Re: SUMMARY: Personal Knowledge Base

[Debbie Molinaro <debbiem -at- UCS -dot- NET>]

SUMMARY: Personal Knowledge Base

Thank you to all who responded, even if it was just to ask me to forward my
results. I got what I needed.

--- Original Query ---
>Please help me get organized. How do you manage the information you get
>from lists (this and others)?
>I use MS Internet Mail, and I move "keepers" into various folders. The
>problems with this method are:
>- the folders are overflowing
>- the search/find possibilities are severely limited
>I began saving each keeper as a text file, with a semi-unintelligent name
>(like tw0001.txt) to a folder and using the Win95 Find | File feature on
>that folder. This works very well on the search side, but it's time
>consuming on the "Save As" side.
>Is there a tool to automate this, like a Personal Knowledge Base Manager?
>(I'm willing to pay!) What do you folks do?


-- The responses:

I hope someone has a great suggestion on this; I print out all pertinent
messages and shove 'em into labeled folders (Usability Testing, Indexing,
etc etc). So much for a paperless office. . .
--
Debbie, if you ever get any responses to either of your questions, would you
mind forwarding them to me?
--
One thing I've started doing is using Acrobat Distiller to save the e-mails
as PDFs. I just highlight them, print them to a PDF file, and I have a
printable, searchable archive.
--
I save tidbits to text files and put them into a "drop folder" structure on
the network (the structure is arranged by general subject matter, to help
limit searches). I have an AppleScript running on my web server that every
hour scans the network drop folders for files. If it finds any, it wraps
them with some HTML code and moves them out of the drop folder and into the
web server's searchable text area. "Apple e.g." (name will soon change to
"Apple Information Access Toolkit," yecch!) allows me to use my web browser
to search them, with the "hits" ranked by keyword relevance. The server is
set to re-index nightly, so by the next morning the newly-stored text is
indexed and searchable.

The best thing about this is that it's all Free! "Apple e.g." is a
technology demo from Apple, AppleScript ships with all Macs, and I'm using
the free version of the Quid Pro Quo web server (though both Apple and MS
have free servers for the Mac as well, and NetPresenz from Peter Lewis is
only $10 for both a web and an FTP server). The same webserver also uses
LassoLite (also free) to tie into a Filemaker Pro database of abstracts and
internal reports.
--
I use MS Exchange at my clients premises and Outlook in my home office.
Generally what I do works for both.
When I latch on to a thread that is worth keeping, or receive a post on a
question that is of interest I create a folder for that "Subject" and use
the "Subject" content in conjunction with the auto-filing system provided in
Exchange (InBox Assistant). The rules in InBox Assistant also forward a copy
to my home office where it is automatically filed. Within these folders the
e-mail messages are grouped by subject. All for free 'cos the functions come
with the product.
--
I keep my listmail straight by copying the messages I want to keep into
folders on a zip drive.  This keeps my hard drive clear and gives me a
virtually unlimited amount of folders, subfolders, etc. to manage
the mail.
So far, I've got 5 years worth of 8 lists on one zip cartridge, and there's
still room
--
I have a folder called "onlindoc".  Within that folder are around 60 docs
with titles of topics I wanted to save: books, FramevsWord, grammar,
intranet, JavaScript, readability, RoboHelp, tutorials, and so forth. I copy
messages with information to save into the correct file.  Hardly have to
create new docs any more :-)
--
As a relative newbie and incurable packrat, I save list messages on a ZIP
drive: a folder for each list, containing Word docs with memory-jogging
names. It's time-consuming--if there's a tool for this, I'd love to hear
about it.
--
Have you tried MS Outlook? Beta 2 of Outlook 98 (available on Microsoft's
Web site) has great full text search features, and you can simply save
messages to mail folder.

-- End Of Responses --

-- My conclusion (YMMV):

I decided not to use any ideas that involved printing/paper. The search
engine (me) is old and tired!

I also decided not to use ideas that included a "save as" component. Not
that they aren't good ideas, it's just my original operation included saving
as a text file, and *.txt is offered as a choice from my mail program, and
I'm not willing to add more steps right now. However, I do envy people who
are willing to perform these extra steps. They have portable, nicely
printable, and searchable treasure chests.

I did try out the Outlook Beta. And it does what I asked. And well.
When I decide a message is a keeper, I move it to the designated folder or
sub-folder (drag-n-drop, even). When I need to find something, the search
engine lets me search for a word within a message, as well as the old
standard options. I don't know if there is a message or folder limit yet.

Outlook proper (the whole PIM) ran kind of slow on my system, so I switched
to Outlook Express (just mail and news) and all is groovy. Caveat: You must
have IE4.0 installed. If you don't, the Outlook install program will
volunteer to download and install it for you.

-- Bottom line:
I am satisfied with this solution for now, but I am not delighted. If you
care to know what would delight me, read on. Otherwise, you've completed the
informational portion of this message.

-- Delight (aka, The Personal Knowledge Base Fantasy):

Somewhere out there on this pretty green and blue planet is a software
program that:
- behaves like an add-on in that attaches to your mail program (similar to
the way WinZip attaches to File Manager and Windows Explorer) and can be
chosen from a menu or toolbar
- when selected, does this:
  - generates a dialog box with a list of file names (indexing, frame, fees,
STC, etc). You click on one.
  - copies the current email message
  - strips the headers (if you checked that option)
  - appends it to the file (really cool would be to place it alphabetically
by subject within your file, knowing to ignore the "RE: " string.)
  - applies "Heading 1" (or whatever) style to the subject line
  - inserts some sort of End Of Message designator
  - (and then, Cinderella, a macro that executes daily, converting these
docs into rtf, then compiling them into a Help file, leaving a shortcut to
My Knowledge Base on My Computer's desktop!)

The fantasy ends with a reply from someone on the list, "Deb, I have such a
tool. I bought it from FairyGodmother Software for $39.95. Their web address
is www.handsomeprince.com. You can order it online."


I need to get out more.

Debbie Molinaro
debbiem -at- ucs -dot- net

The Paper Trail
Technical Documentation Services
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