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I do most note-taking on paper. Problem with paper is that it's not searchable, as I discovered to my cost trying to find some specific reference details for a

I do most note-taking on paper. Problem with paper is that it's not searchable, as I discovered to my cost trying to find some specific reference details for a job I did last year and am repeating today. My problems are probably more due to ad hoc disorganisation - particularly, sometimes going off-piste and making critical notes on random sheets of paper, away from my main notebooks. I'd love some kind of e-paper solution, in a notebook form, but I've no idea how it could gracefully and capably mimic the act of turning pages and having a chrono-spacial awareness of where the content in each of those pages lie. In some far future we'll have paper-thin writeable electronic displays and can literally make a notebook to rule them all, but it'll be a while. And even then, likely very expensive.

solumos 6y ago
This sounds sort of like what Remarkable[0] claims to be (not affiliated). I pre-ordered one because I'm very similar with my notes - I have a ton of ad-hoc notes taken on legal pads floating around. [0] https://remarkable.com/ https://remarkable.com/
- clarkmoody 6y ago
  Request for HN submission: in-depth Remarkable 2 review after months of daily use. Have they got a good data format & transfer story? Does the tech work? Context: every time Remarkable hits Hacker News I'm intrigued, but I couldn't pull the trigger on a pre-order. I love the idea they're selling.
  - 21eleven 6y ago
    I too would appreciate such a review. I have a preorder for v2 but no experience with the first version of the device. The customers at the top of the preorder queue for v2 got their tablets about a month ago[1] so the number of people able to write such a review will be limited for the next month or so. Worth noting there is open source tooling for modding/ssh access to remarkable tablets[2]. [1] https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002645878-Shipping-schedule-for-reMarkable-2 https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000264587... [2] https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
probotect0r 6y ago
I employ a simple version of the bullet journaling method. I maintain an index at the beginning of the book where I add topics and the page numbers that I have information about it on. Still not ctrl-f speed of course, but I am not flipping through my notebook trying to find the right page. For your situation, I'll probably right down the job reference on the page of the day, and then add a `Job References` entry in the index and add the current page number beside it. At the end of each year, I'll digitize everything important for archival purposes (usually very little), and move over ongoing collections (like book list), to the next notebook.
- rovr138 6y ago
  How much space have you found is good for an index?
  - lazyasciiart 6y ago
    Not the poster you asked, but I keep one at the end of a notebook for exactly this reason: I don't have to guess how much space it will need.
    - rovr138 6y ago
      Okay, this works! I have thought about this in the past, keeping it all documented on notebooks, but indexing is one part that has made me question how to organize them. Thank you!
    - dTal 6y ago
      And you write it backwards from the end? Otherwise I don't see how this solves the issue.
      - lazyasciiart 6y ago
        Yes? I've also considered doing the index only when the notebook is full, allowing 10 pages or so. Haven't tried it yet.
  - deleted 6y ago
jeromenerf 6y ago
> Problem with paper is that it's not searchable, as I discovered to my cost trying to find some specific reference details for a job I did last year and am repeating today. Our brain works wonders, yet mysteriously. I can somehow locate notes I wrote by hand on notebooks years ago. I remember the sketches, the color and size of the notebook, the location on the shelves ... and sometimes, finding the note isn’t important because I have actually memorized it. It could a visual memory thing, reinforced by 20+ years of pen and paper school system. Were I 20 years younger and having been taught on tablets/xxx, I could have developed a different long term memory system. As of today, writing down notes on my computer feels like offloading my brain to disk. When writing notes of paper/iPad, it feels like writing to my brain.
- bnj 6y ago
  I definitely agree that our brains work wonders and I'm not denying the main point you're making at all, but there is also an element of confirmation bias inherent here because you'll never look for the notes you don't remember taking. Going over old notebooks I've been astonished at the patterns I've uncovered of thinking about similar ideas and having similar insights over and over, each time not recalling that I've been on the same path at an earlier time.
  - jeromenerf 6y ago
    Oh you are right for sure but it’s a whole different point. I don’t know how our memory works and I guess our passion / interest plays an important part, as your conscious thoughts revisits those subjects as a routine. I am just noticing how the multidimensional characteristics of hand written notes seem to provide “more ways” to search and explore our memory. Just like having both a spatial and a full text indices.
asdff 6y ago
Most notes I don't need to look at ever again after they've served their purpose, be it a month or three minutes of use. For the ones that do, I will use my notes to write a digital writeup, usually with more detail and references throughout with the explicit intention of making it comprehensive for when I forget everything in 6 months. I find the process gives me all the benefit of paper and all the benefits of digital, but supercharged because I am recalling from a written note at the same time to synthesize these ideas into a new format.
jack_riminton 6y ago
Has anyone found a good method of taking photos of notebook pages? I used to user Evernote, and even experimented with their proprietary OCR dot paper but it never really stuck because Evernote isn't great (and the searchability of words sucked)
chrisweekly 6y ago
bullet-journal -style numbered pages with an index goes a long way. my digital notes sometimes simply reference a journal # and page #.

