After reading several posts about the value of Curio, including this one, I curious if anyone is using Curio with OmniFocus and unrelated, with Scrivener? I watched a few videos about Curio. It seems like it may be a good platform for linking research/notes to OF but I’m not sure it has a call back url feature. Also, Curio seems like a helpful way to consolidate a lot research I’m doing for a rather large book being written in Scrivener. Is anyone using Curio for that purpose? Also, I like MindNode better than the built in Curio Mind Mapping feature. Is anyone using MindNode with Curio?
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What is this app? Can I get a link or something?
I link between Curio and OmniFocus all the time. This link has an AppleScript to make the link. Scroll down … the script is at version 5.
I alternate between MindNode and iThoughts on my iPad. I have yet to integrate the information to Curio, but AFAIK, the Curio should import the mind maps from either app. While either MindNode or iThoughts have better options than Curio for mind maps, I tend to stay resident in Curio for my maps. They are never that complicated that Curio does not do what I need.
One more note on this. Curio now integrates with Hook. I have yet to explore whether this can be used to give an easier path to use call-back options with other apps.
Think of Curio in one sense as an app that allows you to create electronic white boards (Idea Spaces), post content or links to content on the boards, layout the items on the board however you want, and generate links (uni-directional) between items on the board. I would call it the visual analog to DevonThink, with the distinction being that Curio has you using a manual process to brainstorm while DevonThink gives you an automatic process to search and categorize.
The other feature that I have is outlined with this discussion of my set up for Kanban boards.
Oddly, the Curio forum has little information posted about using it with Scrivener. What does exist is at least a year old and is more questions than workflows. You could post on the Curio forum itself to see if anyone has newer insights in the meantime.
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JJW
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I wouldn’t buy Curio just to use it for mind mapping. There are better options, and it would be like buying an F150 to carry your lunchbox.
I also wouldn’t consider using Curio to draft text or notes for import to Scrivener. Apples and walnuts.
But Curio is an excellent place to visually lay out your writing project. A Curio file can even be dragged into Scrivener and and viewed there (via Quick Look preview) for reference – the file cannot be editing in Scrivener of course.
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This is outstanding information—thanks! I have one other question; admittedly the answer to which will be highly subjective. Do you find Curio “fiddly” so that it can end up distracting from one’s work?
PS, well I just realized that Curio requires a subscription—I missed that in the fine light text on the website. I’m not willing to add another subscription at this time. Too bad, it seemed promising.
No.
Purchasing the full featured app from Zengobi’s website is one-time.
Purchasing the same app but from the App Store is subscription.
Oh, well that is different. I need to slow down and read more carefully. I think I’ll give it a try—thanks for setting me straight!
I use Curio extensively. I know the range of what it can do, and it fits the approach that I prefer to take in various aspects of my work.
I can well imagine that someone approaching it for the first time needing some time to figure out how the features will best fit in their workflow. I can also imagine that people who are more inclined to want the full feature sets in dedicated apps for mind mapping, slide presentations, or project management among others will find Curio too “fiddly”. This sounds to be the same issue I face trying to view Notion as a replacement for OmniFocus (+Curio), I see myself spending too much time just playing around in the app either to learn to mimic what I already have or to keep a portion of its expansive landscape doing what I want while not being distracted by the rest of its features. Or it may be the same issue I face trying to figure out how to use the power that everyone says is in DevonThink when I seem to keep finding it to be nothing more than just a supped-up search engine on files at the Finder level.
I think at some point with Curio, as perhaps with Tinderbox or Scrivener or DevonThink or Notion or other apps that have a broad set of features, you eventually have to “grok” the app within your approach to working on electronic documents or you just do not truly get beyond the “fiddly” stage.
If you do get Curio, don’t be bashful about posting questions on the Zengobi forums. A lot of good folks populate that forum with good answers. And the developer is among the top that I’ve seen to follow up with support questions.
Hope this helps.
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JJW
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Thanks @DrJJWMac. I appreciate your perspective. I just downloaded Curio. I’m going to give it a spin. I would not use it, or Notion, to replace things like OF, my calendar, etc., but it may be a great dashboard to consolidate research for articles and books I’m working on and to brainstorm presentations, etc. I’m already experimenting with it to “categorize” quotes and research documents based on topics. I may also find it helpful for basic database work as needed. I will also check out the forum. Thanks again for the great advice and input–much appreciated!