My outline has 4576 items in it and Bonzai is so slow that's it's unusable on my Treo 680. When I check off an item, it takes 15 seconds or so for the list to update. It's really bad. It was a bummer to purchase a desktop/PDA solution and discover that de facto it's a desktop-only solution. For a list of this size, it's hard to understand why it's so slow if the database is implemented sensibly (linked-list, efficient search algorithms, etc.) I've posted to the Natara forum, but support doesn't seem to be forthcoming. I suggest looking elsewhere for an outlining solution.

Great Application!! I tested 4 others before settling on Bonsai. It is easy to use and truly helps me get my work done. I use my Palm for everything, except tasks. Bonsai has changed that. The days of postit notes everywhere are hopefully gone.The desktop synch is great. I type most info into the desktop app, synch, and go.

I agree that it is a good application, but I keep getting hung up on one thing. I would like this software more if one were able to set dependencies between tasks (ie start date of task b is determined by completion date of task a) The word "link" in this software is not the same "link" as MS Project. Without the ability, I wonder why I am not using my legal pad instead.

Too expensive, but at the end of a 30 day trial period, you will know whether you want to spend the money or not. If you like working from lists, this is the application for you.

This is the first piece of sw I have ever reviewed. It is the best app I've purchased for my T2 to date. I cannot live without this. I use it to track my projects at work, and my life at home. It's worth the price, folks. Really.

As most of the other reviewers already wrote, this application is just great, probably the best outliner on the market. And I wish more developers would care to provide a desktop companion application like Bonsai's - it just makes your life so much easier. I, for example, frequently have to change the due date of several to-do items to one date, and the Destop application allows me to do that, a task where many other programs have to take a pass. All in all: money well spent and not too expensive after all. Plus: Natara's customer service is nothing less than outstanding. I had two requests so far, and they were both handled within just a couple of days.

Quite simply the best outliner in the market, bar none. The additional cost for the desktop is more than worth it weight in gold. Add to that a cordial and effecient staff support that listens and cares and you have a great organizer for home, work or play. Fantastic!

There are some programs that are so well done that they should be packaged with Palm OS devices. This should be one of them. The software is beyond excellent and does everything a person could want out of an outliner save one thing: no repeating tasks. Even so the software is now by far and away the best out there, period. Highly recommend everyone needing an outliner to download and buy this wonderful program.

Bonsai is really a life-saver. I'm using it as a simple project manager and for outlining thoughts and ideas. Synchronization between the desktop and the handheld works very well. Actually, I'm using the desktop version far more than the Palm application(mainly because I don't have a keyboard for my Zire 72 yet). But despite all of Bonsai's qualities, $35 is just a little too expensive. In contrast, most high-end Palm software is priced between $25 and $30. I only bought it because PalmGear offered a 15% discount. At the time of this writing Bonsai is offered for $29.95. I recommend you get it before the offer runs out.

An excellent program you won't regret getting! Besides being a very powerful outliner (and being magnitudes easier to use than the competition), it also provides pretty robust data integration (transfer and/or linking) to the built-in datebook, todo and memopad. It is very flexible as to what information it manages. I had an epiphany recently and tossed out all my note-taking applications - all notes and memos are now in a Bonsai tree, which is the ideal way to organize any kind of text snippet! There is always one or several things you might wish it did, but this is easy to use, powerful and flexible now.

This is the BEST Palm software, bar none, that I've ever used (and I've used a lot)!!! Like a previous reviewer says, this program not only gives you power on the Palm, but on the desktop. I use it to sync w/Outlook; I **run two businesses** from this one piece of software! This and DayNotez from the same developer work GREAT. This software has saved my job! * True sync of filters, categories, and tasks. * The Export facility (desktop) is way UNDERRATED. I use it to produce management reports that look like MSProject. * Lets you group totally unrelated ToDo's (the way my brain works) in an organized, heirarchical fashion. * Uses built-in tools (Datebook, ToDo, MemoPad) VERY well. * Support -- The developer answers the phone himself when you call! How much more responsive can you be than that? Things I'd love to see: 1) Integration with Outlook on the desktop. 2) Integration with DayNotez on the desktop. You can "File in DayNotez" on the handheld, but not on the desktop (yet). Best $ I spent on software...PC or Palm...worth every cent.

I'm a certified Project Manager and while I've used both MSOffice and PMOffice I find that this application fills a specific notch when managing numerous shor-term, dynamic, projects. It's ease of use and ability to use both on my lap-top and Palm provides me with the flexibility I need and I am able to track/manage my projects effectively. If you manage projects, you definitely need to take this app around the block a few times .. you'll love it.

