[jprint714]

I work as a reporter and often research large, sprawling investigative projects. I'm looking for the best information manager software out there, and am wondering what would work best. Here are the features I'm looking for:

-Allow me to me to easily attach a reference to a file (as opposed attaching a whole file, which would eat up a ton of space), AND allows me link to a particular section w/in a file (for PDFs, Word / RTF docs, web pages, etc.). Some sort of drag and drop feature would be great...

-It would be great if it would also allow me to attach a similar reference to sound files as well, such as WAV or MP3s -- for interviews.

-Interfacing w/ Spotlight and, if possible, Mailsmith, NetNewsWire, and FileMaker Pro (tricky, I know).

-Powerful searching capabilities, and searching options that will allow me to refine searches

-Indexes everything, builds cross-references, and allows extremely flexible input

-Encryption or some level of added security

I've heard people reference Devonthink Pro, Circus Ponies' Notebook, Yojimbo, and TopXNotes. Any suggestions?

[turtle777]

DevonThink is the only one that I could see fitting the bill.

Circus Ponies' Notebook (last I reviewed it) was unstable.
I looked briefly into Yojimbo, but wasn't too impressed.

-t

[Chuckit]

Take a look at Voodoo Pad. It's less like a database and more like a personal wiki than most of the apps you named up there. Whether you view that as a plus or a minus is a matter of opinion, but I think it's a very well-designed app for what it is.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Take a look at Voodoo Pad. It's less like a database and more like a personal wiki than most of the apps you named up there. Whether you view that as a plus or a minus is a matter of opinion, but I think it's a very well-designed app for what it is.

I don't think that's what he's looking for.

Otherwise, I would have recommended Evernote (which I have been using for quite a while now).

The the following features (indexes everything, builds cross-references, attach a reference to a file, allows me link to a particular section w/in a file) is way beyond any advanced Notepad apps.

I think only DevonThink can do that kind of stuff.

-t

[jprint714]

Thanks so much! Am actually trying out DevonThink right now. Am trying to figure out the most efficient way of linking to select portions of text w/in a given file... Would be great if they had an interface for doing the same w/ audio files as well...

Thanks again!