Use w3m for archiving
This commit is contained in:
David Eisinger
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#[1]Notes from your friend Chris
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[2]Notes from your friend Chris
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[3]Home [4]Archives [5]Search [6]Feed
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[1] Notes from your friend Chris
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[2]Home [3]Archives [4]Search [5]Feed
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Digital Notetaking Stack
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So I use a paper notebook. To be more specific, I use a notebook binder
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with three separate notebooks in it. Each notebook serves a specific
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purpose. The first one is for tasks and to-dos. The second one is just
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a scratch pad for absolutely anything under the sun: drawings,
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thoughts, somebody’s phone number, anything. The last one is a very
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regimented journal where I reflect on personal experiences.
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So I use a paper notebook. To be more specific, I use a notebook binder with
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three separate notebooks in it. Each notebook serves a specific purpose. The
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first one is for tasks and to-dos. The second one is just a scratch pad for
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absolutely anything under the sun: drawings, thoughts, somebody’s phone number,
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anything. The last one is a very regimented journal where I reflect on personal
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experiences.
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Sure, I could just use a single notebook for all of these purposes.
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Hell, I could use a stack of printer paper for all these purposes; but
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it would be clunky, it would be difficult, and I wouldn’t really want
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to use it because it wouldn’t be very satisfying.
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Sure, I could just use a single notebook for all of these purposes. Hell, I
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could use a stack of printer paper for all these purposes; but it would be
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clunky, it would be difficult, and I wouldn’t really want to use it because it
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wouldn’t be very satisfying.
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So, I’ve developed a system that works for taking paper notes. It’s
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custom tailored to my goals and how my brain works. And as a cherry on
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top, I picked a notebook binder and pen that I really enjoy touching
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and looking at, which makes the whole system just that much better.
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So, I’ve developed a system that works for taking paper notes. It’s custom
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tailored to my goals and how my brain works. And as a cherry on top, I picked a
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notebook binder and pen that I really enjoy touching and looking at, which
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makes the whole system just that much better.
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Similarly, I use a set of different apps for different purposes when
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I’m taking notes in my digital world.
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Similarly, I use a set of different apps for different purposes when I’m taking
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notes in my digital world.
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Yes, I could probably stick to just using the default notes app on my
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phone, but it would be clunky, there would be friction, it would not
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adapt to the way my brain works, and I would end up using it less. Plus
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it isn’t really that satisfying to look at… but that’s just my opinion.
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Yes, I could probably stick to just using the default notes app on my phone,
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but it would be clunky, there would be friction, it would not adapt to the way
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my brain works, and I would end up using it less. Plus it isn’t really that
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satisfying to look at… but that’s just my opinion.
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So instead, after nearly a decade of trial and error, I’ve developed a
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system and way of working with my notes in my digital world that brings
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me immense satisfaction and works well with the way my brain works and
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the way my lifestyle is currently set up.
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So instead, after nearly a decade of trial and error, I’ve developed a system
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and way of working with my notes in my digital world that brings me immense
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satisfaction and works well with the way my brain works and the way my
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lifestyle is currently set up.
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DISCLAIMERS:
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* This is not me trying to convince you to use the apps that I use.
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This is what works for me, and is very tailored to my brain and
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life. I’m not here to tell you what to use. But if hearing about my
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setup gives you ideas, that’s great!
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* This is something I will continue to change and improve. It’s been
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a long evolution to land on this setup. Trial and error was
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involved, and will continue to be. I think there’s an ebb and flow
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to changing your setup. If you do it too often, you lose
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productivity. If you don’t do it enough, your setup may stagnate
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and fail to match your lifestyle.
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* This is a values-based notetaking setup. I believe in owning my own
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data, having an easily exportable format (markdown), and using
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tools that are extensible & hackable. For someone who doesn’t share
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these values, this may seem overbuilt or convoluted or not native
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enough or something.
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* This is not written for the PKM enthusiast community. It’s a basic,
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balanced setup using tools that are widely known. If you’re a
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longtime Personal Knowledge Management guru, there won’t be
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anything new for you here. This is written for the layman who is
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dissatisfied with their current setup and looking for inspiration.
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DISCLAIMERS:
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Anyway, if digital notetaking is something that never really clicked
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for you, or if you currently have a workflow that you’re not pleased
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with, this might be a blog article for you. Let me know on [7]Mastodon!
