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Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

notetimeapp.com

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Re: Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

#31

Post by PaulRobinson »

I like the idea, but not the web-based implementation. Local first, and ideally an open source app that can work offline when I'm going distraction free.

It feels like a vim plugin. It definitely feels like org-mode can do this.

A few years back I had a little command line tool where I could log things quickly - it was like syslog for humans - but with #hashtags for projects or clients, and then a small tool that would work out how long I'd spent on different things. It required me to write a log every time I finished a task or a pomodoro. I might resurrect that, but having an open file has been cute for me for quite a while, and then I can go back and copy/paste what I need to draft docs and so on.

I do think "note taking" as an app is actually under-served. There's lots of wiki plugins, org-mode, tons of "productivity tools", but actually a single app that lets you just write, then helps you with review (and timestamps, contexts and so on are essential to that), and then figure out actions/todos and gives you seamless interaction with those, and integration with 3rd-party tools (I don't want to copy and paste between vim/emacs/JIRA/asana/notion/trello/apple notes/calendar reminders/outlook tasks/whatever), would be very, very neat.

Re: Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

#32

Post by aquariusDue »

presz wrote: post #29
alwayslikethis wrote: post #12

If you use org-mode, you can just set up a git repo which auto-commits with gitwatch. And run magit-blame when you want the timestamps. With the advantage that it doesn't distract you when you don't need to see them, but super useful when you want to check when a note is written.

Why git though? Wouldn't it be simpler to just append the timestamp to the beginning or end of each line/paragraph, and just hide it when editing?

Yeah, I do something similar with org-node (org-roam alternative) where every capture templates has an inactive timestamp at the end before the tags.

i.e. Idea: Build minesweeper in the terminal with Ratatui @ [2025-02-05 Wed 18:01] :@someday:

And then I capture it in a daily note (or very rarely refile it) that has an org-id. Then everything gets connected with links and backlinks.

I keep the usual CREATED in the properties drawer empty in case I want to turn that heading into a node for linking at some point.

Though I'm still figuring out some things about my approach as I go. One thing is clear, org-mode can be adapted to quite a lot of workflows regardless of their weirdness or efficacy.

Re: Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

#34

Post by alwayslikethis »

presz wrote: post #29
alwayslikethis wrote: post #12

If you use org-mode, you can just set up a git repo which auto-commits with gitwatch. And run magit-blame when you want the timestamps. With the advantage that it doesn't distract you when you don't need to see them, but super useful when you want to check when a note is written.

Why git though? Wouldn't it be simpler to just append the timestamp to the beginning or end of each line/paragraph, and just hide it when editing?

Git gives you a full history of changes which is convenient for many other reasons. I also do sometimes put dated and less often timestamped entries when desired.

Re: Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

#35

Post by nottorp »

Of course, all the chat apps that allow sending messages to yourself come with free time stamps.

I use this feature on Slack at the least.

In a google workspace you used to be able to create a conversation or whatever they call it, not invite anyone and bam! notes to self. But I think they disabled it now and they don't let you create a new chat if it doesn't have at least 2 people. Might be able to work around it by inviting someone and then kicking them out, I haven't tried.

Re: Notetime: Minimalistic notes where everything is timestamped

#38

Post by WillAdams »

Why not just use Notepad in Windows and hit F5 Time/Date at need?

9:54 AM 3/21/2025

That said, this sort of thing has me wishing for something like to Services support in Windows where that could be implemented as a Service by Notepad and then used in any context where text input is acceptable.

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