I entrust the tasks and details of my life to Bonsai. I use Bonsai more than any other software application, period. Whether on my Tungsten or my workstation, I refer to and update my numerous outlines continuously throughout the day. The synchornization is solid and the feature set is rich. I recommend this software with complete enthusiasm.

Excelent PC software, with a even better PALM OS software included. Very good support service. It only need a cost manager in the project outline.

Although it's rare for me to rate a piece of software, this is the second time I have rated Bonsai. IMHO Bonsai is simply the best outliner for Palm. Version 3 raises the standard even further. Just a warning, though, for those who already have an earlier version. Version 3 is an upgrade that you 'may' have to pay for ($6.00 US). Visit www.natara.com for more details.

Great program. The true synchronization with a nice desktop program made me switch from a competitor. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because the UI could use a few 'tweaks'. Please, please, please make it easier to to fill-in task completion bars. The competitor had featured a nice drop-down value list - If Bonsai added this simple feature I'd switch my review to 5 stars.

Excellent program. I would give it five stars but there is one missing feature: Filters are not synchronized. And this is what you can find in the documentation: Filters are not synchronized between the handheld and desktop outlines. That is so typical for many packages - it's not the customer who decides what is bug and what is feature. It's the developer....

Excellent program.. Keeps a todo list as you would want it to be, given tasks and then tasks under that project. The ability to link it to your Palm todo list is a very wonderful added plus to this excellant software.. Great for project management, especially when working with mulitple projects with tasks rolled into milestones..

This software really helps me organize my work by working through my projects. Its also a terrific list building tool.

This is LIFE CHANGING software. I have been using it since 2000 and it continues to improve routinely. It is very stable and the developer is very responsive. I use this for mission-critical case management tasks (have all my treatment plans and procedures in this format). I could not say enough positive things about it. Think about it: It allows you to put any situation or project into a heirarchical, pictoral tree you can interact with. Cool.

Awesome!!! I used another outliner and it is pretty good but after trying Bonsai for a few days I must reccomend it! It is great. I own Daynotez and am evaluating Project from Natara as well. I will also buy it! I disagree with the previous comment: Natara answers any question and they also have a great forum where a lot of ideas are discussed. Great job, Natara!!!

Natara Bonsai 2.5.1 is a very good outliner, and I highly recommend it. After comparing several similar programs, I am most impressed with Bonsai as an outliner. The additional features, including great desktop synchronization and Memory Stick recognition, really add value to the package. Though the PalmOS version doesn't include hi-res fonts for Clié users and Natara has not responded to my questions, Bonsai is my first pick among Palm-based outline programs today.

Outstanding software. Desktop and palm components both very strong, with seamless synchronization. I use it to manage all my task lists and reference lists. Because it syncs perfectly with Palm To Do database, I can create Tasks in Bonsai Desktop and, after syncronization, view and edit them in Outlook (or any other application that accesses the Palm Task database). Developer is extremely responsive. Any questions or issues placed on the Bonsai forum are addressed within 24 hours. This is my most mission critical 3rd party application.

Seit zwei Jahren benutze ich Bonsai und bin begeistert. Endlich ist das Programm nebst Desktop auch in Deutsch erhältlich. Outlines können als "nur Text", als "ToDo"-Eintrag und als "Task", die sich wieder in einzelne ToDos gliedert und den jeweiligen Erledigungsstatus in % angibt, angelegt werden. ToDos können in die Aufgabenliste des Palm samt Kategorie "gelinkt" werden. Sehr praktisch! Es lassen sich auch relativ umfangreiche Projekte planen. Durch den Windows-Desktop kann auf dem übersichtlicheren PC-Bildschirm ein Projekt gemanaget werden. Auf dem Palm ist dann die Projektplanung immer als aktuelle Übersicht dabei. Sowohl auf dem Desktop als auf dem Palm können den Outlines Farben zugeordnet werden, z.B. was die Fälligkeit der Aufgaben betrifft. In einem Team könnte z.B. der Projektleiter per Beamen die jeweils aktuelle Projektübersicht ans Team weitergeben. Einziges Manko: Der zeitliche Verlauf der Einzelaufgaben kann nicht als Grant-Balkendiagramm dargstellt werden. Project@Hand von Natara kann das offensichtlich. Vielleicht kombiniert Natara die beiden Programme ja eines Tages. Dadurch würde die Übersichtlichkeit natürlich noch erheblich gesteigert werden, v.a. durch die Möglichkeit, die Zeitbalken farblich zu kennzeichnen.