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• This is not me trying to convince you to use the apps that I use. This is
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what works for me, and is very tailored to my brain and life. I’m not here
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to tell you what to use. But if hearing about my setup gives you ideas,
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that’s great!
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• This is something I will continue to change and improve. It’s been a long
|
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evolution to land on this setup. Trial and error was involved, and will
|
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continue to be. I think there’s an ebb and flow to changing your setup. If
|
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you do it too often, you lose productivity. If you don’t do it enough, your
|
||||
setup may stagnate and fail to match your lifestyle.
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• This is a values-based notetaking setup. I believe in owning my own data,
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having an easily exportable format (markdown), and using tools that are
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extensible & hackable. For someone who doesn’t share these values, this may
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seem overbuilt or convoluted or not native enough or something.
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• This is not written for the PKM enthusiast community. It’s a basic,
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balanced setup using tools that are widely known. If you’re a longtime
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Personal Knowledge Management guru, there won’t be anything new for you
|
||||
here. This is written for the layman who is dissatisfied with their current
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setup and looking for inspiration.
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||||
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Anyway, if digital notetaking is something that never really clicked for you,
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or if you currently have a workflow that you’re not pleased with, this might be
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a blog article for you. Let me know on [6]Mastodon!
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Overview
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i. Intake / Short-term notes
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ii. Long-term notes
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iii. Shared / Published notes
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iv. Collaborative notes
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v. Closing thoughts
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i. Intake / Short-term notes
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ii. Long-term notes
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iii. Shared / Published notes
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iv. Collaborative notes
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v. Closing thoughts
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Intake / Short-term notes
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One of the most important parts of my setup is my intake app. I hope
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you’ve never had to experience this feeling:
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One of the most important parts of my setup is my intake app. I hope you’ve
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never had to experience this feeling:
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Your friend names a cool restaurant or book for you to look up
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later. You hastily pull up your notes app to write it down. But
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wait. Where should you make the note? Does restaurant fall under
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your travel folder? Or your food folder? What should you title it?
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Do you need to make a new folder? While you’re fiddling with your
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app your friend has already started talking about that other boba
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place you should explore. Should that go in a whole other note? Oh
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god.
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Your friend names a cool restaurant or book for you to look up later. You
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hastily pull up your notes app to write it down. But wait. Where should you
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make the note? Does restaurant fall under your travel folder? Or your food
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folder? What should you title it? Do you need to make a new folder? While
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you’re fiddling with your app your friend has already started talking about
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that other boba place you should explore. Should that go in a whole other
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note? Oh god.
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I feel like a lot of people give up after going through this a couple
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times and their notes app just ends up being a hodge-podge of
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unorganized, random shit that they dread looking back at later.
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I feel like a lot of people give up after going through this a couple times and
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their notes app just ends up being a hodge-podge of unorganized, random shit
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that they dread looking back at later.
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This is exactly why I use an intake app, and my app of choice for this
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incredibly important role is, of course, Drafts.
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This is exactly why I use an intake app, and my app of choice for this
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incredibly important role is, of course, Drafts.
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[8]✨Drafts✨
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[7]✨Drafts✨
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Drafts is made for this exact purpose. By default, it opens to a blank
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new note. Whatever you type as the first line is considered the title.
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And it has this insane concept called Actions that lets you quickly
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process your notes by moving them elsewhere through deep interactions
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with your other existing apps.
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Drafts is made for this exact purpose. By default, it opens to a blank new
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note. Whatever you type as the first line is considered the title. And it has
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this insane concept called Actions that lets you quickly process your notes by
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moving them elsewhere through deep interactions with your other existing apps.
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Let’s look at some pictures:
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Let’s look at some pictures:
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[723b4f53-202a-41b6-981c-d1e2710d6e47.png]
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[723b4f53-202a-41b6-981c-d1e2710d6e47]
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[896a49c3-ec20-4dff-89ac-33f9cf1e6120.png]
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[896a49c3-ec20-4dff-89ac-33f9cf1e6120]
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[78912a4e-95cc-463f-af64-5e55f4ddb395.png]
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[78912a4e-95cc-463f-af64-5e55f4ddb395]
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In the leftmost image, you can see where I keep Drafts. Front and
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center, only app in my bottom drawer.
