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How to take smart notes with Org mode

blog.jethro.dev

11–20 of 74 posts

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#11
post #2

Jethro Kuan’s earlier posts on Org mode for planning finally made the idea click for me (maybe just the last straw on the camel’s back). I strongly recommend checking those out too. Btw, to Notion users — does anyone feel that it’s matched/surpassed Org mode in the breadth of workflows it supports?

What is notion?

They have good SEO

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#13
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whenever I used org-mode I started tweaking Emacs and writing macros for hours. Does this imply that it contained too many distractions for you, which pen/paper doesn’t? Genuinely curious as I’m trying to optimize my note-taking process and have never used org mode.

Yes, by default it's unusable. You have to read the docs, check out other people's configs. It becomes a whole rabbit hole when all I wanted to do was make a list.

I used org-mode for note-taking in its default configuration for about 10 years before I started customizing it. I found it quite useful. I suspect its utility without customization may vary from use-case to use-case, or perhaps from person to person.

Lately I just use a big Markdown file. That's been pretty nice, but I haven't been at it long enough to be able to endorse it strongly.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#14

> Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process. – Richard Feynman I haven’t ever found a quote that described how i approach software as succinctly as this. I use a bullet journal religiously and it’s specifically because of this. Great article.

I can't seem to find a reliable source for this quote though. Anyone know of one?

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#16
post #2

Jethro Kuan’s earlier posts on Org mode for planning finally made the idea click for me (maybe just the last straw on the camel’s back). I strongly recommend checking those out too. Btw, to Notion users — does anyone feel that it’s matched/surpassed Org mode in the breadth of workflows it supports?

What is notion?

I would say it's primarily a web application for note taking (there's some auxiliary capabilities around kanban boards, etc, but most people I know who use it, use it as a rich text editor).

I think where Notion differs from others, and where it has similarity to Org-Mode is it's ability to create 'blocks' with more dynamic behaviours (calendars, kanban blocks, tables) as well as how easy it is to create linkages between pages.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#17
post #2

Jethro Kuan’s earlier posts on Org mode for planning finally made the idea click for me (maybe just the last straw on the camel’s back). I strongly recommend checking those out too. Btw, to Notion users — does anyone feel that it’s matched/surpassed Org mode in the breadth of workflows it supports?

What is notion?

It's SaaS only, so no locally stored data.

https://www.notion.so

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#18

> Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process. – Richard Feynman I haven’t ever found a quote that described how i approach software as succinctly as this. I use a bullet journal religiously and it’s specifically because of this. Great article.

Love the quote and the idea too. Check out Roam^1 which completely changed my relationship to note-taking.

1 https://roamresearch.com

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#19
post #4

I used to use Evernote then org-mode heavily but switched to pen and paper notes and haven't looked back. Whenever I used org-mode I started tweaking Emacs and writing macros for hours.

Yeah, I'm a big emacs and org mode fan, but use pen and paper now for note taking. I think this is mainly due to the fact that my note pad sits at my desk as a constant reminder of what needs to be done. Org files sit in my file system and are often forgotten.

I take notes in class or in a meeting with pen and paper mainly because tablets still suck at this and typing on a phone isn't much better. The downside to this is organizing them after the fact. Especially if you don't have a lot of free time. So oftentimes my paper notes are a mess.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#20
post #2

Jethro Kuan’s earlier posts on Org mode for planning finally made the idea click for me (maybe just the last straw on the camel’s back). I strongly recommend checking those out too. Btw, to Notion users — does anyone feel that it’s matched/surpassed Org mode in the breadth of workflows it supports?

I've actually been flip-flopping between Notion and Org-mode for months, and just the other day decided to finally organize myself all on Notion. I love Org-mode, and will likely continue to use it for various things, but I agree that Notion is the only thing that (to me) surpasses it.

My two biggest problem with notion are no offline storage of data and monthly payments.
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