Virus Scan for Mind Collected

Braden Parker Must be a new version in the works, hence this deal. That's how these guys work. Post it discounted, then when you go to run it shortly thereafter, you'll get prompted to upgrade which won't accept the current license key; which means you'll be required to pay to upgrade.

Mar 13 2015 at 3:17am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hi Braden,

This is a brand-new software. There's no new major version in the works.

Dextronet - Mar 13 2015 at 3:44am Copy Link

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Colin McAllister I think the author needs to "sell" this a bit more.

* How is this different to the likes of, for example, Tabbles or OneNote?

* What are the advantages of this software over just pasting an image of a banana into a generic organiser such as "AllMyNotesOrganiser" and adding tags?

* Can I export from "Mind Collected" into Word or OneNote? There is no point in having info stuck on my pc, if I am somewhere else.

* Say something about database management. How big can it get? How do I reduce it if it gets too big? Can Windows search Mind Collected tags? What can I embed?

I will give Mind Collected a try, but it isn't the cheapest software to appear on BDJ, it looks like a recent hybrid, but I feel it has potential for trainers and teachers. I suggest that a bit more information is needed, to explain how to get the best from the software.

Mar 14 2015 at 2:01am Copy Link

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Colin McAllister Ok. Installed without difficulty. I clicked auto with the tag "rain" and received "Unable to connect or can't find any matching images. Check your internet connection or try changing the name to something more general"

I tried "weather" - pretty general, I'd say - and got the exact same message.

I added a family gathering image from "Pictures" folder, tagged it and clicked "Double-click here to connect this item with another item..." I would like to connect the imported image to other images of the same event, but I can only add a link to the folder - it would have been nice to have been able to add hyperlinked thumbnails of the other images in the folder into the big blank space on the right.

Mar 14 2015 at 2:10am Copy Link

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Meindert User My advice would be: download trial and try it out Colin.

Mar 14 2015 at 3:13am Copy Link

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Ronald Jurman It's listed as portable, I see. Correct?

Mar 14 2015 at 5:48am Copy Link

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Dextronet Ronald: Yes, it is fully portable. In fact, you can run it from Dropbox / SkyDrive / Google Drive or other synced folder - it doesn't require installation (just on the first computer, you don't need admin privileges, and it's all installed into a single folder).

More info on portability is here: http://www.mindcollected....ortability

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 8:28am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hi Colin!

Mind Collected is quite unique. I've described some use cases in detail on http://www.mindcollected.com - for example:

* Personal Visual Knowledge Base: http://www.mindcollected....edge-base/

* Learning and Memory Improvement Tool:
http://www.mindcollected....mory-tool/

* Visual Collector’s Software: http://www.mindcollected....-software/

* Personal Development Software: http://www.mindcollected....-software/

* Mind Maps Alternative: http://www.mindcollected....ternative/

Currently, you can export individual notes (to DOCX, PDF, HTML, RTF, TXT and other formats), you can also export pictures easily one-by-one, and you can export tags and item names just by using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

The size of the database is unlimited. Based on our testing, you can expect about 300-600 MB needed for every 1000 entries if you use high-res photos.

You can embed pictures, and link to files, folders, websites, etc.

Mind Collected should be able to find images for just about anything (it uses Google or Bing), so if it can't, make sure it can access the Internet through firewall.

You can just Drag and Drop images or other files into the "connected items" area, and with images, you will have the option of either embedding them (creating sub-items), or just linking to them.

Finally, many of the benefits of using Mind Collected are described here: http://www.dextronet.com/mind-collected

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 8:36am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Very important to me, can the database be encrypted/password-protected? Thanks.

Mar 14 2015 at 8:47am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale I'm thinking of using this to catalog family videos and photos (thousands) via screen shots - can this link directly to files on disk (to open them or run them, of course)? Also, tagging would have to be easy and quick (something like enter a tag, semicolon, enter another tag - not a pick list, which is a nightmare if you have a thousand tags..). Just wondering & thanks.

Mar 14 2015 at 8:51am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Hi, two easy ones: (1) I downloaded and am experimenting with the tags and the tag 'mind collected' appears in every link (not wanted) - is this just part of the trail/unregistered version, and (2) is there anyway to show the files in "index" view, so that I don't see the bookmark, just a list of all files associated with the tag (for example, I'd like to tag hundreds of "gifs" but don't need to go through the trouble of extracting an image from every Dilbert cartoon, so it'd be nice to see just a simple list of file names I've linked to in MC. Thanks very much.

Mar 14 2015 at 9:12am Copy Link

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Dextronet bvssunnydale: Currently, there is no inbuilt encryption. However, since Mind Collected is very simple (it's just a folder with the database file, settings file, executable, and some libraries), you can use a 3rd party tool to encrypt it.

Yes, you can link directly to files on disk.

