Review: Mac information managers

I’ve realized I’m the traditional type. When I find something interesting online, say a nice article on typography or an inspirational CSS snippet, I don’t del.icio.us it: I want to save it locally.

That, and the fact that I amass a huge amount of information over the day, led me to search for what you essentially would call a PIM (Personal Information Manager) of sorts, to keep it all organized. I’ve tested Yojimbo, Soho Notes and Together which I feel are three top contenders on the Mac. But I feel Together has the most to offer. Here’s why:

1. Drag and Drop

I love the ability of dragging and dropping stuff to a shelf on the edge of the screen, instantly saving them. All three apps offer this kind of functionality, but I found that Together’s approach felt more fluid. Yojimbo on the other hand didn’t fare so well. I wasn’t able to import images directly to my library, for example.

2. Just the right features

Soho Notes is so, so bloated. It is full of features I never use (Contact Manager anyone?). It sure does what I want (and a ton more), but it has a tendency to be very slow. Together on the other hand keeps its featureset lean and focused on information gathering.

3. Intuitiveness

Together is intuitive. I love its Portrait Preview pane. It supports nested folders, tags, smart folders, all kinds of notes and snippets, and it’s very lightweight and fast to boot.

So…

If you’re on a Mac in the lookout for a nice, simple and effective PIM application which supports .Mac syncing, download Together and give it a go. I’m sold.

Comments

Rich...! 17 July 2008, 12:30 (Permalink)

Have you considered Evernote?

Zaharenia Atzitzikaki 17 July 2008, 12:30 (Permalink)

Until Evernote learns to clip properly pages with their CSS styles, I won’t ever consider it.

Alex Schleifer 17 July 2008, 12:30 (Permalink)

I’m personally completely infatuated with Evernote. It needs to get some richer clipping and editing tools (and sharing, please) but it just works for me.

Dimitriadis Dimitris 17 July 2008, 12:30 (Permalink)

i use LaterLoop with ScrapBook support to save pages and folders to manage my saves. But the Sync with MobileMe and Automate with AppleScript is killer characteristics for me. I will try Together asap.

Dimitriadis Dimitris 12 August 2008, 00:55 (Permalink)

i use LaterLoop with ScrapBook support to save pages and folders to manage my saves. But the Sync with MobileMe and Automate with AppleScript is killer characteristics for me. I will try Together asap.

Alex Schleifer 20 July 2008, 06:14 (Permalink)

I’m personally completely infatuated with Evernote. It needs to get some richer clipping and editing tools (and sharing, please) but it just works for me.

Zaharenia Atzitzikaki 19 July 2008, 23:15 (Permalink)

Until Evernote learns to clip properly pages with their CSS styles, I won’t ever consider it.

Rich...! 19 July 2008, 12:28 (Permalink)

Have you considered Evernote?

point5 9 December 2009, 00:56 (Permalink)

I've been using the trial of Together for about a couple of days now and I find this app to be a better version of the 'collectors bin' app I have always dreamed of. Tagging, categorizing, previews, bookmarking … Together does it.

Post new comment