Re: PIM software

de Michael Laplante 01/18/2007 06:34

"Steve" <teu@qprc.inv> wrote in message
news:s0nuq2dbdhhpdtv9op1bg653mr8cs29pp8@4ax.com...
> Looking for PIM that will import data in CSV or tab delimited format.
> I have thousands of misc notes that can be exported (from ECCO) in
> these formats. The new PIM should have the ability to import as
> individual notes, not as one huge block of text. Any ideas? Thanks!

My suggestion would be to import into a good spreadsheet program and use
that instead. I would recommend to you, the practice used by all good chefs.
They don't use fancy kitchen gadgets, or prepared foods. Instead they use
simple utensils but the best they can afford. And they keep their pantries
well stocked with the basics as these can be combined in a myriad of ways to
prepare an endless variety of meals.

WTF is he on about, you ask?

I check in with a multitude of these productivity sites such as Lifehacker
and it amazes me how people could take such a simple concept as organizing
and prioritizing information and make it -- well, so damn complicated. I
used to use many of the recommended programs or similar ones and I came to
realize I spent more time getting the info into the program, or moving it
between different programs for different purposes than I did actually using
the information.

Now I follow the KISS principle. I would suggest a good text editor, a good
spreadsheet program, a macro program and a search program would satisfy over
90% of the needs of 90% of people out there. That's my "pantry" ,so to
speak, and using them I can combine them in a myriad of ways for my
purposes. That's it -- just four programs and there are good freeware
versions of all of these out there.

Additionally, PIM and information programs come and go (Ecco, Sidekick,
Keynote, several Corel products whose name escapes me, etc) and you are
forced to go through contortions to get your data out and into the next
program to come along.

Now I simply use:
Notetab Pro (however, Notetab Lite is freeware and will do just as well)
MS Excel (but there are freeware versions out there such as OpenOffice)
Windows PowerPro (macros)
X1 (freeware search program)

I cheat somewhat and use MS Word when I have a need to "format"
information -- such as mailing labels -- but I know there are freeware word
processors that will do just as well. (Abiward, Open Office).

FWIW

M