I came to the same conclusion: a massive flat text file in emacs. I was using orgmode for a bit, but it was too convoluted. I have a very simple markup to identify TODO items with [ ], and I nest contiguous items with { }, making it easy to navigate chunks with emacs. I then have 3 keyboard macros to mark/unmark and move the TODO items into a DONE section. It's simple enough I can recreate the system from scratch in a few minutes when I'm at a new terminal.
Re:Managing my personal knowledge base
by josephernest on Friday January 10, 2020 @04:36PM
(#22015833)
I use the same method for years: big single .txt file, with hashtags that are CTRL+F searchable, exactly the same!
Among all the organization/notetaking methods I've tried, this is really the best. No fancy app in the browser, but really effective and fast.
I've written a small article about it here:
> Cons: no sync with a mobile device
How do you access your notes on your phone? How do you edit?
At one point I was trying to do a Luhmann's Zettelkasten with one note per txt file, internal linking, etc. I concatenated every piece of txt content I had. It's much simpler.
I have no system anymore. I try to create internal "hashtags" that are ctrl-F searchable. The goal is having something that's always open and at hand. I got plugins for autosaving when the window loses focus, autoloading when changed in disk and it syncs to Dropbox.
I cobbled together in Notepad++ (which has a GUI for this) a small syntax coloring definition that sort of matches my spontaneous habits from old salvaged text. I intend to let this evolve too. E.g. I'm using {braces} to have a little collapse button that hides pieces of text.