NOTE: IF YOU SEE AN ".sit" SUFFIX AFTER THE FILE NAME, THEN THE PROGRAM WAS COMPRESSED USING STUFFIT™ BY ALADDIN SYSTEMS, AND WILL REQUIRE EITHER THE STUFFIT™ OR DROPSTUFF WITH EXPANDER ENHANCER™ SHAREWARE PROGRAM TO EXPAND IT AGAIN. THESE PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE FROM MOST MACINTOSH INTERNET SOFTWARE DOWLOAD SITES AND USER GROUPS.
On-Line Payment Options (for those of you who downloaded the demo)
The following URL's are sites where payment for Digital Diary can be made on-line. I f you downloaded it from one of these vendors, please make payment to the vendor from which you obtained it. They will notify me of the payment, at which time I will e-mail the I.D. code to you.
SOME UNSOLICITED COMMENTS FROM USERS OF DIGITAL DIARY:
"I've downloaded and am using your Digital Diary and I like it a lot."
M. Sher, U.S.A.
"I have just used Digital Diary. It's so wonderful. I have been searching for such a program as Digital Diary because I want to manage concurrent projects."
T. Takashina, Japan
"I discovered your product Digital Diary on the MacUser Internet site and since using the product, I have been ecstatic. Finally, I've found a piece of commercial software that enables me to organize my life the way I desire. Digital Diary is absoluteley wonderful."
J. Russell, Ph. D., San Francisco, CA
"I believe that, at least for the academic community, Digital Diary can fill a niche not addressed by other personal organizers."
M. Vidal, Biological Investigations Centre, Madrid, Spain
"I am evaluating Digital Diary for use as a project reporting tool - so far I am impressed."
C. Bone, U.S.A.
"It is slick and quick, easily customizable amongst other impressions." "Digital Diary could fit like a glove".
B. Burris, U.S.A.
"I have just registered my copy of Digital Diary. Love the program - it's just what I was looking for to track all the juggling projects I seem to have all at once!" "Thanks again for a wonderful tool."
B. Potts, U.S.A.
" I'm a new graduate architect. This looks like just the job!"
K. Harris, Zimbabwe, Africa
"Great program."
K. Hobbs, Brooklyn, NY
Digital Diary™
Activity and Decision Tracker for the Macintosh
System 6.04 and up, ±2 Mb RAM and ±2 Mb disk space
Accurate and complete documentation is the backbone of any successful enterprise. What would it be worth to you to have a centralized and instantly accessible record of all the important decisions and activities on any of your on-going projects? One thing is certain, the more convenient it is to document those activities, the more complete and accurate your records will be. While most personal information managers focus on scheduling and contacts management, Digital Diary™ concentrates on keeping an organized record of your work, allowing you quick and easy retrieval of a project's history when most needed.
Here are a few of the many uses of Digital Diary™:
Business, Sales, and Consulting:
• Project activities and decisions
• Upcoming deadlines, meetings, and appointments
• Telephone and meeting records
• Discussions with suppliers, consultants, clients and co-workers
• Decisions made and communicated to clients, co-workers, and subordinates
• Directions received from clients, authorities, and management
• Decision / activity 'streams' relating to issues within a project
Academic and Scientific:
• Experiment progress notes
• On-going research projects
Educational:
• Individual student progress diary
Home and Personal:
• Personal projects and hobbies
• Special events (weddings, holidays, family reunions, etc.)
Digital Diary™ gives you fingertip access to the current status of any of your projects, giving you the ability to go back to see all activities on all projects on any day you choose. On a complex project, there could be a dozen or more separate issues being dealt with at the same time, each of which has its own distinct status and decision process. Wouldn't it be great to be able to pull up the history of each of these issues at any time?
Digital Diary™ is not meant to replace your main project file - its purpose is to complement your present filing system to help you find what you need to know now.
Digital Diary™ replaces:
To do lists, diaries, reminder notes, day files, telephone notes and all sorts of other memory joggers.
