This is what I want, because if I open these notes with other applications (such as Sublime Text), I get correct syntax detection.Īs a matter of personal preference, I changed the fonts & colors. ![]() Setting it as the default will make nvALT save new notes with that extension. Otherwise, every time you delete a note from anywhere, nvALT will ask you if you’re sure you want to remove it.Īlso, since I mostly work with Markdown-formatted notes, I added the md extension to the list, and set it as the default extension. If you intend to interact with the notes from other apps, it is recommended to uncheck the Confirm note files removed in the Finder checkbox. To play nice with “everything else”, I changed the nvALT settings to manage the notes as individual plaintext files in a new Dropbox directory ( GoPlain/Notes). Of course, I configured a global “bring-to-front” Hotkey. Oh, did I mention it’s free?! (but if you like it, consider donating to the developers! They need coffee and/or beer!) My nvALT set up Using with a global Hotkey – you’re always less than 1 second away from capturing a note! If it took 3 seconds, or required another operation, or crashed 0.1% of the time, I know I would just do it less. It’s hard to put into words how significant it is that hitting ⌘⌥ N will reliably put me into capture mode so fast. I’d like to use nvALT as an example of how speed is important in removing friction.Īssuming nvALT starts on login, and you configure a keyboard shortcut to activate it (you should!), you’re always less than 1 second away from capturing a note. I know I’m mixing here between “requirements” and a specific solution, but the frictionless requirement can be a subtle beast. The amazing thing about nvALT is how fast it is. Ignore the searching that happens – it doesn’t slow you down.įrom my experience using it so far, the searching is so useful, that I take advantage of it more often than not. If all you want to do is to write your note - you just do it (title, Enter, content, done). This might sound like more clutter than an alternative that just gives you a blank text box, but it really isn’t. In both cases (edit existing or create new), the cursor is immediately place at the end of the note body, so you can keep typing the content. If you really want to create a new note, you just hit Enter, and a new note with the title as a filename is created. In that case, you can select that result and edit the existing note. Often, you see a matching note that is relevant to what you want to capture (e.g., append something to an existing running list). The list of existing notes is instantaneously filtered using your title as search query (really, also for many thousands of notes, and it’s an excellent full text search). You start typing a title for the note you’re about to capture ( right in the search box). You start with an empty search box, above a list of previously “captured items” (let’s call them notes from now, OK?). The short answer – exactly like nvALT on OS X.įor those who are not familiar with it, here’s a short description of the relevant features: How would an ideal “capture mode” look like, if I could have it my way? If you stick around, there might also be a mobile rant □ is my ideal capture solution on #OSX In this part, I go into some detail about nvALT and my “ideal capture experience”. Just as important for my productivity □ ! It just sat there, streaming my Google Music library. Didn’t do anything with my Windows laptop.Got overwhelmed with options on the iPad (iOS in general).Became frustrated with the options I evaluated on Android.Decided on nvALT for capturing notes on OS X.Filename is note title, file text is note content. Decided that “captured items” are plaintext Markdown-formatted files in my Dropbox GoPlain/Notes directory.It should just be there, waiting for when I’m ready to deal with processing it.Ī tl dr version of where I am with this, at the time of writing: No messing with filing and categorizing a “captured item”. This means as few clicks and taps as possible to get to “capture mode”. The act of “capturing a piece of information” must be totally frictionless.Handle poor connectivity with dignity – we are talking about plaintext files here. Sync “captured items” across all said devices, given connectivity.To prioritize: MacBook, Android phone, iPad, Windows laptop. To reiterate and elaborate, my expectations for a “ubiquitous plaintext capture solution” include: I am dividing it to parts because it is still work-in-progress, and I wanted to share as I go along. ![]() ![]() This post is part 1 of several posts on the subject of plaintext capture. So here I am, trying to deal with it, having some success on the Mac, mostly failing on mobile… In my Go Plain manifesto, I said that the first thing I plan to deal with is ubiquitous plaintext capture solution.
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