Taking Notes 2024

A goal of mine in the new year is to take and create better notes. I’ve always struggled with note taking. I feel as if I need to capture all information and this overwhelms me. I like capturing in analog, but getting my notes in a digital app is more appealing for later retrieval and better organization.

I’ve been an Apple die hard loyalist since the early 1990’s, and I love testing indie developers’ apps to find those gems that tackle a very specific use. I subscribe to Setapp which gives me access to apps when I need them. There’s no shortage of note taking apps at my disposal.

With all these apps on my Mac, with many of them also providing iOS and iPadOS versions, I’ve been struggling with which to use for note taking. My first thought was to pick one app for all note taking, but I realized that wouldn’t work after analyzing the different ways I take notes.

What I came up with is 3 categories of apps for note taking.

• Captured Notes

• Structured Notes

• Planning Notes

These categories may not make sense for everyone, but they work me and how I plan on using each app.

Captured Notes

Captured notes are when I need to capture information as the thoughts come to me or as events happen. Situations these types of notes happen are usually when I’m not able to give the notes my full attention:

• Meetings — It’s hard for me to be an active listener and take notes at the same time. My notes tend to be short and cryptic, and a lot of times incomplete. This is one area of note taking I need to improve.

• On the Go and Distracted — Inspiration, ideas, and information can happen in the most inconvenient of times. Like most, I like getting notes down quickly so I can get back to the task at hand.

• Listening to Podcasts — I like to capture notes quickly while I’m listening to podcasts. Dictating to my phone while driving or running, and typing if I’m in the gym around other people.

Apps I’ll Use for Captured Notes

• Apple Notes — I like to use Apple Notes when I need to share notes with family or friends, or I know I’ll be referencing the note in the future.

• Drafts — Drafts is great for those “on the go” notes or when I don’t yet know what I want to do with a note I need to capture.

• Noteshelf — This app is simply the best (for me) when I want to capture notes on my iPad much like I do with my paper sketchbook or journal.

Structured Notes

Structured notes are when I need to organize information in a specific way. This type of information is usually in relation to other notes and how those notes affect each other. Types of information in structured notes include:

• Organizing Similar Information — When I want to think through a topic I like to organize my notes for easy review, retrieval, and review.

• Processes and Procedures — I’ve gotten into the habit of documenting how I do things.

• Project Notes — Collecting inspiration, resources, and information about projects.

Apps I use for Structured Notes

• Craft — (Included in Setapp) I love using Craft to organize my information. It provides a level of structure and features that deeply satisfies my desire to keep information visually beautiful.

• DEVONthink — I’ve mainly reverted DEVONthink to being a document storage app. Less note taking and more informational storage. E.g. vehicle maintenance, medical invoices, tax documents, etc.

Planning Notes

Planning notes bridge the gap to my writing process and capturing actionable tasks. I need to organize my thoughts in an outline or visual representation to better understand how my notes and thoughts relate to each other to figure out how I need to structure my writing and my projects as a visual designer and cartoonist.

• Brainstorming — My brainstorming sessions are usually short on time, but I tend to do a few sessions on one topic.

• Outlining — Outlining stories and blog posts helps me get started which is always the worst part of the

Apps I Use for Planning Notes

• Craft — (Included in Setapp) The flexibility of Craft makes it easy to take my structured notes and transition them into planning. Sometimes it’s almost effortless.

• Mindnode — (Included in Setapp) I’ve mainly used this app in two ways: to organize my websites’ page structures and how I plan on monetizing each website. I’m beginning to branch out into other areas like character relationships in my stories.

• OmniOutliner — My first real project with OmniOutliner was figuring out the chapter structure for my first book, Squarespace For Dummies. I’ve also used OmniOutliner at my primary job to help estimate design and development time on projects. There’s a great feature that helps you add up time into hours and days.