You can assign multiple items to tags easily - just Drag and Drop the items onto a tag. Hold the Shift key if you want to just add the tag - if you won't hold it, other tags will get cleared.

ad (1) You can delete the default tag. Mind Collected assigns the currently selected tag to new items.

ad (2) currently not, but if more customers request it, we will definitely consider adding the "details" view.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 9:31am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale I'm not sure how this would be that useful in learning, for example I can see how items which have easy visual analogs could be represented (nouns - moon, sun, arm, leg) but I'm not sure how you're represent verbs, adverbs or abstract ideas. For example, in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' there's Jim, Scout, Atticus, Dill, etc, but also racism, courage, conflict [I can see the images for the nouns but not for the abstract ideas and/or verbs]. Also much terminology is very abstract and only has meaning in context so I'm not sure how this would work. Do you have any examples onsite of using this program to study an abstract topic, like philosophy? I do think this is a very interesting program and has potential but I'm trying to wrap my head around how practical it is or isn't. Thanks.

Mar 14 2015 at 9:33am Copy Link

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Dextronet bvssunnydale: Also, you can hide all items with a specific tag, if you set the tag hidden. This makes it easy, for example, to show someone anything in Mind Collected without worrying they will see any of your private or personal entries unless you want them to.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 9:33am Copy Link

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Dextronet bvssunnydale: If I were to study a philosophy, I would setup some tags - philosopher, theory, concept, book, school (way of thinking) etc - and then I could start linking it all together. So I could add the individual philosophers, link them to their Wikipedia entries, then add their most prominent works (into each entry, I would write a short summary), which could be linked to their respective schools of thinking, etc. Mind Collected is very flexible in this regard.

Mind Collected works its best when studying a broad topic.

Personally, when I read / study a book, I usually add the book to my Mind Collected, add my summary / highlights to the notes of the book, and perhaps add the author as another object and link it to the book. Then, I will add the the most important / fascinating concepts, ideas or things I learned as separate objects and link them to the book.

So, for example, when I've read a book about anti-aging, I will add the various supplements and super-foods I've learned about as separate objects, and link them to the book. I can then expand the notes of the individual objects further, e.g. after reading another book on the topic. It's all visual and super-fun... once you start seeing new connections that you wouldn't have realized otherwise, you will understand the magic of Mind Collected.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 9:41am Copy Link

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Daniel Kamman I have this software and like it a lot. I use it to keep track of design ideas. I urge people to try it out.

Mar 14 2015 at 10:14am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Thanks for the philosophy suggestions. I've been playing around with MC and am hitting a wall re too-small icons. When I add a screen-shot/frame from a video the default size is so tiny that I can't tell which video it's associated with (since I'm considering trying to catalog thousands of videos of the same people you can see how it might be confusing). I did see the "Enlarge/Reduce" options but this reduces ALL icons (meaning suddenly I only can see a few at a time) but what I really need is a way to quickly enlarge just the selected icon so I know whether it's the file I need (your idea that images are easier to remember than walls-of-text - but only if you can actually distinguish them - is absolutely correct). So my question is whether or not there's a way to quickly enlarge ONLY the currently selected icon. Thanks again for all your quick replies, it says a lot about the quality of your software and your efforts.

Mar 14 2015 at 10:29am Copy Link

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_*_ Not that I think I understand how it all works yet, so these thoughts may be appropriate or not.

1. I think it would be great to be able to attach emails to the right-hand panes. This would allow for adding such things a PayPal receipts for example.

I also ran into an issue when I was testing and dropped a docx file onto the upper right-hand pane and it filled the pane and I lost my original information I had placed there.

2. The link dialog window would be great to have it have the ability to add new items on the fly and not have to go back out create a new item, then back in to link them. The Bing/Google search there would be great.

3. Give the user control of the background color for each pane. Like you do with Swift Todo software.

Looks nice overall though.

Mar 14 2015 at 10:36am Copy Link

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Dextronet Daniel: Thanks for your support!

bvsunnydale: THAT's actually one of my FAVORITE features of Mind Collected - move mouse over any item, then click and hold the MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON to enlarge it.

Here's an animation that explains it: http://www.mindcollected.com/items/

_*_: That's a feature actually! :) Drag and Drop files into the "Connected items" area, not into the notes area - if you drop a file into the notes area, and it's a text document (such as Word document), it will get loaded in the notes instead.

You can add new items on the fly - that's the "Connect with new item" option in the right-click menu.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 10:57am Copy Link

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_*_ @Jiri, I tried to drag an email but it did not work. I know docx, and PDFs work but not sure about emails or spreadsheet.

Any hope of controlling the color of the windows?

Also, one larger question for me as I read some of your information about this program online. If you move this to mobile devices will you continue to develop and support a desktop version as well? Since it is only at version 1.

Once that is known it looks like it is worth the purchase.

Thanks

EDIT: One last thing, is it possible to have the Tags display in a drop down list as well. Other wise the user has to remember them all.

Mar 14 2015 at 11:05am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Hi, re the middle-mouse button click to enlarge - when I do this over the frames/snapshots of a video (my main intended use) the PLAY button appears and the frame/snapshot doesn't enlarge at all (just continues to show the "play" button. If I then scroll, all the thumbnails enlarge but then I can only really see a couple at a time (which kinda defeats the purpose for me). I'd like to enlarge just the frame/snapshot image without actually playing the specific video file it's linked to. Is there any way to change this (seemingly) default behavior. Thanks again, very much.

Mar 14 2015 at 12:08pm Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Hi, a couple more questions, (1) adding tags is very slow if tagging has to be done only one at a time, is there any way to add multiple tags (separated by semicolon maybe) and (2) is there any way to copy tags from the previous item (I'm adding videos and, for example, they all have similar sets of tags and it's very laborious to type them all in each time). Thanks, yet again.

