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Ask HN: What tool you use for notes and to organise thoughts?

12 pointsby codesternewsover 5 years ago

8 comments

astrikosover 5 years ago
I’m in university so I use OneNote for hand drawn diagrams. I eventually want an Apple Pencil and upgraded iPad and use good notes, but I don’t have the dollars right now haha. OneNote is great because of the expandable canvas and the handwriting recognition. I do like auto shapes feature of preview though.<p>I annotate PowerPoint slides directly with Preview.<p>For other notes, I use FSNotes which is like nvALT and it’s easily searchable and quick to use.<p>I sometimes edit those MD notes in Typora.<p>I also like to curate ideas in a Gitbook, which I have public but it’s kinda messy right now. (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;index.kalispera.xyz&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;index.kalispera.xyz&#x2F;</a>)<p>For some writing projects, I love Scrivener.<p>I kinda feel like I’m addicted to trying tools though oops.
pkalinowskiover 5 years ago
Apple Notes for quick stuff at work.<p>Had a stint with Microsoft OneNote, but I don&#x27;t trust it to hold my data reliably.<p>Ended up with Notes folder with Markdown files. It&#x27;s very logical (filesystem), easy to backup, version and transfer.<p>Visual Studio Code is my editor of choice. I&#x27;m using custom workspace settings which changes my theme to lighter one, bigger fonts etc whenever I open any note.<p>It&#x27;s not perfect. Everytime I want to create note I need to create new file, choose its name and add &quot;.md&quot; extension. It takes 3 seconds, but simple CMD+N would be easier.
miccahover 5 years ago
I use Zim Wiki [1]. I like the hierarchical structure plus the ability to link to any other page internally. It does a good job of staying out of your way and has support for check boxes, searching, and various plugins. It also saves to disk in plaintext so I can version control it.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;zim-wiki.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;zim-wiki.org&#x2F;</a>
morninglightover 5 years ago
It&#x27;s small, simple, unobtrusive, free and portable- It is also old and unmaintained, but I love it. Just unzip and run. No installation required. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;theguide.sourceforge.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;theguide.sourceforge.net&#x2F;</a>
randomorover 5 years ago
For notes, I use Apple Notes. For organizing thoughts, I created an app called ZenJournal that was showcased here last week: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21876939" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21876939</a>
larmstrongover 5 years ago
I use Dynalist (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dynalist.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dynalist.io&#x2F;</a>), which is a cross platform infinitely nested list tool that has a ton of features.
LMMojoover 5 years ago
Depends on where I am, and who the notes are for.<p>Random location, I use my MobiScribe.<p>At my computer, either the MobiScribe, or Tomboy Notes, sorry of a personal wiki.<p>At work, possibly needing to be read by others, our group&#x27;s Knowledge Base, managed by Confluence.
HenryKissingerover 5 years ago
Good old Notepad.