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How to take smart notes with Org mode

blog.jethro.dev

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Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#61

Post by jethroksy »

giloux wrote: post #58
jethroksy wrote: post #42

Hi! Author here, happy to answer any questions.

I'm in the process of moving all my organization stuff into org-mode. This includes agenda, todo lists, project management and notes. This is a long process with a lot of fine tunings and try/errors. But, for me it's like what you said about writing : it's in the process of doing it that you think. This helps me understand my actual needs. And emacs/orgmode is so powerfull and customizable that it's a very goos tool…

Glad you enjoyed the articles!

> My question is : in what way should I modify my current note files to be compatible with org-roam ?

In contrast to zetteldeft, the links in org-roam are real file links. This means you need to replace all of the zetteldeft links with actual org file-links.

That should be all the changes required I think.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#62

Post by Tehchops »

jethroksy wrote: post #42

Hi! Author here, happy to answer any questions.

As already echoed in some other comments in this thread:

What is your experience with Notion? How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system?

I had a run at org-mode, specifically with interest in literate and pkm, and it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config. So far, Notion appears to be "good-enough", but it's slow and there is some export friction I feel could be smoothed over with org.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#63

Post by efls »

rgoulter wrote: post #34

I've seen it suggested before that while 'tasks' need to be well-structured, reference/notes don't. I like the idea of not trying to store notes in a hierarchy, but using search and/or tags to try and reference (or discover relations between) notes. I like the article's emphasis on "how do I want to access this later?". TBH Sometimes I've looked up previous bookmarks or notes, and they didn't have the keywords or tag…

Hey, thanks for including a link to my package! Which serves as a reminder that I should include a better tutorial or introduction sometime...

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#64

Post by efls »

feanaro wrote: post #60
rgoulter wrote: post #34

I've seen it suggested before that while 'tasks' need to be well-structured, reference/notes don't. I like the idea of not trying to store notes in a hierarchy, but using search and/or tags to try and reference (or discover relations between) notes. I like the article's emphasis on "how do I want to access this later?". TBH Sometimes I've looked up previous bookmarks or notes, and they didn't have the keywords or tag…

> TBH Sometimes I've looked up previous bookmarks or notes, and they didn't have the keywords or tags I was expecting. I also use a personal set of scripts for Zettelkasten (in combination with rofi) and I do encounter this sometimes. I've come to the conclusion that it's not a large problem: as long as you find the notes you're looking for most of the time, it's good. I think the problem of always finding all notes…

Part of the Zettelkasten philosophy is that it requires you to actively work on links between notes. Some notes are simply forgotten, Luhmann (the original Zettelkasten master) used to say, unless they are indexed into your system.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#65

Post by jlevers »

ssivark wrote: 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 have two issues with Notion -- first, it's not _quite_ fast enough. I find myself avoiding taking notes with Notion because I don't feel like waiting for the page to load, the search to find what I'm looking for, and so on. And second, as someone else mentioned, it feels kind of structurally disorganized.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#66

Post by komali2 »

noelwelsh wrote: post #47
animalnewbie wrote: post #45

All this is good but then those notes aren't accessible on my phone

There are a few apps that support org-mode. For Android there is http://www.orgzly.com/ For iOS there is https://beorgapp.com/ I think there are a few more but those are the ones I see people talk about.

I don't think orgzly will handle some of the custom org packages the author is talking about so unless you can get really good at org searches it'll be a mess on the phone. For example every file will blitz the sidebar.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#67

Post by jethroksy »

Tehchops wrote: post #62
jethroksy wrote: post #42

Hi! Author here, happy to answer any questions.

As already echoed in some other comments in this thread: What is your experience with Notion? How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system? I had a run at org-mode, specifically with interest in literate and pkm, and it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config. So far, Notion appears to be "good-enough", but it's slow and there is some export friction I feel could be smoothed over wi…

> What is your experience with Notion?

Never used it, so I can't comment here.

> How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system?