Mar 14 2015 at 12:48pm Copy Link

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Dextronet _*_: You currently can't Drag and Drop emails directly into Mind Collected. But you can Drag and Drop them to your desktop (or somewhere else), and THEN you can Drag and Drop them into Mind Collected.

Color options, quite possibly - I've attempted to make the program as non-complex as possible, but if there's demand for this feature, I will definitely consider it.

Currently, we have no plans of migrating Mind Collected to mobile devices. It seems that there will be pretty good tablets that run Windows anyways.

The desktop version is and will be the main one. We actually created a web-based prototype but scraped it, because the desktop version is just so much better.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 2:01pm Copy Link

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Dextronet bvssunnydale: The middle button will simply zoom the assigned picture. Pictures from video files are not imported automatically, so you have to take a screenshot of the video and paste the picture into the object.

To wrap your head around how the middle button works, try this - add a photo as a object, and then try the middle mouse button - you will quickly see how it works.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 2:03pm Copy Link

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_*_ @Jiri, went ahead and ordered as I can see use for this type of software.

Do you think you may add a drop-down list for Tags in case a person cannot remember them all?

Thanks

Mar 14 2015 at 2:42pm Copy Link

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Dextronet _*_: Thanks for your order!

Dropdown wouldn't be much useful once you start having hundreds of tags - but Mind Collected has inbuilt "auto suggest", so you should be just fine.

Also, it's possible/easy to join tags, and if you attempt to create a new tag with a name that already exist, it will just use the existing tag instead.

Dextronet - Mar 14 2015 at 3:29pm Copy Link

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_*_ Jiri, My first use was to create a database of images with information of a computer build I built late last year. It is a nice way to keep track of all the parts I used for that particular build. This is handy if ever I want to reorder a similar part. I can see all parts to a given build at a glance. Very nice, Thanks.

Mar 14 2015 at 4:56pm Copy Link

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Ronald Jurman One can create multiple databases (useful for areas with little or no overlap), which is quite useful, but I am not seeing the name of the currently open database anywhere. A bit confusing. Am I missing something?

Also, a minor note. It would be useful to be able to access the help menu while adding an item.

Mar 14 2015 at 11:32pm Copy Link

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Dextronet _*_: Thanks, I'm glad to hear that you find it useful already!

Ronald: You can open a different database file using the Options button.

The online manual is available at http://www.mindcollected.com

Dextronet - Mar 15 2015 at 12:33am Copy Link

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Ronald Jurman Hi Jiri,

Understood. It's the lack of the name of the currently open database visible anywhere that is disconcerting. (Hmm, which database am I editing again?)

Regards,

Ron

Mar 15 2015 at 12:58am Copy Link

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Matt Hi Jiri,

I just purchased Mind Collected. After clicking on Help | About, I noticed that it reads:

Mind Collected - 1.00.29 Basic

Do you plan on making several versions of this software (ex: Professional and Ultimate), similar to your other software titles?

Also, can you estimate when version 2 will be released?

Thank you.

Mar 15 2015 at 2:06am Copy Link

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Dextronet Ron: The currently opened database is also visible in Options.

Matt: Thanks for your purchase!

Currently, we do not plan creating several editions.

New major version is not planned. We just keep adding new features into the current version.

Dextronet - Mar 15 2015 at 2:34am Copy Link

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Matt Thanks Jiri!

Really nice!

Mar 15 2015 at 3:52pm Copy Link

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Peter Gabriel Hello

Looks like a useful program, however I’ve just hit a snag. I’ve placed shortcuts to some pdfs that I have on my PC. When I first used the program, if I hovered over the shortcut a green arrow appeared and I could open each one, but on using the program today no arrow appears. If I double-click on any of the shortcuts it just opens up the edit window.

I reinstalled over the top of the program but still get the same.

Any idea what’s going on?

Dec 20 2015 at 3:16am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hi Peter,

Most likely, you've cleared the shortcut from the item in Mind Collected. When you edit an item, the shortcut is in the "File or URL shortcut" text field on the bottom-right.

Dextronet - Dec 20 2015 at 1:10pm Copy Link

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Peter Gabriel Hello,

Yes, I now realise what happened.

Thanks

Dec 20 2015 at 2:51pm Copy Link

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Peter Gabriel I really like this program and will be buying it. One question though, is it possible to organize things into categories?

Dec 21 2015 at 7:35am Copy Link

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SKY Hello,
If I buy 1 user 3 PC pack, can I sync the files between two devices without using any cloud services? Thanks.

Dec 22 2015 at 7:37am Copy Link

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Steve333 Hi Jiri, is it possible to have more than one database?

OK, question answered! I see the option to change database under Options.
Excellent software!

Dec 22 2015 at 11:38am Copy Link

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MojoMan Hi Jiri. is it possible to save webpages ?

Dec 22 2015 at 5:37pm Copy Link

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Nico Westerdale Great News! Dextronet has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Dec 23 2015 at 12:11am Copy Link

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Dextronet SKY, yes, you could place the database in a shared location - you won't be able to have the database open from multiple computers at the same time though.

MojoMan, you can add a link to a webpage, or save it and then add a shortcut to the file.

