Ask HN: How do you prefer taking your notes?

9 points by gauthamkolluru 4 years ago | 13 comments

Could you please share how do you prefer taking your notes, using, Apple Notes app / Evernote / OneNote / Visual Studio Code / VIM / pen and paper or any other means of your choice and the reason for choosing it.

ryan-duve 4 years ago |

I use Vim for a few reasons:

1. It is fast to open. I can open a terminal and type `vim` and then `a` in about 1-2 seconds. This is useful because I'm often on a call when someone says something that suddenly seems profound, and I realize I should be taking notes that call. Using a terminal and Vim, I can open a buffer and start typing almost by the time the speaker finishes their sentence.

2. Key bindings. "Change in word", "delete in sentence", indenting whole blocks. "A". I just can't get this productive in any other editor, even those that offer "Vim keybindings" but don't bring everything.

3. I want local notes for `grep`-ing. Somebody asks if anyone knows about the `foobar_prod` table? `grep -Hrn foobar_prod .` in the `notes/` folder answers the question in a heartbeat. Using regex with grep's `E` flag is a feature I haven't found in common note engine search functions.

4. I use Vim for code. This means when I learn a new Vim trick while coding, I get the benefit of extra chances to use/cement it while note taking or any other text editing need.

5. Vim is ubiquitous. It's on or available for every system I use, every Docker container and every remote server. 99% of my note taking is on my Mac (work computer), but when I need to do it in Linux everything is familiar.

There are downsides I'd be happy to discuss if people are interested. I'm leaving them out now because OP asked about why I use what I use, not a balanced review of preferences and alternatives.

gauthamkolluru 4 years ago | |

that sounds really exciting. I've been having #LearningVIM in my #Todo list since forever now. I tried using VSCode like sorts of vim (though its no replacement for vim) but don't you have the requirement for having the notes on the cloud? to be able to update it any time from any device? Thanks in advance.

ryan-duve 4 years ago | | |

When I worked at a company with the MS Suite, I used Box's auto sync on my `notes/` folder for this. Now I use Google Drive's sync, but I'm sure there's other solution for Dropbox or whatever your company uses. I knew a guy in grad school use just used `rsync` to automatically back up his folder in the same way, but I never learned set something like that up.

Cyph0n 4 years ago | |

Great points. I typically use vimwiki on top to get cross referencing and diary organization. But pure Vim + Markdown + grep is more than sufficient.

PaulHoule 4 years ago |

I have lots of ‘rejects’ from printing art reproductions and I write on the back of them.

I write notes electronically with the pycharm ide in plain text because it is the same editor I use as much as I can. I would like to have a live markdown, rst, or html editor but all the ones I know are slow and buggy and can’t handle how fast I type even on a ‘desktop replacement’ laptop.

delgaudm 4 years ago |

Remarkable 2 Tablet. I find myself far more engaged by taking notes on it, it's close enough to paper that it helps with retention, but digital in a way that I can convert the notes, and the devices is otherwise not a distraction machine. Overall I've been happy with it.

gauthamkolluru 4 years ago |

Haven't you ever had to create / take a new notes or edit an existing one on the go (on mobile devices)? if yes, how do/did you do that? If No, how come it is a 'No'?

higgins 4 years ago |

For quick ideas or organization later, Things 3 For daily work scratch buffer in emacs

For longer projects where I'll be reducing daily notes to a report, I'll use an org-mode file partitioned by day

kingkongjaffa 4 years ago |

During my undergrad and masters (~5 years) I was fully using paper notes and keeping a bullet journal.

After transitioning to a remote role and writing code for a living all my notes are now in emacs org-mode.

factorialboy 4 years ago |

Git repo with markdown files opened in a suitable text editor. Screenshot app to copy images. Marp for presentations as markdown.

swman 4 years ago |

I use notion. It’s easy to use for organizing and works great on mobile.

girishso 4 years ago |

nvALT app on Mac, synchronized with iOS in SimpleNotes app.

First line becomes the title. Full text search finds the notes I'm interested in later.