Ask HN: How do you take notes?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17799232

by _mlxl • 8 years ago

42 46 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been looking through my paper based notebooks recently and noticed that chop and change between note taking systems, and there is no structure to my notes.

I was wondering if anyone could point me to structured note-taking systems or methods they use to bring some consistency to their note taking.

drakonka• 8 years ago

When it comes to notes in meetings or daily notes/to do lists, I use a notebook. The only "organization" is the date at the top. When it comes to taking notes in lectures or conference talks, I use a text editor on my laptop.

I usually write down _a lot_ of stuff when listening to conference talks in person. Then I go through the notes in detail and compile them into a blog post that hopefully makes sense, which also forces me to organize the notes and review what I'd learned. Because of the sheer volume of text and the need to keep up with the talk I use a laptop for this, typing being much faster than my writing.

For meetings or other more relaxed occasions where I have more time and less volume, I just jot stuff down on paper. Aside from marking everything by day I don't really have a system there.

du_bing• 8 years ago

I write down notes in diary form through Notes on macOS.

It's light and fast, enough for casual notes taking. Too complex thing is hard to last.

noir_lord• 8 years ago

    #!/bin/bash

    date="$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")"
    location="/home/developer/Dropbox/Personal/journal"
    filename="$date.md"
    output_path="$location/$filename"

    echo $date
    echo $location
    echo $filename
    echo $output_path

    # No existing file so lets create it
    if [ ! -f $output_path ]; then
        echo "Creating Journal Entry"
        touch $output_path
        echo "Journal: $date" >> $output_path
        printf "==================\n\n" >> $output_path
        echo "$output_path:20000"
        code -n -goto :2000 "$output_path:2000"
    else
        echo "Opening Existing Journal Entry"
        echo "$output_path:20000"
        code -n -goto :2000 "$output_path:2000"
    fi

Bound to the star key (I have an Ergo 4000 that has a non-standard key right in the middle).

All it does is create a markdown file with the name of the current date and then open that in vscode and move the cursor to the end of the file unless the file already exists in which case it skips creating it and just opens it at the end.

vscode realtime markdown preview is lovely.

I'm aware the bash is horrible, it was a 30s hack to see if it'd work (about 6mths ago...).

dmitripopov• 8 years ago

Went through a million of note taking apps and got back to pen and paper.

acutesoftware• 8 years ago

I use https://www.lifepim.com (disclaimer: I wrote it) for all my notes now. It has a simple cut down version of markdown with headings, code blocks and linking which works very well for me.

I manage the structure through the folders feature so notes are grouping into my categories (Dev, Design, Study, Fun, Home, Work, Health, Business)

colecut• 8 years ago

simple markdown files enhanced with search+tagging via qOwnNotes synced with NextCloud

https://www.qownnotes.org/

0x54MUR41• 8 years ago

There are some discussion about note-taking in the past:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6406198 (123 comments)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11945882 (85 comments)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15579047 (77 comments)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1750534 (69 comments)

androidgirl• 8 years ago

I use a graph paper notebook for planning, a blank paper notebook for design and software notes.

When I need to take longer or more important notes, I use markdown and vim. I keep them in ~/Dev/notes/

mrks_2• 8 years ago

At the beginning of the day, I pull tasks from Notion (https://www.notion.so/). I use a dot grid notebook (this one is good and cheap http://a.co/fQUVPpF) for general notes and design. At the end of the day I review and put the important stuff back into Notion.

rkho• 8 years ago

Notion looks really cool. Does it work offline?

mrks_2• 8 years ago

Their solution for offline work is to view the page when you’re online so it’s cached, then any changes you make while offline will be synced once back online.

lugg3• 8 years ago

Blank A4 sheets from the printer folded twice and ripped apart.

Too cheap for notebooks and I'm a lefty.

Notes I want to keep/search are in keep.google.com

I use clocker to track my time so I don't worry too much about noting what I do each day because it's mostly in there.

Paper is mostly for just remembering things, todo, doodling, or drawing up system flow when I need it.

