I am wondering how everyone takes notes? This can be while you're testing or doing some courses or you're just putting down a to-do. Do you have a ...
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I use Boostnote synced with Google Drive for most code related notes or markdown documents.
Recently I got my first fountain pen (a Pilot Metropolitan) so I've been doing a lot more paper notes in a Moleskine notebook. I will probably upgrade to a better notebook when this one's done, such as a Rhodia, Clairefontaine or Leuchtturm.
The big sell for fountain pens is that it makes writing a lot more fun!
I currently use a fountain pen with a Leuchtturm notebook. The best part is that the notebook has an table of contents!
Me too, me too!
I also find that the fountain pen makes my handwriting look better. The nib must not be too narrow, tho.
I use pen and paper -- research has shown this helps the brain understand, correlate, and retain information. (Even if my err your notes are unreadable ;) ) I'm a fan of non-textual techniques like Mind Mapping (2D bullet points) and using fonts and arrows and boxes and things. Again, this helps with understanding. Read Sunni Brown's "Doodle Revolution" for tons of ideas!
For little stuff I use Google Keep. On my morning commute I listen to podcasts and often they have great ideas I want to research later. For that, Keep is perfect: always there, distributed, and simple and fun to use.
Enjoy!
I usually write stuff with my editor of choice (currently VS Code) in Markdown format. All the notes are saved in Dropbox. Later on, and if needed to distribute, I convert them to PDF/DOCX/HTML/whatever format with
pandocusing custom templates. These converted versions are usually stored in some another service as well (eg. company cloud) for consuming and archiving.I just can't get my mind into specialised note-taking apps when you can write in plain-text and convert to virtually any format to any service. Apps like Evernote have for ages been obsolete for me. However, I can understand there is a certain work involved writing your own conversion scripts and templates before you can take notes in plain-text.
For really short notes I'm still using Google Keep, for larger notes like drafts of blog posts I'm using BoostNote.
It's file based and I'm syncing my notes folder via ownCloud, so I'm able to work on multiple machines.
There's also a mobile version, but I haven't used it yet.
BoostNote looks cool. I am checking it out right now...
Same with Google Keep. There's some feature missing but it work on all my devices and is accessible from everywhere easily.
What would be advantage over free Evernote? Is just about markdown support (that Evernote is lacking) or something else?
I'm working through a large number of Coursera courses at the moment, and trying to compile good working notes from them. While I've played with Onenote, Evernote, and BoostNote, I struggled to get good integration between my notes and my code.
I'm finding the best solution is simply to use Jupyter Notebooks (inside a Docker environment) and push to Github. This way my notes and code examples are tightly integrated, and I can hop between my Linuxbox and Macbook with a minimum of fuss and drama.
The main challenge I have is that I'm not aware of any good tools for searching my notes in Jupyter notebooks. If anyone's aware of any tools, I'd love to hear it!
Are your notes from Courses public or you store them in a private GitHub?
All public. You can find them here and here. :)
Field Notes notebook and a Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, in my pocket at all times.
Remarkably, I find that the Field Notes slogan is true: "I'm not writing it down to remember it later. I'm writing it down to remember it now." I rarely consult my notes after I write them, and memory written as tactile sticks a lot more than typed notes.
Occasionally I'll use the stock "notes" app but that's really temp storage for the most part, then anything I do with those notes becomes the thing to which I refer back.
For short notes which I need only locally and for short time I use Vim.
For tech notes I want locally and remotely I use BoostNote.
For all other notes, bookmarks, projects, brain dumps, etc I use Dynalist, which is something like Workflowly, but much better.
Dynalist looks interesting! going to check it out today!
Emacs with org-mode was a life changer for me! It's hard to start when you are not familiar with Emacs, but it's awesome when you get it! I already used Evernote, Notational and other apps, but no other app gives me the customization level that org-mode have.
Most of my notes are ephemeral, so I will just open the closest thing I can find and start writing. Sometimes that happens to be Sublime, other times I'll just open a comment block in the middle of my code (IntelliJ). I'll keep these notes just long enough for me to do what I needed to for them or move them elsewhere.