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In the leftmost image, you can see where I keep Drafts. Front and center, only
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app in my bottom drawer.
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Middle image, you have the first thing you see when the app opens: a
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blank note to write that restaurant / song / boba place.
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Middle image, you have the first thing you see when the app opens: a blank note
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to write that restaurant / song / boba place.
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Rightmost image, you have the actions pane.
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Rightmost image, you have the actions pane.
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The actions in this pane are customized to my workflow. You are able to
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configure multiple pages, but I’m content with just one for now.
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The actions in this pane are customized to my workflow. You are able to
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configure multiple pages, but I’m content with just one for now.
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Drafting a text to your mom? Send it as a text message after you’ve
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perfected it. Shopping list? Export straight into wherever you keep
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that (for me it’s Things). Deep thought that’s perhaps a little too
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deep? File it away in Day One where it will never see the light of day.
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Drafting a text to your mom? Send it as a text message after you’ve perfected
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it. Shopping list? Export straight into wherever you keep that (for me it’s
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Things). Deep thought that’s perhaps a little too deep? File it away in Day One
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where it will never see the light of day.
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Basic tagging, shortcuts integration, and an archive folder really tie
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everything together. Process a ton of drafts at once by selecting them
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in the app and then doing a batch operation.
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Basic tagging, shortcuts integration, and an archive folder really tie
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everything together. Process a ton of drafts at once by selecting them in the
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app and then doing a batch operation.
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Drafts comes with a pretty comprehensive set of actions right out of
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the box, but the true power here comes from tapping into the [9]Drafts
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Directory: a massive repository of actions sourced from the Drafts
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community (as well as many written by the creator).
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Drafts comes with a pretty comprehensive set of actions right out of the box,
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but the true power here comes from tapping into the [8]Drafts Directory: a
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massive repository of actions sourced from the Drafts community (as well as
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many written by the creator).
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Every app you could imagine is in this directory.
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Every app you could imagine is in this directory.
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And the best part: if your app isn’t in there you can write your own
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action!
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And the best part: if your app isn’t in there you can write your own action!
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Drafts could honestly take up a whole series of blog posts so I’ll stop
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there for now. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can do,
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but you really don’t need to dive very deep to reap the benefits.
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Drafts could honestly take up a whole series of blog posts so I’ll stop there
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for now. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can do, but you really
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don’t need to dive very deep to reap the benefits.
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Let’s table Drafts for now. It’ll come up later with how it pipes into
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my other systems.
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Let’s table Drafts for now. It’ll come up later with how it pipes into my other
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systems.
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Long-term notes
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So you may have picked up on the fact that notes don’t stay in Drafts
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long. They either get exported or archived.
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So you may have picked up on the fact that notes don’t stay in Drafts long.
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They either get exported or archived.
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Not every note is worthy of a permanent place in your note-taking
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kingdom. Embracing this concept was a huge step in cleaning up my
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digital world and starting to build a meaningful notes database for my
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life.
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Not every note is worthy of a permanent place in your note-taking kingdom.
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Embracing this concept was a huge step in cleaning up my digital world and
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starting to build a meaningful notes database for my life.
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As I continued to acclimate to digital notes, I noticed that certain
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note categories began to make themselves known.
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As I continued to acclimate to digital notes, I noticed that certain note
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categories began to make themselves known.
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[11b85744-48ac-4c2d-a817-6e813929b837.png]
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[11b85744-48ac-4c2d-a817-6e813929b837]
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The middle 3 folders are the important ones to note here.
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The middle 3 folders are the important ones to note here.
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Core
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My core folder is where deeply personal stuff goes. Longterm goals,
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journal entries, guiding principles and personal mantras. I wouldn’t
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expect you to understand mine, but I’d encourage anyone to explore this
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category of notes for themselves.
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My core folder is where deeply personal stuff goes. Longterm goals, journal
|
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entries, guiding principles and personal mantras. I wouldn’t expect you to
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understand mine, but I’d encourage anyone to explore this category of notes for
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themselves.
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The notes in this folder don’t change much. But I recently started
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recording a daily voice note diary of my day that I then transcribe and
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summarize with AI.
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The notes in this folder don’t change much. But I recently started recording a
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daily voice note diary of my day that I then transcribe and summarize with AI.
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I also do yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning sessions, and
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the artifacts from these sessions often end up in here.
