So, I’ve been searching the Internet trying to answer the question: Is there such a program exactly like Yojimbo that has an inbox? I recently started using Things, and I love it (please no OmniFocus chatter, it was too much for my simple needs and I don’t need to be saved by it anytime soon) and one of the best things is the inbox. For any task I desire, I can throw it in there quickly and easily, then later I can go back and sort it out and feel absolutely satisfied on some anal and compulsive level. So I looked at Yojimbo, thinking it would be the Things to my cluttered Documents folder filled with odds and ends (images, notes, links, etc…). It had a quick input hotkey, like Things, it had the fantastic ability to tag my random and chaotic files, bringing order to disorder. My compulsive side started to tremble. But then the honeymoon ended.
Suddenly I had collected all my random files from separate folders and put them into one random and chaotic application, with tags! The library doesn’t work for me and turns my compulsive side away. I suddenly see a long jumbled list of files with inaccurate and generic thumbnails, I go to the left pane binder and it won’t let me reorganize it the way I want (or get rid of the library option…). Here’s what I was hoping for:
I think of a note, find an image worth saving, or a website worth archiving. I hit the quick input and jot it down, maybe tag it and move it to a folder but maybe not. I open Yojimbo and go to the inbox, there I find all my unfilled entries. I tag them accordingly, and sort them into folders of my design and choosing (and my organization on the left binder). Then when I say to myself, what was that picture I found before, or what was that note, I go to Yojimbo, search for the tag or look into the folder and find it!
Also I would love a 1password Version 3 kind of interface for Yojimbo. The 3 column view instead of 1 column two rows (like mail.app unless you have a certain wonderful plugin). The first column should be the binder, the second should be thumbnails (actual thumbnails!!! Not generic icons) of the files (in a nice shelf look like in 1password) and the third column should be the preview column where the item is shown and maybe the metadata associated with it. Tags should go across the top as a banner like in things, so that I can quickly sort through them from anywhere in the application.
Anyway, this is just my rant, and I would love to hear your opinions on this (ideally you have the perfect suggestion for me?). As always, LaL forums are always the first place to find answers and solace on the web!
Have you had a look at Together. I have moved all my random material into that, rather than Yojimbo, as it seems more intuitive. I keep Yojimbo for passwords, etc. Mind you, Yojimbo 2 seems much more intuitive than Yojimbo 1.x
I don’t know if Together will do it for you, but it might be worth a look.
Either Together or EagleFiler sounds like it will be more what you are looking for. In both of those applications, tags can be entirely secondary to folder sorting. In EagleFiler, the “Inbox” is merely the “Unfiled” smart folder, or potentially “Untagged” depending on how you use it.
It may be to lightweight for your purposes, but ShoveBox (http://www.wonderwarp.com/shovebox/) has the inbox you seek, the quickjot feature, and the ability to handle notes, URLs, and the like.
As always, wow! I have tried Together and I found it to have the same problems as Yojimbo, but I will keep at it! As for the other suggestions, I greatly appreciate them and will try them all! It’s good to know that my compulsive side has buddies on the net! Thanks again!
Dan,
DevonThink Pro now has a system wide inbox that you can add to at any time. It sits (if you choose) at the edge of your screen and you can drag anything you want into it. Personally, I don’t use it (I have a real thing about visual stuff on my screen) BUT it also adds a service so you can add clippings to a text file in the inbox (either append to a notes file or create a new note), and this I do use. AND it adds an Inbox icon to the sidebar in the folder. I use this sometimes too.
The other service that I often use in DevonThink Pro Office is automatic OCR of scanned documents. I use this a lot both for work, study & home research purposes. Once it is in the DTPro inbox, I then allocate it to the desired DT database.
Might this do some of what you are looking for? It’s worth a look.
Devonthink is a good bet for heavy-duty research. You can fill its inbox with clips from the web or mail via drag and drop, hotkeys or the Services menu, and it maintains links back to the original page/email. Or you can use the “Sorter”, a desktop drawer, and drag material to different database inboxes via that route.
If you need to extract any files from Devonthink, just drag them out, or use the exporter for bulk extraction.
My main database - one of 10 - contains 8.5 million words and shows little lag on my five year old 1.5 GHZ G4 Powerbook.
I’ve been using DT since v1.0, and can safely recommend it as a very solidly-crafted piece of software.
Since Version 2 came out, I’m also happy with Yojimbo, and find that I can usually find stuff easily, and that seems to have made me lose my resistance to saving stuff. I don’t like Together, and somehow the notion of saving little jottings in DevonThink seems ridiculous to me (even though with all the new improvements it isn’t). One app that people haven’t mentioned yet is Notational Velocity: daringfireball.net/linked/2009/0 … n-velocity
DevonNote is the lightweight version of DTPro. It uses the same Sorter box, so you may drop any file or URL there and then sort them out later into projects. Any file saved in DN may also export to DTP via drag and drop. It’s quick, fast, and cheap. Academic discount also available.
Thanks again, I have looked at all the other programs and still my money lands on Yojimbo, but if only I could get it to look the way I want! I emailed the folks at Bare Bones and they say that column view is coming soon. I’ve cleaned up my ideal image mock up and want to know if anyone else would be fascinated by this layout. I’m saying, if I could view all my misc. files in this format, I may be able to make some use out of them!
To be honest, it just looks weird and difficult to understand to me. But keep the mockups coming: it’s great to see what the conceivable possibilities are.
I have been using apps from those guys
Leap and Yep and Deep from ironicsoftware.com/
The problem I have with Yojombo and Together for instance is that they file everything in a their own library. In some cases, it’s a plus, in other instances, it’s not.
Punakea is just for tagging and does it very simply nudgenudge.eu/
Regarding note taking on the fly, Scrivener is good for that too, and I must say the interface is getting more and more elegant, which is important and not the case of Eagle Filer, as powerful as it may be.
), but I tend to live in Yojimbo.