For more permanent notes, I really like Quiver. Its a nice balance between simplicity and ease of use, and I love that I can switch back-and-forth between blocks of code, markdown, and a richtext editor as many times as I need in a single note. I commonly write quick notes with the richtext editor, use markdown for authoring blog posts or other long-form writing, and both usually involve code snippets.
If I'm reading a book, either paper or ebook, I take notes on paper. I have a hardcover A5 spiral bound notebook for all those notes taken as I read, as well as notes on movies as I watch or any other in-the-moment notes. If there's some text that I want to excerpt, then if it's a paper book I make a little note with the page number so I can go back later, and for ebooks I take a screenshot of the page. Screenshots are automatically synced to my PC, so I can extract the text at my leisure. I also maintain a reading journal in which I reflect on what I'm reading, at a little further distance--after finishing a chapter or completing a book, or after I've had a few days to consider things.
For long-term storage, I have built from scratch a custom database/wiki which is personalized for my workflow. I put into that entries for everything I read to which I attach the (cleaned up) notes or excerpts. It also handles my todo list, diary, and any other kind of data I need to capture. If there's something I need that it doesn't do, I code it up, so I have a single resource with all the information I want to store.
This works very well for me, but that's only because I've sunk a few hundred hours over the past few years into it. I learned a lot about web development doing it (and parlayed that experience into professional web dev work), but it was only really worth it because making detailed notes on materials I read or watch so that I can summarize and analyze them is a major part of my learning process, and I use it daily. I expect to spend thousands of hours using it, in the coming years, so it works out, but if you don't have such extreme needs as I do, then I don't suggest reinventing the wheel.
People have suggested a lot of web-based solutions. I prefer to do things locally when it's practical, myself, so let me suggest a few alternatives. Before I resolved to write my own solution, I made use of a number of tools:
I've been using OneNote on my iPad to take notes at university. But after three years of note-taking the app started running slow... Maybe I should delete some notebooks, but I'm tempted to try Evernote now.
Of course I use the iPad mainly in the theoretical courses, I need pen and paper for math and any other practical courses.
Vim, notes in markdown format, Dropbox for syncing and mkdocs.org/ to publish it as local website with material theme squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/
I use Microsoft OneNote and (until recently) a Huion drawing tablet. People definitely have their opinions about MS Office but OneNote has been a great way to keep everything organized, backed up, and paper free. I recently received an iPad Pro as a gift and have now been using the OneNote app with the Apple Pencil to keep up with notes for class. I always hand write my notes so this has been an awesome way to be even more organized and still be able to feel like I'm using a real pen (I just personally never learn or remember well when I type out my notes).
I've developed a habit of writing stuff that I wish to learn in my own words with reference URLs (blog posts, official documentation, how-to guides, etc..) that I often gather via mobile or desktop and sync in Google Keep and/or Start.me , the latter is a great app requiring an individual post in itself.
The ones saved via mobile make their way to PC but If I've access to a desktop already, here's how I create & maintain my documentation:
First, I use reStructuredText to write my notes in .rst files (segregated topic-wise) in a Git repository.
Then, Sphinx (a one-time setup) comes in to build all my documentation into static content (HTML, CSS, JS etc) using a single command.
Afterwards, I push my changes and a Git web-hook (again, just a one-time setup) deploys it to ReadTheDocs onto a publicly accessible URL (you can choose this)
Done! While the learning curve is a bit steep but once you get the hang of it, all you'd need to create documentation is a Text Editor and Git commits.
If you need an example, you can browse the one made by LetsEncrypt or the one I made here. Renders flawlessly on mobile without the additional overhead of any app (as it's just a URL) as well :)
PS: BoostNote appears to be amazing but according to this, the Android/iOS apps seem to be temporarily closed.
Good point about BoostNote, lacking of mobile (Android) client while they update code base is deal breaker for me :(
I agree! Having a Android client is as important as a Desktop one or a Web-app. This was the reason I moved onto Google Keep from ColorNote
However, both of them fall thoroughly short in rich-text formatting thus making me find an alternative described in my original comment.
