Current "Gotta Have" Software?

[Mike M.]

What are the current "gotta have" software recs. out there? A few years ago penRite was virtually required for improving HWR as well as restoring the "write anywhere" function that had originally been in XP Tablet.

Windows 7 seems to do HWR on its own better than XP, does ritePen help even more? Do you still use ritePen for the "Write Anywhere" function?

Windows 7 has the capability to learn handwriting style- does anyone know if you can teach it to recognize more than one style, say two different people logging in under different names with a different HWR pattern to each login?

Also, there was a lot of comparison in the past between Evernote, GoBinder, etc. prior to OneNote coming out. Does everyone pretty much use OneNote? Are there ways people combine OneNote with something else?

What about "Brain Mapping"/"Idea Mapping" software? Do people just scribble in OneNote or Journal, or is there other preferred software?

Any other Gotta have? software out there? it looks like the "Snip It" function is now standard.

Thanks

[Steve S]

<<...Any other Gotta have? software out there?..>>

...Although you've already mentioned it, I think that OneNote has stood the test of time and is probably the principal gotta-have tablet application. Add Win 7's basic array of accessory apps to that, and you've got a lot of functionality to start off with.

My guess is that beyond this, desireable applications rapidly become the subject of personal needs and preferences. Personally, I still like the same kind of applications for my tablet(s) that I wrote about years ago:

<> A note-taking app: OneNote
<> An office productivity app: Office suite
<> A drawing and sketching app: Currently using ArtRage 3
<> A math / calculation app: Currently using MathJournal 2.1

Along with Win 7's accessory apps, this small number of applications handles nearly all of my needs when I'm on the go...

[Mike M.]

[QUOTE=Steve S;326133]
<> A drawing and sketching app: Currently using ArtRage 3
<> A math / calculation app: Currently using MathJournal 2.1
QUOTE]

Thanks for those suggestions. I know there is a variety of drawing and sketching programs out there and I'll go straight to ArtRage3. I had not needed a math program before, either.

Do you still use ritePen?

I remember a separate program to annotate PDF's. Do you still need one? (Or print the PDF to Journal and then mark-up that?) Is there anything free?

Thanks again.

[Steve S]

<<...Do you still use ritePen?..>>

...I've used RitePen in the past, but I've never found any enduring need for it. Others find utility in RitePen, and I have no argument with them; I simply haven't found any compelling reason to use it over the long haul...

<<...I remember a separate program to annotate PDF's. Do you still need one?..>>

...You are possibly talking about Bluebeam PDF Revu? Interestingly, although I see a typical number of .pdf files, I don't encounter many .pdf files that I want to mark up. Usually, I'm happy to use them as is (product specs, process descriptions and so forth). Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents are a different story, though... Office works fine for that.

<<...I'll go straight to ArtRage3...I had not needed a math program before, either...>>

...Although I like ArtRage (inexpensive yet powerful), don't ignore the other good apps out there, like SketchBook Pro (for example). Check out the artist's forum for other good suggestions. Depending upon your need to do math, you might look at xThink Calculator (inexpensive) or simply use Win 7's calculator; as I said above, Win 7 comes with a very nice feature set...

[Michelle Mastin]

I use OneNote for most everything. I've played with a few brain-mapping programs, but couldn't get into any of them more than just keeping notes and drafts in OneNote. OneNote really is my most used program. I also have somethings in Evernote, but I don't like that Evernote can't mix ink and text.

For PDF markup, I print to Journal and then use doPDF to print it back out as a PDF. It's all free, and the inking tools in Journal are way better than the pencil tool in Foxit. Xournal will also import and export PDFs quite nicely, but it renders poorly in Windows. I only use it in Linux.

[Steve S]

RE: PDF Revu, see:

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/soft...-pdf-revu.html

[John Hill]

OneNote is a must. I also use PDF Annotator to mark up and sign PDFs. In my company we have never owned a fax machine. Instead, faxes come into email through eFax. When I am sent a contract, I can open the PDF in Annotator, sign it and send it back in email without ever having created a piece of paper, plus I now have an electronic copy.

[vbclown]

OneNote probably doesn't have better inking capabilities than Evernote so if your computing is limited to one PC which is a tablet then I'd probably use OneNote, but evernote is so much better as a cloud based universal that it wins over OneNote.

I use evernote on my Thinkpad X201T tablet, but also on my desktop, my iPad, and my Iphone. I have a native app for each, everything I do on any of those devices is synced to the cloud. I can access from the web-based apps if I'm on someone elses PC, and Evernote has decent inking capabilities on my Tablet. Based on this use-case, I don't use OneNote much because I want all my notes available everywhere.

I still use PDF Annotator for marking up PDF's on my tablet. I do also own Adobe Acrobat and Foxit (both which now allow inking on PDF's) but I've just used Annotator since the old days and haven't bothered to switch.

I use ArtRage and Sketchbook Pro. Sketechbook has a pencil which feels much more responsive/realistic to me, but ArtRage has more fun media tools (real world media pants/surfaces/etc...).

MindManager Pro is my favorite app on the tablet. It's a very powerful MindMapping tool, with a Pen mode that works well on a Tablet. There are other cheaper tools, but I've stuck with MindManager.

Those are about the only Apps that I break out my stylus these days. I really wish there was a pen based business graphics tool. I do a ton of business concept sketeching and it's a pain to do in a bitmapped drawing program.

Grafigo 2 from Corel was the closest, but they stopped development long ago. I'm afraid the tablet features never caught on enough to really excite the development community. Now anyone that might have wanted to write a tablet app is much more likely to write for the iPad or something like that, there are tons of good business sketching solutions for the iPad, but I don't love using my finger vs. a real stylus with palm cancellation.

[Steve S]

<<...Grafigo 2...>>

Jason: Like you, I was sorry to see Grafigo neglected. I agree that there isn't another app quite like it.

[Jonny Dark]

http://mypaint.intilinux.com/

They have a windows version

Best painting software i have ever used for a tablet. Sketchbook pro was my favorite... this out guns it 100x