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SUBJECTS
Legal Record Organized Not Easy to Find Information MaxThink, Ecco,
Organize Thinking Maxthink Outlining Aids Part of Intelligence Suppo
Outlining Hierarchial Structure Not Supported Wordprocessing, 001222
MaxThink Legal Organizing Software to Manage Evidence in a Case

0706 -
0706 -    ..
0707 - Summary/Objective
0708 -
070801 - Follow up ref SDS 16 0000. ref SDS 14 0000.
070802 -
070803 - Gary submitted a letter explaining outline functions in Maxthank and
070804 - implementation practices that address action items from the record
070805 - yesterday. ref SDS 16 XT4U
070807 -  ..
070808 - Received ref DRT 1 0001 from Gary commenting...
070809 -
070810 -    1.  You ask why MaxThink can't edit SDS records, ref DRT 1 0001,
070811 -        since they are both ASCII. ref SDS 16 HN5K
070813 -  ..
070814 - This is an excellent letter providing a link for orientation and
070815 - context on issue being addressed.
070817 -  ..
070818 - Gary continues...
070819 -
070820 -    2.  MaxThink is an outliner rather than a conventional editor.
070822 -         ..
070823 -    3.  Its files are space indented outlines, with each topic being a
070824 -        line. Topics may have multiple paragraphs, but they are still
070825 -        in a single topic. The program treats the file as an outline of
070826 -        articles. The first line is the heading and is used for
070827 -        navigation. When a topic is open, it is available for editing
070828 -        in an editing pane.
070830 -  ..
070831 - Can Maxthink's files be saved in ASCII, like Microsoft Word can be
070832 - saved in as text, and then incorporated into an SDS record, continuing
070833 - the question yesterday? ref SDS 16 HN5K
070835 -  ..
070836 - Gary indicates he uses Maxthink to write documents, and he has
070837 - previosly indicated that documents are prepared with Microsoft Word,
070838 - so this suggests some method for transferring content from Maxthink
070839 - into another tool that has other support needed to complete the work.
070841 -  ..
070842 - Gary continues...
070843 -
070844 -    4.  What structure manipulations are beneficial? ref SDS 16 HN58
070846 -         ..
070847 -    5.  As an outliner, moving outline topics is easy -- reorder the
070848 -        current list, move a topic up or down. Numbering is maintained
070849 -        during the edit (rather than on saving).
070851 -         ..
070852 -    6.  Bin sort takes a set of topics as "bins" and allows assigning
070853 -        the remainder of the list to the bins (putting a topic in a bin
070854 -        moves the topic to become a child of the bin). Priority sort
070855 -        does a similar operation but reorders the list as you choose
070856 -        items. It is possible to take a set of topics and elevate their
070857 -        children into the current list with the topics becoming marked
070858 -        bins, allowing easy reorganizing of child lists.
070860 -  ..
070861 - Ease and flexibility changing the order of structure is a powerful aid
070862 - for understanding that supports thinking through writing, addressing
070863 - the question yesterday on 041111. ref SDS 16 HN58
070865 -  ..
070866 - Probably need to see a demonstration to get the sense of utility that
070867 - Gary describes.  Maybe Gary can demonstrate using Netmeeting.
070869 -  ..
070870 - Gary continues...
070871 -
070872 -    7.  These are powerful tools for thinking and analysis. My practice
070873 -        with MaxThink when starting on a new investigation was to enter
070874 -        "one-liners" until I ran out of them, and then look for some
070875 -        patterns for topics. When I found some common topics, I would
070876 -        do a bin sort to organize the common ideas into lists under
070877 -        their own subjects, usually with some items left over that
070878 -        didn't fit in any of the topics. Then write some more for the
070879 -        main topic and each of the children and repeat the process.
070880 -        Once I had all of the ideas captured and organized, then
070881 -        priority sort each list to put them in the sequence needed to
070882 -        present them.
070884 -         ..
070885 -    8.  Doing something similar in SDS is beyond anything we have
070886 -        contemplated to date. I have no real idea of how it could be
070887 -        done, but I am convinced that outlines are superior to lists in
070888 -        nearly all circumstances. They are unparalleled for the early
070889 -        stages of document creation.  See records on 030506-074920,
070890 -        031225-130653, and 040817-123856.
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