Dextronet - Dec 23 2015 at 2:17am Copy Link

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Daniel Kamman I bought this during a previous offering. I use it regularly to keep track of images and text. I love it!

Dec 23 2015 at 10:01am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Hi, I purchased this last time it was offered to catalog screen-shots and link to videos (which might not be as intended but I thought should work). My experience is that - even only saving a low resolution [200x150] thumbnail, URL, and tags (I don't use the "notes" feature at all - the file sizes get (relatively) enormous quickly [which I admit I don't understand]. Only 873 thumbnails have taken up 373 MBs of space (after compression). Keep in mind that this is only for a small picture and a link basically. The program is also very slow to load and crashes frequently. The good news is that the publisher is very responsive and admits these issues - and, hopefully, the next version will be more agile, stable, and conservative on space. I'm very much looking forward to the next version.

Dec 23 2015 at 11:04am Copy Link

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Daniel Kamman I have about 100 thumbnails plus a limited amount of text. I have also experienced slow loading, but I haven't had any crashes -- maybe I've been lucky or maybe it's because I have so few thumbnails. I'm glad to hear that the publisher is responsive.

Dec 23 2015 at 12:33pm Copy Link

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Vipin User Jiri Novotny, I have missed the deal for "Mind Collected" when it came in BitsDuJour. Please bring it back once more... Thank you..

-Vipin

Jan 27 2016 at 3:42am Copy Link

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Tomas Barth Very disappointed with the payment processor BMT Micro. I filled in my Swedish VAT-number, and the VAT was removed from the price. After accepting at PayPal I see that I have been charged an additional USD 7.50 for VAT, which is totally wrong.
If this problem is not solved by BMT Micro I will demand a refund. Watch out if you are a EU-registered VAT-customer. Take screenshots of the different steps in the payment procedure, which I did, and save it as proof.

Mar 11 2016 at 3:21am Copy Link

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Constantin Florea @Tomas Barth, I have just contacted the vendor regarding the issue you mention.

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 11 2016 at 3:24am Copy Link

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J Hello Jiri,

Could you please respond to my comment that I left two days ago on your FastPaste 3 BDJ page?

You answered the other question, but you completely missed mine.

Thank you.

Mar 11 2016 at 5:09am Copy Link

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Dextronet Tomas, BMT Micro has refunded you for the VAT. You should have received an email from them.

Dextronet - Mar 11 2016 at 10:33am Copy Link

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Nico Westerdale Great News! Dextronet has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 12 2016 at 12:11am Copy Link

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Tomas Barth Yes thanks, I got the refund.

Mar 12 2016 at 2:01am Copy Link

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franp User Hi,
I discover your software today and i have a question I cannots see the answer or in your website.
Does Mind Collected offer some degree of command line interaction ? I mean, is it possible for exemploe, to open it directly to a given item through the system, using shell commands such as :
- MindCollected.exe -search:thatTag
- mindCollected.exe -open: thisItem
etc... ?

Oct 7 2016 at 1:46am Copy Link

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Dextronet Mind Collected currently has no command line interaction.

But you could use some 3rd party software to create macros (to open MC and press the hotkey to add an item, etc.)

Dextronet - Oct 7 2016 at 3:33am Copy Link

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Charles Beauchamp Is the problem of large file sizes solved?

Oct 7 2016 at 5:14am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale As a MindCollected user I can say the problem of file sizes is still not solved (I have 1,020 thumbnail images and, even with resolution reduced, it takes up 600MBs and is very slow to load (40 secs) even with my only SSD storage and fast (I7) cpu). My database contains only these thumbnails and tags [I haven't used the annotations/notes features at all]. The developer is very responsive but over a year ago admitted it was slow even on his machine. I like the software, though, and am eagerly awaiting the 2.0 version if it fixes the (relatively) enormous file sizes and extremely slow load times.

Oct 8 2016 at 10:18am Copy Link

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Dan Amiel I agree..

Oct 14 2016 at 7:47am Copy Link

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guy t974 I wanted to benefit from the offer , but the "auto" image earch doesn't work at all even for simple words such as car , orange , police...

Apr 16 2017 at 10:02pm Copy Link

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_*_ I purchased and used this software in the past (2015) at version 1.00. The issue I have is, it is only at version 1.00.37 in over three years. For all practical intents, it is dead software more than active or alive.
Just go into knowing you are buying software that apparently sees no time put into it by the developer to keep moving it forward.

Jul 10 2018 at 6:19am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hello, thank you for your comment. It is true that we haven't release a new version. Partly that's because we focus on our flagship product Swift To-Do List, but Mind Collected is definitely not a dead software. We are prepared to update it if it's necessary. Overall this has been a very stable release.

Dextronet - Jul 11 2018 at 2:17am Copy Link

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Daniel Kamman I've been using Mind Collected for about 3 and a half years. It works perfectly -- I like it as it is and have no need to have it improved.

Jul 11 2018 at 11:01am Copy Link

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ciprian Hi, just trialling this software right now. I must say I love it. Some suggestions maybe:
1. Virtual cabinets
2. Hot keys.
The print screen function would benefit greatly from a hot key.

Jul 11 2018 at 10:33pm Copy Link

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V M Hi,
I must be missing the true benefit of this software. What is the difference between having a folder with different photos in it and this software.