Excellent tool. Just missing a few features to be effective. Would like to see export to Project@Hand(2). Also having preferences set separately for each outline (font, view, color etc.) sounds good in the beginning but get's annoying when each 'project' ends up with different colors. Great usage of hires though.

Been using Bonsai for 2 years now. It started well, and just keeps getting better. The Palm side and desktop side are both very well done and solid, and play nicely with other apps (e.g. copy a tree from Bonsai and paste it into an e-mail). The developers are very responsive and dedicated to their work, and are keeping up with all the new Palm capabilities (e.g. OS 5 support, small Sony fonts, etc.) The software itself is very flexible, and my gripes with it have become fewer and minor. This is the most-used app on my Palm, and I'm extremely happy with it. I was tempted to buy a new PocketPC instead of a new Palm, but there was nothing out there like Bonsai for it. A bargain at twice the price.

nice software, easy and intuitive. i use it to store medical information (infos stored as note-attachments). allows converstion to doc and printouts in hirarchical order for cration of manuals. BUT: hopefully the developer will add memory-card-support and maybe import-option from memos into note-fields (the latter for easy data-collection e.g. with c-pen-scanner via irda or Blue-Paste via hotsync: both create memo-entries).

Bonsai is *THE* outliner app to choose! I have tried all of them and Bonsai is the best. Bonsai is so flexible and customizable it can be used for MANY things. The desktop application is just as high-quality as the palm app. Natara is excellent at support.

I usually put a great deal of stock in the posted reviews - when I see 2 and 3 stars consistently, I typically move on. But in this case I was truly attempting to research the best 'outline' program, and began to read the details. I'm glad I did!!! This program delivers so much more than promised, that the reviews posted at the time I was comparing programs did not do it justice. You people need to realize that software is "developed", which theoretically means that it grows and flourishes over time. The average reviews given for the program were based on the fact that the app does not mask entries - HELLO!! I don't believe the programmer claimed the app supported this option. Therefore, that should be classified as an enhancement request, not a negative posting. This app is truly outstanding and gives the user a very useful and easy tool to be able to manage their projects, lives, etc. After my comparisons and 'shareware' tests, I came to the conclusion that this app was much more stable, more user-friendly, and had all the components I was looking for to manage my work projects. In fact, there is a close resemblance between this product and Project '98, from a GUI standpoint. I registered it within the first 30 minutes of using it - and the desktop app works perfectly with XP. Excellent job on the software!! If you are looking for a solid outline program that is both powerful and simple to use, THIS IS IT!!

This is by far the most-used application on my Palm - very flexible and packed with solid features. I have been very impressed by the evolution of Bonsai. I really could have used this app in college.

For an app this good, cannot believe that they have forgotten to support security. As per comments below, ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES the ability to "hide" or "mask" an item within an outline and the ability to "hide" or "mask" an outline.

This is a super application. Requires the following though: (i) Security: doos not allow you to "hide" or "mask" items within an outline. (ii) Security: does not allow you to "hide" or "mask" an outline. (iii) Export: would be very useful if you could select all items in an outline and specify how you would like to export each item (eg to a Memo or to a ToDo). Adding (i), (ii) and (iii) to Bonsai will make it a SUPER APPLICATION.

Comparing it to the most famous list-application for the pocketPC platform, Bonsai is way ahead. I'd liked to respond to those who bothered to post bad reviews. They were wrong. It's the software that I use all time. Go ahead, and find it out for yourself. In fact, it probably is the major reason that I am planning to purchase another palm.

lacks security - needs to support the ability to "hide" or "mask" an item

I have used Bonsai for the last three years and it is excellent. I have tried Brainforest, Arranger, Shadowplan and others, but I always come back to Bonsai. It has an easy-to-use desktop component and the hot-sync conduit is easy to set up and use. The developer makes frequent updates and the software just keeps getting better with each release. And to top it off, it now supports the 480x320 screen of my new Sony Clie NR70V. Now I can see more of my outline at one time, making it much easier to work with!

This is the best ouliner and well supported. Unlike most other outliners, this one has direct editing, No pop up windows to edit your text so it feels like the built-in apps. It gets upgraded on a regular basis and now works in full screen mode on the NR70!! The UI is really nice, I don't know what the posters below are talking about?? Highly recommended!!

