Research and Document Software

[joeswann]

Hello,

Just wondering what sort of software people use for storing notes, research documents, etc. I am currently revisiting Voodoo Pad because I have a license for it from some years ago. I would like to be able to store things like interview transcripts, notes about family history, etc. so I can tag them, link them together, and search across documents. A wiki app like Voodoo Pad seems like it is a good fit for this, but in this case it doesn't look like the developer is seriously updating the app. Any suggestions?

[B Jansen]

Scrivener is popular for what you're trying to do.

[joeswann]

Thanks. I haven't thought about Scrivener in a long time. Will look in to that.

Still open for suggestions if anyone has other solutions that work for them.

[swcoleman]

Check out DEVONthink.

[eric.vanbeest]

I use DEVONthink Pro by DEVON Technologies. It is much like VoodooPad - but on steroids and then some. I have been using DEVONthink since v 1.5.

My reason for doing so is that (with help of AppleScript) I can copy in source material from the large online repositories of Netherlands civil registries - and then only the 25k HTML file and not the whole 1 MB web page. These documents are referenced with the source number from Reunion so that I can track back information. I have already 45,000 documents, so I need to think about keeping the reference file smaller. I also use it to store source documents from other locations, such as FamilySearch, Ancestry or FindAGrave. And, to top it off, I can keep local copies of other trees adjacent to mine so that I don't have to refer to them online.

I find DEVONthink 3 an invaluable depository for source information. DEVONthink 3 Pro is not "cheap". It's $200 to get you started.

[joeswann]

Thank you all for your input. I liked both products but wound up purchasing Scrivener. Discovered I had a license to v2 I had completely forgotten about which made me eligible for upgrade pricing (about $27) which was a no brainer.