ABOUT THE DEMO
All functions are operational in the demo until you have entered 75 notes, after which the "Post Note" function will cease to accept new note entries. You can empty the diary as often as you like in the demo, but the purged notes will still count toward the 75 note limit. The sample data is geared toward architects (since that's my field). If you're in this field, you're in luck; if not, you'll need to choose to erase the category types along with the rest of the sample data.
All information and other functions will still be accessible after this point, but without the "Post Note" function you won't be able to add new note entries to your diary.
In order to enable the program to full functioning status, you will need to register your copy. Please refer to the information under "Registration..." under the "File" menu.
You may distribute the demo to as many people and install it on as many computers and shareware sites as you like!
INTRODUCTION TO Digital Diary™
Digital Diary™ allows you can keep track of many on-going and complex projects, with fingertip access to the current status of each one. Projects can be arranged in up to 50 main categories. Or if you prefer, you can use the category level for your project list, and use the next level down for detailed project topics. You can even arrange your projects over several separate copies of Digital Diary to add yet another level to your project hierarchy. Versions of Digital Diary previous to v2.1 referred to the second level of the hierarchy as the project level. This has been renamed as the topic level because of the possibility of confusion if the category level is used for the project list.
Digital Diary™ employs a double entry method, which records all notes in both a Day File as well as a Topic File. A third location, the 'To Do List', is reserved for certain types of notes that require future follow up, such as appointments and project deadlines.
Digital Diary™ ships with note types arranged in two groups. The first group is set to be recorded in the To Do List as well as the Topic File and Day File. Note types can be changed, added, or removed at any time. An on-screen reminder appears when the program is opened on or after the date specified for a future event listed in the 'To Do List'. Each topic can also be assigned a status from a user-definable menu.
A wide variety of reports can be generated, with information arranged by project name, status, or note type. Varying levels of password protection are available to control access to the program.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
IF YOU ARE USING Digital Diary™ ON A POWERBOOK, DO NOT LEAVE THE PROGRAM OPEN PAST THE FIRST LOW BATTERY WARNING. IF THE COMPUTER SHUTS DOWN AUTOMATICALLY (OR CRASHES) WHILE DIGITAL DIARY IS OPEN, IT MAY BECOME CORRUPTED (this can happen with any program, by the way!
HOW TO USE Digital Diary™ (in a nutshell)
Step 1)
Digital Diary™ ™ is shipped with sample data so that you can get a feel for the program right away. The first step is to remove the demo data by selecting "Start New Diary..." from the "Edit" menu. You can choose to keep the category headings if you feel they may be useful. You can now add new categories and topics if you wish (they can be added, renamed, or removed at any time). Return to the Input Window.
Step 2)
Select the desired category, topic, and note type from the pop-up menus. Note types can be edited to suit by clicking on the button adjacent to the pop-up menu. (see
Step 3)
Type in your note and click on “Post Note” at the bottom right of the screen. Digital Diary will add a header containing the date, category, topic, note type, and time of entry and then record it in the appropriate Topic File and the current Day File.
Your note will only be recorded in the 'To Do List' if the note type selected has been identified using the "Save Set..." button in the "Note Types" editing window. You can select more than one item by holding down the Command key. The "Show Set" button will hilight the currently saved set of note types that will be recorded in the To Do List.
RETRIEVING INFORMATION
Click on "Topic File..." to navigate to the 'Topics' database. From here you can view the topic's history (compilation of all activity notes entered previously for this topic) or view the topic's information, which is a set of nine fields where you may enter basic constant or seldomly changing information about the topic/project (client contacts, consultants, date started, deadlines, etc.). You can also navigate to other topics from here by selecting a topic from the pop-up menu.
