PK Tip: Locating Articles by Date

It's easy to locate articles by their dates in Personal Knowbase.

To find all articles in a date range:

Do I Need Only One Personal Knowbase Data File or More? (Part 2)

Personal Knowbase users often struggle with the decision of when they would want more than one PK data file.

In Part 1, we talked about starting with a single file and using multiple files when they serve completely different purposes. Here are some additional issues with using one or more database files.

PK Tip: Running a Faster Find

Personal Knowbase's Find command (from the Edit menu) takes longer as the number (and length) of articles grows. The software does a straight string search for Find, so the search time is a function of the amount of text searched. Here are some tips for speeding up your Find operations.

PK Tip: Finding Text across Multiple Knowbase Data Files

Personal Knowbase has no built-in way to search for a text string across multiple data files.

However, within a single PK session, the Find dialog box remembers its settings, even after you've opened a different file. So you can search for the same string using the same range and search settings by opening each data file consecutively and re-running Find without changing the settings.

The Find Dialog Box Is Non-Modal -- So What?

In all Windows software, most dialog boxes are modal. That means that once you open the dialog, you can't do anything else with that program until you close the dialog. You are forced to interact with the dialog box before returning to the main software window.

Personal Knowbase's Find dialog box is non-modal. That means that you can leave it open while doing other work with the program. You can move the dialog to the side of the screen and leave it open while doing other work in Personal Knowbase. This also applies to the related Replace dialog box.

PK Tip: When the Titles Column Is "Outdated"

In Personal Knowbase, you may sometimes notice that the header of the Titles column in the Index Window includes the word "Outdated" in square brackets.

Why Index Your Notes with Keywords (Part 2)

Software that stores freeform text information commonly uses three ways to structure data:

• Searching with Straight Text Strings
• Categorizing in Hierarchical Trees
• Indexing with User-specified Keywords

Why Index Your Notes with Keywords (Part 1)

Personal Knowbase uses a system where users specify keywords to index their notes. When you create a new text note in the software, you tag the note with one or more keywords (or key-phrases) which will later provide a fast way to locate that note.