I use Bear to sync notes between my iPhone and Macbook but also always have a paper notebook, because I learn things better when I write them down with a pen.
vim
In particular, macvim for notes so that I can Cmd+tab to it specifically and not have to sift through other iTerm windows.
Relevant plugins:
github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree " :NERDTree
github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim " ctrlp (I have mapped to ctrl-l)
github.com/Yggdroot/indentLine " show with :IndentLinesToggle
github.com/907th/vim-auto-save " autosave, :AutoSaveToggle
github.com/tpope/vim-obsession " Sessions :Obsess / :so Session.vim
I was using evernote, but whithout having native support for markdown is a mess. So I try different ones and I'm using Quiver happenapps.com/ and it's not in the cloud this one, so you need to provide your dropbox on google drive if you want to sync with other devices.
I've been on the paid plan of Evernote for almost 6-7 years. It's great! I love the Chrome Extension, Scannable, Skitch, Penultimate, etc.
I hate the basic text editor. I hate the sharing features.
I tried OneNote - it's crap!
I also love Wunderlist for checklists / detailed todo items and shared lists.
Haven't found my note taking app yet. Tried a lot of them, but none worked for me so far. Like the idea of Notion, but it's not ready yet. Currently I am using Notebook.
I usually have a notebook and pen beside me while developing. I write down todos and draw out stuff on it. We have specs written down in Notion.so. I also have a private pages in Notion where I write down stuff things like documentation and sometimes transfer stuff from my notebook here.
Writing down notes in markdown (with any editior like vscode) and keeping it on Github is also an option.
For lists of tasks, I use my text editor because I can copy/paste/modify as many times as I wish.
For more elaborate process thinking I try to draw stuff with pen and paper but usually, I get frustrated because my drawing skills suck, so I search online for "online diagram sketch" or the like and do my drawings in the first tool that pleases me.
I envy people who can draw and structure things in diagrams using pen and paper.
Right now pen and paper, but I'm thinking of moving to a laptop and using something like BoostNote for my notes I need to take in project meetings. I find I usually need to search those notes again later or share them with others.
I'll stick to my pen and paper for quick notes while working.
I use Vim to note almost everything. However, I use pen and paper to think deeply, because drawing by hand reorganizes my brain in complex problem.
Another vote for OneNote. I find it simple and versatile, and it's really easy to keep everything organized and synced between devices.
I didn't know about BoostNote until I read the comments. It looks awesome for code notes, so I'll give it a go.
For me, it depends what sort of things I'm taking notes of. I use the default Notes app on my mac/iphone if it's something that I would like to remind myself of, things that I keep track in this app are:
When studying I usually have an old squared pages notebook on my desk. I use it for scribbling things, taking notes of things I am studying, draw schematics to implement code... pretty much anything.
Then, when I want to make sure that I know something I get this old notebook and pass the contents into a blank paper and add it to a folder where I keep all the things I should know/learn.
Finally, if the thing I'm learning it's very code intensive I usually keep a digital file in my documents folder (I back it up to the cloud and an external drive regularly).
This might not be very efficient though but I seem to know where is what all the time haha
I really like mindmaps and getting a big picture of things so I've been using SimpleMind (simplemind.eu/) for a conceptual understanding of topics and vsCode + gitHub to work through coding examples.
I take running notes throughout the day in my notepad, using a lazy, half implemented bullet journal system. I have an entry level fountain pen, a few uni-ball eye micro pens that I like and a mechanical pencil. Also, square grid dotted paper. It's a game changer.
For long term notes, things I need to remember, storing text details for all sorts of things I use Evernote. Love the web clipper. Also I dump lots of things in there throughout the day which helps for Dungeons & Dragons inspiration. I'm considering moving to OneNote though as I hear it's better suited for D&D dungeon master stuff.
If I am taking notes in a client brief for a new project that we need to work on, I prefer taking them on Diary with a regular pen, nothing fancy. This gives me the flexibility to scribble and sketch, make connection b/w related features/functionalities/requirements. I can visualise the interactions, put them on paper and discuss more on them. All this is a lot faster compared to types out stuff on note taking apps.