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I also do yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning sessions, and the
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artifacts from these sessions often end up in here.
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Projects
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Projects is my favorite folder in my long-term notes.
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Projects is my favorite folder in my long-term notes.
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For me, this is a place for all kinds of things. Packing lists +
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itineraries + other details for an upcoming trip, startup ideas,
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potential blog posts, plans and details for my numerous hobbies.
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For me, this is a place for all kinds of things. Packing lists + itineraries +
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other details for an upcoming trip, startup ideas, potential blog posts, plans
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and details for my numerous hobbies.
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Notes in here often originate in Drafts and get quickly exported to my
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projects folder via Drafts actions.
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Notes in here often originate in Drafts and get quickly exported to my projects
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folder via Drafts actions.
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Projects are usually temporary, and get moved to my archive folder when
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they’re completed (or when I get bored and move onto the next hobby).
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Projects are usually temporary, and get moved to my archive folder when they’re
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completed (or when I get bored and move onto the next hobby).
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Reference
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This is for lists and information that I will want to keep as
|
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reference. Quotes, wishlists, movie bucket list, books to read, etc.
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This is for lists and information that I will want to keep as reference.
|
||||
Quotes, wishlists, movie bucket list, books to read, etc.
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||||
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||||
I used to maintain a personal wiki of information on different topics.
|
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Zettelkasten-esque, my knowledge wiki is currently in need of cleanup
|
||||
and will likely be featured in its own blog post if I continue to work
|
||||
on it.
|
||||
I used to maintain a personal wiki of information on different topics.
|
||||
Zettelkasten-esque, my knowledge wiki is currently in need of cleanup and will
|
||||
likely be featured in its own blog post if I continue to work on it.
|
||||
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||||
Other folders
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||||
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||||
Archive is self-explanatory. Old notes go in here.
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Archive is self-explanatory. Old notes go in here.
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||||
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||||
Templates is for fill-in-the-blank templates for notes that I take
|
||||
often. Like those yearly/quarterly/etc check-ins and certain types of
|
||||
projects. There’s an Obsidian plugin that has some functionality to
|
||||
take advantage of these, but right now I just duplicate and move
|
||||
markdown files manually as-needed. Nothing fancy.
|
||||
__________________________________________________________________
|
||||
Templates is for fill-in-the-blank templates for notes that I take often. Like
|
||||
those yearly/quarterly/etc check-ins and certain types of projects. There’s an
|
||||
Obsidian plugin that has some functionality to take advantage of these, but
|
||||
right now I just duplicate and move markdown files manually as-needed. Nothing
|
||||
fancy.
|
||||
|
||||
I find this setup to be just enough. My main folders allow plenty of
|
||||
flexibility within them for me to develop all kinds of systems to match
|
||||
how my brain works.
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
I find this setup to be just enough. My main folders allow plenty of
|
||||
flexibility within them for me to develop all kinds of systems to match how my
|
||||
brain works.
|
||||
|
||||
Apps and stuff
|
||||
|
||||
Yes, yes, we’ll talk about the app I use, but that’s much less
|
||||
important than the underlying foundation.
|
||||
Yes, yes, we’ll talk about the app I use, but that’s much less important than
|
||||
the underlying foundation.
|
||||
|
||||
My long-term note-taking system is really just two things:
|
||||
* A collection of markdown files
|
||||
* A syncing service that circulates these files between my devices
|
||||
My long-term note-taking system is really just two things:
|
||||
|
||||
If you commit to using the first, you can choose whatever you want for
|
||||
the second and migrate between syncing providers at-will with minimal
|
||||
headache. I’m not going to say much more on that, since others have
|
||||
covered it very well ([10]File over App from one of the people
|
||||
responsible for Obsidian).
|
||||
• A collection of markdown files
|
||||
• A syncing service that circulates these files between my devices
|
||||
|
||||
And as long as you have these two, you can access all of your notes on
|
||||
all of your devices with whatever Markdown tools you’d like. Ultimate
|
||||
freedom, extensibility, and hackability.
|
||||
If you commit to using the first, you can choose whatever you want for the
|
||||
second and migrate between syncing providers at-will with minimal headache. I’m
|
||||
not going to say much more on that, since others have covered it very well ([9]
|
||||
File over App from one of the people responsible for Obsidian).
|
||||
|
||||
That said, I use Obsidian.
