DROE Tool now supports EverNote, and much more!
I just released a new version of the Daily Record of Events (DROE) note taking tool. This release adds support for EverNote and text-based DROE files, as well as enhancements for the OneNote DROE.
From the README file, here is a summary of what changed in v0.4 (Beta). For complete details, download the README file. To get your own copy of the tool, see the Downloads page.
- NEW FEATURE: Added support for a completely text-based DROE without the need for OneNote. This includes a quick edit window.
- NEW FEATURE: Added support for EverNote… DROE Tool can send text notes to EverNote using EverNote’s auto-import feature
- NEW FEATURE: The amount of white space between notes is now configurable in the INI file.
- NEW FEATURE: “Clip Mode” causes any selected text to be clipped and included in the DROE entry. For OneNote DROE files, selected images are also sent to the DROE.
- NEW FEATURE: WIN+LeftArrow now summons a new control panel that makes it easy to update settings in the INI file and reload the tool.
- Bug fix: Fixed issue with cursor being stranded 3-4 lines below the date stamp.
- Bug fix: The CTRL-SHIFT-K and CTRL-SHIFT-M shortcuts were not working when the Outlook window was active. This is fixed.
- Updated and re-organized this README file. Switched to PDF format to significantly reduce the download size.
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 : DROE Tool, EverNote, OneNote, Outlook, Productivity : 22 Comments
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22 Responses to “DROE Tool now supports EverNote, and much more!”
July 21st, 2008 at 11:14 am
I found your DROE tool via your post on the EN forum. Very cool. I’m already looking forward to you releasing the source (so I can change the shortcuts ;)).
Two things I’ve noticed…I’m playing with it to put quick notes into EN3b.
(1) I can’t get the date format to change - I just get a date like “DROE 2008-07-21 (Mon)”, and that’s even with your default format.
(2) I’m having a heck of a time with the shortcuts using the Win key, e.g., Win+. and Win+right arrow. Sometimes I can get something pasted into the box (bullets/date), but more often, it just seems like the Win key is being pressed, i.e., I get the menu of the box, e.g. Restore/Move/close, etc.
Any ideas?
By the way - awesome tool!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
GTD Wannabe - Thanks for your comments! To answer your questions:
(1) The DROE date format is fixed for EverNote in the current version. In the next release I’ll have it tied to the INI file. Sorry, I should have made that more clear. I’m just getting started on EverNote support for the DROE Tool, more to follow.
(2) I have not heard of that happening before… It could be a timing issue in my script that didn’t show up on my machine. I’ll poke at it a little more. Some general tips on WIN+. and WIN+RightArrow… If you want text bullets, set Bullets_Enable=1 in the INI file, otherwise it will transmit control characters that are specific to OneNote. These may have unpredictable results outside of OneNote. Note that the shortcuts in OneNote are slightly different than Word and other Office applications (c’mon Redmond, get it together!). In the future I may add support for Word, etc. As you probably know, if you are editing a note in EverNote, you can just use CTRL-SHIFT-b.
One other thing to check, if you are trying to send bullets to the quick note box, make sure that box still has focus by either clicking on it or pressing WIN+n again. If those characters get sent to the desktop or some other application, it may cause strange things to happen.
Hope that helps!
Carl
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 am
One additional tip… In EverNote mode, the first line in the quick note box ends up as the title in the EverNote note (that’s why the date stamp has a slightly different form). The intended use was to type a brief title, then hit enter and continue the note. I’ll look to make the date stamp more configurable (and completely optional) in the next release.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Cool. I’ve figured out that I can get the –> (only two though) with the following sequence:
alt+. esc alt+. esc
Similarly, I can get the timestamp with the same alt esc x 2 sequence. Bizarre.
Don’t worry about it too much - I’m not going to use this all the time; I just think it’s a cool idea
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
GTD Wannabe - Thanks for the additional details. It sounds like the text is fighting to get out
Probably a timing issue, I think I can fix it in the next revision.
Thanks,
Carl
July 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Great work Carl, I have implemented it.
However, can we make the Outlook Categories dialog box working with Outlook 2007?
July 28th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Eric -
As far as I know, the Categories dialog box should pop up for new tasks in either OL2003 or OL2007. You have to edit your INI file and set QuickCAT_Enable = 1.