solumos 6y ago

This sounds sort of like what Remarkable[0] claims to be (not affiliated). I pre-ordered one because I'm very similar with my notes - I have a ton of ad-hoc notes taken on legal pads floating around. [0] https://remarkable.com/ https://remarkable.com/

clarkmoody 6y ago
Request for HN submission: in-depth Remarkable 2 review after months of daily use. Have they got a good data format & transfer story? Does the tech work? Context: every time Remarkable hits Hacker News I'm intrigued, but I couldn't pull the trigger on a pre-order. I love the idea they're selling.
- 21eleven 6y ago
  I too would appreciate such a review. I have a preorder for v2 but no experience with the first version of the device. The customers at the top of the preorder queue for v2 got their tablets about a month ago[1] so the number of people able to write such a review will be limited for the next month or so. Worth noting there is open source tooling for modding/ssh access to remarkable tablets[2]. [1] https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002645878-Shipping-schedule-for-reMarkable-2 https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000264587... [2] https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable

probotect0r 6y ago

I employ a simple version of the bullet journaling method. I maintain an index at the beginning of the book where I add topics and the page numbers that I have information about it on. Still not ctrl-f speed of course, but I am not flipping through my notebook trying to find the right page. For your situation, I'll probably right down the job reference on the page of the day, and then add a `Job References` entry in the index and add the current page number beside it. At the end of each year, I'll digitize everything important for archival purposes (usually very little), and move over ongoing collections (like book list), to the next notebook.

rovr138 6y ago
How much space have you found is good for an index?
- lazyasciiart 6y ago
  Not the poster you asked, but I keep one at the end of a notebook for exactly this reason: I don't have to guess how much space it will need.
  - rovr138 6y ago
    Okay, this works! I have thought about this in the past, keeping it all documented on notebooks, but indexing is one part that has made me question how to organize them. Thank you!
  - dTal 6y ago
    And you write it backwards from the end? Otherwise I don't see how this solves the issue.
    - lazyasciiart 6y ago
      Yes? I've also considered doing the index only when the notebook is full, allowing 10 pages or so. Haven't tried it yet.
- deleted 6y ago

jeromenerf 6y ago

> Problem with paper is that it's not searchable, as I discovered to my cost trying to find some specific reference details for a job I did last year and am repeating today. Our brain works wonders, yet mysteriously. I can somehow locate notes I wrote by hand on notebooks years ago. I remember the sketches, the color and size of the notebook, the location on the shelves ... and sometimes, finding the note isn’t important because I have actually memorized it. It could a visual memory thing, reinforced by 20+ years of pen and paper school system. Were I 20 years younger and having been taught on tablets/xxx, I could have developed a different long term memory system. As of today, writing down notes on my computer feels like offloading my brain to disk. When writing notes of paper/iPad, it feels like writing to my brain.

bnj 6y ago
I definitely agree that our brains work wonders and I'm not denying the main point you're making at all, but there is also an element of confirmation bias inherent here because you'll never look for the notes you don't remember taking. Going over old notebooks I've been astonished at the patterns I've uncovered of thinking about similar ideas and having similar insights over and over, each time not recalling that I've been on the same path at an earlier time.
- jeromenerf 6y ago
  Oh you are right for sure but it’s a whole different point. I don’t know how our memory works and I guess our passion / interest plays an important part, as your conscious thoughts revisits those subjects as a routine. I am just noticing how the multidimensional characteristics of hand written notes seem to provide “more ways” to search and explore our memory. Just like having both a spatial and a full text indices.

asdff 6y ago

Most notes I don't need to look at ever again after they've served their purpose, be it a month or three minutes of use. For the ones that do, I will use my notes to write a digital writeup, usually with more detail and references throughout with the explicit intention of making it comprehensive for when I forget everything in 6 months. I find the process gives me all the benefit of paper and all the benefits of digital, but supercharged because I am recalling from a written note at the same time to synthesize these ideas into a new format.

jack_riminton 6y ago

Has anyone found a good method of taking photos of notebook pages? I used to user Evernote, and even experimented with their proprietary OCR dot paper but it never really stuck because Evernote isn't great (and the searchability of words sucked)

chrisweekly 6y ago

bullet-journal -style numbered pages with an index goes a long way. my digital notes sometimes simply reference a journal # and page #.