The paper is mostly ephemeral I find the things I want to look back at historically are what I did when which is in clocker, old scribbles are just that. If it's important it went in keep or email.

Edit, now that I think about it, has anyone looked at digital paper solutions? I use a mix of hand written and typed and find hand written doesnt lead to distractions like context switching on my laptop often can.

nexaddo• 8 years ago

I've tried rocketbook with some limited success. You have to remember to snap a picture of the page to get it synced to onenote or Dropbox or other sources.

lugg3• 8 years ago

I'm thinking more like remarkable or the Sony one. Watched some vids last night they look lackluster at best pumping them full of features nobody asked for to hide the fact they don't do the one thing well.

I'd pay double what those cost for an eink note taking tablet that lets me handwrite normally (lefty), erase, save and nothing more.

As long as it's response time was near instant and the pen nibs didn't wear out or were at least commoditized enough I could use any brand.

The Sony comes close, but im allergic and besides there is no way I'm dropping $600 just so I get to carry micro USB again.

jeremywho2• 8 years ago

Do you have a link for clocker? The only thing I can find is a world clock.

lugg3• 8 years ago

Whoops, clockify not clocker. http://clockify.me

It's buggy (components reloads on server response even if you're in the middle of updating something else) but it's a free toggl and works decently well.

polyterative• 8 years ago

I trello everything in my life. Todos/bookmarks/everything. Linked to IFTTT I have my completed todos in G calendar and some other integrations like that.

zumzumzum• 8 years ago

I use nvALT, Todoist, and a calendar to organize everything. I don't have a good system for writing the notes specifically though.

oftenwrong• 8 years ago

repeating a previous comment of mine:

"What works for me is taking notes via email. Backing up, organizing, searching, and distributing email is more-or-less a solved problem, and my note-taking inherits those solutions. I can read and add notes from my phone and from my computer, with the ability to choose from a plethora of applications. I have multiple backups of my email around the world via standard email syncing. My email host has been 100% reliable in not losing my emails, as well. If I want to migrate to a different email host, that is trivial."

I wouldn't say my notes have much structure, though.

writepub• 8 years ago

Shameless plug: http://write.pub

We're evaluating moving entirely to the browser using webassembly. Our experiment is here: http://www.write.pub/wasm-demo/hello.html

heycesr• 8 years ago

Workflowy changed my life https://workflowy.com/

collyw• 8 years ago

Pen and paper.

vs4vijay• 8 years ago

I used to use Evernote but now I have completed Switched to StandardNotes which has end to end encryption. Link: https://app.standardnotes.org/

mobitar2• 8 years ago

This will link directly to the web app. For more info about Standard Notes, feel free to check out https://standardnotes.org

Someone12342• 8 years ago

If it legitimately uses end to end encryption, then them hosting a webapp which presumably allows you to view and edit your notes seems odd.

Even if it asks for your vault key each time, since they control the JavaScript delivered to the webapp, it largely negates the benefit of E2E encryption.

hondadriver• 8 years ago

The key could be only on the client side, derived from your password. Ok they could be evil and send it to their server in the next update, we will have to trust them not to do so.

codemusings• 8 years ago

Even if it asks for your vault key each time, since they control the JavaScript delivered to the webapp

How is that any different from a malicious app you have on your phone or desktop? Assuming that the web client is served entirely over HTTPS MITM attacks shouldn't be possible and the project maintainer is the only remaining bad actor. Which is where trust comes in.

motiw• 8 years ago

For meeting summaries I use paper, if i need it searchable I will type it into a single google doc title meeting summaries. For actionable notes I forward to my email (android app named Mail Mysels), and then I use Centask to manage and schedule a single outline composed of emails, todos, notes, links, and google drive files/images

mobitar2• 8 years ago

I use and develop Standard Notes. It’s an open source encrypted note taking app available on all platforms:

https://github.com/standardnotes/web

nataz• 8 years ago

Pen and paper - dot grid notebook with a systematic approach. Addition details in the hn thread below.

