OneNote (www.microsoft.com) comes with even the most inexpensive versions of Microsoft Office for Windows, so if you own Word you will usually have this too. It is one of the most under-appreciated of all Microsoft’s products, a very powerful yet simple-to-use information manager that is perfect for everything from maintaining a research library to keeping a book diary or outlining a book project. It also fits in very well alongside Word, allowing you to make notes on a Word project in OneNote and have the exact location in the text automatically saved with the comment. There is no easy way to share OneNote notebooks outside Windows, however, except with a Windows 7 mobile phone.
Evernote (www.evernote.com) is a web service that allows you to store information on its servers then access it through a variety of free client applications for Macs or Windows PCs, iPads, iPhones and Android phones, or through any web browser. Your data is stored behind a username and password so best make sure they are secure. The basic service is free, including client apps, but for more storage and the ability to store Office documents you will need to open a premium account which currently costs $5 a month or $45 a year.
Evernote’s client software is developing at a hectic pace and has improved greatly in a very short space of time. It lacks some of the finer features of OneNote, but the ability to type in quick notes on your phone and have them sync back to your PC or Mac automatically is very tempting. Definitely worth a try.
MacJournal and WinJournal (www.marinersoftware.com) are companion inexpensive journal packages for the Mac and Windows respectively. Both are very capable for keeping individual diaries and research files on an individual computer. Sharing them is, at the time of writing, more difficult. If you need that, best look to Evernote.
Specialist writing packages such as Scrivener can store research material alongside your manuscript if you want. Personally, as I’ve outlined here, I like to keep factual and manuscript material separate, partly because my books involve copious amounts of research. Writers with more sensible baggage may feel differently.