This opens the category assignment dialog by transmitting an ALT+G key sequence. From there, you can use the Up & Down arrow keys to select your context (category), press the Space Bar to assign it, then press the Enter key to save and dismiss the dialog box. No mouse required.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have issues in OL2007.
-Carl
August 11th, 2008 at 8:33 am
I’m also having problems with OL2007 and the ALT+G. I think it has been changed around as I can’t find a reference anywhere to using a shortcut key for categories.
What I did notice that would provide a work-around, although it would be unique for each person, is to add categories to the Quick Access Toolbar. Then when you hit ALT it gets a number. Mine for example has six items in the Quick Access Toolbar and the categories is number 6. From there I can move around and select the categories.
Possibly an entry in the ini field to let people specify their shortcut key for categories would work?
And by the way, I really like your DROE tool. It looks like something I’ll be using in conjunction with OneNote and Outlook every day.
Thanks.
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
Jeff -
Thanks for the clarification & suggestion, I’ll consider it for a future version. Unfortunately I still don’t have access to OL2007, so I’m not able to properly test the tool with the that client. Maybe my IT dept will get on board soon
Carl
August 31st, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Hey Carl,
would just like to thank you for both the DROE tool and your posts one Onenote. Absolutely love reading about Onenote. It has been very helpful in tweaking and experimenting with my own system.
Is there an elegant solution to having multiple shortcuts directing the tool to different Onenote pages? Like a separate DROE & Ideas page, using for instance Win+N for DROE and Win+I for Ideas.
Cheers!
Peter
August 31st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Peter - Thanks for your comments! I have had several requests to support links/hotkeys to multiple pages in OneNote. I’ll make sure it gets into the next version of the DROE Tool (no planned release date yet).
-Carl
September 1st, 2008 at 4:32 am
Hi, and thanks for this great tool. One request for the next version: separate shortcuts for opening outlook tasks. One shortcut for a pigpog task, another for a regular task. btw, no troubles so far with Outlook 2007.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:14 am
Steve - Good suggestion… I was thinking of changing to CTRL-SHIFT-k for a regular task (accessible from anywhere), and CTRL-SHIFT-p for a PigPog/Project task. What do you think?
-Carl
September 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hi Carl,
I would like to make the row with date/time stamp with bold font in OneNote. Is there any way how to do it using INI file of DROE Tool? Thank you.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Marekl -
Thanks for the suggestion. Just before the last release, I experimented with this a little bit. I did not have enough time to get it working reliably, so I removed it from the release. I will have to work on it some more for the next release. My plan would be to add a variable to the INI file to enable/disable the bold stamp.
- Carl
October 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
When I have Bullets_Enable = 2 and key (WIN + .) it locks my computer (i.e. the same thing if I key (WIN + L)
However, when Bullets_Enable = 1 is set and I key (WIN + .) I get the “–>” as expected.
All the other settings work great
October 9th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Additional info to my post above:
I’m using Office and OneNote 2007. Also, I don’t get any result having QuickCat_Enable = 1. Looks like the change from OL2003 to 2007 disabled the functionality.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Todd -
Thanks for your comments… With Bullets_Enable = 2, the tool sends some control characters that are unique to OneNote to create the bulleted list. There may be some sort of timing issue, maybe I’m streaming the control characters too fast. I’ll have a look.
Regarding the QuickCat feature, it transmits ALT+G to open the category box, which was apparently disabled in OL 2007
Some other users reported this as well (see comments above). There may be some work-arounds I could try for the next release, as Jeff suggests above.
-Carl
November 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Hi there. First of all, great tool and great site. I’m getting ready to implement your OneNote system to see if I can get used to it.
I just have one request regarding the DROE Tool.
I have setup the Win+left, right, top and down arrows to switch between virtual desktops using VirtuaWin. I’ve already got very used to these shortcuts to switch between desktops so it would be great if the shortcuts would be configurable via the ini file.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hi Steven - Thanks for your comments! I’ll take a look at that when I start working on the next version.
-Carl
November 17th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I am also beginning to use this tool and would find the other Outlook shortcuts helpful as well so that I do not need two tools to make those shortcuts available.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
David -
Please clarify… Which shortcuts would you like to see added?
-Carl