My Information Management Apps

Included below is an overview of the Windows information management apps I currently use and recommend. You are welcome to contact me if you have any questions about any of these resources.

TheBrain 15: Personal information management

• Project planning (long-term)
• Research
• Bookmarks (URLs)
• Contacts
• Writing
• Quotations
• Tracking select Q&A correspondence
• Passwords (See note below)

Learn More

• TheBrain as PIM/PKM Hub
  • PKM Hints & Tips
• Samples & Demos
  • Sample Brain Projects
  • Sample Use Cases for TheBrain

EPIM: Task Management

• Robust task and note management with a huge range of customizable features/options
• Deep search
• Customizable filters
• Calendar with full featured reminders
• Links into and out of TheBrain are interoperable
• Email management (which I am not currently using)
• No AI features (which I prefer)
• Customizable and collapsible sticky notes, with multiple panes!
• Perpetual license available for an affordable one-time fee

Obsidian: Public Resource Sharing

• Learn More: My Obsidian Projects

VueMinder: Event & Appointment Calendar

• Attractive, highly customizable interface
• Recurring Events/Appointments
• Reminders & Alerts for Events/Appointments
• Google Calendar sync
• Stable, reliable performance
• Installed and portable versions
• Excellent customer support
• One-time payment (No recurring fees)

Note

• I use VM for event and appointment management, and maintaining a variety of personal logs.
• Notes and tasks are both available in VueMinder, but the note editor is fiddly, so I only use it on a limited basis. My tasks are managed in EPIM (see details above).

Simple Sticky Notes (Free)

• Easy-to-use
• Clean, attractive interface
• Lots of great features, including snap-to-grid desktop display, customizable RTF formatting, notebooks (folders), recurring reminders, auto-expand notes, resize notes to content, show/hide notes en mass, locked notes and backups
  • This app is worth using if only for the excellent recurring reminder feature.
• Limitations:
  • No spell check
  • Notes from only one notebook can be displayed on the desktop at one time. For this reason, I put all my reminders inside the same notebook.

TheJournal: Private/Personal Information

• Private Notes
• Health Log
• Dream Log
• Intuition Log

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

• Highly recommended for personal budget management

Start.me

• Versatile and highly customizable start page ~ Best I've ever used

Related Resources

• TheBrain & Other Apps
• MyInfo Pro: Tasks, Notes, Personal Wiki and more . . . .
• UpNote: Perfect blend of simplicity and functionality | Versatile Formatting
• Forever * Notes: Simple, clear and easy-to-use organizational system for PIM/PKM

About Passwords and Private Data

In the past, I did not recommend keeping passwords and other private data in TheBrain for one important reason: if you ever need to submit your brain to Support for troubleshooting. your private data will no longer be private.

However, a new encryption feature was added in TB12 which allows users to securely protect a wide variety of individual attachments within TheBrain, including attached Markdown files.

In light of this, this new encryption feature now provides much more flexibility in terms of the type of data that can be stored inside TheBrain.

That said, if (for any reason) you still prefer storing your confidential information outside TheBrain, you may want to consider following alternatives:

• For passwords, I recommend 1Password which is integrated with HaveIBeenPwned?, Together, these 2 application will be helpful for managing your passwords, along with any unexpected password breaches.
• For other private/personal information, I recommend TheJournal.