Review: GoBinder 2005 - An Essential Tablet PC app
I've been using GoBinder 2005 for more than a month now and it has become one of my favorite Tablet PC applications. I've been on a mission since getting my Toshiba M205 Tablet to try as many Tablet-friendly applications as I can and there are a handful that have "made the cut":
- Mindjet MindManager
- Microsoft OneNote
- Agilix GoBinder
- Einstein Technologies Tablet Enhancements for Outlook (TEO)
Of these five applications, one is an indispensable favorite that adds excellent support specifically for Tablets (MindManager), one is an add-in (TEO), and two are what I can truly call Tablet-focused (you can do the math to figure out which two I'm talking about, can't you?). Comparisons between OneNote and GoBinder seem inevitable, just as OneNote was compared to Onfolio when that information manager was first released. OneNote's problem, if it actually is a problem, is that it transcends a single category because of all the goodies it contains.
GoBinder, on the other hand, is a very focused application with a well-defined set of features designed to accomplish a specific task. As you may know, GoBinder is developed by Agilix, who is also responsible for the FranklinCovey PlanPlus for Windows XP (formerly TabletPlanner) and PlanPlus for Outlook (an add-in program). GoBinder shares a lot of its underlying architecture with PlanPlus For Windows XP but there are essential differences. Where PlanPlus is a faithful recreation of the classic Franklin Planner in digital form, complete with Compass, Big Rocks, Mission statements, and other components of the FC system, GoBinder is a tool designed from the ground up for students.
Now, before you stop reading, saying to yourself "Well, I'm not a student - I need a serious business tool", let me assure you that GoBinder can be easily adapted to support business use as well. I have been able, with the assistance of the very helpful support team at Agilix and the thriving community at TabletPCBuzz.com, to set GoBinder up to be a vital tool for my business and my blogs. (Special thanks to Tablet PC MVP Rob Bushway who has earned that honor many times over with his huge contributions to that discussion board.)
Regular readers know I'm a serious Outlook user. So let me address the question I've been asked almost every day since I started using GoBinder: No. GoBinder does not replace Outlook in my workflow - it enhances it. You see, Outlook is not a particularly Tablet-friendly application while GoBinder was designed from the ground up for the Tablet PC. TEO addresses the basic issue of really being able to use ink in Outlook but that's a partial (although very welcome) solution.
What I do is work primarily in Outlook when I'm at my desk with the Tablet in its docking station. In that setting, I have a full-sized keyboard, mouse, and lovely LCD monitor and work in pretty conventional fashion. When I'm in just about any other setting though, I'm in slate mode and working in GoBinder with the pen. That includes meetings, reclining in my easy chair or bed, on airplanes, waiting in lines, etc.
The feature that makes this bimodal workflow practical is GoBinder's excellent synchronization with Outlook and Palm OS. Everything syncs - tasks, calendar entries, contacts, notes. It is every bit as seamless as syncing a Pocket PC PDA or a Palm device running an Outlook work-alike like KeySuite. You enter information with complete confidence that you will lose nothing in the translation.
GoBinder's goodness extends beyond it linkage with Outlook though. In fact, if you're not an Outlook user, GoBinder has everything you need in a Personal Information Manager (PIM) and adds some extraordinary features that are difficult to match in any other single application. It offers all of the standard PIM components you'd expect: contact list, calendar, to do list, and notepad. But it takes things a giant step further by incorporating a digital notebook that offers excellent organization capabilities and the ability to store just about any other file you might want access to in a single, structured yet adaptable environment. In a recent PC Magazine review, both OneNote and GoBinder were described as "free form information managers" and, while I think this is an appropriate description of OneNote, I don't think it is quite so accurate when applied to GoBinder.
GoBinder uses a notebook metaphor with a set of tabs running down the right edge of the screen that organize your information into sections just like an analog notebook or planner does. You can add, delete, and rearrange these tabs to suit your particular requirements. Students can use a tab for each course. Business folks can use tabs to organize projects, customers, or work and personal information. It's a completely natural and obvious interface.
In landscape screen mode, GoBinder 2005 displays two pages side by side. In portrait mode, you work on a single page at a time. There is a page bar near the top of the screen that shows all of the pages you have open and you can switch between them with a tap of the pen and arrange them using icons on the tool bar.
