Hi all,

I’m starting on a new position soon, and thought I would start getting organized: having written my PhD thesis recently made me realize how hard it is to find the older things I’ve been doing. For that reason, I’m looking for an electronic lab notebook software: like keeping a good old paper notebook with my results clipped in it, and hand-written notes, but on my Mac. I’ve seen the web pages for Lab Notebook (http://www.macinchem.fsnet.co.uk/labnotebook.htm) and Labtrack (http://www.labtrack.com/), but I’m neither impressed nor eager to try them…

What do you use? What have you tried?

PS: To give more insight, here’s what the dream app would be:
* easy copy-pasting/drag ‘n drop
* ability to re-open the files
* metadata and search (tags, keywords, …)
* possiblity to link to older notes and graphs
* store PDF (or TIFF) representation of external files along with the original file: preview files without their originating application
* automated backup mechanism
* encryption on disk

Things that can be important to some people, but which I don’t consider of primary importance for me:
* any kind of certification, digital signing, etc.