Jul 12 2018 at 7:13am Copy Link

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John Brazier Does this have any import capabilities? For example, if I have lists in spreadsheets, can they be imported in? Thanks.

Jul 13 2018 at 1:55am Copy Link

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Jon Spain I was going to buy until I saw there was no PayPal option, why not?

Jul 13 2018 at 5:16am Copy Link

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Lupke Brother @JonSpain

PAYPAL is available. Just select your payment method from the list.

Jul 13 2018 at 7:05am Copy Link

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Jon Spain Apologies, I didn't see the list option above, not where I expected it, bought.

Jul 13 2018 at 7:14am Copy Link

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Jon Spain Apologies, I didn't see the list up top, now bought.

Jul 13 2018 at 7:14am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Worthless. I have multiple licenses for this software (I'm was very hopeful) and have sent numerous emails to the developer - who responds with boilerplate but never actually offers any help. File sizes quickly get enormous (a little over 1,000 thumbnails has created a Mind Collected file currently at 1,021,831KBs in size that either won't load or crashes immediately upon attempting a tag search). My need is simply to tag thumbnails, and search the tags, so I can quickly find them. I don't use any of the advanced features of this app so this shouldn't be hard (I think). I wouldn't mind (well, I could live with it) the massive file sizes the program creates if the program would then simply open and allow searches but it's painfully slow to open (4 mins, 30 seconds, with a fast i7 cpu, fast SSD & 16GBs of DRAM) - if it opens at all (it usually doesn't) and attempting a search is entirely futile (I last attempted to use it a month ago and it crashed 20 times on search in a row - I counted - this is when it opened at all). It might be the most aggravating piece of non-Microsoft software I've ever used. I'm still hoping an update happens one day (I really need what it should be able to do) but, currently, all my great investment in time and effort (basically at simply cataloging thumbnails) has been totally wasted. My advice is wait-for-an-update. Maybe it'll fix the mess that is this app?

Jul 13 2018 at 8:57am Copy Link

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Sara User Comments on some of the comments above, and...

I've had similar problems with WinCatalog (which often appears here on bits): VERY big db size, for the thumbnails, and NO virtual "cabinets"/folders, ie no gathering of files which originally are spread over different physical (NTFS or whatever) folders.

Then, I'm wondering about the silence of the developer, facing the above comments, interaction with a single developer being one of the bigger/biggest benefits of one-man* development ventures.

* = (deceased and) wonderful Karen Kenworthy being the sole (and tremendous) exception to that male-only rule in development, to my knowledge, up to now.

Also, I wonder where from to get visuals for originally-just-text elements in case, even just for my personal use: would it not be too much fuss, at the end of the day? (Since this tool is marketed as some idea-gathering tool, text-only ideas will be frequent after all?!)

So, yes, I'm in a line with other commenters here, wondering about the potential of such software, but not seeing it attained yet.

And finally, I would be very happy to get some info about the abrupt finishing of the offering of this developer's agenda software, some days ago, here, after just some hours: Whilst the yearly rent price (around 100$, or was it 99, hoho?) cannot be justified but by those who use that software on multiple (or, let's say, at least 2) devices, concurrently, and probably, with a price of 100$ for a start (= 50 on bits), and then 50 for updates (= 50 or 49 on bits, every 1 or 2 years, with intermediary, relevant updates, if the developer doesn't offer those updates on his own site, thus "forcing" his customers to go thru intermediaries in order to get updates) seems, to me, being a VERY reasonable price for this fine agenda software (which is amendable indeed but very "clean", very neat already, whilst not being "primitive" or such at all); I seriously had intended to buy next time on bits, and then update, any 1 or 2 years, on bits, again, since any price on the developer's website is 100 or 99$, which simply isn't reasonable, by comparison, if you just use the tool on your (mobile) Windows device.

Then, it disappeared from bits after just some hours if I'm not mistaken, and the developer "thanked" everybody for their "interest", but without giving details on the abrupt vanishing of the offer.

So, do we have to wait another year for it? Bearing in mind that "neatness" left alone, there are other contenders in that "agenda" field which, for some, and at lesser prices, offer more functionality indeed, e.g. TaskMerlin (= "overdue" here on bits) or MLO (My Life Organized, never here on bits but with very reasonable pricing indeed).

So WHAT about Swift-To-Do, its sudden disappearance here, and its possible resurfacing here soon?

Jul 13 2018 at 11:03am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hello. Thank you for letting us know about your experience. Better hotkeys and a better support for very big databases is something we want to focus on.

@Sara User
Thank you very much for your interest in Swift To-Do List. The offering here ran for one or two whole days as planned and there was no abrupt disappearance as far as I know. If you are still interested, you can contact our support at support (at) dextronet (dot) com.

Regarding the price, we think that $8.25 per month for an advanced software people mostly use almost everyday to manage their work & home agenda is a reasonable price, and many our users do too. But thank you for your point of view!

@all
Thank you very much for your interest in this software!

Dextronet - Jul 14 2018 at 2:37am Copy Link

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Sara User I see you will not change anything about that other software's price ;-)

(Perhaps I'm totally wrong with my observation re the abrupt ending, had seen this some midday, without having seen the offer the day before: so I must have inadvertently left out one day looking into bits; had hoped that wouldn't occur.)

