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Note Taking in 2021

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Re: Note Taking in 2021

#101

Post by jsmeaton »

milkers wrote: post #75
tanin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time for me to shine! I use 2 giant plain-text files. One for notes. The other for to-dos. I use git to sync to a private git repo using my own app https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes (work with Mac, windows, Linux) My priority is that I want my notes to live forever. Using GitHub seems to achieve that purpose. (I used many notes app before which I threw away when moving to a new app)

I am curious how many people at least tried Git/GitHub in their note keeping journey to keep their notes safe and secure and accessible.

I used to - but never remembered to commit and/or push. When I changed jobs (and therefore computers) I did a bulk commit and push at that point.

Using text files for notes is meh. I've just been pointed at Bear app, and using tags to manage grouping specific notes has been really nice.

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#102

Post by emptyparadise »

gofreddygo wrote: post #54
Sophistifunk wrote: post #22

I just want something that's not an Electron app, not plain text, and not bloody markdown. I hate markdown, and I hate that it's taken over everything.

When not near a keyboard, use paper. When near one, use plain text. For your sanity, keep metadata embedded in each file. I keep k:v pairs. One per line. e.g "topic: D3", "subject: scales", "context: Side Project" Use grep, awk (whatever). Slice, group, dice, join, merge, backup as and how you want. A bash-like shell is the only dependency. Check into git regularly. Some scripts I use ## group by topic. search for li…

What if I want to include an image in my notes?

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#104

Post by mark_l_watson »

I spent years experimenting with note taking/personal knowledge bases. After moving on from Evernote, I even wrote my own clone in Clojure and Clojurescript with a Firefox plugin for web capture.

I am now done with such time wasting nonsense. For several years I have been using Apple Notes (all my Apple devices except Apple Watch, and web browser version on Linux). I bought a simple app that exports all notes to a standard text file format for periodic backups.

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#105

Post by eloisant »

slightwinder wrote: post #88

It's kinda fascinating how something as simple as notetaking is still one of the big unsolved challanges in IT. We are constantly reimplementing the same decade-old concepts again and again, in slight variations and combinations, but yet hardly moving into a higher level of conquering this domain. One reason is for sure is the wide number of requirements that everyone has. But another one seems to be the lack of big…

I wouldn't say it's unsolved, many people have a workflow that have worked for them for many years. Including people who used paper 20 years ago and still do today with the same techniques.

It's a little like project management: there is no right or no wrong way to do it, just things that work for some people (or teams) and others that work better for different people (or teams).

Additionally, the frontier between "note taking" and "personal project management", or "todo list" is blurry as they're usually done with same tools.

The main difference is that notetaking being personal, there is no reason to converge and all use the same techniques. By contrast in project management, you have to work more or less the same way with the rest of your team or organization.

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#106

Post by eloisant »

liprais wrote: post #52

I grew up learning using pen and paper,I will stick to that. Younger digital native generation wants to go all digital? totally ok with me.just we have to learn to agree to disagree.

If pen and paper works for you, then so be it!

I grew up with pen and paper too, but now I couldn't live without the synchronization and easy sharing enabled by digital. Also I suck at organizing with paper while digitally I can neatly organize everything in folder.

However I do think digital note taking is more painful than hand writing if you want to go beyond plain text, and digital devices can be distracting when I should be focusing so I recently ordered an e-ink tablet that I'm waiting to be delivered. My hope is that it brings flexibility of paper with the organization and sync/sharing functionalities of digital.

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#107

Post by julian_t »

tptacek wrote: post #6

This is going to be one of those threads where everyone rattles off their own note-taking setup, which is great and all. So: There's a lot of things people tend to want from note-taking setups: easy entry, navigation and organization, wiki-like linkages, export to various formats, encryption. What I've found actually matters for my day-to-day and gets me to actually take lots of notes, though, is just (1) search and…

Does Bear now support tables? I tried it and liked it, but the lack of tables was a deal-breaker (and replies to my questions make it clear that it wasn't a priority)

So I'm using VS Code with the Journal plugin, Markdown notes, and ripgrep for searching. Works fine for me. For more fancy stuff I use DevonThink.

(And I too have never got into org mode, despite several tries)

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#108

Post by ryeguy_24 »

The way I classify things is as follows:

1. Notes

2. Tasks

These are not mutually exclusive. And the fact that they are not mutually exclusive is, in my opinion, one of the major obstacles in being able to develop a really good process for taking notes and then operating on those notes. I frankly don’t care much for any note software out there because the note taking part is generally easy so I just default to Apple notes for jotting down “external brain hard drive” stuff.

I’m actually working on a solution that integrates the notes and the tasks. See, I’m in meetings all the time so I write things like:

1. Client’s main priority is look and feel of website. (This is just a note)

2. Client needs to be done with project Dec 1 (also just a note)

*3. Ryan (me) to set up meeting with Joe and Jane. (This a note but I have to do something here and track it)

I can’t stand taking notes and separately having a todo list. They need to be integrated. You need to be able to take notes and quickly see all the todos that came out of it. You also need to be able to prioritize those todos and filter them as part of your day and executing on those todos. This is what I’m working on and I think it is the silver bullet for me.

If anyone wants to come along my journey or wants to see the prototype, email me (ryeguy_24 at yahoo).

Re: Note Taking in 2021

#110

Post by slightwinder »

eloisant wrote: post #105
slightwinder wrote: post #88

It's kinda fascinating how something as simple as notetaking is still one of the big unsolved challanges in IT. We are constantly reimplementing the same decade-old concepts again and again, in slight variations and combinations, but yet hardly moving into a higher level of conquering this domain. One reason is for sure is the wide number of requirements that everyone has. But another one seems to be the lack of big…

I wouldn't say it's unsolved, many people have a workflow that have worked for them for many years. Including people who used paper 20 years ago and still do today with the same techniques. It's a little like project management: there is no right or no wrong way to do it, just things that work for some people (or teams) and others that work better for different people (or teams). Additionally, the frontier between "n…

> I wouldn't say it's unsolved, many people have a workflow that have worked for them for many years.

I mean it's unsolved in the sense that there is not dominating solution that works as a foundantion for a broader set of features and exchangable workflows. Everyone is constantly reinventing the same solutions, building the same low effort apps. It's all many many little isolated silos.

> It's a little like project management: there is no right or no wrong way to do it

There is many standardization in project-managment, from low to high levels. Though, it's true that on lowest levels there is also similar widespread of silos, because people avoid the complex solutions or simly don't know them.

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