welcome to you
pl inform digital notepad

Eric

I have one note mobile to extend my notes when I don’t have my tablet. They are synced automaticlly then availible

Now… if could only Microsoft furhter extend OneNote by integrating it into Outlook and have it synching with the Exchange Server…

I have been a big fan of your site for a long time and fellow UMPC (Q1) owner. I am a Flash Developer in NYC and I can’t live without my digital hand written notes. I was going to send you an email but saw this post. I just developed an online digital Napkin Notebook for a real Napkin Notebook being sold at the MoMA store. On the site (I developed this for Tablet users in mind) you can make your own sketches and email them to friends. Here is the site: http://www.napkinnotebook.com I hope you enjoy. I can’t express how much fun this site is to use on a Tablet/UMPC. It is a shame I can’t get the tablet’s pressure setting inside of Flash… Maybe in the future when more people use tablets and it becomes a little more main stream. Here is a poorly rushed sketch of your logo http://napkinnotebook.com/view_sketch/2172

Sure, sure, TabletPCs are wonderful, but can you leave a note for someone who *isn’t* as wired as you are?

Years ago, I was enamored with the ability to send my contact info from my Palm V to any other Palm device. It was glorious, with one major flaw:

Not everyone had a Palm device!

I’ve tried living out of the Tablet PC environment, and it only works up to a point for me. My writing ends up more cluttered and unusable on-screen than it does in a notebook, and if I want to dump data from the notebook, I use a scanner.

Is it perfect? No. Is it better than an electronic notebook? No. Is it always available to me, no matter what? Absolutely, but it’s all about the right tools. You won’t carry a 15″ convertible tablet if you can help it, and I won’t carry a letter-sized wirebound notebook.

I carry a pocket Moleskine Cahier and a Fisher Stowaway pen at all times, and a Fisher Bullet Pen along with a pocket Moleskine in my bag. Each of them has a pocket for a couple of blank index cards and a circular slide rule.

If something goes in the notebook, I’ve got it with me at all times. Sure, I go through the often-lengthy process of transcribing notes, but I also don’t forget as much. When I rely on the computer as my mental dumping ground, it’s all in this massive soup from which I can never remember anything.

For me, there’s nothing more permanent than actual ink on actual paper, though that just might improve as eInk catches up. The basic problem remains, though: I start writing before 9am, and jot down info until sometime around midnight. Whatever I’m using can’t be left behind, can’t crash, and can’t run out of power. On top of all of that, it must be portable enough to be with me at all times. There’s no computing device on the market that hits all of those notes just yet.

You know, I’ve got thousands of notes, I love OneNote and use it daily, and I have frustrations with it daily. My pen may start to fall behind the stylus without apparent reason (plenty of memory, CPU usage may or may not be 100%); searches aren’t flawless (although they are remarkable, and I’m very amazed with the function) nor instantaneous (they are in a single section, but not over multiple years of notebooks); I had more programmable pen choices with the old version (I can program the same pen any color, but in the older ON, I could put up a pallet of colors and thicknesses other than the stock shades, thin or thick).

Jumping from notebook to planner can be awkward, although the linking is instantaneous, as is making a task of a jotting by touching a flag or checkbox.

But leafing through a paper notebook has its own rewards as your eye falls on a chronology of your thinking and experiences. Same with a paper planner versus Outlook. I can’t circle dates in Outlook, draw arrows, or see my handwriting (which is at least possible in GoBinder, an amazing piece of software I wish had continued to be developed in its own direction).

That said, I’m certainly not going back to paper; I put all agendas and meeting notes, etc. in OneNote, link to Outlook and MindManager frequently, manipulate text and handwriting, and am very happy to have years and years of notes with me, instead of having to leave them in binders, file cabinets, post-its, 3×5 cards, and, as James pointed out, napkins. That’s huge. And I follow Microsoft’s advice to put the notebooks on a flash drive, and sync them at several locations.

I do have a wishlist of features for it, though. For example, you can password protect a notebook section, but not a whole notebook.

It is the weight and bulk of my Fujitsu 4010 that keeps me from using it more for notes (like notes in a Bible study lecture).

I’m hoping the Dell tablet is lighter, since Dells are so much easier to order in the corporate world.

But I agree, I used to collect filled notepads and have to dig through them months later. Since having a tablet, I’ve not been kept captive by the Multiple Notepad Monster and his henchman, the Clutter Creep.

I agree with Sumocat about being able to easily and cleanly erase my writing. It’s amazing how often I want to erase something — such as when I write quickly and my handwriting is so awful that I know if I don’t erase it and immediately write it clearly, I’ll never be able to read it!

I also love being able to move down paragraphs. So many times I want to add more information to my notes — as I’m quickly scribbling them — and I want to place the information where there is “no room.” So I just move down the entire page and, voila, I have as much room as I need.

Paper does have its advantages (no batteries needed, no boot up required, etc.). But for taking notes, I’m spoiled by inking.

Love the write-up, particularly the reminder that the digital approach allows “one pen to rule them all”. Dealing with a variety of pens, markers and highlighters at work is such a pain in the rear compared to swapping cursors and colors with my tablet pen.

One addition: The ability to cleanly erase on the tablet has spoiled me to the point that I must slow down when writing on paper to avoid filling it with scratch-outs.

Great post as always, James!

Agree with your approach…

One of the main reasons for going electronic instead of paper for notes is the fact that with electronic notes you can have a backup of them.

If your tablet gets lost or stolen, God forbid…if you have a backup file you can get back in business soon after getting a new device. If the same thing happens with your trusty ol’ (no batteries needed) paper notebook, you’re S-O-L….