One Note vs Evernote

Okay, so it's been a few days since I started playing around with Evernote. I like it. I like it a lot.

Last night, +Gabrielle B and I were on the phone. I told her about my new-found love in desktop applications. The heffa suddenly reminds me about Microsoft's One Note. (I can call her that because we're family and I say it with love.)

I think it was when I was using Windows Vista that I first saw One Note. At the time, I just thought it was this annoying something (I didn't know or care what) that kept popping up whenever I tried to use Word or Excel. I silenced it. It was getting on my nerves. Never thought about it again.

When I got off the phone with my niece last night, I took at look at One Note. I wanted to compare it against Evernote. Is it nice? Looks like it. Does it have many of the same features as Evernote? Seems to.

Right off the bat, I have to say that I prefer Evernote. For one thing, it's easy to start using (and then learn as you go). It looks neater and more organized. Also, as far as I can tell, One Note doesn't have the "card view" feature that I love in Evernote.

I'm guessing that One Note is every bit as good as Evernote (and it's free, so that's a plus), but it's going to take me longer to learn its ways. Since I'm in the middle of a project that's going so well in Evernote, I'll finish it first. When I have time to jack around with One Note, I will give it a try. Gabrielle is using it already and we've decided to keep comparing our work. (Of course, she's working on things to do with obtaining her Masters degree while I'm just effing around with some fiction. ~smile~ Really.)

Peace
--Free

Best Writing Software (so far)

When I recently posted on some of the aids I'd found for writers, I skipped one: Evernote. I'd used Evernote on my Android and just wasn't impressed. Of course, I hate typing anything more than a quick text on m phone.

I gave Evernote (for PC) a try just because. Guess what? I really do like it.

One of the things I want in writing software is a way to take an organize pieces of a story. Scrivener has a corkboard feature which is nice (so do a couple of other programs, like Celtx Plus) but I wasn't crazy about everything else it has. Also, I'm still trying out Scrivener and Celtx (not Plus) to see if they are worth paying for.

Evernote has two advantages that I could see right off the bat. First, it's very easy to get started with so I didn't need to spend hours and hours figuring out all the features. It will take some time for me to get completely comfortable with the entire package, but I can work with it as I learn. Second, it's free.

As far as the ability to visualize and organize a story, Evernote doesn't have a specific index card type feature. The way it's set up, though, it gives me the same benefit as a board. Kind of hard for me to untwist my brain enough this morning to explain, so:

The "Cards" are in the middle pane

This is the "Index" view. The "Cards" are now shown as lists at the top.

This is the "Snippet" view

You get the idea, right? You can piece together your outline (or chapter and sections) in the right-side panel and still see an overview in the center panel. The far left side is a navigator-type section for all the different Notebooks and such. Because I am using the "free" version, I have the ads and stuff, but that's not a big problem. I am thinking of buying the full version.  To be honest, I'm not really using the software to it's fullest, but it's working well for me as is.

Good luck with your projects.

Peace
--Free