For professional life: Pen + dot grid notepad - developed independently, but similar to the bullet journal technique. Dot grid plus pens make the whole thing ultra customizable. I can sketch engineering designs, make a calendar, track action items, take detailed notes, all in the same format. The key is to be strict with page numbers, dates, and index as much as possible.

Things I occasionally miss - keyword search (I can still look things up by date or subject in the index), multimedia inserts (think dragging video/photos/sound clips into one note), never ending space (notebooks run out of pages), easy backups (thinking about digitizing with photos or scans), team collaboration (if this is necessary I use Trello).

Things I like - no OS/tech stack compatibility issues, "it just works", lighter then a laptop) tablet, don't need to charge, easy to read, can bring into a secure area (where outside electronics are not permitted), travels well, hard to damage.

http://bulletjournal.com/get-started/

For personal life: add Google keep for simple lists, and then a mix of Trello and dot grid for larger projects (less strict formatting than professional life project management).

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17537675

tomerbd• 8 years ago

very interesting. i just wonder about merge, do you find yourself merging knowledge about a single item scattered along different pages and then creating a new page for the merged item? if so how much percentage of the logging does this take, if short how come? tips?

maxmouchet• 8 years ago

If you're oriented towards academic writing, "How to Take Smart Notes" from Sönke Ahrens describes the Zettelkasten method which is akin to the GTD method but focused towards writing. Besides, the book contains interesting insights on how we learn and get motivated to work. Recommended reading.

mroll• 8 years ago

emacs org mode. with a heavy customization inspired by bernt hansen (http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html).

ralphc• 8 years ago

I'm trying to figure this out myself. I do some pen and paper, but for online I use OneNote, used to use Evernote. OneNote is free, and on any given day I could be on iPad, iPhone, Windows, Mac or Linux. OneNote has a web client and iOS clients so things stay synced up.

kumartanmay• 8 years ago

Loose A4 Paper + Pen - new note always on a new paper; bundle similar papers with a paper clip; I also add sticknotes on the first page of a bundle to uniquely identify it.

duxup• 8 years ago

Google Keep + a small Moleskine notebook.

some_account• 8 years ago

I use https://slite.com - it's a very nice, clean modern markdown editor with keyboard shortcuts and ability to paste images from clipboard.

You categorize notes in collections and you can search them, export them to markdown or pdf, and work as a team. It has Slack integration as well if that's your thing.

Highly recommended!

craftyguy• 8 years ago

jrnl: https://github.com/maebert/jrnl

likeclockwork• 8 years ago

Post-it notes for notes that have a lifetime of a few hours or less. One of my notebooks for notes that have a longer lifetime, for math, for figuring things out, for diagrams. Org-mode for planning, documenting research, and structured note taking. Stylus on my phone or laptop for drawing diagrams by hand that I need to share with others. (Also this is the best way I've found to practice my penmanship without wasting paper for no reason.)

user68858788• 8 years ago

Workflowy

huydotnet• 8 years ago

org-mode, with this snippet:

  (defun open-new-journal ()
    (interactive)
    (find-file (concat "~/notes/journal/" (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d") ".journal.org")))

  (defun open-things-todo ()
    (interactive)
    (find-file "~/notes/dashboard.org"))

kashyapc• 8 years ago

Emacs Org-Mode (4 years & counting) for daily work-related notes, design documents, conference talk notes, TODOs -- I'm happy with the default structure it offers (and I use checkboxes and related built-in features). And a plain white notebook and pen for ad-hoc design, diagrams, and other unstructured notes. My handwriting is pretty decent, if I may say so myself, and I appreciate the rotary motion from writing with a pen. I find myself writing on the paper more and more.

vinhnx• 8 years ago

I keep to notebook at my work-desk, it is to sketch out diagram, pseudo code, quick thoughts...

For digital, I use Notes.app because it has iCloud sync and it works well for me for multi device notes.

Ask HN: How do you take notes?

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