Click on "Day File..." to open the 'Day File' records. The day file record you first see will correspond to the date of the last entry made, which may not necessarily be the current date. Navigation to other day file records can be accomplished by several methods, the easiest being the hierarchical pop-up menu. Clicking on a date in the calendar bar will take you that day's file record, if one exists. If not, a beep will indicate the lack of a record for that date. The arrow buttons will navigate to the first, previous, next, and most recent day file records, respectively. The hatched outline indicates the day file that is currently on display.
COORDINATING NOTE ENTRIES
Sometimes you may want to revise or add to a note that has already been entered. The most convenient way to do this is to revise it in either the Topic File or Day File, and then click on the "Coordinate Notes" button. This will update the note anywhere else it is located, including in the To Do list.
THE TO DO LIST
Note entries in the To Do List are arranged in chronological order by completion date (from near-term to long-term). The pull-down menu just above the field can be used to quickly scroll to a particular item by date if you have a long list. Text can be edited in To Do items which will be automatically coordinated in the Topic File and Day File.
When a To Do item is completed, press the "Completed" button and the item will be removed from the list and copied to the Topic File and to the current Day File with an indication that the activity was completed on that date. This can also be done from the window where To Do item text is edited, in the event you want to add a comment before removing the entry from the To Do list.
AN EXPLANATION OF HOW TO USE VARIOUS NOTE TYPES
Notes with either the "Time Tracker", "Income Tracker", or "Expense Tracker" note types will appear with a text template for ease of entry. When the note is posted, the entered values will be added to the total for all values previously entered for that topic. You can see the running totals in the topic file under the "Statistics" tab. These note types will also be recorded along with the other notes in the normal manner. You can also change the totals recorded in the topic file by clicking on the field and entering a new value. This is valuable if you want to "wipe the slate clean", so to speak.
The "For Action By..." note type should be used in notes requiring future actions that do not fit any other note type description (although you can add new note types if you want).
The "Meeting" note type in the pull-down menu is meant to record the time of upcoming meetings, along with any activities directly related to getting ready for the meeting, but not the actual notes or minutes from the meeting. For these, you should select a note type below the divider line. These note types will not have the preamble nor be saved in the "To Do" list.
INTERNAL LINKS (LINKING BETWEEN TOPIC AND DAY RECORDS)
Topic records can be linked to up to six other topic records:
1- Select the "Int. Links" tab from the topic records window.
2- Select the topic you want to link to by holding down the shift key while
selecting the desired project from the pop-up menu.
3- The name of the topic you have selected will appear in the field next to
the active radio button.
4- Select another radio button and repeat steps 1 to 3 to add more links.
When you click on the link field containing the topic name you wish to go to, you will be taken to that topic record. This is especially useful when you have related topics or if you have set up some other records for individual consultants working on that topic.
To clear a topic name from a link field, click on the "X" to the far right of the field.
When the text field in the topic record is locked, clicking on a date in the first line of any note entry will take you to that day record. Clicking on a topic name in the first line of a note entry in the locked text field of a day record will also take you to that topic record. This dynamic linking permits lightning quick navigation through your diary records.
EXTERNAL LINKS (LINKING TO OTHER DOCUMENTS)
Topic records can be linked to up to six other documents on your hard drive:
1- Select the "Ext. Links" tab from the topic records window.
2- Click on one of the six fields. If it contains a "0" then there is no link and you will
be prompted to select a document to link to as well as its application.
3- If it contains a document name you have previously recorded, the document
will be opened and Digital Diary will go into the background.
4- Quitting the application will return you to Digital Diary.
SAVING THE DIARY TO A TEXT FILE ("FILE" MENU)
This option will create a specially formatted file for use by version 2 of Digital Diary to enable it to import complete diary information from another copy of the program. This file will seem like gobbledygook if opened, but DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO IT, otherwise it will not be loaded correctly when you need to import it to another (or future upgrade) of the program. Starting a new diary or quitting the application will prompt you to save the present diary contents to a file of this type.
