Using a folder system for note taking

[Something Funny]

What if, instead of trying to fit into some specific note taking app's ecosystem, I instead just started to keep everything as pdfs, videos, word documents, presentation files, etc. And just built a bunch of folders to organise it all?

I feel like this could be a solution that finally works for me becuase of how flexible and robust it is.

I could buy a small usb 3.0 stick with 500 gigs of memory and keep everything there (plus additional backups). This would allow me to work from any computer I want to: mac, linux, windows. Just plug a usb stick and start where you left of.

And I will truly own my files, I will be able to organise them and format them in whatever way feels best for me.

[Rigel]

I was doing that at some point. Main downside I see with this method is interlinking isn’t really available. It feels more like an archive than a living system. Maybe there’s a way to do it that I haven’t figured out. 

[Buck Edwards]

Never trust the stick!!

 

(those usb are notoriously known to fail suddenly. You could lose data) 

Edited Friday at 10:51 AM by Buck Edwards

[Something Funny]

@Rigel why do you need interlinking? Isn't it enought to just know where everything is?

[Buck Edwards]

1 minute ago, Something Funny said:

@Rigel why do you need interlinking? Isn't it enought to just know where everything is?

Wouldn't interlinking help you sort data categorically? 

[Something Funny]

@Buck Edwards wdym?

[Rigel]

4 hours ago, Something Funny said:

@Rigel why do you need interlinking? Isn't it enought to just know where everything is?

It’s a neat feature when your commonplace book becomes huge. I can’t remember where I put everything. You don’t need per say if you don’t want it then go wild.

I think it’s especially useful if you keep journals where you brain dump & brain storm in unstructured ways. Sometimes an insight will come up related to a topic that I have a structured note about for instance addiction. I can then go to that structured note & link that journal entry for future reference. I definitely won’t remember which of my hundreds of journal entries I wrote that down in. You could just copy the insight down in the structured note but I like to have the context of where that insight came from years after the fact when this specific struggle comes up again & a lot of that context doesn’t belong in the structured note.

That’s just one exemple. I find many useful ways to use interlinks.

[WonderSeeker]

15 hours ago, Something Funny said:

And I will truly own my files, I will be able to organise them and format them in whatever way feels best for me.

^Is this the main reason you want to go the USB route?

You're giving up interlinking, embedding, ease of access, time, etc. 

Seems like a hassle.

PDFs in a folder is so 2010 

[Leo Gura]

You can do that with OneNote or other software. Just keep the file locations on the stick.

I do that for example with the book I write. I have a micro stick with all the book files and I can work on it on any PC.

You can also set up an auto-backup system to save you stick's files to cloud storage once in a while.

But only using files without an overarching software is not good. You want a fast way to naviagate all the text and links. And you want a search function.

Edited Saturday at 02:04 AM by Leo Gura

[Buck Edwards]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You can also set up an auto-backup system to save you stick's files to cloud storage once in a while.

What cloud storage do you use? 

[Leo Gura]

Just now, Buck Edwards said:

What cloud storage do you use? 

I don't use the cloud, I have my own private intranet system.

[UnbornTao]

Give Obsidian a try. 

I use a simple structure but you can learn to make a bunch of cool stuff with interlinking, plugins, etc. 

Edited Saturday at 02:15 PM by UnbornTao

[Buck Edwards]

5 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

Give Obsidian a try. 

I use a simple structure, but you can learn to make a bunch of cool stuff with interlinking, etc. 

You can use Notion. 

[UnbornTao]

11 hours ago, Buck Edwards said:

You can use Notion. 

Nah, Obsidian is markdown-based, so you have complete control over your files, and it works offline. Notion might better suit other's needs, but I appreciate the suggestion. 

Edited Saturday at 02:19 PM by UnbornTao

[Girzo]

6 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

But only using files without an overarching software is not good. You want a fast way to naviagate all the text and links. And you want a search function.

That's what Terminal or Windows PowerShell are for. The operating system IS the overarching software, one just needs to know how to use it, be a so-called poweruser.

[Girzo]

22 hours ago, Something Funny said:

I want to: mac, linux, windows. Just plug a usb stick and start where you left of.

Beware, choose the right file system for the stick! You need to check which filesystem works for every single OS and format your stick to that.

[Leo Gura]

6 minutes ago, Girzo said:

That's what Terminal or Windows PowerShell are for. The operating system IS the overarching software, one just needs to know how to use it, be a so-called poweruser.

That's so ewwww...

Why not learn some assembly code while you're at it and not even use files.

Edited Saturday at 08:44 AM by Leo Gura

[Yimpa]

16 minutes ago, Girzo said:

Beware, choose the right file system for the stick! You need to check which filesystem works for every single OS and format your stick to that.

How big is your stick and what are OS are you running it on?

[Something Funny]

6 hours ago, Buck Edwards said:

You can use Notion. 

What do you do if notion decides to shut down in 10 years? Or change their free / paid plans messing up how much data you can use?

At least obsidian is open source.

6 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

Nah, Obsidian is markdown-based, so you have complete control over your files, and it can be used offline, but thanks for the suggestion. 

I've tried using it, but then stopped after a while. I don't remember what i didn't like about it though, I think it was how it sorts the notes and folders, and also how it embeds images and other attachments. But I might give it another try.

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You can do that with OneNote or other software. Just keep the file locations on the stick.

 

It's just that none of them seems to truly fit me. With one note, for example, I would have to use wine or a virtual machine if I wanted to run it on linux, which doesn't seem sustainable for the long term usage. And I really want to switch to linux.

If there was  a native app, I would probably use one note, because it seems great overall. 

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

But only using files without an overarching software is not good. You want a fast way to naviagate all the text and links. And you want a search function.

You can create links to other files and docs in the word document, as well as anchor links and bookmarks. Finder on mac os also has tags and a pretty decent search function, I assume it's the same on linux, not sure about windows.

[Something Funny]

57 minutes ago, Girzo said:

Beware, choose the right file system for the stick! You need to check which filesystem works for every single OS and format your stick to that.

Yeah, true. I've encountered this issue before. 

Edited Saturday at 09:38 AM by Something Funny