|
||||
And as long as you have these two, you can access all of your notes on all of
|
||||
your devices with whatever Markdown tools you’d like. Ultimate freedom,
|
||||
extensibility, and hackability.
|
||||
|
||||
[11]✨Obsidian✨
|
||||
That said, I use Obsidian.
|
||||
|
||||
My go-to sync tool was Dropbox for a long time, but after committing
|
||||
fully to Obsidian as my default app across Mac / iPad / iPhone I’ve
|
||||
switched over to Obsidian Sync for the E2E encryption, longer note
|
||||
history, and seamless integration with Obsidian.
|
||||
[10]✨Obsidian✨
|
||||
|
||||
It basically works like Dropbox used to before the weird Apple OS
|
||||
integration stuff. Obsidian Sync downloads all the files onto your
|
||||
device, so you still can access them with any markdown editor that has
|
||||
access to the filesystem.
|
||||
My go-to sync tool was Dropbox for a long time, but after committing fully to
|
||||
Obsidian as my default app across Mac / iPad / iPhone I’ve switched over to
|
||||
Obsidian Sync for the E2E encryption, longer note history, and seamless
|
||||
integration with Obsidian.
|
||||
|
||||
Drafts can export to my longterm notes via both the OS filesystem and
|
||||
Obsidian app urls. Same for Shortcuts, which I’ll get to later.
|
||||
It basically works like Dropbox used to before the weird Apple OS integration
|
||||
stuff. Obsidian Sync downloads all the files onto your device, so you still can
|
||||
access them with any markdown editor that has access to the filesystem.
|
||||
|
||||
Obsidian also plays nicely with iCloud, and supports Dropbox / Google
|
||||
Drive / S3 through its community plugins. I have it connected to my
|
||||
Dropbox for publishing / sharing notes, which I’ll get into in a bit.
|
||||
Drafts can export to my longterm notes via both the OS filesystem and Obsidian
|
||||
app urls. Same for Shortcuts, which I’ll get to later.
|
||||
|
||||
My main reasons for using Obsidian are:
|
||||
* It has command palette
|
||||
* It has quick open
|
||||
* It’s hackable & has community plugins
|
||||
Obsidian also plays nicely with iCloud, and supports Dropbox / Google Drive /
|
||||
S3 through its community plugins. I have it connected to my Dropbox for
|
||||
publishing / sharing notes, which I’ll get into in a bit.
|
||||
|
||||
Honestly, the specific app here doesn’t really matter as much as the
|
||||
underlying system. I could switch to using Ulysses or 1Writer or Byword
|
||||
or nvAlt or something else entirely if I wanted.
|
||||
My main reasons for using Obsidian are:
|
||||
|
||||
I will say, like Drafts, Obsidian is a product of thoughtful design.
|
||||
You don’t need to dive to deep to reap the benefits. But if you want to
|
||||
be a power user, there’s a LOT it can do. For me, the important thing
|
||||
is that I can open files and do stuff with them easily, and I can hack
|
||||
it to accommodate to pretty much any use case my weird brain comes up
|
||||
with.
|
||||
• It has command palette
|
||||
• It has quick open
|
||||
• It’s hackable & has community plugins
|
||||
|
||||
Obsidian really knocks it out of the park for me, so I use it almost
|
||||
exclusively right now (for long-term notes).
|
||||
Honestly, the specific app here doesn’t really matter as much as the underlying
|
||||
system. I could switch to using Ulysses or 1Writer or Byword or nvAlt or
|
||||
something else entirely if I wanted.
|
||||
|
||||
I will say, like Drafts, Obsidian is a product of thoughtful design. You don’t
|
||||
need to dive to deep to reap the benefits. But if you want to be a power user,
|
||||
there’s a LOT it can do. For me, the important thing is that I can open files
|
||||
and do stuff with them easily, and I can hack it to accommodate to pretty much
|
||||
any use case my weird brain comes up with.
|
||||
|
||||
Obsidian really knocks it out of the park for me, so I use it almost
|
||||
exclusively right now (for long-term notes).
|
||||
|
||||
Published / shared notes
|
||||
|
||||
I’m not going to shit on Notion in this post (not much, at least), but
|
||||
one thing I really missed from migrating from it was the
|
||||
ease-of-sharing.
|
||||
I’m not going to shit on Notion in this post (not much, at least), but one
|
||||
thing I really missed from migrating from it was the ease-of-sharing.