EXPORTING TOPIC FILE INFORMATION
Information from an individual topic can be exported to a text file by clicking on "Export to Text File" in the "Topic File" window. Information will not be deleted from the diary by carrying out this operation. To retire a topic (archive the data for a topic and delete it from the diary) use the "Archive and Delete" button in the "Topic List" window.
EXPORTING DAY FILE INFORMATION
Day File information can be exported to a text file by clicking on "Export to Text File" in the Day File Window. You will be asked to choose whether to export only the day file currently displayed or all past day files up to the date displayed. Information will not be deleted from the diary by carrying out this operation.
EXPORTING TO DO LIST INFORMATION
To Do List entries can be exported to a text file by clicking on "Export" in the "To Do List" window, or can be printed directly from this window.
THE "GATHER/EXPORT..." FUNCTION
Information can be gathered from one or more selected topics and displayed on screen before saving to a text file or printing. Topics can be listed in category order or status order (with or without last entry). Notes of a selected type can also be gathered together into one list, so you can view at a glance, for example, all the telephone messages you have left on any of your topics. Topic background information can also be gathered and printed from this window.
Note entries are recorded in reverse chronological order since it is assumed that more recent notes are of greater importance.
STARTING A FRESH DIARY
A new diary can be started by selecting "Start New Diary..." from the "File" menu. You will be reminded to make a backup of the present diary first because this operation deletes all the data in the diary completely. You will be asked enter the desired note tracking start number. The number in the field will be the next note number based on the previous diary's entries. This number can be thought of as the ID number of each note entered, and is strictly for your convenience if you wish to identify individual notes uniquely. You can choose to keep your category list in the new 'empty' diary. The lists of note types and status types are always retained, and can be individually edited as always.
And always remember when using Digital Diary, as in most things in life, you only get out of it what you put into it.
DIARY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
Topic record fields have a 29,500 character limit. The character count for the topic record field is displayed in the "Topic Files" window. There are several strategies to deal with this limitation. You can start a new topic record with a slightly different name when the record's field approaches the limit, or you can archive the topic and start a new one with the same name (if you don't need on-line access to the older information, that is).
INFORMATION ORGANIZATION STRATEGIES
The following variations illustrate the flexibility possible in organizing your project information.
1) Using the Category level for project types:
Viewing the pop-up menu will give an instant overview of the current groupings for your projects, such as by region, department, size, or any other criteria you wish. The Topic level would list the projects by name, and the Status level could be used for a temporary phase that the project may be in, such as "Fee Negotiations".
2) Using the Category level for project phases:
This is a variation of item (1) above. Viewing the pop-up menu will give an instant overview of the current phase of each project. This frees up the status indicator for use as a "sub-phase" within a phase. For example, if the Category is "Fee Negotiations", the status choices can be expanded to "Preliminary Stage", "On Hold", "Verbal Understanding", and "Contracts Signed". When a project moves into a new phase, it can be transferred so that it appears in the appropriate list by using the "Transfer Topic..." function.
3) Using the Category level for the project names:
This strategy frees up the Topic level for use as subtopics of a project. For example, a complex construction project can have "Owner", "Municipality", "Consulting Engineers", and "Contractor" as separate topics in order to more easily track activities related to one of these divisions. Conversely, the project level can be used to track "threads" in a project (issues that come up that involve a sequence of events for resolution and are more or less independent of other issues).
4) Using the Program level for the project name:
This strategy frees up the Category level for use as subtopics of a project, and the Topics level for sub-subtopics. The drawback is the additional overhead of having a separate copy of the program for each of your projects, but capacity would be greatly increased, which may be necessary for large complex projects.
Note Types can be:
1) activities: telephone call, received mail, etc.
or
2) billing categories: basic services, additional services, non-billable overhead, etc.
Sub-phases can be the periods within a phase prior to an important event (key approvals, permit issuance, contract signing). One way of adding yet another hierarchical level to your project organization is to use a separate copy of Digital Diary™ for each major project category. To switch, you just quit the current diary you have open and launch another one containing the project(s) you wish to access.
