I used to use Evernote then org-mode heavily but switched to pen and paper notes and haven't looked back. Whenever I used org-mode I started tweaking Emacs and writing macros for hours.
Yeah, I'm a big emacs and org mode fan, but use pen and paper now for note taking.
I think this is mainly due to the fact that my note pad sits at my desk as a constant reminder of what needs to be done. Org files sit in my file system and are often forgotten.
I started out taking hand written notes decades ago but got annoyed when I couldn't easily search through them. Ever since, I just keep a giant text file in Emacs and heavily rely on the 'occur' command. Using these more sophisticated tools would actually require me to do some actual WORK...
I take notes in class or in a meeting with pen and paper mainly because tablets still suck at this and typing on a phone isn't much better. The downside to this is organizing them after the fact. Especially if you don't have a lot of free time. So oftentimes my paper notes are a mess.
Interesting. I always have my notes window open in one half of my monitors. I use it for everything while developing, including pseudocode, developing SQL queries, planning my changes, etc. I use it as a digital scratchpad.
> Whenever I used org-mode I started tweaking Emacs and writing macros for hours.
Does this imply that it contained too many distractions for you, which pen/paper doesn’t? Genuinely curious as I’m trying to optimize my note-taking process and have never used org mode.
Yes, by default it's unusable. You have to read the docs, check out other people's configs. It becomes a whole rabbit hole when all I wanted to do was make a list.
I used org-mode for note-taking in its default configuration for about 10 years before I started customizing it. I found it quite useful. I suspect its utility without customization may vary from use-case to use-case, or perhaps from person to person.
Lately I just use a big Markdown file. That's been pretty nice, but I haven't been at it long enough to be able to endorse it strongly.
That's a tad unfair. Yes, you will have to read the documentation [1], at least the first few sections, before anything will make sense. But "Making a list" is literally the first topic covered after the introduction. ("Headlines", but that's the first type of list you'll ever use.)
I agree if you decide to put some big chunk of your life into Org, you'll either find yourself reading the rest of those chapters, or copying/writing your own customizations, or both. That's where the rabbit hole starts.
