6 ms·

Over the last 20 years or so I've tried: index cards, wunderlist, todo.txt, remember the milk, Asana, Any.do, Evernote, Google Notebook, Simplenote, Trello, Wo

by dmd 4y ago

Over the last 20 years or so I've tried: index cards, wunderlist, todo.txt, remember the milk, Asana, Any.do, Evernote, Google Notebook, Simplenote, Trello, Workflowy, Google Keep, Bear Notes, org-mode, and probably a dozen others. Three years ago I started using Apple Notes and told my wife "if you see me trying anything else at all, yell at me". I've been pretty happy with it and am much more productive just using something rather than trying to find some magic new tool.

jwestbury 4y ago
The tool you have is usually the most efficient. Sometimes that's not true, but it's especially true if it's a tool you have everywhere.
foxandmouse 4y ago
The latest version of apple notes is great, but drafts has been the pkm tool I’ve been the happiest with.
Jorslu 4y ago
You have described the 2010's for me succinctly. Wow.
ravenstine 4y ago
Been using Apple Notes for 8 years now and can't imagine using any other tool at this point. Everything else is too complicated and with distracting thrills, or is too barebones. Notes is the perfect balance, and I like that the notes can be totally offline. The only thing that needs improvement is the search function. EDIT: Another thing I really like about Notes is how notes can be password protected, which includes full encryption, and they can be unlocked with your fingerprint. If the user doesn't interact with the app for a few minutes, the notes automatically relock themselves. This is great for journaling because I can be confident that the more candid thoughts I express won't be accidentally read by anyone.
- rifty 4y ago
  Maybe you know about this but one of the things that helped me with Apple Notes search was discovering there was a 'Find Notes' shortcut action. It allows you to filter by folder while searching by name, body, date created, etc... It works out to be just about as efficient as if it was built into the app since you can use Siri to run it by saying/typing the shortcut name.
harryf 4y ago
In the end there’s actually doing stuff. And there’s putting it on a TODO list. Both are types of activity but only one actually got something real done
runjake 4y ago
Is there an easy way to link other notes in Apple Notes? I've used Obsidian for years now. Mainly because it's frictionless, I can easily link notes, and just Markdown files. I don't spend time looking for cool new plugins or new methodologies, so I don't have those temptations. I wish there were a better mobile app, though.
- podviaznikov 4y ago
  made a tiny app to link notes in apple notes https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35698521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35698521. mostly use it myself
  - runjake 4y ago
    I think your link is wrong. This link is to the post itself?
- waboremo 4y ago
  Easy way? No. You can create a weird workaround though, on both mac and ios you share the link invite yourself, and then in share options you copy the link and then paste it in your note. However, I don't really recommend this as now you have a bunch of icloud links littering your notes and can become confused easily trying to determine which notes are actually shared and which ones were just shared with yourself. It's one of the biggest weaknesses of Apple Notes, and the only reason I (tried) searching for alternatives.
- barbariangrunge 4y ago
  I installed obsidian today and spent the entire time configuring plugins etc. I uninstalled it for something simpler and less about configuration combos
creamyhorror 4y ago
I started with text files in Notepad, then learnt from a friend how to use Freemind to organise notes as hierarchical mindmaps instead. It worked great, but search was broken (DFS but only able to find results in one treepath?!). Years passed, and I needed something to take notes with on mobile, and Google Keep was the simplest fit. But Freemind and Keep were both still too inconvenient on desktop, so at some point I ended up back at text files. I skipped all other note-taking apps over the years because I was convinced by people here who said plaintext was best. In the last two years, though, my current text file has gotten too unwieldy to use. I have to do a bunch of searching to get to sections (or remember their character-exact names). Then last week, I lost a day's research notes because Google Drive crashed and didn't sync until it was too late, overwriting my work. Clearly, I'd outgrown my setup. This last Sunday, I researched note-taking apps that don't use proprietary formats or cloud storage: Obsidian? Foam? Dendron? Logseq? I went with Obsidian, which while closed-source, keeps everything in Markdown files, so I'll always be able to use them in the future. (Logseq's different approach also seemed promising, and it's open-source too; I'd recommend trying that too.) I set up Obsidian-git for reasonable syncing that wouldn't result my notes being overwritten by accident. It all took a few hours, not endless tinkering. I've migrated a few note sections into it, done a few diagrams and code blocks. Works well. I think I'm set for the next 10 years.
- protortyp 4y ago
  I can also recommend using Syncthing with obsidian. I use it to synchronize my vault to all my devices. I also added it to my existing Raspberry Pi server that's always online, so I always have a distributor instance running and don't need to worry about sync issues.
- citizenkeen 4y ago
  Obsidian's ecosystem is incredible. You can make Obsidian a queryable database, a longform book editor a la Scrivener, or a gilded tabletop RPG campaign book. Half of what makes Obsidian so great is that they've encouraged modding so heavily.
- eitland 4y ago
  I'm using Logseq for the same reasons. .txt was never going to cut it for me, I always include images like drawings, photos and screenshots etc. Logseq is open source, reasonable file format, stable, extensible, has a reasonable plan for funding itself without lock ins, and, for me, is among the smoothest I have used. Notably missing from old OneNote 2016: - shared notebooks w/indication of updates - smoother syncing Notable upgrades from OneNote 2016: - still exists - more structured (OneNote can out text and objects everywhere) - easily extensible - queryable - taggable (Tags in OneNote aren't really tags, only glorified emojis) - open source As for the modern version of OneNote, I have given it up. It almost isn't comparable.
jeron 4y ago
You can recognize the productivity junkie by the amount of tools they tell you they’ve tried
- dmd 4y ago
  Hi, I'm Daniel, and I'm a todo list software addict
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
yamtaddle 4y ago
I'd tried paper notebooks (including really tiny pocketable ones) and Google Keep before picking up Apple Notes. Notes is the only one I've not had to work at continuing to use—it's just there, and I use it, and it works fine-to-great at everything I use it for, and that's it. If they ever turn it into some slow webshit thing, that may set me looking for another solution, but until then, no complaints on the note-taking front. I barely even try to organize it, and just let search do its thing. If I have some particular project (say, I'm DMing an RPG and composing & organizing my world/encounter/session stuff in there) I may try to keep all that in one category/folder for easier browsing of multiple related notes at once, but otherwise, I just dump stuff in and let search bring it back for me if I need it.

