!). :)
Robb
· 1 year ago
Anyone have any experience with http://chandlerproject.org/ ? I was turned on to it just today, but haven't tried it out yet.
Robb
· 1 year ago
Anyone have any experience with http://chandlerproject.org/ ? I was turned on to it just today, but haven't tried it out yet.
Robb
· 1 year ago
Apologies for the comment spam/dup (Ack! I'm doing it again!). I had javascript off and it didn't look like the comment was going to post. Great post. I look forward to exploring some of these options. I picked up some moleskines at a going out of biz sale last year for $1 a piece (!) - love em for journaling/note taking.
Fred Schechter
· 1 year ago
Hilarious! You use my favorite capture mechanism and yet don't mention it at all. Delicious! (no, Delicious the site).
I use Evernote, Jott, delicious, Palm Centro, and moleskine to mild effect.
Michael@Awareness * Connection
· 1 year ago
Wow this is thorough. You hit on a LOT of them. The spy watch is less expensive than lots of similar looking regular quartz watches. Funny. I'll stick with my standard olympus voice recorder and with my iphone apps—still deciding which I like for voice.
I also like Levenger pocket briefcases. Weird name for them, but they are very nice leather writing pads. I use one that is for 3 x 5 cards and that has 3 pockets. The more expensive one that I have has a pen along with it.
Did I miss the Fisher Space pen in the list?
wickedblog
· 1 year ago
Nice comprehensive list, thank you. I was just looking for some cross platform options and a review on those available for the new-to-me mac OS.
tru
· 1 year ago
Just one thing on the Moleskine - its binding is not leather.
DanGTD
· 1 year ago
Google Notebook is also good, and much lighter than Docs. It has even a browser extension that you can use to save snippets quickly while browsing.
Tabs
· 1 year ago
I get my best ideas in the shower, I get in and the ideas pour out and by the time I am done I will be lucky if I remember one of them. I may have to check out the "Rite as Rain" thing, thanks I may yet be able to get my best ideas to the world.
Thanks for the list,
Chuck Frey
· 1 year ago
I like GyroQ, an add-in for MindManager which sits in your Windows system tray until invoked with a Ctrl-Q command. It provides a single line for idea input, and stores ideas within the app until you send them to your default mind map for further processing. Then GyroQ retreats out of view, enabling you to quickly get back to what you were doing. I also recently purchased a pocket-sized Sony digital recorder, which I'm going to try out for capturing ideas, then transfer them to Dragon NaturallySpeaking for conversion to text. We'll soon see how that works (fingers crossed).
Corey
· 1 year ago
How about more ideas for obscure locations. In the car, on a jog, in the shower, waking up in the middle of the night, in the bathroom, etc.
Sarah11918
· 1 year ago
Was just this morning turned on to SketchBox billed as a "multifunctional yet uncluttered – Sticky Notes Manager for your Mac Desktop." I've downloaded, but haven't tried it yet, but given that my desktop is smothered whenever I open Stickies, it might be helpful!
What about Microsoft OneNote? I use it on my laptop and my mobile phone, and it automatically synchronizes between the 2. Invaluable...
cburnham
· 1 year ago
http://iwantsandy.com is a great to do list, calendar, appointment, contacts web app that works very well with Jott. It also will email you an .ics file you can save to your outlook
HIB
· 1 year ago
I've used some of these idea capture tools, but I've found that the best way is to keep a notebook in my car. I then transfer that to an IDEA document in google documents.
A lot of these programs are great, but if it's not an application that I don't interface with often, I'll forget about it and won't use it which is why Google Documents works for me.
Dougist
· 1 year ago
I'm surprised Journler didn't make the list. I wrote about it last week as my key writing tool.
It acts as both my idea collector and manager when I want to organize my thoughts. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux and has some great features so things don't get lost. I can dump a thought in anywhere (meaning it's bottom-up rather than top-down organizing) and it can travel on a flash drive. It connects to virtually any software doc you want and has drop-in email linking.
I use a notebook when I'm absolutely unplugged, but then I move things to my Brain to collect them in one place. I love it --
thomas78745
· 1 year ago
Thanks for this post, some of these I have never heard of. Maybe you would do a post on developing complex ideas once they are saved? I use Inspiration on a Mac. I would love to hear what other people are using.
Business Door Hangers
· 1 month ago
Great post the worst thing in the world is thinking of a great idea then forgetting it. I try and keep notepads and pens everywhere especially in areas where i think of my best ideas.
Sometimes i think of a lot of good stuff when i lay down to sleep since my mind is more clear, but its a little annoying having to turn on the lights and find a pen and paper to writ it down so i can go back to bed!
All Comments
www.jott.com
This has been the best for me... you go register for free on their site. They give you a toll free #. You save this # in your cell phone. Anytime an idea hits you, you call the # and speak whatever it is that's on your mind. Jott then sends you an email (pretty fast turn-around!) with your message typed out. I was surprised to see pretty accurate spelling of names! I've been sharing this site with friends and co-workers. It's a free service. Enjoy. & btw, your blog is great! I'm going to link to one of your posts... Thanks again!
Actually, Jott is under the phone tools. Thanks for the in-depth explanation though! :)
Great work - Duly Digg'd :)
Thanks for the info on the rest of the tools.
Art Gonzalez
Check my Squidoo Lens at: Quantum Knights
I'm just wondering how my fellow readers are USING these in conjunction with each other. Or is one tool doing it all for you guys?
Bill [Proud user of an iPhone, RTM, Evernote, 43Actions, JOTT, Moleskine, GMail, Gcal, toodledo, etc, etc]
I use Evernote, Jott, delicious, Palm Centro, and moleskine to mild effect.
I also like Levenger pocket briefcases. Weird name for them, but they are very nice leather writing pads. I use one that is for 3 x 5 cards and that has 3 pockets. The more expensive one that I have has a pen along with it.
Did I miss the Fisher Space pen in the list?
It has even a browser extension that you can use to save snippets quickly while browsing.
Thanks for the list,
http://www.omz-software.de/sketchbox_index.html
A lot of these programs are great, but if it's not an application that I don't interface with often, I'll forget about it and won't use it which is why Google Documents works for me.
http://dougist.com/index.php?p=25
Doug
It acts as both my idea collector and manager when I want to organize my thoughts. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux and has some great features so things don't get lost. I can dump a thought in anywhere (meaning it's bottom-up rather than top-down organizing) and it can travel on a flash drive. It connects to virtually any software doc you want and has drop-in email linking.
I use a notebook when I'm absolutely unplugged, but then I move things to my Brain to collect them in one place. I love it --
Sometimes i think of a lot of good stuff when i lay down to sleep since my mind is more clear, but its a little annoying having to turn on the lights and find a pen and paper to writ it down so i can go back to bed!