Review: Sidenote

by Andrew Spangler • 02/17/2007 at 06:58 AM

Although both Windows and OS X have free applications, I have found that most free (and even the ?not free?) OS X apps tend to be much more useful, significantly better looking and simply put, quite a bit cooler than most Windows applications you will find. 

I?d like you to say hello to my little friend who has found a way into my applications folder, and in a way, my heart.  Just kidding!  But in a very real way, the apps you choose to use become an extension of yourself, and (obviously) serve to personalize your Mac.

Our app for this article is Sidenote.  Sidenote is a handy little app that functions a bit like a drawer for your Stickies.  I use it to help keep track of miscellaneous tidbits of information that I don?t want to put in a Word doc, but want a little more security than a Stickie.  Sidenote will automatically save your notes before you close (or hide) the drawer, ensuring that your data will be there the next time you pull it back open. 

Offering color coordination to help keep your notes organized is another plus to Sidenote.  You might use, say, white for normal or low priority notes, yellow for school related notes, red for handling more important notes, or grey to remind you of those homework assignments you are loathe to complete. 

Sidenote also supports pictures, which comes in handy if you see a cool avatar you want to steal, or a thumbnail that would go perfectly on your blog.  Simply open the sidenote drawer, drag the image (or copy/paste) over to the blank note, and voila!  Saved image.

You can assign sidenote to either side of your screen, and set it to pop out at the touch of a button (or two).  I have mine set to the right side of my screen, and set to pop open at Cmd+\.  You also have the option to pin the drawer open, but since it has the ?always on top? behavior, it gets a little annoying to keep moving your windows around it (and a little foolish, since you can so easily retract it).

Let?s say you have compiled quite a note? In fact, it would be nice to be able to edit all that text in a little larger window, and maybe add some more formatting.  Sidenote has a handy little feature under the ?Utilities? menu titled ?Export?.  With this option, you can export your current note to a Rich Text Document, which then can be opened with your favorite text editor or word processor. 

Of course, you can change some of the basics (font, size, color, background color, etc) from inside sidenote, but it?s not designed for super-heavy use (read: don?t try and write a book or animate a presentation in it). 

All in all, Sidenote is a great little app and merits at least a trial run from Mac users looking to enhance their productivity by having important data available at the touch of a button. 

Pros:
-Free
-Convenient drawer action hides sidenote when not in use
-Auto Save

Cons:
-Somewhat limited compared to StickyBrain
-Occasionally has frozen up on my iBook

4/5 Stars

System Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.3.8 or higher
Freeware
1.7 is newest version

Link to download: Here.