Shareware Today

ExtraMind Systems announces the release of Instant Navigator 0.6, a plug-in for Microsoft OneNote enhancing it with an instant “quick-as-you-type” search capability and some other productivity features.

Searching for a note in Microsoft OneNote can be a bit complicated. A typical user has hundreds if not thousands of notes he wants to find quickly. But OneNote doesn’t make it easy to do. When you search for a note, OneNote displays all instances of a keyword it finds inside all pages, so you have to browse through an endless number of pages or go to the “Search” options to change search criteria, which you also do several times until you find what you want. Adding new notes every day makes things even more complicated.

Fortunately, you can get rid of this complexity with a little plug-in from ExtraMind Systems. Instant Navigator is designed to help make things easy for you when it comes to finding a note in Microsoft OneNote. Once installed, it enhances OneNote with an instant “quick-as-you-type” search, which lets you find a note with little or no effort. Just begin typing a relevant keyword into the search box and you’ll find the note instantly - often as you type in the first letters of a keyword. When the note is found, click on it to load into OneNote. Another specialty of search with InstantNavigator lies in its ability to find a keyword in the title of notebooks, sections and pages, which the native OneNote search system does not provide. If a word you’re searching for is contained in the title of a notebook or a section, you have no chances to find this note unless you have Instant Navigator.

“This is pretty exciting stuff, I am glad to see someone do this,” said Daniel Escapa, OneNote PM.

InstantNavigator integrates with Microsoft OneNote seamlessly and runs as a standalone application. To run the program, you need to click on its desktop icon or press the hotkey. By default, the hotkey is “Windows” + “Q” but it can be any other combination you specify. You can run InstantNavigator from anywhere in Windows.

Who can benefit from Instant Navigator?

Instant Navigator can benefit almost anyone who uses Microsoft OneNote to take notes on a regular basis. The following is a short overview of its benefits for different people. See more examples at www.instant-navigator.com.

- Journalists. Writing a good article requires preparation, which basically means gathering information about the topic you’re going to write about. Use OneNote to collect and organize notes with photos, video, audio records and clippings from the Web in sections. Quickly jump to the needed section using Instant Navigator when you want to add a new note or edit an old one.

- Students. When you give a report in class or answer questions, it’s essential to back up what you’re talking about with facts, life examples, data and other information that makes you sound convincing. Use OneNote to take notes on the topic and find them quickly with Instant Navigator. Having an instant access to any piece of information can help you be better prepared for unexpected questions and give brilliant answers.

- Entrepreneurs. Keeping a client database and being able to find any contact quickly are essential for doing a successful business. Use OneNote to create a separate section for each client with the pages, such as ‘Contact’, ‘To-Do’, ‘Completed Orders’ and ‘Partnership Ideas’ or anything else you want to track. Use Instant Navigator to find any client instantly whether you’re talking to him over the phone or processing the order.

“I think OneNote is gaining some traction in the market, and this certainly helps manage the growing amount of stuff I keep in the program,” said Scott W. Galbraith, P.E., M.C.P., Trailside Communications.

Available now, Instant Navigator 0.6 costs $15.99. The product runs on Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 2000 and requires Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. A free trial version is available.

Read more at www.instant-navigator.com.