Google Keep, because it works on my Pixel Watch, which is the only way (so far) I can use it at the exact moment when I actually need it and not have my ADHD brain forget it halfway through.

Obsidian, which saves notes in markdown, synced with syncthing across my devices.

Orgzly is my favourite note app. I use that and sync to a folder which I can then sync with Syncthing to my desktop and have versioning there.

I’m far along in my PhD so I’d say I have 9 plus years of good note taking experience. My current method has three parts. I take memos of every random thought either in my notebook by hand or in the memos app selfhosted. Anything worth while I write in my notes application trilium and add enough tags that I can connect my ideas.

It might be helpful to note how I did my PhD prelims notes for reading 80 books then being tested on them. I wrote stream of consciousness notes and citations as I read them made myself 2 page standardized summaries per book. This is helpful because I first go back to the summary and if that isn’t enough the SOC notes and if that isn’t enough reread the book.

Ever since I setup a caldav server I’ve been good about doing reminders now that my phone and computer are connected on this. One for family and one for work.

I recently watched a video on using a notebook or journal in which the speaker said we often never finish a notebook because we make up rules and don’t live up to them then never finish using the notebook. Recently I’ve taken this to heart and write everything in one book. Random thoughts, to dos, diary. All there.

I’ve also started keeping documentation notes for my research, servers, and life. Good to learn something fun or important and write it down.

I am very adamant about my notes being privately hosted on my servers or handwritten.

the good old notepad,

That’s my preference.

Is it like complicated things or simple ones?

It is both. I take very detailed and heavily linked notes (through my own PKMS based on index cards) and I also use notebooks for quick notes on the go notes. Have been doing so for years. BTW, there is a community related to Note-taking/Personal Knowledge Management: !pkms@lemmy.blahaj.zone

I don’t use it to remember things (well, yes it helps with that too, but it’s not the main purpose) I use it to help me think and create new ideas/associations between existing ideas, infos, whatever.

More info on ‘my’ note-taking system (it’s not mine by any mean): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten

Edit: published too early an unfinished post, sorry ;)

More important. Than taking notes is what are you gonna do with them. This conditions how, where, and with what you take notes.

If you’re never gonna look at them again and just generally use it to think, brainstorm, or remember things better. Then it doesn’t matter where, just use whatever is immediately available to you.

If it needs to be later referenced, shared, archived or processed into finished products for personal projects or work, there are several options. Note taking apps, text editing software, plugins for different editors. Each will do things different and will link differently to different work pipelines.

My current pipeline is notes either on the phone or on a notepad. Then I clean and process said notes on OneNote (don’t judge, work pays for it and it is the only one available). Where they are more structured, tagged, detailed, hyperlinked or whatever else it takes. That’s where I also take notes for meetings or training and study sessions.

Finally, I use those notes for writing reports, minutes, and presentations. Which are then sent to the actual institutional archive.

Me and all my colleagues erase old notes once they’re no longer relevant for data protection, so we don’t use the archive features of ONote. But the encrypted sharing and sync is very useful for collaboration and to save your work in case of hardware failure.

On my personal life I have permanent places of data storage, and take notes with whatever I happen to have at hand. Samsung notes, paper, notepads, whatever. Data always end up either being deleted or sent to a more permanent place. Just like with cameras, the best tool is the one you have at hand when you need it.

I recently got a tablet with pen support and have this same question. I’m specifically looking for something that’s on Android and Windows/web. So far, I’ve been using OneNote but I wish it had standard folders instead of notebooks and pages.

i’m you, OP. i use quillpad on my android device

OneNote for work. Usually for meeting notes to help me transfer to Action items in to the task management software. I also use it to keep a record of my conversations with team members.

I also use it as a temporary location for information while performing work. I later transfer those into the details section of the task management software.

Apple Notes for personal. App is also installed on my personal laptop. It’s simple to share Notes with my partner.

I hand write them first and then organize important stuff in Obsidian for future reference. Writing stuff down helps me remember it. I carry a pocket notebook and use one page for a weekly todo list and the other for general notes.

I use https://silverbullet.md/ have been loving it so far

emacs orgmode (+ mobile app) is incredibly powerful if you want something local and extensible.

The capabilities are insane, it can do TODO’s, scheduling, time-tracking, filtered agendas y lots more.

I have it synced with my iphone (the app i use is “beorg”, but on android a popular one is “orgzly”) and it kinda blows my mind

Barrier of entry for emacs is a bit high sadly

depends:

research projects: there’s one folder on disk, dump everything there (including notes.txt file) and make regular backups (via git).

for regular, mundane tasks: either write it on a text file on my android device’s file explorer, or write myself a message in telegram.

Standard Notes. It’s like Google Keep but without Google.

If I need to remember something I either take a note or add it to my calendar. Otherwise I wont.

Couple different kinds of notes, but I think this covers most of my use cases

I use google keep for small reminders, things I want to look up later, grocery lists to share with my wife, etc.

I keep a couple field notes notebooks around in my car and bag for things I want to make a physical note of, especially things I need to sketch out (I am no artist by any stretch of the imagination but I’m a capable DIYer and I sometimes need to sketch out the thing I’m building/fixing) while I’m out and about before I forget about them. I like the size of them, and the dot grid lends itself well to the kind of notes and sketches I use them for.

I also have some sketches of the rooms in my house in those books, list of some furniture dimensions, so when I’m out shopping with my wife and she asks “do you think this will fit in our dining room?” I can tell her definitively yes or no.

It also has a list of the bulbs, tires, wiper blades, air filters, etc. that our cars use, so I can reference them quickly while out shopping, it’s quicker to just flip to the back page of my little notebook than to try to look it up on my phone from the aisle at AutoZone or Walmart.

I also have a rite in the rain notebook I keep with my tools, it’s fairly rugged and waterproof, mostly ends up getting used for scribbling down a list of stuff I need to get from the hardware store in the middle of a project. Went with that one because I’m pretty likely to be using it when I’m wet or dirty, outside in the mud, under a leaking sink, etc. while I’m halfway through a project.

I keep another one of those with my camping supplies.

I have a pad of graph paper at my workbench, I like it for sketching things out, same as I like the dot grid in the field notes books, but this one doesn’t have to travel around with me or pull double duty for written notes, so I could go bigger and cheaper

We also did our kitchen cabinets in blackboard paint, so my wife and I can leave notes to each other on there, mostly reminders to empty the dishwasher and such.