NoodleTools How-to Guide: How to Use Notecards

On this page you can learn:

How to Link a Notecard to a Source Citation
How to Add Tags, Color, and Visual Cues to a Notecard
How to Search for Notecards
How to Export and Print Notecards

On the next page of this section:

How to use the Tabletop View and Detail View of Notecards
 

Overview

When you create a notecard from the Tabletop or Details views, be sure to identify the source the information came from

Instructions

Linking a notecard to the proper citation is automatic when creating the notecard from the Sources screen. There is one extra step, as described below, when creating the notecard from the Notecard Tabletop View or Notecard Detail View. If you need to quickly link multiple notecards to a source at once, you can do that in the Tabletop View.

On the Sources screen: Click the "New" link in the "Notecards" column to create a new notecard. The source is automatically populated in the "Source" field.

In the Notecard Tabletop or Detail View: When creating or editing a notecard, choose the proper citation from the "Source" field. Note that the source citation must be created first -- you cannot add a new source citation from the "New/Edit notecard" window.

Linking multiple notecards to one source: In the Tabletop View, mouse-over notecards and/or notecard piles and click the checkmarks in the upper-left corner (it will turn green to indicate the selection). The "Notecards selected" bar displays the number of notecards selected.

Click "Link" in the "Notecards selected" bar. Select a source citation from the dropdown list in the "Link to source" window to link the selected notecards to the source citation.

Overview

NoodleTools provides a number of ways to visually organize your notes, which becomes helpful when you are working on larger projects. Adding tags, visual cues, and color to your notes can help with organizing and finding information in them.

Step 1.

In the Tabletop View, mouse-over a notecard to open the toolbar beneath it.

Step 2.

To add a tag to your notecard, select the Apply tag ("#") icon. A "Tags" search window appears. Enter a tag for your notecard. If this is a new tag, click "Create ". New tags are automatically added to your tag list. If this is an existing tag, check the box next to the tag to apply it. You can add any number of tags to a notecard.

To add color to your notecard, select the Apply color icon. An assorted color palette appears. Select a color to apply (the currently-applied color will have a checkmark). To remove color from a notecard, click the color that has the checkmark in it.

To add visual cues to your notecard, select the Apply cue icon. Select a c from the menu of six predefined cues that appears. The cue's icon will display on the notecard. You can add any number of these cues to a notecard.

Overview

The "Search" function at the top-right of the Notecard Tabletop View allows you to find notecards that match certain criteria (keywords, tags, visual cue, color, source, or creator (for collaborative projects)).

Step 1.

For a simple keyword search, enter any word that appears in notecard titles or one of the three main notecard fields (Direct Quotation, Paraphrase/Summary, or My Ideas). If searching with a phrase, put quotation marks around the words (i.e., "global warming"). Press the Enter key to initiate the search.

Alternatively, click the blue button next to the search field to choose any combination of criteria from the fields there (keyword, tag, source, visual cue, collaborator, or color). Note that tag, source, cue, and collaborator have dropdowns with the terms available to search. Click the Search button to initiate the search.

Step 2.

Notecards that match your criteria will have a green checkmark. The "Notecards selected" bar appears at the top, listing the number of notecards found.

Note: If some notecards were selected prior to your search, you will be asked whether you want to replace that selection with the results of the new search or append new matches to your existing selection.

Hint

The results of a search can help you organize your notecards efficiently. For example, you may want to create a notecard pile with notecards that have a certain tag. To do so, simply search by tag to select those notecards, then click "Manage" from the "Notecards selected" bar to create a new pile containing those notecards.

Overview

Notecards can be saved to an external file to open in a word processor. You may wish to export your notecards as you've added them to your outline, so that you can copy and paste ideas from your notes in one window while you write your paper. After exporting, you can also print your notecards if necessary.

Step 1.

Navigate to the Notecard Tabletop View screen.

Click the blue Export/Print icon button at the top of the screen.

Note: To export only selected notecards, see "How to select notecards on the Tabletop or Detail views."

Step 3.

Select a file format option from the menu:

Important note: If selecting an option above does not generate the file, be sure that your browser does not have a pop-up blocker enabled that would prevent a new window from opening.

Step 4.

On the Print window, select an option:

• Export all notecards: Exports all notecards that are on your Notecard Tabletop.
• Export notecards from pile: When selected, you will be prompted to select a pile that you've created.

By default, all items in the notecard are exported. Deselect any items you do not want to export.

Step 5.

Click Submit to create the new file. To print, open the resulting file in the applicable word processor and use the application's Print command.

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