Nota Bene Overview

Welcome to Nota Bene!

Since the first release of Nota Bene for DOS in 1983, Nota Bene has continuously provided scholars and other writers with outstanding tools for writing and research. The current version of Nota Bene provides a fully integrated suite of software programs that is easier to use than ever before, and that brings elegant organization and efficiency to the process of managing complex (or simple) research and writing projects. The Nota Bene Workstation includes the following programs: (1) a word processor specialized for academic use, (2) Orbis, a multi-file search and retrieval engine, (3) Ibidem, a bibliographic data manager, (4) IbidPlus a customizable database that can be used for non-bibliographic databases. (5) Archiva, a web-research program that will capture bibliographic data for inclusion in your Ibidem database. In addition, optional add-on modules are available that expand Nota Bene's functionality. Add-on modules are fully integrated with Nota Bene Workstation. Your product key gives you access to the modules that you have purchased. Nota Bene provides the scholar with an integrated system for research, writing, organizing data, citing sources, reviewing files, and capturing data from the web.

Nota Bene has been developed as a Windows program, but a version that bundles Nota Bene with Crossover is available for Mac users. For more information, see www.notabene.com/macs.html

Nota Bene Word Processor (included in Nota Bene Workstation)

The Nota Bene word processor is specialized for academic use. Predefined academic styles allow the user to format an entire document (not just the footnotes) in accord with major academic style manuals (Chicago, Turabian, MLA, APA, etc.). Standard outline formats or document frameworks are provided, and are easily customized. The program allows up to three independent sets of footnotes and/or endnotes, and all will appear on the correct pages with NB keeping track of the numbering as text and notes are added or moved. Using Nota Bene's cross referencing capability, text can be labeled and reference can be made to the chapter, section, page or footnote number where the labeled text can be found. Nota Bene also provides tools for managing book-length manuscripts, with chapters in individual files. The writer can move easily back and forth between chapter files and a combined manuscript file, and all changes will be properly saved. Finally a sophisticated and flexible Indexing feature gives many options for creating one or more indexes.

Nota Bene uses standard drop down menus and dialog boxes and can be operated entirely as a standard mouse-driven word processor. However, many NB users prefer the speed of directing the program using the keyboard. Unlike other word processors, Nota Bene provides an action line for typed commands as well as numerous keyboard shortcuts that allow the experienced user to direct the program more efficiently. Additional tools like an editable Show Codes View and an expandable Outline View give the user control over his/her work.

Nota Bene documents can be converted to RTF (Rich Text Format) so that they can be sent to others who will open them in Word. They can also be converted to PDF. An open document can be emailed in NB, RTF or PDF format. Documents written in other formats can be converted to Nota Bene and text can be copied to or from other applications.

Orbis (included in Nota Bene Workstation)

Orbis is a free-form retrieval system accessible from within the word processor. With no fields or special format required, Orbis is an excellent tool for managing your research notes, lectures, papers, field notes, lists, etc. Orbis makes everything you've ever written in Nota Bene or imported from an outside source easily accessible. Thousands of documents on your computer (up to 8 million) can be searched simultaneously for any word or combination of words. Use Orbis to find notes you are looking for or to make new connections and associations. Writing about travel in Guyana? Search all of your files for "travel" and "Guyana" and Orbis will show you every paragraph that contains both words. Search results can examined, expanded to see paragraph(s) before or after, and inserted in an open file, all without even opening the source file. Or you can open the source file. Finding the text you need while you are writing is easy with no need to define keywords, and no need to remember file names.

Ibidem (included in Nota Bene Workstation)

Ibidem is Nota Bene's bibliographic database manager. It keeps all of your bibliographic data at your fingertips. Record data about books, articles or any published (or unpublished) material in Ibidem's data entry templates and Ibidem will store the information and manage your bibliographic references for you. Use Ibidem to insert your citations and the program will automatically format footnotes, endnotes, parenthetical short forms or reference number in-text citations according to your choice of hundreds of academic styles. Reference lists and bibliographies are automatically generated and formatted according to the style of your choice. References will be automatically shortened using the method you specify - short titles or ibid. and op. cit. Ibidem's state-of-the-art control of bibliographic data combined with seamless integration with the word processor provides scholars with an unparalleled bibliographic management tool that can save countless hours.

IbidPlus (included in Nota Bene Workstation)

With IbidPlus, you can use all of the functionality of Ibidem for non-bibliographic databases. Catalogue your music collection, keep track of interviews, maintain class records or use IbidPlus for addresses and telephone numbers. The program comes with predefined database formats with fields appropriate for addresses or fieldnotes. You can add new fields, or you can develop a database from scratch, defining your own fields. Once the database is set up, Ibidem's powerful sort or search capabilities can find a record (or records) almost instantly. You can generate reports that display selected records in a Nota Bene file, much as you would generate a bibliography from an Ibidem bibliographic database. IbidPlus can be used to manage any data that can be entered in specified fields, and it is highly customizable.

Lingua (optional add-on module)

Support for western European languages is included in the Nota Bene Workstation. The Lingua module adds support for Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Cyrillic, the International Phonetic Alphabet, characters used in African languages, and characters/diacritics used in transliteration. Write in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek or Cyrillic and mix languages in the same document or even on the same line. You can select a right-to-left orientation so that Hebrew or Arabic text will begin at the right margin. Or you can integrate Hebrew or Arabic in a document with a primary left-to-right orientation. In either case, Hebrew or Arabic characters will be entered from right to left and words will wrap properly from line to line. Accents, breathing marks and Hebrew vowels and cantillations are entered easily with pop-up dialogs and/or simple key combinations. Diacritics can be stacked in virtually any combination. The compose key, F6, is used to add accents or transform characters with a few simple key strokes. Support is also available for Syriac, Coptic, Ugaritic. and Akkadian. See Lingua

Orbis+ (optional add-on modules)

Orbis Iincluded as part of Nota Bene Workstation) searches NB or TXT files. Orbis+ expands the functionality of Orbis to allow you to also search Word (RTF, DOC and DOCX), PDF files and saved HTML files. See Orbis+

Archiva

Archiva is a group of web-research and data-capture/conversion modules, all fully integrated with Ibidem. Basic features of Archiva are included in Nota Bene Workstation. Archiva+ is an optional add-on module that provides additional tools for web research. See Archiva

Radius (optional add-on module)

Radius offers capabilities found in general-market stand-alone programs such as One Note and Evernote and endows them with academic research powers. Radius extends earlier citation-capture capabilities, and it captures, saves, and structures virtually everything available in the digital world for your use with the rest of the Nota Bene suite. See Radius Overview

While your Nota Bene software provides many complex and sophisticated features, learning the program at a basic level is easy. As you become more familiar with some of the advanced features, you will find new functionality that can save countless hours and make the process of writing delightfully efficient.