Altough this is a very capable outliner and has lots of functionality there is something that makes it a bad program; the interface. The interface as a whole tries to look like Windows 98, the main screen looks like a spreadsheed program with scrollbars and columns. The program uses a confusing and cluttered icon driven interface. The best interface to use would be and standard Palm interface with standard palm buttons. When people choose palm they do so for its simple easy to use interface, please developer consider and respect this and make your apps use the standard Palm OS interface.

This program has both good and bad point to it, according to my experience here are my observations. The bad points: 1. The icon driven interface is really confusing and ulgy looking,most people choose palm due to its simply elegant interface but this program's interface is ugly and complicated. 2. The main screen tries to look like a windows program instead of a traditional palm app, making it cluttered. 3. Task arrows are two big. The good points: Best outliner available for palm OS, has a lot of features and you can set each item in an outline separately. Great sycronization.

The BEST outliner for your Palm. User friendly and a great forum site. Responsive developers. Can't say enough about this application. Only wish Natara would introduce a calander view (or a gantt chart view), which will summarize quickly of upcoming events/tasks. Maybe this will be added soon :D

An excellent piece of outliner. Tried both Shadow and Bonsai, and I really think that Bonsai shines. It has a more mature desktop companion that syncs seamlessly both ways. Wonderful color support for different levels. Even supports the new hi-res clies. More hi-res support will make this a 6-star product!

This is one of the best outliner tools out there regardless of price - and I have probably tried most of them. I use Bonsai in conjunction with MS Project to manage large ERP projects. The export to HTML works flawlessly and I have never had a problem with the Palm conduit. Bonsai is incredibly stable both on the Palm and running on Windows 2000. A fantastic product that is worth many times more than the registration price!

This product is an outstanding product. I use it in place of the built-in memo's and todo's because I find it a better way of organizing these things and it puts it in one program. I was also impressed with the speed that they responded with a bug report: I sent in a bug report, they asked for for the problem file, and then found, fixed, and posted a bug fix all in the space of two days!

OUTSTANDING!!!! This is the best task list tool out there for the Palm! An excellent "mini-project manager", Bonsai allows you to create hierarchical tasks lists, with truly superb customization and tracking ability. WELL DONE! I highly recommend this app!

Bravo! I've tried all the other outliners (BrainForest, ShadowPlan, Arranger, ThoughtManager, Progect, HiNote, InfoSelect), and only Bonsai provides true, full, synchronization with the desktop. The improvements to ToDo links in this latest version removed my final incentive to continue looking at the others. Great product, great support, great progress!

Wow! That's all I was ever looking for. I'Ve worked quite a while with arranger now. Arranger is great, but I want to do most of my planning in the outliner and so a good PC interface is what I need. I found bonsai, and it works perfectly. Nice, customizeable HTML export (and other formats), sorting, printing, easy to use and understand. Forget brainforest! I don't like it's UI and it's expensive, they don't even let you try the windows version, you have to pay $40 to get it, no trial version! Bonsai is completely different. No need for the manual, I felt at home at once. Move items, find an item, work fast with a big outline, filtering, sorting (on the desktop) and a real two way synchronisation (I changed item 1 on the PC, item 5 on the Palm, hotsynced and had both items updated on both devices). I really like it's power, the desktop version, the overall price and how easy it is to use. Only one little downside: I can pull an item from layer one to layer 8 or something like that, even if the only parent is at layer one. THis might be usefull for some reasons, but I think it's more disturbing - until you are used to it. I definitely have to get this one, and the only reason why I don't buy it now after playing with it for 45 minutes ( I usually wait until the software forces me to register) is that I might have somebody else paying it for me because I had to look for some special program for him... Finding bonsai was well worth the search!

Bonsai is definitely a very good product. The Palm part of Bonsai is extremely user friendly and easy to use. The reason for not giving Bonsai ***** is because the desktop part, while very good, could do with some additional features - in particular I would like to see more flexible print options such as being able to format text differently for individual levels. Other than that, I think the product is EXCELLENT.

I think Bonsai's one of the best general outliners in the Palm market, and is one I'd use regularly. I'm a Mac user, and have no need for the Bonsai conduit. Unfortunately, Natara has (so far) refused to sell the Palm software separately. <p> I wrote the company, said I wanted to purchase just the palm software and not the conduit. The return message I got was Natara does "not plan to support a separate registration scheme for a Palm only version of Bonsai." <p> I usually don't try to force people to take my money, but I think the company should reconsider the position it's putting folks like me in: pay for the whole package when I'm just going to use half of it, or not purchase Bonsai at all.