As for that pricing theme, some remarks:

- It's evident that the developer makes his pricing policy, according to his standards: selling less but at higher prices, more at lesser ones, or anything in-between.

- Rents (or in your case, purchases but with update prices at 100 p.c. of the initial price, so I'm NOT wrongly implying your software is rent software, you case is quite special) are justified whenever the developer has additional costs for web storage, which is the case here, hence your 100 p.c. update price, including 1 other year of web storage / web services (but including indefinite - local - use beyond that term).

- Not anybody wants (or gets) 7/24 web connection (web access upon demand: yes, automatic connection: no), and/or juggling around with the same program on several devices, even when some program, yours here, facilitates this.

- Going the rent way, i.e. accepting rent (or something similar as in this case) for us users is very dangerous since if such rent-outs (or similar here) are really successful, more and more software will not be available anymore for some upfront price, and it's to be feared that only inferior software (of which the developer cannot allow himself to rent it out instead) will be available by purchase.

Since the price you indicate is plus VAT, it's nearing 12$ per month, and even business people, in most countries, can NOT deduct VAT, and/or deduct the whole expense from their revenues, since most tax authorities's stance upon this is they will use it, to a degree which cannot be determined, for private means; the same is true for many other software categories.

It's correct that you insist on the fact that agenda software is used daily, whilst probably 80 p.c. of the around 100 "major" software installations on my pc I only use once a month or so, but as implied above, renting instead of buying will not stop then, if proving a successful scheme beyond MS/Adobe, at daily-used software, but will become more and more widespread, including rarely-used software which then you would be forced to rent by the minute, which isn't as advantageous as it sounds to the user since, being software they only use here and then, many (paid) minutes will then be lost be any needed re-acquainting with that piece of software; also, for most of such "1-trick pony" software, users don't necessarily need the latest version, but just one stable version, even years old, and which does that 1 trick well.

In other words, if we give in to software renting now, we will need to pay 250$ per months for our daily software needs in some years, or then we will have to cope with really, really inferior software.

Thus, the question is not if your software is worth near 12$ a month, but if we customers are willing to pay around 20 times that amount in some years in order to retain our access to really good software in general, and which Swift To Do without any doubt is.

In other words, we have to demotivate such offers, by not "buying in", in order to keep off third party developers from adopting your ideas, in order to keep the otherwise lowering flood at bay, at least for all that hybrid offerings; web-only services being another market again and which will certainly dent into the former desktop-only, now desktop-with-some-extra-benefits market even more.

In other words, it's a power struggle, not a question of (generic? individual? measured upon what criteria for every user?) "worth".

Fact is, if you buy some physical object, you have to pay the price, while when buying software, you get more, much more, than you have paid for; the same is true for information (books, periodicals, web...): The providers of those services get (hopefully) paid for their efforts by the fact that they are able to sell the same service (more or less, except for license individualisation costs and similar) to multiple customers.

But at the end of the day, it's illusionary to think that these customers, and notwithstanding all that incredible benefit they get, by not having to pay individually for the development of the software in question, will be able (or even just willing) to pay 200$ or more each month for software rental, so we other users will need to stop this while regular rental sums up to around 20 or 30$ (more if you make your living with Adobe software, but that's another subject), instead of accepting more and more monthly costs for software, reaching 50, then 100, then 200$ and more: if we think acceptable what we're charged, by some, "today", we will inevitably have to pay totally unacceptable sums "tomorrow", our choices today dwindling tomorrow's market in which we then will not have any choice anymore.

Jul 14 2018 at 6:25am Copy Link

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Dextronet @Sara User, thank you for your thoughts. Since you build upon it - we think it doesn't qualify as rental because when you buy a license (either first time or as a renewal), the license is yours to keep forever. You can install the latest STDL version your license supports and use it indefinitely.

Dextronet - Jul 15 2018 at 2:25pm Copy Link

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bvssunnydale This is one of the very few programs (I've used thousands at this point) that I feel compelled to warn people about. I put 1,200 images+ in and it started to take minutes to load and then stopped loading entirely (I've spent entire days troubleshooting this). The developer seems like a nice guy but never actually offers anything remotely helpful and development seems to have stopped long ago. I really wanted to like this software and purchased multiple licenses so I could use on different cpus, but if you plan on cataloging links to more than a couple hundred thumbnails (I use it for photo & video files) then it may be the worst program I've ever used - and, also, takes up a massive amount of space on my hard drive (approximately 1GB per 1,200 images). All I need is an app that allows searching by tags and viewing their associated thumbnails and this app can't accomplish even this fundamental task. Beyond frustrating.

Dec 10 2018 at 6:56am Copy Link

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Dextronet @bvssunnydale - Hello.

I am sorry you've had a bad experience with the program. I need to comment on this because this seems more like an issue with how you use the software rather than a fundamental problem with Mind Collected itself.

Mind Collected is a great software for cataloguing and classification of things, links etc., it's not a good image & video archive. When you put 1,200 images into its database with each image having, on average,1 MB, of course you'll get a database that's well over 1 GB.

The best practice here would be using smaller scale and resolution images which are still all right for record-keeping, but don't clog the database so much with unnecessary detail. Also please make sure you have enough RAM available. The poor performance may be caused by memory swapping.