|
||||
|
||||
I would put together an itinerary, packing list, cost breakdown, and
|
||||
car-pooling plan for group camping trips in minutes, hit the share
|
||||
button, and fire it off to my group chat of friends with no hiccups.
|
||||
I would put together an itinerary, packing list, cost breakdown, and
|
||||
car-pooling plan for group camping trips in minutes, hit the share button, and
|
||||
fire it off to my group chat of friends with no hiccups.
|
||||
|
||||
I had been craving that functionality in my new note-taking system, so
|
||||
I built it. Kind of.
|
||||
I had been craving that functionality in my new note-taking system, so I built
|
||||
it. Kind of.
|
||||
|
||||
Before we get to that, let’s talk about my workflow for posting blog
|
||||
articles.
|
||||
Before we get to that, let’s talk about my workflow for posting blog articles.
|
||||
|
||||
Publishing blog posts
|
||||
|
||||
Remember how I said I use Dropbox still for sharing / publishing?
|
||||
Remember how I said I use Dropbox still for sharing / publishing?
|
||||
|
||||
I do that with help from a service called Blot.
|
||||
I do that with help from a service called Blot.
|
||||
|
||||
[12]✨Blot✨
|
||||
[11]✨Blot✨
|
||||
|
||||
Blot turns a folder in your Dropbox account into a fully functioning
|
||||
blog.
|
||||
Blot turns a folder in your Dropbox account into a fully functioning blog.
|
||||
|
||||
Their website explains it all, but basically to publish this article I
|
||||
literally just dropped it into a folder in my Dropbox, which I can do
|
||||
without leaving Obsidian.
|
||||
Their website explains it all, but basically to publish this article I
|
||||
literally just dropped it into a folder in my Dropbox, which I can do without
|
||||
leaving Obsidian.
|
||||
|
||||
I wouldn’t say this is anything groundbreaking, but I find it immensely
|
||||
satisfying.
|
||||
I wouldn’t say this is anything groundbreaking, but I find it immensely
|
||||
satisfying.
|
||||
|
||||
Sharing notes
|
||||
|
||||
Okay, back to Notion-esque sharing.
|
||||
Okay, back to Notion-esque sharing.
|
||||
|
||||
Let’s say I put together a travel itinerary for a camping trip in my
|
||||
Projects folder. It has a list of everyone attending, cost breakdown,
|
||||
directions, packing list, and pictures of the campsite to drum up hype.
|
||||
Let’s say I put together a travel itinerary for a camping trip in my Projects
|
||||
folder. It has a list of everyone attending, cost breakdown, directions,
|
||||
packing list, and pictures of the campsite to drum up hype.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s all ready to go, but I need to share it out to my friends.
|
||||
It’s all ready to go, but I need to share it out to my friends.
|
||||
|
||||
Enter Blot. Same service, different folder. This time, instead of
|
||||
having Blot publish to chrisnotes.io, I have a separate domain I use
|
||||
only for this purpose. I move the note to the shared folder and shoot
|
||||
my friends the link.
|
||||
Enter Blot. Same service, different folder. This time, instead of having Blot
|
||||
publish to chrisnotes.io, I have a separate domain I use only for this purpose.
|
||||
I move the note to the shared folder and shoot my friends the link.
|
||||
|
||||
The end. No fuss, no need for them to have an account, it’s just
|
||||
published to a non-indexed domain that I use as an external
|
||||
file/note-share.
|
||||
The end. No fuss, no need for them to have an account, it’s just published to a
|
||||
non-indexed domain that I use as an external file/note-share.
|
||||
|
||||
”But it’s not collaborative!” Yeah, and it’s not meant to be.
|
||||
”But it’s not collaborative!” Yeah, and it’s not meant to be.
|
||||
|
||||
Collaborative notes
|
||||
|
||||
Okay, so once in a blue moon I have a valid reason to collaborate on a
|
||||
note with someone. It’s incredibly rare, and usually a very niche
|
||||
use-case.
|
||||
Okay, so once in a blue moon I have a valid reason to collaborate on a note
|
||||
with someone. It’s incredibly rare, and usually a very niche use-case.
|
||||
|
||||
If it’s like a Resume or something, I use Google Drive, because the
|
||||
output artifact is a document.
