EagleFiler - 1.4.5

I tend to take contemporanous notes from many regular meetings (i.e. my personal minutes of meetings), and I also like a program I can drop various pdfs and documents onto and easily catalogue them for later reference. I've worked through most of the mac notes-taking programs. I used to use DevonThink Pro Office, and there wasn't much wrong with it, though the versions aren't particularly pretty in terms of design. Yojimbo also worked well. In the end, though, I've settled with EagleFiler. It archives emails easily, handles multiple libraries well, you can store private libraries in encrypted disk images (e.g. managed via Knox, or EagleFiler can do this itself). The encrypted library feature is the thing I that really sold EagleFiler to me. In the end, DevonThink and Yojimbo aren't bad programs, but having multiple libraries, including some kept privately, has been very handy.
I'd love it if it sync'd easily to the iPhone, but at least there are good instructions for getting files from EagleFiler to the iPhone via Airsharing or equivalent. Sadly no syncing, at least not yet.
Anyway: EagleFiler is robust, reliable, well-developed and with a responsive developer, can work with encryption and multiple libraries, searches quickly, and is easy to use. I can't see me changing anytime soon.

First off, Kudos to the developer. One of the few Mac programs that unfortunately has little buzz- but is worthy of much praise.

I have been particularly impressed that in my brief time knowing of EagleFiler- 2 months- it has been updated a total of four times! With no upgrade fee. And, the price- for it's functionality- is very reasonable.

Why do I feel EagleFiler is such a value. First, the developer is extremely responsive to concerns. I had a difficulty with EagleFiler- and he was quite responsive in trying to solve it. On my particular system we could not solve the issue- but his responsiveness made me even more confident in the Eagle Filer.

Other reasons I like using Eaglefiler. Ease of import from web pages, Word Documents, PDF (from Skim) & RTF files into Eagle Filer. Very impressive. Import is accomplished with a few keyboard controls. Allows one to specify tags quite easily in the process.

Very accurate search and retrieve. Many different types of search strategies can be utilized- including a very useful "search by phrase." Top notch.

I like to keep a nested hierarchy of information. Eagle Filer does so easily.

Most important- it keeps the information it archives in the original data format in which the material was made. It does not translate your material into it's own proprietary format. For this reason, alone, EagleFiler is much superior to it's competition. Should you decide not to update to the latest version of EagleFiler- or chose not to use it in the future at all- your data will still be organized (in the hierarchy nests you specify), and easily accessed in the data format the file was originally created. Unfortunately, I had previously used SOHO notes. In order to transfer my data from this program to EagleFiler- I had to convert each and every file individually from SOHO notes format to an RTF file (340 notes in all). And, only then could import into EagleFiler. What a pain! A pain I will never have to endure while using EagleFiler.

Allows one to archive important Email folders. Obviates the need to purchase another program to do the same- such as Email Commander (which I think saves me at least $40 in itself). Nice!!

The way in which the data is saved is very reliable. And, I have had a few catastrophic crashes where I had to restart the computer after another program hanged (I know, not supposed to happen in X- but I found a way!)- and the data I had been working on in EagleFiler was saved. Quite unexpected and pleasant- to say the least.

Finally, it strikes me that I would remiss if I did not note that I have found the capture technology much quicker and useful than using, for example, then using DockNote or QuickNote in SOHO notes. Using a few keyboard controls, EagleFiler allows one to import into one of several libraries- to drill down and place the material in the appropriate subfolder- to specify tags to be associated with the material- and to use a color code should one wish.

Oh, I should also note that EagleFiler is quicker in my experience than SOHO notes. As long as one loads EagleFiler on log in. And, EagleFiler will load all pertinent libraries automatically on start up. I have several libraries that contain specific types of information- which also speeds up EagleFiler.

I should also mention that I have a PowerPC G4 (1 ghz)- a relatively slow & old computer- EagleFiler works well. An added bonus- since I use Tiger- the latest version of EagleFiler is still relevant. With SOHO notes- the newest version only works on Leopard.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Eagle Filer uses an ingenious method of encrypting sensitive data libraries. This allows me to password protect not only the individual files- but the EagleFiler directory upon which holds the file. Sweet! Allows another layer of confidentiality and organization to sensitive and important information one wishes to organize.

There are many other ways in which EagleFiler is a most thoughtful and well-implemented program Take the 30 day test drive- and see what you think. I did, and am not regretting my decision one bit. EagleFiler is well worth the investment in both time and money- to me!! Thanks, Michael Tsai!