The Case Against Anything Buckets

Yojimbo. Evernote. Both are what would be considered an "anything bucket". In short, the concept is that it's a single application, or database, into which you can throw, well, anything. Images, notes, passwords, bookmarks. You name it. The app will file them based on category and you can append all sorts of tags to make it easier to find later.

Perhaps this sort of thing sounds like a good idea in concept. The more you think about it though, the more you'll start to realize that it really isn't. Let's break this down by the various types of data that, for instance, Yojimbo accepts:

• Web Archives & Bookmarks: Bookmarks, and thus web archives (which is a saved cache of the actual page should it ever be removed, not just the link), are meant to be viewed on the web. Obviously. So why remove your bookmarks from the web, place them in an offline app, and add an extra step every time you want to view them? Bookmarking in an "everything bucket" is not a good idea. Bookmarking should be done in your browser — Safari will even sync all your bookmarks over iCloud — or, better yet, with an online bookmarking service. And for that there's not better place to turn than Pinboard. A one-time fee and you get all your bookmarks stored online and available to you everywhere. You can tag bookmarks, share them, and add to your Pinboard via all sorts of nifty bookmarklets and integration in various apps. And the site is really fast. It'll even import your bookmarks from Chrome, Safari, etc., but incidentally not Yojimbo (because Yojimbo will only export them one at a time and not into a single bookmark file). For a yearly fee Pinboard will also let you store web archives of your bookmarks. In a nutshell, Pinboard is far better at bookmarking than Yojimbo is.
• Images: If we're talking family photos or scenery, you know those go into iPhoto. The few stragglers? Just make a folder for all your random pictures and throw them in there.
• Notes: An app meant for actually taking notes would, again, serve this purpose better. King of the hill here is no doubt nvAlt.
• Serial Numbers & Passwords: Hands down the best application for storing any kind of sensitive data is 1Password. It's secure and built for this type of stuff. It also does credit cards, identities, and secure notes.

To wrap this up, Yojimbo, Evernote, "anything buckets", can become an uncluttered mess of everything and anything. A nonsensical compilation of things that are out of their place. Like a pocket knife Yojimbo does a bit of everything but does nothing in the way that would be the best for that data type. Now this isn't to say that "anything buckets" don't have their merits. They can come in handy for things like project planning — and even that may be better suited with just a folder in the Finder. But should you really be using them for "anything"? Probably not.