When I need notes, like the to-dos, implementation details to be shared with others, I prefer Notes app on mac. Its easy to use and provide basic markup like bullets, heading, etc.
I've been at similar crossroads as well - I grew up taking notes on pen & paper, but I'll occasionally try typing my notes somewhere. I've found that I always lean towards pen & paper for two reasons:
1) I'm a kinesthetic learner (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesthetic_...). For important take-aways of any lecture, article, meeting and whatnot, I need to physically write down those points and visually see myself writing them so that it's easier for me to recall. It also forces me to re-read whatever I'm writing multiple times, which allows me to decipher it at different angles and fully digest the message.
2) Pen & paper are easier to access for me. Even with my cellphone handy, when I need to iterate over an idea, I like to grab a pen and paper and get writing because waiting that extra second to wait for an android note app to load can be excruciating sometimes. So my desk at work is covered with sticky notes and looseleaf paper with agendas, notes, and references for any WIP.
The only times I'll use my phone to take notes (and I'm a basic birch, I use Google Keep like most others) is when a pen and paper are not accessible/inconvenient to use.
I use Trello as it shows me everything visually. The "Task" format for cards force me to keep notes short and therefore centered in the main objective.
From there i usually add them more data such as checklists if needed.
I'm surprised Bear isn't widely mentioned here - I use it heavily for personal note taking (including notes from taking online courses), work-related documentation, article scraping. It has a powerful tagging feature where it can be categories and it support tree level of tags!
I also use sublime text to write my notes in markdown file and then convert those into PDF using pandoc extension using sublime text
I use Notion for long notes and Google Keep for short notes and reminders.
I can only understand and remember anything if I am taking notes using pencil and paper.
Strange that I didn't see built-in Mac Notes in the comments. I find them useful, syncing is there by default. I also use notebook and pen when I have 1:1s
I named my note per topic or per day with date format ( YYYY-MM-DD)
so I can search a note of a day easily.
Also Notes is only for MacOS.... so sad.
When learning something new, I will take notes down in a notebook. Later I will type them out into a .txt file. I find it helps out a lot to have new material repeated.
Pulling in an other thread related to this.
dev.to/aravindballa/do-you-write-n...
Pen and paper for the most part.
I use OneNote for keep my book notes and bear to take quick notes
boostnote nowadays ...so far cool and earlier I used to use Evernote. But I personally prefer boostnote to evernote.
I use OneNote for note taking, pen and paper for quick short-term reminders, and Google Keep for when I'm out and about and I don't have pen and paper handy.
I use Spacemacs and Org with dropbox sync and Orgzly on the phone
Also, set up org-protocol to capture links from the browser
oldscool... paper ;) (of course in emergency)!
If I'm not with my notepad, I'll be using Simplenote and Google Keep, as both offers apps for every platform I use (iOS, Linux and Windows)
I never take notes. The only thing close to note taking is saving webpages with evernote but I usually end up using Google anyway.
I am using one-note it's simple and can embed all media, HTML, files at one place. but looking at BoostNote looks like good for storing code snippets
I use Dropbox Paper and it's worked very well for me.
My main tool totake notes is dontpad.com But, for important notes I prefer any tools with login involved or any offline tool.
I take notes by using OneNote. I find that it is very useful in gathering, organizing and tracking my notes digitally.
I use Rocketbook everlast and then save them on the cloud
Google Keep is helping me keep all my personal and professional ToDos... 😇
I use Keep for "keep" important links or references, but my notes I take them on StandardNotes
Here another on that uses OneNote. I find it easy to use, you can find back anything, even text inside screenshots, so I tend to integrate screenshots in my notes.
A mix of pen+paper, Google keep, Standard Notes (standardnotes.org/) and sometimes IA Writer (For articles and blog post ideas)
I'm just using OneNote. Gets the job done.
I read this post recently, and it mentions the Cornell Method for taking notes. Haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but loved the idea.