January is always a time for New Year's resolutions. Those resolutions frequently involve a desire to become better organized. I've tried many computer software programs purporting to help organize some aspect of life. Out of the dozens I have used, I want to tell you about three that have stood the test of time (I've been using them constantly for at least 6 months). I have no commercial connection with any of the software companies.
1. BrainStorm
BrainStorm software has been around for 24 years, emerging from the DOS era and now a Windows program. Sadly, there is no Mac version available or planned. It is sometimes called an outliner, although it doesn't correspond to the usual concept of an outline. It is more accurately described as a hierarchical list of lists, where only one list has full focus at any moment. The publisher provides a free Diary generator program. The program will produce a BrainStorm file with entries for each day of an entire year. Customizing of naming formats and color-coding for weekends is all quite flexible. I use the file for maintaining a daily task list on my job. It is very simple and fast to enter new tasks and just as quick to change the order and move tasks to future days. The software appears very basic and no-frills, which contributes to ease of use. You can learn the essentials in minutes and begin productively using the software. A video tutorial is available on the website.
BrainStorm has two whimsically named "magic" functions: MagicPaste and MagicLaunch (MagicLaunch is invoked with a rocket icon!). When MagicPaste is turned on any text you copy to the Windows clipboard will be pasted into BrainStorm automatically. It's a great way to quickly collect snippets of text from websites or any text document. MagicLaunch allows you to launch external programs or document files from within BrainStorm. For example, if I have a Word document I want quick access to, I just past the full document path into BrainStorm, then I can use the MagicLaunch icon or keyboard shortcut to open the document. Stefan Bertels' free ClipboardPath add-in for the Windows Explorer context menu works great as a means of getting file paths into BrainStorm.
BrainStorm offers a generous fully functional 30-day free trial of the software. Be sure to get the free Diary generator as well.
2. Scrapbook for Firefox
The Internet browser is surely THE central software in many people's computer usage. The Firefox browser has allowed expansion of the browser's functionality by providing the ability to install extensions to the basic program. One of the most useful extensions is called Scrapbook. Scrapbook has the typical Internet bookmark functionality we're all familiar with. It adds the ability to save archive copies of complete web pages and add your own title and comments as metadata to the captured page. Not only that, you can also highlight and delete selected elements of a captured page. The collection of bookmarks and archived pages can be organized into folders. A full-featured search is available from the program's sidebar. I find Scrapbook so useful because it keeps all of the collecting, annotating, and searching within a single program (the Firefox browser + the Scrapbook extension). Plus, the extension can be used in any common operating system: Windows, OS X, or Linux. And, I almost forgot, Scrapbook is free.
I want to mention a second Firefox extension similar to Scrapbook, but which automatically captures more bibliographic information than Scrapbook. This may be of little interest to most users, but could be helpful for academics and researchers. This program is called Zotero. I've tried it, but have so far stayed with Scrapbook.
3. Taming the Paper Tiger
My experience has been that even the best-intentioned, best-planned filing systems for paper break down after a while. As the system grows, with each added category and each added document it becomes more difficult to ensure fast, accurate retrieval. The folks at Kiplinger's Taming the Paper Tiger claim to have the solution to the paper filing dilemma. The method is disarmingly simple. First, you prepare a file drawer full of hanging folders with the plastic tabs labeled sequentially (Reference 1, Reference 2, etc.). When you're ready to file something you bring up the software which presents a spreadsheet-like grid. Each hanging folder will have a space in the software for a name (or category) and a larger space for listing detailed contents of that folder. You need not (and should not) assign names (like recipes, manuals, receipts...) in advance. You assign the name when you have something to file and require a new file category. If the item you want to file corresponds to a category you already have (for example, I've clipped out a recipe from a magazine and already have a folder called "Recipes") I just drop it in the previously assigned folder and add "Carob Gum-ball Cake" to the folder's contents box. If I need a new category, the software directs me to the next available empty folder and I fill out the folder name, physically file the contents in the assigned numbered folder, and enter the new item's identifying information in the software's contents box.
A few things make this work better than most systems: 1) You can prepare all the file folders and label them ahead of time. 2) You don't have to do all your organizational thinking ahead of time. You do it on an as-needed basis. 3) You use the power of computerized searching to find anything you've filed. All I have to do is remember "Carob" or "Cake" to quickly retrieve my Carob Gum-ball Cake recipe. This will seem trivial with a small system, but becomes essential as the folders and contents grow.
The Paper Tiger website has some great free instructional material. I highly recommend checking out their newsletter archives. Organizing guru Barbara Hemphill has also written a great book Taming the Paper Tiger at Home which is well worth reading.