Dextronet - Dec 11 2018 at 1:09am Copy Link

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Sara User Thank you both for the very valuable info that the above "Create Visual Catalogs of Ideas and Things" is slightly misleading then since from your descriptions, it's obviously not a catalog, but a warehouse:

A catalog links to items, refers to items (thumbnails..., e.g. the tool WinCatalog, here and there here on Bits, also tools like LightRoom, etc.), whilst into a warehouse, you put the items (storage, MindCollected, obviously).

Also, the claims on the tool's site: "Database" (which it is then, just not be particularly robust), "Collect anything (...) Photos" (!), and "Build your own visual encyclopedia" (!) would NOT indicate its bad scalability but rather the contrary (even if you understand the long list of possible uses there as an "OR", not as an "AND" list).

And we see a general trial problem here: You try with some material, not being aware of the possibility (or just hoping for the best that it will be ok) that with multiple amounts of similar material, the tool will probably stop being useful.

Dec 11 2018 at 2:46am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hello, thank you for the comment.

Mind Collected does support linking, ranking, tagging and other features you need for a catalogue.

The performance issue is probably caused by memory swapping rather than by the size of the database.

However, no database file can match the performance of a file system, so if you want to keep an archive with lots of large files, such as full-res photos and videos, you are always better off keeping those files on a file system, not in a database file, and using thumbnails and links to build your visual catalogue.

Dextronet - Dec 11 2018 at 3:52am Copy Link

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Sara User Thank you for this clarification!

1) So it would be advisable to NOT import BUT to link, systematically. Then, does MC create thumbs for pictures automatically? And is linking instead of importing as easy as (obviously) is importing (which would be the default then?)?

2) And speaking of automatisms, what about bulk linking (not bulk importing, obviously), anything from some (sub-) folder?

I'm aware of the fact that WinCatalog, mentioned by myself above, is meant FOR such bulk processing of folder structures, whilst Mind Collected's aim is to be more selective (if I understand your product page well), but then, nevertheless, it would be of interest to know if some bulk processing can be done with ease, of if it's really one-by-one always.

It's evident that if even "just" the answers to 1) are positive, then my appreciation of this program changes considerably, some 1 gb* (?) to be filled up with links and thumbs offering quite some real workspace indeed; I hope there is functionality then for when you click the thumb, the original picture appears in some integrated / the standard pic viewer?

And film clips (there would probably not be thumbs, which is rare and often useless anyway, since just the very first, meaningless frame would be displayed in such tools) would be opened in their standard viewer for that format?

*= So MC loads the whole database into memory? If there is enough memory available, let's say 8 or 16 GB, how much work memory MC would then be able to use, with immediate response times?

Again, if linking is as easily possible as is importing, the latter clearly isn't the well-advised use for MC if the user has got lots of material to reference by it.

Dec 11 2018 at 4:42am Copy Link

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bvssunnydale With all due respect every screen shot and every description emphasizes the "visual" (images) aspect of this database being what sets it apart but if you actually USE images it breaks down entirely. And I emailed Dextronet early in the process and your suggestions for adding and/or reducing image sizes made absolutely no difference (the program stopped loading entirely). Since I'm only using small low-resolution thumbnails why should they take 1MB apiece when full pictures of the web usually take less than 50KB's. It's absurd. To say MindCollected is "great software for cataloging & classification of things (?), links, etc" but that it's "not a good image & video archive" is like saying it's a good "visual" database but only so long as you don't actually put anything "visual" (images) in it. All this could probably be easily fixed but Dextronet has done no real development in the years I've had it. [For the record everything else I'm running on my quad-core i7, with 16GBs RAM, on a newer SSD is zippy - so it's not my machine.]

Dec 11 2018 at 4:53am Copy Link

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Sara User @bvssunnydale: "Since I'm only using small low-resolution thumbnails why should they take 1MB apiece when full pictures of the web usually take less than 50KB's. It's absurd."

Oh well. I'm not a specialist in pic formats but I can offer this as a possible explanation; I hope the developer will come up with something better, and useful!

I use some old but, for text, very functional 2-pane (text) outliner with rtf content. Now the rtf format supports quite some pic formats, but within rtf, the full "text" = code of these pics is written into the rtf (code) text (i.e. rtf does not link to the pics), and while other, more modern (but in other aspects, much less functional) outliners integrate those mostly .jpg files in their original format, around 30KB to 100 KB mostly, my outliner translates them into some (I think) .wmf format, and any such little .jpg blows then up my file size by around 1 MB; this is insane, of course, but I can live with that since such pics are an exception for my information management needs, so their appearance remains exceptional.

Now what you describe reminds me of what I endure from my outliner, and we fully agree that thumbnails in some catalog software should not take around 20 or 30 times the hdd space than would be needed for some perfectly clear 30- or 50 KB .jpg (which is the original format anyway, most of the time), but quite less, 10 KB, say?

I'm very interested in the developer's explanation, but if you did it all right on your (more than totally functional) system, there would seem to be a real development flaw hidden in this tool.

Let's see if the developer comes up with a solution.

EDIT: "The developer" would be Jiri Novotny, so it's rather "Jiri" than "the developer", all the more so since he appears to be really responsive; I just looked it up.

