My coolest software of the year recommendation goes to FreeMind. If you take a few minutes to look at it, you might agree. There are millions of things you can do with it. Click on the link and check it out. I have been using it to organize my job hunt, as a contact manager, brainstorming tool, outline for my writing, project management, a free-form database, and just about everything else. It is FREE and does not have any adware. If you want to get organized this is the best thing out there, in my opinion.
FreeMind is not a contact management package, per se. But it will give you all the tools you need to do extremely effective contact management better and a lot easier than most of the contact management stuff out there. The cost is FREE. No spyware or adware and fully supported.
It is a part of a family of software called “mind mapping software” There are essentially two versions- following is more information about the software and links to how it works and how sample data files showing how other people are using it:
The beta works just fine. It has a lot more features and I have found it to be very reliable. The bugs are minor and the benefits of the new version outweigh them. I have also found that my data files work under both versions.
Review the links to see what it really does. I am using it for brainstorming, information management, contact management, and just about everything else. The principal is simple. You start with a Root “node” and create branches. Each branch can be formatted to different colors, contain a quick search able HTML (in the beta version) text note (which appears on the bottom of the page), a calendar alarm (also only in the beta), links to web pages, email, or local files. Nodes can be encrypted with a password (for sensitive info like passwords, etc.) So basically, it is a “build it the way YOUR brain works” free form database and information mapping tool that you can use any way you want. The nodes fold and unfold as needed.
You will also see how the free-form structure of the application will force you to think through things… identifying problems and solutions in addition to sorting information the way you think. Like an Ishakowa diagram on steroids!
FreeMind has already made me tons more productive because it puts everything at my fingertips and lets me see the big picture the way I think.
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