by dmd 4y ago

jwestbury 4y ago

The tool you have is usually the most efficient. Sometimes that's not true, but it's especially true if it's a tool you have everywhere.

foxandmouse 4y ago

The latest version of apple notes is great, but drafts has been the pkm tool I’ve been the happiest with.

Jorslu 4y ago

You have described the 2010's for me succinctly. Wow.

ravenstine 4y ago

Been using Apple Notes for 8 years now and can't imagine using any other tool at this point. Everything else is too complicated and with distracting thrills, or is too barebones. Notes is the perfect balance, and I like that the notes can be totally offline. The only thing that needs improvement is the search function. EDIT: Another thing I really like about Notes is how notes can be password protected, which includes full encryption, and they can be unlocked with your fingerprint. If the user doesn't interact with the app for a few minutes, the notes automatically relock themselves. This is great for journaling because I can be confident that the more candid thoughts I express won't be accidentally read by anyone.

rifty 4y ago
Maybe you know about this but one of the things that helped me with Apple Notes search was discovering there was a 'Find Notes' shortcut action. It allows you to filter by folder while searching by name, body, date created, etc... It works out to be just about as efficient as if it was built into the app since you can use Siri to run it by saying/typing the shortcut name.

harryf 4y ago

In the end there’s actually doing stuff. And there’s putting it on a TODO list. Both are types of activity but only one actually got something real done

runjake 4y ago

Is there an easy way to link other notes in Apple Notes? I've used Obsidian for years now. Mainly because it's frictionless, I can easily link notes, and just Markdown files. I don't spend time looking for cool new plugins or new methodologies, so I don't have those temptations. I wish there were a better mobile app, though.

