The real issue isn't where you store notes — it's whether you find them when you actually need them.
I've gone through Notion, Confluence, and plain markdown. The pattern is always the same: I diligently save everything, then never look at it again because the moment I need it, I'm in a completely different context (a ticket, a chat, a meeting).
The "low friction = actually use it" point resonates. I've started thinking the answer isn't a better note-taking app, but surfacing the right information where the work happens, rather than making people go find it.
One of many things that I like about Karakeep is that when you save a link it captures both a screenshot and text from the page, and uses AI to create tags and a summary for the link. Basically it automatically categorizes everything that you save.
1. ONE (shared) dump-pile of all new notes. Your 2,600 pile should do fine
2. REGULAR 'cleaning' of the new notes: a) Each note gets one or many tags (#urban-decay #gaming #assets) b) Each note is trimmed down to its essence, ready to be used for reasonable purposes. (e.g further writing)
3. 'cleaned' notes are moved to your golden store, ready to be found by searching (search "#urban-decay")
You have 1. You need 2. It's slightly work-y, but interesting and ... fun. Rediscovering and polishing forgotten dust-rubies.
That's a solid workflow. The "cleaning" step is where most people fall off though - how long does it take you to process a batch, and how often do you actually sit down to do it?
My system is basically a 'digital graveyard' if I don't use full-text search. I moved everything to Obsidian because it's just Markdown files on my drive. For links, I use a simple Telegram bot I wrote that dumps everything into a CSV. Low tech, but it’s the only thing I’ve actually stuck with for more than a year.
Tools: Zettlr for notes. user?weird_tentacles explained the concept of zellelkasten. These are synced to a cloud folder so I have access to them on the move.
Blog: Compiling notes into 'new' knowledge is challenging and interesting. I try to keep on doing what I did in postgrad research.
Zettlr is underrated. When you're compiling notes into something new - how do you find the right notes to pull together? Do you browse, search, or does the linking do the work?
Memory, notes hierarchy and filename (I tend to keep notes conceptually atomic and not just the date/time as a filename), tag search, free text search, citation backsearch; I have a bibtex library linked but that's mainly focused on maintaining references to published work- I use JabRef but IMHO that's really too heavy for what I use it for.
plain files in a git repo, one directory per topic, markdown. search is just grep. the friction of organizing is basically zero which means I actually do it. been doing this for ~6 years, it's messy but findable.
My only friction with hierarchy-type store of bookmarks is the orthogonal labeling scheme remains poorly or unsupported.
Slapping a tag or two (or many) is bandaid.
Need a way to navigate a tree for a bookmark that is repeatedly tagged and filed across hierarchy.
Perfect example: retirement, budget, investment firms, reviewed
Each day has a focus, and it often arrives differently to a same bookmark.
Handcrafted Wikipedia category tree is a good start but still no navigation panel and a search box thereof.
The real issue isn't where you store notes — it's whether you find them when you actually need them.
I've gone through Notion, Confluence, and plain markdown. The pattern is always the same: I diligently save everything, then never look at it again because the moment I need it, I'm in a completely different context (a ticket, a chat, a meeting).
The "low friction = actually use it" point resonates. I've started thinking the answer isn't a better note-taking app, but surfacing the right information where the work happens, rather than making people go find it.
I used to keep everything in Obsidian, but I recently switched to keeping notes in Obsidian and links and articles in Karakeep (self-hosted).
https://karakeep.app/
One of many things that I like about Karakeep is that when you save a link it captures both a screenshot and text from the page, and uses AI to create tags and a summary for the link. Basically it automatically categorizes everything that you save.
using obsidian for notes raindrop.io for bookmarks and have my own jekyll template just for public links
https://github.com/umtksa/links (repo)
https://umtksa.github.io/links/ (demo)
The core idea of Zettelkasten:
1. ONE (shared) dump-pile of all new notes. Your 2,600 pile should do fine
2. REGULAR 'cleaning' of the new notes: a) Each note gets one or many tags (#urban-decay #gaming #assets) b) Each note is trimmed down to its essence, ready to be used for reasonable purposes. (e.g further writing)
3. 'cleaned' notes are moved to your golden store, ready to be found by searching (search "#urban-decay")
You have 1. You need 2. It's slightly work-y, but interesting and ... fun. Rediscovering and polishing forgotten dust-rubies.
That's a solid workflow. The "cleaning" step is where most people fall off though - how long does it take you to process a batch, and how often do you actually sit down to do it?
My system is basically a 'digital graveyard' if I don't use full-text search. I moved everything to Obsidian because it's just Markdown files on my drive. For links, I use a simple Telegram bot I wrote that dumps everything into a CSV. Low tech, but it’s the only thing I’ve actually stuck with for more than a year.
I’m also a “text myself” kind of person. I’m using my own chat-based notes app called tetrify, which is now adopting the Matrix protocol for sync.
ooh, that's cool - come tell us about it in matrix.to/#/#twim:matrix.org when it's ready :)
Tools: Zettlr for notes. user?weird_tentacles explained the concept of zellelkasten. These are synced to a cloud folder so I have access to them on the move.
Blog: Compiling notes into 'new' knowledge is challenging and interesting. I try to keep on doing what I did in postgrad research.
Zettlr is underrated. When you're compiling notes into something new - how do you find the right notes to pull together? Do you browse, search, or does the linking do the work?
Memory, notes hierarchy and filename (I tend to keep notes conceptually atomic and not just the date/time as a filename), tag search, free text search, citation backsearch; I have a bibtex library linked but that's mainly focused on maintaining references to published work- I use JabRef but IMHO that's really too heavy for what I use it for.
I pin "Note To Self" in Signal and drop important stuff there. For less important stuff I have a Matrix room on my own server.
I use a selfhosted flatnotes install with a cronjob commiting the changes to a private github repository.
Works pretty well
Google Keep CherryTree - which is much nicer than the web site portrays https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/
CherryTree looks interesting - hierarchical nodes. Do you split notes between Keep and CherryTree by type, or is there a different logic?
LogSeq, with the "brain" shared across devices using Koofr over webdav
plain files in a git repo, one directory per topic, markdown. search is just grep. the friction of organizing is basically zero which means I actually do it. been doing this for ~6 years, it's messy but findable.
The "low friction = actually use it" insight is real. When grep fails you - topic you don't remember the exact words for - what's the fallback?
I'm lazy, so I use Google Keep and will probably regret it someday.
"Will probably regret it someday" - what's the thing you're most worried about losing?
I keep all that stuff on a Wiki that I run in my house.
Self-hosted wiki - what software? And do you access it on mobile when you're out, or is it strictly home network?
Notion — good for linking related notes
Does the linking actually pay off when you need to find something, or do you mostly just search?
I do just search.
in md files in the file system.
Do you organize into folders, or just dump everything flat and rely on search?
...sending myself an email
Email as inbox - do you ever actually process it, or does it just pile up with everything else?