Devonthink pro indexing add manual#
Devonthink pro indexing add archive#

Tools I already owned and tools that were recommended. When I tried to introduce the Zettelkasten method, I reviewed a bunch of tools. It’s also easy to create custom export templates for BibDesk as explained in Manage Citations for a Zettelkasten. The major part is of the inspirational kind (images, logos, photos) which can’t be captured in a note.īut I started using BibDesk to create references to books, articles, and videos worth remembering. And I don’t plan to delete any of the reference material. I, for example, have already a rather huge reference database with 30,000 items. I think the best way I somewhere in between, keeping some really good references and deleting the ones of lesser quality and just extracting the ideas worth saving on separate notes. Some recommend always keeping the reference to ensure no plagiarism, others process a reference and immediately delete the reference. Regarding the reference material, I found different ideas. Don’t think about structure and never delete any note. Never copy and paste (quotes are the exception I assume), but use your own words and language. Also, you should always explain why you’re linking two notes. Whenever you add a note think about ways of connecting the note to already existing notes. It should autonomous, being able to stand on its own, moved, or merged with other notes. Principles of a Good ZettelĪ good Zettel should be atomic, just one idea should be on a note. Over time you add outline notes, connect similar ideas, or even complete hub pages connecting notes and outline notes of broader topics.

Devonthink pro indexing add manual#

This is a manual but necessary step that connects ideas and creates real knowledge about topics. Tags allow notes to be grouped without the limitation of physical categories or folders.īut the Zettelkasten Method went one step further: Individual notes get connected by linking them together. Tags are the next improvement to a note-taking system. Putting notes into folders is the beginners’ approach-I’m guilty myself-but you run into problems with notes belonging thematic into different folders. But information simply put on index cards or notes would be too loose and disorganized. It might be good to quickly capture ideas, but it’s a bad way to store ideas. The basic idea is that a notebook is too static and linear. Another good hub for information is the website Zettelkasten by Christian Tietze.īut I’ll shortly introduce the concept for better understanding: Zettelkasten is a German word meaning note (Zettel) box (Kasten). Clear and Living with a Zettelkasten by Magnus Eriksson. To read more about the method I recommend the fantastic illustrated essay Zettelkasten - How One German Scholar Was So Freakishly Productive by David B. This essay is not meant to be a deep introduction to the Zettelkasten method, but rather shows how I implemented it into my daily workflow. I learned that Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene use similar methods for note-taking. His physical Zettelkasten-a huge shelve with 90,000 notes-was an abomination to me as a Minimalist.īut a few weeks ago I found some time reading into the links my colleague had sent me about the method. The founder Niklas Luhmann seemed rather eccentric to me. At first, I discarded it as too complicated. Because you collected something doesn’t mean you learned it or are able to explain it.Ī few months ago a co-worker pointed me to the Zettelkasten Method. But I fell victim to the Collectors Fallacy. I sorted and curated, tagged, and sometimes even highlighted content. Having used Evernote for a decade I was used to saving everything I wanted to remember into the tool.

Devonthink pro indexing add archive#

And saving content into some archive doesn’t either. I can ask Siri or Alexa.īut knowledge-building doesn’t work that way. I don’t need to know this, I can always look it up is a common sentence you hear today. And worse, it produces the Illusion of Competence in a person. This is a grave error because it looks convenient to have all knowledge at the tips of my fingers.

The Illusion of Competence and the Collectors FallacyĪ lot of people avoid taking notes and search for answers on the Internet instead. Repeated reading and connecting ideas is another important part. The best retention comes with writing, reading, and listening combined. Many studies have shown how useful writing notes is. The way we write notes determines how we think and learn.