Jot+ Notes for Windows

There are so many note-writing and -keeping programs out there that you practically need one of them just to make sense of them all. Some of them stand apart by offering something extra, or, in the case of King Stair Software's Jot+ Notes, a lot extra. It's a note/cardfile program that will rid your work space of paper clutter, but you can also add subnotes to your notes, subnotes to those subnotes, and so on, until you have built up an outline of notes that you can use for organizing your material or even as the basis of a writing project, which you can also store and manage in Jot+ Notes. There's a password-protected diary/journal feature, too, and an Address book with Autodial. An Internet Links/Bookmarks feature makes it easy to import and export bookmarks between various browsers and other programs. It will handle a range of plug-ins, too, expanding the program's capabilities without bloat.

For a program with so many configurable options, Jot+ Notes has an admirably uncluttered interface that has the familiar and efficient layout of the typical email client or word processor. In fact, many of the controls will be familiar to those with experience using full-featured word processors. There are also many options for customizing the program's look and function, including the capability to assign custom functions to your keyboard.

The fully functional Jot+ Notes is free to try for 30 days, after which it's thirty bucks, or $29.95 to be precise, a pretty good bargain, considering all it does.

• Improved Vista compatibility.
• Password protection no longer requires external DLL's.
• New Insert Symbol dialog replaces old Character Map; supports Unicode.
• Windows Server 2003/2008 added to supported platforms list; Windows 9x/Me no longer formally supported.
• Locked notefiles now give an option to ignore that lock.
• Search/Replace Dialogs (plus others) can become translucent when they lose focus.
• New File|Shortcut command to place commonly-referenced notefiles on the Desktop.
• New Edit|Zoom command to zoom editor display in/out.
• Many internal tweaks and improvements.