This software is my latest great discovery for Palm software after evaluating all outliner software for days recently. I have been a registered user of Brainforest for two years. I have not been using Brainforest as often as I wish due to its many limitations. It lacks "edit in place", a PC desktop software and links to to-do list. I think I just have to write-off the whole Brainforest software now. This Bonsai software can be even better if it has security function (may be it can just borrow Palm's "private" feature). Other future nice-to-have features are: direct link to Action Name's To-Do, support for picture (ala ThoughtMaster) and alarm for to-do items. I used its Brainforest covertor software to convert all my files within minutes! This software has all the useful features that Brainforest lacks. It makes me wonder whether the development team of Bonsai has worked in Brainforest before (just a thought). Keep up your good work, Bonsai team! Don't forget the continuous enhancements for the desktop PC software also. Thanks to Brainforest, the outliner pioneer, for bringing in such a nice competitor!

I too am an architect with lots of tasks & ideas to keep straight. I can't say enough about this product. I have been using Bonsai more than just about everything else on my Visor Prism (which I also can't say enough about) I use a Stowaway keyboard (love it too) so entering text is no problem. I take my keyboard & prism to meetings & just start typing as people talk, later I hotsync to the desktop version & start editing & moving stuff up & down in & out of the hierarchy trees. I can add notes to items for more detail. Then I print the tree out & use it as a task list next to my computer to keep me on track throughout the day. If you begin your thought process in outline form to be expanded as time goes on, you'll love this. While I'm at it I might as well plug Wordsmith too. (I may never need a laptop)This technology has finally come of age!

I am an Architect by profession. I've searched for an outliner that I would be able to use in project management, as a checklist and as an idea organizer. The very first outliner that I've known and owned since the time I bought my first Palm unit (only last January!) was BrainForest. Frankly, I've been a great fan of BrainForest even to the extent of also registering TealGlance to work in conjunction with BF. But times have changed, and so has outliner developments. This year saw the surface of new outliner programs - Shadow and Progects. Each one had something special to offer. Updates were equally intensive for 'existing' outliners like Arranger and ThoughtManager (a.k.a. ThoughtMill) Then came Bonsai... So what makes this relatively newcomer special? I found out I had more option in display and choices selection than I had before; Information and views can be filtered to show only relevant query; There are no pop up boxes to write memos but rather spontaneity in direct and continuous writing which translates to thoughts spontaneity, and; It offers something the outliners I mentioned above did not have - true synchronization to a desktop PC via a desktop conduit! Incidentally, Bonsai developers is also the same group of people who brought you DayNotez. If it is worthwhile to mention, I was an early bird registrant of DayNotez and have witnessed its growth and maturity. The same holds true for the revisions made on Bonsai - fast and responsive! Keep it up George W! From all of these, I've made the intelligent switch from the dinosaur age to the new age of outliners? And to borrow a quote from you know where - "Simply the best - " Outliner, that is.

This is a fresh alternative to the world of outliners. Currently, only 2 others have reputable desktop versions: BrainForest and HiNote. Among the 3 products, Bonsai seems to have the best desktop companion. However, what made me gave it one star short of 5 is because of the following qualms on the Palm version: a) it has no sort feature, b) it has no rename function for the tree, and c) there is no purge function for completed tasks (you can only hide them with the filter). Overall still a very good app!

Well, things are finally heating up in the world of Palm outliners. I've been a longtime user of ThoughtMill. As a graphic/interface designer, I've always appreciated ThoughtMill's well thought out interface. Admittedly, it requires over clocking or extreme patience once you start having more than a few outlines, and that has been its downfall. Bonsai shows great promise and has a fairly solid interface. The filter function is fantastic as well as the ability to have categories for individual items as well as entire outlines. I'm also a big fan of being able to write in place (instead of in a pop-up or second screen) and have the ability to drag items to new positions. Of course, I long for the clever trashcan and folder (for warehousing entries) from Thoughtmill. Bosai's main competitor is likely to be Progect (currently under rapid development. The two make for an interesting study in contrasts. Bonsai has a lot of the nuanced interface features that Progect continues to lack. However, Progect has robust capabilities, including import/export (to doc as well as to memo), complete management of linked todos and more. Bonsai will definitely be a winner for those wanting outlines mirrored on their desktop (as long as they use windows). I'll be keeping both Bonsai and Progect on my Palm for the time being. Each could learn a lot from the other. Hopefully, we'll all benefit.