There are pre-designed tabs for your calendar, contacts, and one called Syllabus (for courses). I've renamed the Syllabus tab Tasks and use it for my Getting Things Done Next Actions lists. The other tabs offer a hierarchical filing system where you can create folders to hold information including notes and captured documents (see screenshots in the image gallery - a link is on the sidebar to the left).
Notice the notes that remain in ink and the notes with an "e" icon. These are two of GoBinder's notes formats. The ink notes are similar to those in Journal or OneNote. They are searchable digital ink documents. The documents with an "e" on them have been printed, using the Agilix print driver, from other applications right into the Notes tab in my GoBinder. Once printed, they can be annotated with ink.
GoBinder 2005 also allows you to drag-and-drop native files into your binder. Office files, PDF documents, and web pages can be added this way. Other applications (like MindManager for example) can be printed into the binder. The advantage to the native files is that they can launch the original application for editing and GoBinder maintains all of the versions for you. You can also annotate on a screen version of the document as with the printed-to-the-binder documents.
Of course, the $64 question is whether GoBinder can be used in a GTD workflow. The answer is a qualified "yes". While GoBinder currently does not support categories for tasks and appointments, you can use the Syllabus tab to create a Next Actions list pretty easily. It's not perfect, but with Outlook as part of my tool kit for more advanced task management and tagging, it works well enough. Agilix has acknowledged the large number of requests they've received for this feature (as well as color coding for calendar events) and hopes to add these GTD-critical features in a future release. Check the image gallery to see what my Task List looks like.
These tasks can be undated, set as ticklers (using the start date only) or "hard landscape" tasks assigned to a specific date. You add items to this Task List by dragging them from the daily task list and dropping them on the appropriate categories. Keep in mind that you can do all of this with the pen! For Tablet users, GoBinder is a dream come true.
I have a tab set up for each project to track my progress and store all related reference information there. These references include e-mail messages (printed to the binder), web pages, Office and PDF documents and, for larger projects, a mind map. This works really well, giving me a single point of reference for everything related to that project. But I don't rely on GoBinder as my primary tracking tool. I'm using another environment for overall project/outcome tracking which I'll be covering in a review I plan to post in the next few days. In GTD terms, GoBinder is my “runway“ manager.
An advantage unique to GoBinder (and its PlanPlus for Windows XP cousin) is the ability to jot down notes that are linked to a calendar event. This has become a favorite technique for me. I click on the calendar event to create a new note and scribble away. As you'd expect from a Tablet friendly app, these notes can include sketches, web clippings, and screen shots. As a lot of the meetings I attend make heavy use of white board sketching, I often capture what's on the white board as it's being created and then distribute that capture to meeting attendees. One missing item is audio recording - a feature OneNote offers in brilliant fashion. These ink notes, like all Tablet text, can be converted to editable text or retained as ink (which can be searched).
At a later date, when someone asks if I have the notes from last Thursday's meeting, I simply click on that date, select the meeting, and the meeting notes are right there. This calendar connection is subtle yet powerful and addresses the disconnect many users struggle with when their calendars and their note-taking environment are two different applications. Sure, you can do essentially the same thing in Outlook or Palm desktop but jotting notes on a Tablet PC is a lot less intrusive in a meeting setting than tapping away at a keyboard.
Despite these Tablet-focused features, GoBinder is a compelling tool even for conventional laptop and desktop systems - especially if there is a student in your life. The program can literally replace a backpack full of paper notebooks and, unlike the "dead tree" version, they don't get any heavier as you stuff more into them. For educational environments that use a Blackboard server to provide electronic curriculum, GoBinder synchronization can automatically download class notes, assignments, and reference materials into the appropriate class tab.
You can download a trial copy of GoBinder and test drive it for 30 days. Agilix is offering introductory pricing of $49.95 through the end of August. After the introductory period is over, the price will rise to $79.95 for non-students. Agilix is also offering a free GoBinder license to any teacher who requests it - a great way to get teachers familiar with the application. GoBinder 2005 is a free upgrade for all licensed GoBinder 1.0 users.