What is ThumbJot?

ThumbJot (TJ) is an easy to use and stripped down web-based application for jotting things down. It is not an organiser, an editor or a word processor. It’s whole purpose is to make it easy for you to jot things down as and when you think of them - any time, anywhere! ThumbJot was designed to enable jotting ‘at the speed of thought’ which is why it has been designed for mobile use from day one. Mobile isn’t just an afterthought. We designed the mobile part first, the desktop part second. We’ve designed TJ so that no matter where you are, you can always jot something down - without paper.

Why is it called ThumbJot and not ThumbNote?

Jotting is all about writing small amounts of unstructured, unformatted and unrefined text, as little as a word and as much as a few sentences, but probably no more. Note taking can involve writing paragraphs and pages of text. That’s not our focus. Jotting is more of a thinking process than a writing process.

What can I do with ThumbJot?

That’s easy. You can jot things down. Jotting is all about short notes, often ‘notes to self.’ Something we all do, or should do. The idea behind ThumbJot is to make it as easy as possible to jot things down whenever and wherever you happen to be. That’s why we spent a lot of effort designing the mobile interface. Also, we made sure that we focus on the jotting and not the bells and whistles that clutter other applications. The idea is not to distract you from jotting. It’s your ideas - your jots - that count, not all the fluff of the application. Less clutter means more focus on the content.

Why should I use ThumbJot?

TJ enables you to jot things down whenever and wherever you are and gain access to your jots quickly and easily, whenever and wherever you are. Storing your notes on the web avoids problems with synchronisation. We’ve designed slick low-clutter web interfaces for the desktop and mobile. However, we recognise that the quickest way to jot an idea might be to send a text message - fast and instant! Moreover, in our research for TJ, many existing jotters told us that they’re used to texting ideas or sending mobile emails to themselves. We took this into account. The only thing you can’t do with the beta version is to email a note to yourself - not yet! We are planning this feature for future releases, pending your feedback about the beta version of TJ.

Why should I jot stuff down at all?

Jotting makes your life easier and more productive. It is a valuable habit to cultivate. Many of us already do it on paper. Our goal is to make it work without paper.

Our brains are constantly in motion, even when we’re asleep. We all have thoughts all of the time. Very often they bubble to the surface and emerge as an idea, a trigger, a provocation, a reminder, a concern, a motivation and many other forms. If you want to maximise the potential value of your thoughts, then you really ought to jot them down there and then. The longer you leave the thought unattended, the more likely it is to wash away and become forgotten. The problem with writing stuff down is that many of us find it too difficult.

There are two main obstacles to jotting. The first is having something to hand for jotting with. The second is the mental block many of us experience when jotting stuff down, simply because when confronted with pen and paper our brains start to nag us that we really ought to frame our thoughts instead of just writing them down. In other words, we try to add a lot more text in order for the jot to make sense. The process of jotting turns into the process of writing and refinement. Ironically, this attempt at refinement often leads to inaction. Faced with trying to frame the thought and find the right words, we give up and don’t write anything at all.

With TJ, we encourage “fire and forget” jotting, which means you “fire off” a jot to yourself and then forget about it. Your focus is simply on capturing the thought, even without structure, into your database of jots. Over time, this will lead to a vast database of jots, which you can start to mine to find those gems that you really ought to refine into bigger ideas worthy of attention and action. You can read a lot more in our article on the “The Habit and Value of Jotting Things Down”.

What can I use Thumbjot for?

Anything you want to jot down while on the move or just at your computer. Some examples are:

• Ideas
• Thoughts
• Intentions
• Things to look up or research later
• People’s names
• Something someone tells you - perhaps a golden nugget of advice or info
• Notes to self
• To-do items
• Anything pithy that you want to share with a friend, such as
  • Random shared-project notes, ideas, thoughts, actions
  • Shared thoughts, emotions, expressions of care and love
  • Shared shopping lists
  • Family holiday plans
  • Any type of shared plan, especially in the ‘things to think about’ stage
  • Loads of other stuff…

Does it have any of that Web 2.0 stuff?

Yes it does. Part of the Web 2.0 idea is to mash-up one application with another. In the case of TJ, you can send along any of your jots to your Twitter account. This is a powerful way to spread your thinking-via-jotting into the Twittersphere, if that’s something you’d like to do. Our research showed that many users of Twitter consider it to be a useful ‘think aloud’ tool that involves the community. We agree, so we mashed-up TJ with Twitter.

How is Thumbjot different?

It is designed with the process of thinking in mind, not writing. The experience is optimised for anytime, anyplace jotting, which is best served by mobile jotting. The design, ethos and evolution of TJ is centred upon developing and supporting the habit of unhindered jotting ‘at the speed of thought.’ We’ve got some cool new features coming soon that will take this habit to a whole new level of productivity. Our thinking is why let your thoughts blow away in the wind. Get them down and make them work for you. We also enable community thinking and conversation via shared pinboards and Twitter.

Why is Thumbjot better?

TJ is better because unlike other note-taking applications, we have optimised the app to make jotting as easy and effective as possible, which means a great mobile experience, including text messaging input and fully exploiting the fantastic iPhone user interface. New tools coming out soon will exploit fully the power of jotting as an aid to thinking, not writing.

Are my notes private?

Absolutely, except for those you choose to post to a shared pinboard. Your selected friends will be able to see those notes, unless you move them off the pinboard (which is always an option). Otherwise, we take the usual sorts of precaution to protect your privacy.

Can I submit jots via text message?

Yes - go to your profile to manage your account settings. Add your mobile number in the suggested format and then send your texts to 447624809969, which you should add to your address book for convenience.

How many jots can I store in Thumbjot?

Currently, there’s no limit (within reason and subject to reasonable use).

Is there a text limit?

Yes, currently jots are limited to 1000 characters, which is about the equivalent of six text messages. Our research told us that most jots will be well within this range. If we find it’s a problem, then we’ll review the size limit and possible increase it. However, we are trying to keep the design of the service within the rubric of jotting, not note-taking and ‘text pasting.’

Whats so special about taking notes on my iPhone?

The iPhone offers one of the best mobile internet experiences, enough that the mobile internet is actually usable on the iPhone, unlike many (most) other mobile devices. Our research about mobile jotting told us that web-based jotting is what users want, not localised jots locked into the mobile file store. However, we recognize that mobile web pages can sometimes be slow to load, which can hinder instant jotting. Not a problem! As the iPhone is also a phone, we use text messaging to allow text message entry of jots.

What if I don’t have an iphone?

You can still use the web interface and the text messaging feature, but the mobile internet interface is currently designed for iPhone. We shall be launching a Blackberry one and something more generic for other mobile productivity devices.

What if I want certain feature you don’t have?

Well, tell us about it. We might implement it if we like it, especially if other users give us similar feedback.

Why can’t i find a recent note via search?

Currently, search is only indexed about every half hour.  This was throttled down to reduce a loading issue. This issues could be improved and requires more work to be done - we’re working on it!

How much does it cost?

TJ is free of charge. A premium version will shortly be launched with advanced features that we will offer for a small charge. On the free version, we plan to use advertising and merchandising to fund the site.

You still haven’t answered my question!

No problem. Ask us any question in our people-powered GetSatisfaction support forum and we’ll answer as soon as we can.