KeepNote

I’ve recently been trying to figure out a great way to keep my notes organized for casework and other projects I’m working on.  I admit, I started off just using Notepad, trying to keep track of my dates and times and section off everything in some kind of organized chaos.  This at least got me started up, but it quickly became overwhelming.  I looked over the Internet for some useful tools and found many out there.  I had one request of the software of choice and that was I did not want to be syncing data anywhere.  This may sound odd and a little “old school” but considering the importance of the information I want to keep track of, it has to stay in one place.

So the first program I’m using it called KeepNote.  So far I’m really liking it.

Pros:

Does not Snyc (Pro for me anyways!).  I can back up and restore notebooks if needed, however.

You can create a nice folder structure for your notes, even tabs (which are different notebooks) for different types of content.

Keeps track of times and dates  (it’s not optimal, but depending on how you set up your notes, you can make this happen)

You can change the color of the folder and file icons (sounds cheesy, but I found a good use for it.  I can color code the state of my cases.  e.i. green for active, red for priority, green check mark for closed cases.)

Has text formatting options.

Trash can where you can get rid of stuff you do not want and delete it later.

Ability to attach files

Cons: 

Even though it does keep track of dates, they do not show by default.  You have to click on the time to see the date.  Unless of course, you title your note with a date.

Tab names change depending on what is highlighted.  Would be nice to keep static.

New notes may need to be moved where you want them, but they do easily move.

Screenshot!

Here is a pic of a setup I’m starting with for my case work.  You may also notice I have a “Tools” tab.  I had another idea with this program of keeping track of forensics software I’ll use along with notes of how I used it.  So if I have not used something in a while, I have notes to go back to.

So my search has led me to a good tool so far.  I’ll use this for a while and see if this continues to meet my needs.  If you have other suggestions of good note tools (preferably one that does not sync) please let me know!