#49: On Choosing a Note-Taking Tool

After hearing about Sönke Ahrens' book How to Take Smart Notes, I got really interested in the personal knowledge management world.

Especially with tools for thought.

I briefly tried Obsidian, but my systems back then were too embedded in Notion* that I decided to try taking smart notes in Notion too. After all, it's already where I do most of my content creation work.

I set out to build a very complicated Zettelkasten page there. Yet after hours and hours of building it, I never even got to the point of using it every day to actually write smart notes.

And then I found out about Logseq, which is quite similar to Obsidian. It was very intuitive for me to use compared to Obsidian though.

So after getting my early access to Tana, I couldn't help but compare and look for Logseq's features in Tana.

Some of my favorite features of Logseq include:

Ability to capture notes offline through the Logseq iOs app. Without a steady wifi connection, Notion is impossible to access smoothly.
PDF annotation. It's very easy to upload a PDF file on Logseq and as you highlight excerpts, it automatically copies the text and creates a node for every highlight.
Graph view. As a visual learner, I love seeing how my notes are interconnected and how my graph grows through time with every new insight I take note of and information I gather.
Parsing powers. You can parse URLs and single tweets in just a few clicks!
Matter integration. If you're using Matter to take notes on newsletters and articles, there's a plugin that automatically feeds all your highlights from Matter and into Logseq.
Speaking of plugins. Logseq has a vibrant marketplace for themes and plugins to truly customize your workspace and set systems suited to your working style.

But if I love a lot of things about Logseq, why am I still checking out Tana?

Well, it's because of these features. But I will write about Tana once I truly get the hang of it!

P.S. Items marked with * are affiliate links. When you purchase products through those links, I may get a commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Pinkie promise, I’ll only recommend stuff I actually use and love!

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Hi, and thanks for reading! I'm Kishly, a cheerleader of creatives and copywriter turned marketing strategist. Bookmark this blog to read my daily atomic essays on marketing, compassionate productivity, creative living, and lifelong learning. Or subscribe to Process, my weekly-ish newsletter for young adults (and the young at heart) in pursuit of wisdom and wonder. ✨