EDIT 2: From wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/...ext_Format ):

"one of the supported picture types (e.g. JPG or PNG) – it uses either the original format of the inserted graphics file (if this graphics file uses one of RTF-supported formats – such as PNG, JPG) or a RTF-supported picture type created by RTF writer in conversion from RTF-unsupported graphics file (e.g. conversion from BMP or GIF to PNG)

a Windows Metafile (WMF) copy of the original picture – for better compatibility with some Microsoft applications (e.g. Wordpad). The Windows Metafile copy is included without any compression.

This method increases the RTF file size rapidly. The RTF specification does not require this method and there are various implementations that include pictures without the WMF copy (e.g. Abiword or Ted).

For Microsoft Word it is also possible to set a specific registry value ("ExportPictureWithMetafile=0") in order to prevent Word from saving the WMF copy (see link "Document file size increases with EMF, PNG, GIF, or JPEG graphics in Word" at the beginning)."

Dec 11 2018 at 5:42am Copy Link

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Brenda Adams This is all very confusing to me. (I know nothing about the product.) But question:
aren't there other products that can do similar things? I'm thinking of programs like RightNote, Evernote, Everything, and book-type programs, even Win Explorer replacement programs like Xplorer2 or Xyplorer? I plead ignorance, sorry. But using those programs, we can view by photos, txt, etc. Some of these also show comments we've added or written.
What's this program really about? I'm lost. Perhaps more time is needed here?

Dec 11 2018 at 12:08pm Copy Link

0

Sara User @Brenda. Yes that's right, it's about categorization, playing around with ideas. Most of such programs are hierarchical, this one (as Evernote) is not, and the tags are not hierarchical either it seems. So this is a "flat" design: For every use case, you would create your own database here, then switch between databases when needed (don't know if several of those can be open concurrently). I prefer hierarchical, but I can see use cases for "flat".

From the screenshots, I can't see an "item" without a picture; so that would be a blank frame supposedly; also, I don't see real titling for the items. Thus, it would be important to get pics easily and fast; for example, here on bits, just days ago (see "Past Deals"), there was a tool for movie categorization which downloads the respective movie posters from some web database (I suppose that's from themoviedb.org), which is very helpful in case.

A file manager like XYplorer (which has a very good pic preview pane) would not come with the accompanying text field the current, and other tools have, so there's use cases for these tools indeed.

"Everything" is one of the best (and free) tools there is, but it lists tags in filenames; then, from the respective result list, you have to click on the items one by one, in order for them to be displayed in the default pic viewer; no text pane either.

If you use Evernote, that should do.

But overall, what bvssunnydale says about speed above, needs real clarification; I hope the developer Jiri will comment on this; I'm currently musing how it could even be possible to devise such a database in such a way it get such a speed problem with tiny pics.

The problem I described results from my program's placing the bad pic format into rtf text, i.e. into the text field; here in this database, the pics have their own record fields, are not "written" into the text, so it could be that Jiri uses that very same, bad pic format, but I don't have the slightest idea why he doesn't simply store the original (.jpg) format then which would resolve the whole problem. This also arises the problem how he stores pics in his other programs, and if there similar speed problems could arise then, once you store a certain amount of material in there.

Dec 11 2018 at 1:51pm Copy Link

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bvssunnydale Maybe the single worst piece of software I've ever used. I was so hopeful I bought multiple licenses. Acceptable until thumbnails reach around 800 then selecting them completely locks up the program (i7 with SSD, so fast machine). Completely useless. Vendor offers only boilerplate replies, none of which are effective and no updates to even potentially fix. It's painful to abandon software after putting 80-100 hours into adding images and tags into it. Just a suggestion - but if plan to catalog more than a few hundred images (which also take an enormous amount of space) - then this is not the solution.

Jul 3 2020 at 6:42am Copy Link

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Dextronet Hello @bvssunnydale. I am sorry about the bad experience :(.

For a few hundreds of items, the performance will be all right.

Dextronet - Jul 3 2020 at 7:09am Copy Link

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Richy Based on the response by 'bvsunnydale' the vendor should say JUST HOW MUCH' input can be made instead of "a few hundreds of items"...obviously, there is a limit in this software and for someone who has thousands of items needing to be catalogued (such as myself), a much fuller description and, more important, clearer proper responses, are needed.

Jul 4 2020 at 8:55am Copy Link

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42gr bvssunnydale

I've been through this problem many times with different free form databases.

The very best that I have found is The Journal. by davidrm with a website of the same name. It occasionally comes up on special on BitsDuJour (a favourite website of mine).

The Journal is based on SQLite. It is able to handle GB of data. I've found it to be bullet proof and FAST. Even with lots of data.
I've got nothing to do with them except that I use the software and love it. I've been using free form databases now since 1987 and this one is the best that I have found.

Geo.

Jul 5 2020 at 2:17am Copy Link

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Russ User I bought this several years ago and what bvsunnydale says is spot-on correct.

What's worse is that there was, seemingly, at the time, no fix for it and neither was there any method of exporting to other formats... you know, so you can save your data in case what happened multiple times happened again.

Sadly, there was no help whatsoever from the developers/owner with this. When I last had issues with their software, it was a painfully slow response (weeks). Thereafter, I cut my losses, switched to Evernote, and pasted in there.

Jul 6 2020 at 5:41pm Copy Link

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