podviaznikov 4y ago
made a tiny app to link notes in apple notes https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35698521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35698521. mostly use it myself
- runjake 4y ago
  I think your link is wrong. This link is to the post itself?
waboremo 4y ago
Easy way? No. You can create a weird workaround though, on both mac and ios you share the link invite yourself, and then in share options you copy the link and then paste it in your note. However, I don't really recommend this as now you have a bunch of icloud links littering your notes and can become confused easily trying to determine which notes are actually shared and which ones were just shared with yourself. It's one of the biggest weaknesses of Apple Notes, and the only reason I (tried) searching for alternatives.
barbariangrunge 4y ago
I installed obsidian today and spent the entire time configuring plugins etc. I uninstalled it for something simpler and less about configuration combos

creamyhorror 4y ago

I started with text files in Notepad, then learnt from a friend how to use Freemind to organise notes as hierarchical mindmaps instead. It worked great, but search was broken (DFS but only able to find results in one treepath?!). Years passed, and I needed something to take notes with on mobile, and Google Keep was the simplest fit. But Freemind and Keep were both still too inconvenient on desktop, so at some point I ended up back at text files. I skipped all other note-taking apps over the years because I was convinced by people here who said plaintext was best. In the last two years, though, my current text file has gotten too unwieldy to use. I have to do a bunch of searching to get to sections (or remember their character-exact names). Then last week, I lost a day's research notes because Google Drive crashed and didn't sync until it was too late, overwriting my work. Clearly, I'd outgrown my setup. This last Sunday, I researched note-taking apps that don't use proprietary formats or cloud storage: Obsidian? Foam? Dendron? Logseq? I went with Obsidian, which while closed-source, keeps everything in Markdown files, so I'll always be able to use them in the future. (Logseq's different approach also seemed promising, and it's open-source too; I'd recommend trying that too.) I set up Obsidian-git for reasonable syncing that wouldn't result my notes being overwritten by accident. It all took a few hours, not endless tinkering. I've migrated a few note sections into it, done a few diagrams and code blocks. Works well. I think I'm set for the next 10 years.

protortyp 4y ago
I can also recommend using Syncthing with obsidian. I use it to synchronize my vault to all my devices. I also added it to my existing Raspberry Pi server that's always online, so I always have a distributor instance running and don't need to worry about sync issues.
citizenkeen 4y ago
Obsidian's ecosystem is incredible. You can make Obsidian a queryable database, a longform book editor a la Scrivener, or a gilded tabletop RPG campaign book. Half of what makes Obsidian so great is that they've encouraged modding so heavily.
eitland 4y ago
I'm using Logseq for the same reasons. .txt was never going to cut it for me, I always include images like drawings, photos and screenshots etc. Logseq is open source, reasonable file format, stable, extensible, has a reasonable plan for funding itself without lock ins, and, for me, is among the smoothest I have used. Notably missing from old OneNote 2016: - shared notebooks w/indication of updates - smoother syncing Notable upgrades from OneNote 2016: - still exists - more structured (OneNote can out text and objects everywhere) - easily extensible - queryable - taggable (Tags in OneNote aren't really tags, only glorified emojis) - open source As for the modern version of OneNote, I have given it up. It almost isn't comparable.

jeron 4y ago

You can recognize the productivity junkie by the amount of tools they tell you they’ve tried

dmd 4y ago
Hi, I'm Daniel, and I'm a todo list software addict

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

yamtaddle 4y ago

I'd tried paper notebooks (including really tiny pocketable ones) and Google Keep before picking up Apple Notes. Notes is the only one I've not had to work at continuing to use—it's just there, and I use it, and it works fine-to-great at everything I use it for, and that's it. If they ever turn it into some slow webshit thing, that may set me looking for another solution, but until then, no complaints on the note-taking front. I barely even try to organize it, and just let search do its thing. If I have some particular project (say, I'm DMing an RPG and composing & organizing my world/encounter/session stuff in there) I may try to keep all that in one category/folder for easier browsing of multiple related notes at once, but otherwise, I just dump stuff in and let search bring it back for me if I need it.