|
||||
If it’s like a Resume or something, I use Google Drive, because the output
|
||||
artifact is a document.
|
||||
|
||||
If it’s for brainstorming or something, Figma.
|
||||
If it’s for brainstorming or something, Figma.
|
||||
|
||||
If it’s project tracking, Notion.
|
||||
If it’s project tracking, Notion.
|
||||
|
||||
These aren’t really notes anymore. This is a one-off collaboration with
|
||||
a specific outcome in mind, so it doesn’t really fall into the purview
|
||||
of this post.
|
||||
These aren’t really notes anymore. This is a one-off collaboration with a
|
||||
specific outcome in mind, so it doesn’t really fall into the purview of this
|
||||
post.
|
||||
|
||||
To be honest, I don’t think my personal notes database is something
|
||||
that would ever require collaboration. My notes are deeply personal,
|
||||
and I like it that way. I can publish if I need to, and there are
|
||||
plenty of collaborative tools that work for other tasks. But I have yet
|
||||
to need real-time collaboration on my actual notes.
|
||||
To be honest, I don’t think my personal notes database is something that would
|
||||
ever require collaboration. My notes are deeply personal, and I like it that
|
||||
way. I can publish if I need to, and there are plenty of collaborative tools
|
||||
that work for other tasks. But I have yet to need real-time collaboration on my
|
||||
actual notes.
|
||||
|
||||
My gripe with Notion
|
||||
|
||||
Okay fine, quick note on Notion. While it’s a powerful tool that sparks
|
||||
creativity in a very attractive interface, it goes against my core
|
||||
values. You don’t own your data, it’s on their servers the entire time.
|
||||
Offline mode barely works. Exporting is a mess because while they
|
||||
present themselves as Markdown-esque, their stuff is so custom it’s a
|
||||
mess to port to other apps.
|
||||
Okay fine, quick note on Notion. While it’s a powerful tool that sparks
|
||||
creativity in a very attractive interface, it goes against my core values. You
|
||||
don’t own your data, it’s on their servers the entire time. Offline mode barely
|
||||
works. Exporting is a mess because while they present themselves as
|
||||
Markdown-esque, their stuff is so custom it’s a mess to port to other apps.
|
||||
|
||||
You get punished as soon as you try to leave.
|
||||
You get punished as soon as you try to leave.
|
||||
|
||||
Best of luck to anyone entangled in that system. It took some work to
|
||||
get my notes out of Notion, and I will not be going back.
|
||||
Best of luck to anyone entangled in that system. It took some work to get my
|
||||
notes out of Notion, and I will not be going back.
|
||||
|
||||
Closing thoughts
|
||||
|
||||
You made it to the end!
|
||||
You made it to the end!
|
||||
|
||||
Personally, after having tried a lot of tools with varying levels of
|
||||
depth and complexity, I find this setup very balanced.
|
||||
Personally, after having tried a lot of tools with varying levels of depth and
|
||||
complexity, I find this setup very balanced.
|
||||
|
||||
It does just enough. I haven’t gone too deep into any of the tools.
|
||||
It’s still portable. I could still switch stuff around with very little
|
||||
overhead if I wanted to.
|
||||
It does just enough. I haven’t gone too deep into any of the tools. It’s still
|
||||
portable. I could still switch stuff around with very little overhead if I
|
||||
wanted to.
|
||||
|
||||
Being candid, my sync system is the one thing I am considering
|
||||
changing. I don’t like that Obsidian Sync has no way to run headless,
|
||||
and has no API access for other apps to tap into. If I wanted to change
|
||||
editor, I’d need to switch back to Dropbox. It wouldn’t take much to
|
||||
make the switch: maybe 5 minutes to update the config across all my
|
||||
devices.
|
||||
Being candid, my sync system is the one thing I am considering changing. I
|
||||
don’t like that Obsidian Sync has no way to run headless, and has no API access
|
||||
for other apps to tap into. If I wanted to change editor, I’d need to switch
|
||||
back to Dropbox. It wouldn’t take much to make the switch: maybe 5 minutes to
|
||||
update the config across all my devices.
|
||||
|
||||
But that’s the only thing I’m really not happy with right now. I find
|
||||
this system pretty seamless to work with. It has structure and
|
||||
organization, without being so confined that it limits creativity.
