References
Excellent app, except for one, rather big, fault: No references option.
I'd love to have a tab just for References.
Thanks
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32 Posted by sunni.freyer on 27 Apr, 2010 02:54 AM
Like others posting here, I, too, have a need for reference/support material. However, I balk at using Evernote, despite it's popularity. I used it for a wee bit and left. I am now using Zoho Notebook. I still prefer google notebook and wish it had not been disontinued. However, my point is that I have concern about (1) providing free marketing for an app via locking it up with Nirvana unless Nirvana gets something in return (win-win); (2) causing users to use that app even if they prefer another app. I am not sure how to solve this challenge but I'd like something as simple as a reference hyperlink feature for projects.
33 Posted by Proximo on 27 Apr, 2010 03:13 AM
Very good points nw-woman. I am an Evernote users but I can see where
this can be an issue for some.
Not sure what a good solution would be unless Nirvana developed it
themselves.
Some users would not like to be tied to a Nirvana's solution either.
Hmmmm
34 Posted by sunni.freyer on 27 Apr, 2010 06:54 PM
Agreed. I wonder what the developers think? Would a url field suffice?
Support Staff 35 Posted by Christiane Magee on 06 May, 2010 04:22 PM
We would like to not have people lock in their reference material into Nirvana. I, myself, don't want all my reference notes in Nirvana... if that says anything to you! the occasional image or txt file perhaps, but not a full project's worth of resources and materials.
I prefer and use URLS all the time to point to my reference material. URLS could easily be copied and pasted into Project and Tasks notes. Not convinced we need to add an extra field for this though.
Down the road I can easily envision some plugins or integrations with some of the more popular services such as Evernote, Backacpkit, BaseCamp etc.... but that is in the future.
36 Posted by Lasse on 07 May, 2010 08:05 AM
I don't want my reference material in Nirvana either. However, being inherently lazy, I don't want to search for a note if I don't remember which task I assigned it to. That's why it would be great if there was a reference or notes section that simply displayed all the notes in Nirvana or if there was a way to filter tasks by "note" (i.e. search and display all tasks that have a note attached to them). Having said that, the latter is really nothing other than a smart list. So if I could make a smart list called "notes" that would work for me. I'd rather work with URLs anyway.
37 Posted by Elurven on 07 May, 2010 10:43 AM
Since I want to keep notes in Nirvana, I managed to create a work-around that works for me. I created a project called "NOTES" (in capital letters) which I placed at the top of the projects list. Then I simply use that project as a notebook, where the task's name is instead used as a title for the note and the note section of the task is used as the actual note.
In order to separate them from ordinary tasks (when doing a search etc.), I simply tag all of them with "notes".
If I have notes that refer to a specific project, I try to get that information into the actual project's note section (or at least the most important notes). So the "NOTES" project is something I use, just to enter information that usually does not refer to a particular project, but that's just my own implementation of the work-around.
38 Posted by Proximo on 07 May, 2010 10:52 AM
Making it work for your needs is the goal.
Just out of curiosity, why don't you just use the notes field built
into each project and task?
This works fine for me.
If I wanted to keep things like photos or more graphical information,
I put them in Evernote and keep the link in the Nirvana notes section.
39 Posted by Lasse on 07 May, 2010 11:05 AM
@e.liffe: I also work with a notes-project but want a way to view all notes at once (i.e. also task notes). I must admit, I never thought of tagging all tasks with notes with a "note" tag! :) I guess that would work.
@proximo: As for myself, I use Nirvana for everything work-related. Personal notes go into my note taking app (Awesome Note), work -related notes go into Nirvana. Since not every thought is tied to a task or a project (for which I would use the appropriate field), use the notes-project to store them. That way I have all my task notes and other work-related notes in one place (if I use a link, I still know Nirvana is the place to look).
40 Posted by Proximo on 07 May, 2010 11:06 AM
I normaly don't remember notes to search by, only task. Then I read
the notes for the task which I keep in the task nite section. I use
URL's to link back to Evernote for things like photos.
41 Posted by Lasse on 07 May, 2010 11:16 AM
That's one of my problems: Often I don't really remember notes either, at least not the content. I only remember that somewhere I made a note about "XY". That's why I like to have a way to view all my notes at once (which, as I mentioned earlier, should work nicely with smart lists, which will come in the future). As for the URLs, I like using them for stuff like Google Docs, etc. That way I only have to access Nirvana and I'll find everything else from there.
42 Posted by Lasse on 07 May, 2010 11:20 AM
Come to think of it, I'm not sure I really want a reference section, after all. If you can make smart lists work for this purpose, those who want a reference section can create one themselves while those who don't need one, don't have a section they don't need (and which they might consider "clutter"). To quote Henry David Thoreau: "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" :)
43 Posted by Elurven on 07 May, 2010 11:28 AM
Just a few additions. @Proximo: I do use the notes section in the tasks as much as I can but with notes that are not related to any particular task or project, I need the NOTES project, just to keep track of miscellaneous information.
@Lasse: I only tag the projects that only contains note information. Ordinary tasks that contain notes is something that I do not tag "notes" at all.
44 Posted by Lasse on 07 May, 2010 12:20 PM
@e.liffe: Yes, I got that. I'm just saying that if you want a way to display all your notes at once, whether task/project-related or not, tagging every item with a note with a "note"-tag would make this possible. It's not a perfect solution but it should work.
45 Posted by Proximo on 07 May, 2010 01:46 PM
@Elurven,
Got it. I understand how and why your are using it this way. I use Evernote for the same purpose and it works for me. Evernote is my official GTD Reference app.
GTD is about making a system work for you and there are many ways of doing that. Thanks for sharing.
46 Posted by Mark Davies on 06 Aug, 2010 12:50 PM
Hi folks
I would need to add links to reference material on a local/network drive and on Google documents etc.
At work I currently use Achieve Planner (AP) to manage actions and delegated tasks; for each project I almost always have a project folder that resides on a network drive and AP has an 'attachments list' (for both projects and tasks) where I will add a link to the project folder with the description "project folder".
That's usually enough, although I will sometimes also add links to especially important other materials.
To open a link I simply navigate to the Attachments tab and double click on one of the link items (that is in a results list) and the system automatically opens the item.
If Nirvana could do something like this that would be great.
All the best
Mark
47 Posted by Proximo on 06 Aug, 2010 03:31 PM
You can use Dropbox to provide a link to the documents in your Dropbox folder which should work in Nirvana.
Just a suggestion.
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 03 Feb, 2011 04:44 AM.