For more years than I want to admit, I’ve been searching for the perfect answer for a Personal Knowledgebase. I think a Personal KnowledgeBase is slightly different than a Corporate KnowledgeBase, but it would be nice if the two were extremely similar. I don’t have an exact definition of what “perfect” would look like, but I know it includes, at least:
- Free form – some stuff to be remembered is very random in structure
- Highly searchable
- Always available (web, notebook, mobile, desktop, other?)
- And, it has to meet my “golden triangle” requirements: trusted, friendly, and used
I’ve tried Personal Information Managers all the way back in the 80’s. I’ve used Outlook. I’ve used OneNote. I’ve used web tools. Each had good points, but they all missed on one or more points.
Over the past few months, I may have closed in on something that comes pretty close, and it’s amazingly simple. Gmail! By labeling items with PKB (Personal Knowledge Base), all the stuff I want quick access to is in one place, which is fine when I have an Internet connection. But what about when I’m off-line?
Off-line Gmail solves part of the problem. I’ve been very pleased with the off-line use of Gmail. I’m equally OK with using Outlook, with an IMAP connection to Gmail. As long as there is some sort of indexing going on (Windows Search, Google Desktop, etc.), the searching need is met. Now, as long as I have my notebook, I have my Gmail PKB collection with me. But what about when I don’t have an Internet connection and I don’t have my notebook (does that ever happen? Yes!) Well..this was probably obvious, but I never chose to check into it. A WinMobile device can sync specific folders, and Gmail labels show up as folders. So…now my WinMobile device also has all my PKB items. This is getting better and better.
Not being an iPhone user, I’m not certain the same capability exists there…but I suspect it does.
So…what’s the down-side of this solution? Only two, so far, that have impacted me:
- I’m not sure I’m ready to put truly personal/private info into gmail. Social Security Number, passwords, credit card numbers, etc.
- Searching on the WinMobile device is rather slow. Still requires me to have really good item descriptions so I can drill down to them quickly (OK iPhone users, here's your chance to convince me to change)
Anybody got a better solution? Does anybody else have as much need for a personal knowledgebase as I do?
For those who might ask, here are some of the kinds of things I put into my personal knowledgebase:
- Birthdays, anniversaries, any other dates of interest
- “How to” article excerpts, often with URL references and notes
- Info on particular wireless networks that I may need to connect to again in the future
- Names that I have trouble remembering, along with lots of reference info so I can find them
- Random info on companies or technologies I might have a future interest in
- Confirmed registration information, software license confirmations, and such
- Examples of Out of Office messages, Voice Mail greetings, and such
- Short excerpts of books, or news articles
- Original info on mailing lists I join, in case I ever want to leave and can’t figure out how
- Excerpts of reghacks, or info on specific GPO settings, or any other configuration items
- Anything I expect to need to remember in the future!
Where do you keep such information for easy retrieval? How well does your solution work? Allen Madding has an interesting solution that I'll mention in a future post.
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