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I recently downloaded an extremely useful and helpful application called “NoteScribe Premium” from the website of a company called Higher Symmetry. This program allows you to take notes in a very methodical way, taking advantage of your computer and virtual environment, setting you free from having to always have a pen and paper on-hand. After the software is downloaded and installed, you can immediately get to work by running the program and then selecting the Notes Menu>Edit Note. The screen looks like this once you have made your note.

In addition to text that you can enter and style in the left pane, you can also enter important key words in the Key Words section of the right pane. These serve as tags which you may later use to find the note. Click the Save button to save your entry. When the program redisplays with the note, you will notice that the left pane of the program enables you to find notes in three ways: (1) categories, (2) sources, and (3) keywords. As a test, I closed the note I just made and then typed in “TOC” because I know that Table of Contents (TOC) was a keyword I established to help find this particular note. Sure enough, this note reappeared after my search.

If I wish to save this particular note in a notebook other than the default, I can go to the Tools Menu and select Manage Notebooks. The program displays the following window.

Here, I can create a new notebook. In this case, I will call it “Microsoft Word 2007” and then click on the Create Notebook button. The program displays another window asking me if I want to create a database called “Microsoft Word 2007”. Click Yes.

Next, change the notebook name in Edit Notebook field and select Change Notebook. The system loads the new notebook. Currently, there is nothing in this notebook. So, go to the File menu and select Import Notes. Go to the directory where your note was saved (or exported with the NoteScribe extension .nse) and then double click on the notes file to import it into this new notebook.

As the note is imported, you can select (in the Import Notes window that appears) the attributes and whereabouts of this newly imported file. Once in the new notebook, if you enter a major keyword of the note in the database search box (upper right corner of your screen), the notebook will then display the newly imported note.

Overall, NoteScribe is a great program, and I give it my highest rating. It is easy to navigate, easy to use, easy to understand, and built for those who don’t have strong computer skills. It is really build for students who need to spend more time worrying about creating and managing notes than worrying about technicalities of computer software programs. So, I say thanks to Jeff and his team at Higher Symmetry Software for creating such a resourceful, intuitive, and useful program for students. Software development is not an easy business. You have two major goals to achieve: “user-friendliness” and “usability toward higher and greater goals than just the program itself”. In this case, NoteScribe is built to help students get the most out of their notes using their desktop environment.

Here is the link for Higher Symmetry Software:

http://www.highersymmetry.com/

Well done Jeff!

All The Best,

Keith