StickySorter. My Dream PIM Was There All Along.

From the screenshots this looked like a mini-OneNote but it's clearly not quite. It looks useful but a little rough around the edges and it's not clear they're going to update it. Too bad, it has promise.

p.s. I used Stickies for awhile but it cluttered my screen with a bunch of stickies that were distracting, and it had several disruptive bugs. I did like some things about it however and it seemed to be thoughtfully designed. I think two especially solid choices are Freeplane and ResophNotes. Also well designed for varying purposes: KeyNote NF (could use an update, but it's slick), ZIM, UV Outliner, Noteliner, TreeSheets, TreeLine, CintaNotes, Notepad++, and uTodo.

[edit] unnecessary third party download site removed.

I find StickySorter a bit too cumbersome: (but it's almost there though)
- there are only two sizes for the notes - you can't see all the information
- all groups are on the one page - some get lost off the edge
- the notes themselves are limited in functionality

If you are looking for a 'notes on a cork-board' solution try this:

use two software programs:
1. CORK-BOARD - your existing favorite tabbed product (where the tab name is included in the window title-bar)
2. NOTES - Stickies - great functionality
= http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-sticky-notes-utility.htm

CORK-BOARD
- you don't have to use tabs - separate documents can be used as separate cork-boards
- a tabbed program allows you to separate 'like' information onto different pages.
- I use PolyEdit word-processor - it gives me 2 layers of information:
=== the notes for my ideas
=== the WP document page for overviews and to consolidate information.
=== http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/word-processor-replacement.htm

NOTES
- attached Stickies will open for unique names in title-bars.
- just open your cork-board (maximised) and for each tab selected you will get your group of notes.
To pin notes on the cork-board:
=== open a Stickies note - best to set it to 'on top': right-click then 'on top'
=== attach it to the tabbed program page: right-click then 'attach'
------ select the tab name from the program list
------ make sure to select 'only if visible (not minimised)'
=== then replicate the already attached note over the cork-board
------ 'control' key and drag a note title bar
------ enter new contents

Try changing the colour of the cork-board.
You can find text with the Stickies 'Manage Stickies' option from the notification icon.

PROS: simple, easy to see, logical, uncluttered, a group at a time, flexible,
notes can be any size and anywhere on the desktop, free
CONS: 'on top' notes will stay on top of other windows if you don't minimise your cork-board

I have found this to be my ultimate solution - I hope someone else finds it useful.

I don't think it's mentioned elsewhere on this site, but one app that may be worth a look is Text Block Writer. Basically electronic notecards that can be moved around, on the same page, or to different pages, or to a holding area.

The screenshot should make it clearer: softwarebybrian.com/downloads/files/freeware/tbw_Screenshot.jpg

And the main page is at: softwarebybrian.com/cms/content/view/20/2/

The program hasn't been updated since 2007. And it has one serious limitation: no search/find function, but I can live with that short-coming.

It's been installed on my desktop XP system for years, and a while back I copied the files to a USB stick (minus the installer and uninstaller). It runs fine on my XP notebook, as well as my wife's Win 7 x64 notebook (w/ the XP virtual machine installed, but I don't know if that matters or not). And it does need .NET 2.

This is more of a project organizer rather than a PIM. I would think it might be quite useful for compiling research notes by writers, for one example.

Sticky notes is great for what it does. I like the panning feature, flippable notes, ability to create fields, and save and edit in a CSV file. I don't like that it can't remember where I put my data file.

For general purpose sticky notes I use pNotes. it is highly configurable, understands links, encryption, has special purpose notes for Diaries and To Do lists, alarms (that talk!), grouping (so you can use it for affinity diagraming), and lots of other cool stuff. All of its data is stored in one file, and that may be an issue if all you are looking for is an affinity diagramming tool. It is very feature rich so I am sure there is a work-around for this somewhere. You can find it at http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/ There is also a portable apps version.

Looked up atnotes, looks like it hasn't been updated since 2005 and the author asked for any websites to be taken down. The product may still work well but any updates won't be forth coming

Since I have Google Calendar up all the time as a Chrome tab, the Tasks function works for me. It's not as much fun to play with as Win7 Sticky Notes, but the function I require is all there.

FWIW, don't forget ATnotes. Small footprint, simple presentation (none of the flashy stuff) and you can do many organising things with it if you explore the context menu. For more complex work I've used (paid) TreeDBNotes for several years - there's a free version available.

(Edit} Added link for the free version:

http://www.mytreedb.com/treedbnotes_free.html

I'll give this a try, thanks! Also, everyone should check out a great notes program called Atnotes! It's free & a VERY nice note ap!It organizes great & doesn't have to have a doc to do so, resides in tray, notes can be seen or not, can be moved around, can be used for clickable links, etc etc. What notes program does Windows already have?? I assume that's in Vista or 7, huh? I use XP, and haven't seen such a thing. 3M has a wonderful Post-It notes ap that covers every base, & I'd love to have it's full ap instead of just it's Lite version, but it isn't free except for Lite. Thanks for this sticky ap, will try it right now! :)What I REALLY want, btw, is a sticky ap that pops up every time you open a web page or a doc that you post the sticky to, as if it's attached to that item.Free, or it's no use to me. Thanks again! :)

Sounds all good and intriguing.

BUT you have to agree to MS collecting "usage data" and to an automatic update feature. If you don't want to do that you just can't install it!

DANG!

As far as I can tell, Sticky Notes can be used only with Windows 7 (yes? no?), and it just lets you put the equivalent of multiple post-it notes on your desktop, where each one will hang about until you delete it. You can't save the notes as a document so they're related to one another. For example, if I want to create scene cards for a novel, Sticky Notes won't let me do that; I can't keep my notes in one note file. I also can't transfer the notes computer to computer via that file.

On the other hand, Sticky SORTER will let me do that. Apparently, a user can get a lot more creative and organized with Sticky Sorter. Lots of room for multiple note files...and simple to use.

Thanks for finding this, r.schifreen. I'll definitely use it for project organization/notes. The fact that it's compatible with XP as well as 7 is a definite plus since I work on three different computers and only one runs 7. I can save the notes documents to Dropbox and have them wherever I go.

What about Windows' built in sticky notes?