Ask IH: What tools do you use to take learning notes and organise them?

This is pretty funny, I just read this thread and then went across to product hunt and seen that the current app that's top of product hunt today is a note taking app called Jot

I'm a CLI power user, so I have custom tools I've written for taking notes very quickly. I'm working on Flutter based mobile apps to make the (remote) API available to me whilst out and about too.

Workflowy offers the only solution for me :)

I've been using Dropbox Paper lately for taking notes in class & for side projects and it's been great! It has Markdown support, code formatting, to-dos, rich media embeds (from Twitter to Soundcloud), and my favorite feature since I'm a CS undergrad, LaTeX support. It's also on web and mobile, and I'm pretty sure it's also free???

I mostly use Dropbox paper and try to organize them by projects. It's been working quite well for me. I've heard Workflowy is also another tool people love using for notes.

Mostly just the MacOS Notes app (sync'd with my tablet/phone). I make folders, add a few keywords. search is decent. Most of my notes are simple text. For code notes, I use Quiver, too.

Online, I also use bookmarks and Super Simple Highlighter Chrome plugin. It lets me highlight web pages for learning (and add quick notes) so when I revisit those urls I see my highlights/notes. I do tend to use that more when I'm learning something new.

My browser extension shows your past highlights when you are reading articles relevant to them.

(I can make it work with notes too)

For example, you will see a set of highlights about leadership showing up on the right side of your browser when you read an article on a startup founder’s qualifications.

Can you take a look and comment on it?

https://hippo.flint.so/

+1 on @PuckRockGrrl's Quiver recommendation for anything code related. Thinking about using it more generally for other projects too as it's super-flexible and supports markdown.

I've recently started using a physical notebook for making notes of design ideas/notes (e.g. drawing out letters and annotating to learn different aspects of typography) and have been enjoying that too.

Most of the time though, I think note-taking is just a waste of time. Just do shit and what you need to do often will stick in your head, what you don't do often isn't worth learning.

I use Evernote for brain dumping in general, usually in the form of questions and answers, or notes on a topic but I go analog when i'm learning something new. I find mind maps awesome for grasping new concepts and there's something about connecting with a physical object that helps me learn faster.

I love Dropbox Paper for the speed at which you can write content too, I wish Evernote had that fast writing experience, but Paper is slow at retrieving / organising information for me

I used Microsoft OneNote. It lets you create notebooks and pages inside of it. I create one notebook per subject like todos, quotes, ideas, etc etc.

Wow thanks for the recommendation of Anki! I am learning multiple languages and this will be really helpful. Interface is important, and obviously helps with marketing - but if the tool does the right things, it doesn't matter what it looks like!

I haven't been able to have success with DuoLingo's TinyCards.

For me, the act of writing the note is more important than having the note accessible later. I use paper notebooks and rarely revisit them. I keep transcripts and interview notes in google docs and use Evernote as a personal collection of everything I like on the internet. I rely heavily on their search to find things i saved years ago since I rarely take the time to tag as I'm bookmarking.

Lately, I have been taking notes in https://www.gitbook.com/editor
in markdown, and planning on sharing my notes with my friends/colleagues via Github.

I am on a hunt for a better Markdown editor because although Gitbook does it's job. I find it a little sluggish. I have been meaning to look at taking notes in Sublime, Atom or Visual Code with some kind of markdown plugin.

I wrote Indigrid as a text-editor/outliner that lets you open topics under new columns: https://innovationdilation.com/

For learning, I like writing about a topic to see what I really know about it, and I like outlining to do that.

As for cataloging my notes, Indigrid has a very fast filter—and ever since I read Algorithms to Live By, I relied on search as the optimal way to organize information—something about an IBM study of how people that categorize their email, still spend more time finding an email than search—nevermind the cost of organizing it in the first place. But sometimes organizing information can help you understand it, which is different than making retrieval easier, if that makes sense.

Currently working on MemoBot.net - but its only aimed for quick and easy note taking rather than organizing them. Probably going to funnel them into another app for organizing...

Evernote. I'd tried it multiple times years ago and it never took, but I recently started again and it seems to be working very well.

Sometimes it's just a timing thing I guess. Or the product has changed significantly from the last time? Not sure.

Google Docs

Onenote. I can add sections and pages,i can import a slide deck, videos etc and add comments to it etc, search easily. I think the product is a home run.

I use GitHub to organize my notes in a repository because I like to use Markdown for notes. I take a lot of notes in GitHub but because it's just a repo I can use other note taking apps as well. I use https://macdown.uranusjr.com for Markdown note writing on my Mac. GitHub also offers the built in kanban board that I use for working on writing assignments.

Only disclaimer is I do pay for a GitHub so I can have private repos and my notes are in a private repo.

I've been playing with both Trello and Workflowy. I'm leaning towards just rolling with Workflowy going forward. I really like the fractal lists... It helps me stay organized.

I print anything new I find on the internet to PDF and then save it in certain folders, then you can search those folders with the standard File Explorer. I also use NotePad when I need to take small notes because they text is also searchable with the OS.

I use Trello. I'd say I use it similar to a note app, but I don't tend to write that much so it works out.

If you need to write long paragraphs and a lot of bulletpoints, Trello might not be optimal solution.

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