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However, oftentimes the need presents itself for something a bit more permanent than a clipboard content bin, but not as permanent, bulky, or cumbersome as a full-fledged word processor or text document or image file. As with Clipboard utilities, there have been a broad array of solutions devised in the form of snippet storage and retrieval applications and utilities working out the necessary compromises between power and features on the one hand and speed and convenience on the other. One avenue of function and access is the Mac OS X menubar, and the subjects of this review are both examples of that genre - one fairly richly-featured shareware and the other a more bare-bones, just-the-basics freeware utility, respectively Wonder Warp Software's ShoveBox 1.5.1 and Snarb.TK's QuickNote 1.0.
We'll look at ShoveBox first.
ShoveBox 1.5.1
Shovebox is a menu-based utility that as its name suggests, serves a convenient parking space for snippets of text, images, Web archives or PDFs.
ShoveBox offers Mac users a way to capture, store, and edit snippets of information. Running in the OS X menubar, it's designed to be unobtrusive but instantly accessible from any screen or application. It
ShoveBox makes it easy to enter data. Just shove it in the box by dragging it it in from almost any program, or use the program's QuickJot composition window to type out a quick thought or idea before you have a chance to forget it. ShoveBox also has protocols for sorting and organizing your collection of snippets and allows the user to configure importing rules for automatically organizing incoming information, which can drastically reduce the thinking you'll have to do later.
However, ShoveBox's developers made a sensible call when it came to complexity, keeping the program from becoming overburdened with features. ShoveBox does away with most of the complication that can so easily afflict programs like this in favor of just getting out of your way.
There are two main ways to add data to ShoveBox: dragging it in or by composing from scratch. You can import two types of data by dragging it up to the icon in your menubar. When the data you're dragging is something that ShoveBox recognizes, the little box will open and you'll see a near your cursor. This is so slick that it quickly becomes addictive. Almost intoxicating if you're a packrat like me.
The easiest way to import data into ShoveBox is just to drag it in from another program. You might drag text from within a word processor or an IM conversation. Or you can drag URLs and bookmarks to ShoveBox directly from your web browser. ShoveBox should know what to do with the data.
ShoveBox supports a number of common file formats, reading their contents and converting them entries of the appropriate type, when it can. A few of the formats ShoveBox supports are plain text files, rich text files, Word documents, PDFs, most of the image formats supported by Preview (e.g. JPEG, GIF, TIFF, etc), weblogs, and text clippings.
Other ways to create new data entries from scratch can be found by clicking on the icon and, from the resulting menu, selecting 'Capture'. Here's how each of those works:
Quick Jot - Quick Jot is for catching those scraps of information that fly by at such tremendous velocity that you have a high risk of losing them if you don't act fast. It's simple to use: type it in, press return, and away it goes as an entry. You can invoke Quick Jot through the menu, or, better yet, a keyboard shortcut you define in ShoveBox's preferences.
Import Clipboard - This makes ShoveBox look at your clipboard and create an entry based on the contents. It's an alternative to dragging, and, like QuickJot, you can set up a shortcut to invoke this action.
New Text Note - This is the way to write things down when you actually do have a moment to think about it. It lets you set a title and format your text as you prefer.
From iSight If you've got an iSight or DV input on your Mac, you can quickly create image entries from the video - handy for capturing diagrams and notes on whiteboards.
System-wide Service via Mac OS X's "Services" menu. If ShoveBox is installed in your Applications folder, you'll see a "Send To ShoveBox" menu item in Services-savvy programs.
Print to PDF
In any Print dialog in Mac OS X, you can select "Save PDF to ShoveBox" to shove the printout as PDF. Your normal processing rules will be applied.
To access the ShoveBox Organizer window, choose 'Organize' from the menu. You can also set up a hotkey to open it from preferences.
You can create your own folders to put items in by pressing the '+' button in the lower left-hand corner of the window, and delete a selected folder by pressing the '-' button.
The Inbox folder is special and can't be deleted or renamed. It works like you'd expect the inbox in an email program to work. Newly-shoved entries are placed here by default.
You can also search entries by entering what you're searching for in the text field locates by default, in the top-right corner of the Organizer window. This will search within the title as well as the contents of an entry.
When you drag a Web URL into ShoveBox, you can either import it as a bookmark, an entry containing the name and address of the site or as a web archive, an archive of the page and everything on it. Check Spelling As I Type can be enabled in the preferences if you wish.
ShoveBox's rules support is similar to what you may be familiar with in email clients. You can even run shell commands from Rules.
ShoveBox Version 1.5 added several new features and enhancements, among them the ability to annotate any entry, be it text, image, web archive, or PDF. It also now allows users to assign global hotkeys to frequently-used information for quick access.
The mostly bugfix Version 1.5.1 fixed a crash that prevented entries from being opened in rare circumstances, squashed another bug introduced in 1.5 in web archive windows that allowed them to display non-archived content, and "New Text Note" now focuses the title field of the window.
System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.4 or greater
A new single-user license costs $24.95 USD.
Product Page:
http://www.wonderwarp.com/shovebox/
Direct Download Link:
http://www.wonderwarp.com/files/
QuickNote 1.0 Combined Stickies And Clipboard Manager
Like ShoveBox, QuickNote is a menubar based utility in which you can jot down ideas and to dos, store quotes, addresses or code snippets or whatever.
Accessible from the menubar or via keyboard shortcuts, with QuickNote you can create a new entry, edit the clipboard and save the clipboard as a new entry.
However, QuickNote, which is freeware, does not include the advanced features we find in ShoveBox, such as support for creating entries by dragging data to its menubar icon, the sophisticated Organizer with Search, Flag, Label, and Export functions, Print to PDF, or Rules, it only supports plain text clippings (no images or PDFs), and its interface is much leaner-featured, resembling Mac OS Stickies.
However, if all you're looking for is a conveniently accessible spot to store and retrieve odd bits of information, QuickNote may be all you need
System Support:
PPC/Intel
Free
For more information, visit:
http://www.snarb.tk/
Charles W. Moore
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