I think Notion targets users who just want to take notes, and not spend time messing around with config. Notion has what I will term "sane defaults", but if something doesn't feel right, there's no way to change it. My system also has sane defaults, and the code powering it is simple and easy to tweak as you please.

Another difference is that Notion is online-first. I'm of the opinion that PKMs should be offline-first, and that the data should be entirely in your control.

Org-mode is just plain text, which is incredibly important for the longevity of the system. It's a system that will be around in a few decades. Can you say the same about Notion?

Org-mode also has an amazing ecosystem of packages, with first-class support for math, tables, images, citations and code. You also have the editing power of Emacs, rather than some web-based IDE.

> it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config

I feel like the defaults of Org-mode are pretty good. At least you get to make the decision of trading off your time configuring Org, and using it as it is.

My Emacs configuration hasn't changed in some time. This project started out as 27 lines of Emacs Lisp in my config, but since there was some interest in making it more widely usable, I took some time to polish and release it. To the end user, it should be just plug and play.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#68

Post by Tehchops »

jethroksy wrote: post #67
Tehchops wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As already echoed in some other comments in this thread: What is your experience with Notion? How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system? I had a run at org-mode, specifically with interest in literate and pkm, and it was too painful/buggy, with the obvious rabbit hole of config. So far, Notion appears to be "good-enough", but it's slow and there is some export friction I feel could be smoothed over wi…

> What is your experience with Notion? Never used it, so I can't comment here. > How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system? I think Notion targets users who just want to take notes, and not spend time messing around with config. Notion has what I will term "sane defaults", but if something doesn't feel right, there's no way to change it. My system also has sane defaults, and the code powering it is si…

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

I think you definitely highlighted the other side of the coin with Notion: once you're out on the edges of what it can do, there's no way to extend/change/modify.

The performance also comes to mind. Emacs will always be faster vs. an Electron app.

I think I just need to bite the bullet and take some time to really learn Emacs/org, I think after the initial learning curve the flexibility and power will really pay off.

One other question: Sometimes I'll be listening to a podcast, or reading, or will just generally have a thought or idea, and Emacs isn't easily reachable. What's the best way(IYO) to get that in to your system?

Thanks again and I'm hopeful you'll keep up the writing, it's done quite well.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#69

Post by jethroksy »

Tehchops wrote: post #68
jethroksy wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is your experience with Notion? Never used it, so I can't comment here. > How does it compare to org-mode, specifically your system? I think Notion targets users who just want to take notes, and not spend time messing around with config. Notion has what I will term "sane defaults", but if something doesn't feel right, there's no way to change it. My system also has sane defaults, and the code powering it is si…

Thanks for the comprehensive reply! I think you definitely highlighted the other side of the coin with Notion: once you're out on the edges of what it can do, there's no way to extend/change/modify. The performance also comes to mind. Emacs will always be faster vs. an Electron app. I think I just need to bite the bullet and take some time to really learn Emacs/org, I think after the initial learning curve the flexib…

I do this kind of stream-of-consciousness recording by just sending messages to myself on Telegram, sort of like a mobile fleeting note. Some people like doing it through voice, but typing is fine with me.

After that I just refine the saved messages and transfer them into my system.

> Emacs will always be faster vs. an Electron app.

No, but it should certainly take up less memory. Emacs lisp is slow, I think the basic operations would be faster if it were an Electron app.

Re: How to take smart notes with Org mode

#70

Post by giloux314 »

jethroksy wrote: post #61
giloux wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the process of moving all my organization stuff into org-mode. This includes agenda, todo lists, project management and notes. This is a long process with a lot of fine tunings and try/errors. But, for me it's like what you said about writing : it's in the process of doing it that you think. This helps me understand my actual needs. And emacs/orgmode is so powerfull and customizable that it's a very goos tool…

Glad you enjoyed the articles! > My question is : in what way should I modify my current note files to be compatible with org-roam ? In contrast to zetteldeft, the links in org-roam are real file links. This means you need to replace all of the zetteldeft links with actual org file-links. That should be all the changes required I think.

I just gave it a try. It is so easy to insert a link/backlink ! Adopted.
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