|
||||
But that’s the only thing I’m really not happy with right now. I find this
|
||||
system pretty seamless to work with. It has structure and organization, without
|
||||
being so confined that it limits creativity.
|
||||
|
||||
Bonus goodies
|
||||
|
||||
If you made it this far, you’re either really into notetaking systems
|
||||
or you’re friends with me. Either way, you might get a kick out of some
|
||||
of the cool functionality that comes from a system like this.
|
||||
If you made it this far, you’re either really into notetaking systems or you’re
|
||||
friends with me. Either way, you might get a kick out of some of the cool
|
||||
functionality that comes from a system like this.
|
||||
|
||||
Custom share sheet actions
|
||||
|
||||
Any time I’m browsing the web and come across something I want to buy
|
||||
later, I can instantly append it to my Wishlist note using a share
|
||||
sheet action that uses Obsidian’s deep-linking.
|
||||
Any time I’m browsing the web and come across something I want to buy later, I
|
||||
can instantly append it to my Wishlist note using a share sheet action that
|
||||
uses Obsidian’s deep-linking.
|
||||
|
||||
I could easily replicate this functionality using the OS filesystem in
|
||||
shortcuts.
|
||||
I could easily replicate this functionality using the OS filesystem in
|
||||
shortcuts.
|
||||
|
||||
Or, if I was using Dropbox, I could do it with Dropbox’s shortcut
|
||||
integrations.
|
||||
Or, if I was using Dropbox, I could do it with Dropbox’s shortcut integrations.
|
||||
|
||||
I have a similar shortcut action for prepending selected text to my
|
||||
Quotes note.
|
||||
I have a similar shortcut action for prepending selected text to my Quotes
|
||||
note.
|
||||
|
||||
If I wanted, I could have an automation that downloads the current
|
||||
weather and top news stories to a daily note for me to review when I
|
||||
start my morning.
|
||||
If I wanted, I could have an automation that downloads the current weather and
|
||||
top news stories to a daily note for me to review when I start my morning.
|
||||
|
||||
With a little scripting, you can really bend any of these tools / files
|
||||
to do whatever you want because of the format.
|
||||
With a little scripting, you can really bend any of these tools / files to do
|
||||
whatever you want because of the format.
|
||||
|
||||
Anyway, thanks so much for reading this far. I hope you got something
|
||||
from it. And if you have any input, please let me know. I’m not going
|
||||
to pretend I’m any kind of guru, and I love learning new things. If you
|
||||
have suggestions or ideas or feedback, please send them my way on
|
||||
[13]Mastodon!
|
||||
__________________________________________________________________
|
||||
Anyway, thanks so much for reading this far. I hope you got something from it.
|
||||
And if you have any input, please let me know. I’m not going to pretend I’m any
|
||||
kind of guru, and I love learning new things. If you have suggestions or ideas
|
||||
or feedback, please send them my way on [12]Mastodon!
|
||||
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
Date
|
||||
|
||||
September 4, 2023
|
||||
September 4, 2023
|
||||
|
||||
References
|
||||
References:
|
||||
|
||||
1. https://chrisnotes.io/feed.rss
|
||||
2. https://chrisnotes.io/
|
||||
3. https://chrisnotes.io/
|
||||
4. https://chrisnotes.io/archives
|
||||
5. https://chrisnotes.io/search
|
||||
6. https://chrisnotes.io/feed.rss
|
||||
7. https://mastodon.social/@chrisnotes
|
||||
8. https://getdrafts.com/
|
||||
9. https://directory.getdrafts.com/
|
||||
10. https://stephanango.com/file-over-app
|
||||
11. http://obsidian.md/
|
||||
12. https://blot.im/
|
||||
13. https://mastodon.social/@chrisnotes
|
||||
[1] https://chrisnotes.io/
|
||||
[2] https://chrisnotes.io/
|
||||
[3] https://chrisnotes.io/archives
|
||||
[4] https://chrisnotes.io/search
|
||||
[5] https://chrisnotes.io/feed.rss
|
||||
[6] https://mastodon.social/@chrisnotes
|
||||
[7] https://getdrafts.com/
|
||||
[8] https://directory.getdrafts.com/
|
||||
[9] https://stephanango.com/file-over-app
|
||||
[10] http://obsidian.md/
|
||||
[11] https://blot.im/
|
||||
[12] https://mastodon.social/@chrisnotes
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user