I've used most of the tools mentioned here. Plain text or Google keep work fine for most of my notes. But I often need to sketch things and I have yet to find hardware/software that can beat pen+paper for responsiveness. If I want a digital copy I'll take a picture but tablets just can't keep up.
Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#32I used to use OneNote a lot (partly because my high school used it a lot). It was alright, but the free version on the Windows Store is horrible and I don't have enough use for it to pay for the full version. I've tried using the notes app on my iPhone but it's just not quick enough to write things down in - although that might be because I have a 5s with a smaller screen than newer phones. I've used it when I have b…
MediaWiki.{exe|app} exactly! That's what I'm trying to build, and this is the best description I've heard so far :) Related question: would you prefer this to be local or on the cloud? I am oriented towards a cloud service because of cross-platform support and auto sync between devices, but open to suggestions.
Well, it'd be nice (well, actually, quite necessary) for it to be available offline.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#33nvALT synced with Simplenote (I use the Simplenote app on my phone). These are for the daily, random notes of life.
I use Workflowy for med school notes, which fit better into Workflowy's infinitely expandable/contractable tree nature.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#34If I'm doodling designs our the like, or if I'm not at my computer (say, at a client's office), it has to be pen and paper. Any other time, it's emacs in org-mode, with source code blocks for code or output.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#35For meetings I almost always use a pen and notepad - I'm often the only guy in the room without a laptop. For project/task notes at my desk I write to a single markdown file in the following format: ### Task Name * Note about task * Another note about task Every time I save the file, a shellscript makes a date-stamped copy. For searching I wrote a rather obnoxious tool based on lunr.js that indexes the entire history…
Very similar approach, I use emacs and org-mode though at my desk. Paper and pencil for active note-taking.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#36I used to use OneNote a lot (partly because my high school used it a lot). It was alright, but the free version on the Windows Store is horrible and I don't have enough use for it to pay for the full version. I've tried using the notes app on my iPhone but it's just not quick enough to write things down in - although that might be because I have a 5s with a smaller screen than newer phones. I've used it when I have b…
What platform are you on? I can think of several programs that fit at least some of this bill: Emacs with Org Mode and deft Zim Circus Ponies notebook Devon Think Notational velocity with its wiki like linking Tomboy notes many more that I could list with time Some of these will have various limitations such as not supporting images or not allowing easy drawings, etc, but many would come without the overhead of wiki…
I'm on Windows 10.
Images (as well as tables) are kinda a bit of a must for me. I don't find Wiki markup to have much overhead in practice.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#37I use OmniOutliner on Mac with a custom template to take notes at university. I have a two-column template that allows me to write questions/cues for notes which then go into Anki. I'd like to have a more flexible way to work with the content, such as being able to create Anki cards from content seamlessly, and yeah, inline LaTeX formatting and diagrams would be really nice.
Something programmable/hackable is what I'd be looking for; it'd also be neat if everything was all part of one knowledge graph like Workflowy.
More on the process: http://markbao.com/notes/college-strategies#note-taking
I've gotten nearly as fast as writing on paper for creating diagrams (in OmniGraffle) and LaTeX (with Mac app LaTeXiT), and being able to clearly read my notes without deciphering things outweighs the extra time spent typing.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#38I used a script which organized latex/ screenshots of papers the first two years of my ph.d, which sounds sort if like what your talking about.. After that I switched to (premium) OneNote, mainly for the handwriting capability, which is nicer for quick math notes than latex Imo.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#39MS OneNote. It integrates well with Windows. Plus I can use it on mobile too.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes other than using paper?
#40My ideal notes app would be a rich-text offline hierarchical organizer like CherryTree ( http://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree ) with a mobile version and synchronization thru Dropbox or similar (like KeePass). Cloud solutions are nice, and I've tried several, but it always feels more like a convenience for the provider rather than the consumer.
A hierarchical structure is something I'm very keen on adding. Do you think a tree-like visualization (example: https://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4339083 ) would be useful?