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+date = 2022-03-02
+title = "Easy, Reliable Note-Taking"
+description = "After years of testing, I have finally settled on maintaining my collection of personal notes and writings."
+draft = false
++++
+
+## Choosing Durable File Formats
+
+> TL;DR: Write in a format that can be easily rendered and read in plain-text
+> mode (e.g., `.txt`, `.md`, etc.).
+
+As I've written more and more over the years, I've found that my love of
+note-taking is always growing. Everything I learn or need to remember can be
+written down in a note and saved digitally, with no cost to myself. Unlike paper
+copies that need physical storage space, digital files simply need space on your
+local disk or cloud storage, which is fairly abundant these days.
+
+However, I had a historical struggle with migration of notes between different
+apps that require different formats and applied proprietary styling. This meant
+that I had to go through each note during migration and edit the file to look
+presentable again.
+
+For the last year or two, I have written everything exclusively in
+[Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown) format. Small notes,
+long-form writings, and even these blog posts are all written in Markdown.
+
+Why Markdown? While I do appreciate the simplicity of plain-text files without
+any formatting, I often need visual cues such as heading and code blocks to keep
+my thoughts straight. Markdown provides a minimal set of styling indicators for
+me to style my notes without adding any proprietary, embedded data into the
+files. If I want a top-level heading, I simply add a hash (`#`) before the line.
+An added bonus is that even if a system doesn't understand Markdown, it will
+render it as plain-text and I can read it just as easily.
+
+For example, here's how TextEdit on macOS will open and display a Markdown file
+in plain-text, since it does contain any features to preview Markdown as HTML:
+
+![Plain Text Markdown](https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20220302-easy-reliable-note-taking/plain_markdown.png)
+
+## Saving & Syncing Files
+
+In order to read and edit my notes across platforms, I use my personal cloud
+storage through Tresorit due to its native integration with macOS and iOS file
+managers. In addition, Tresorit works well on Debian-based Linux distros, which
+I used before macOS (and will likely switch back to in a few years).
+
+You can use whatever sync software you want - syncing plain-text or markdown
+files is incredibly easy and fast, since the files are generally tiny.
+
+Since the cloud storage syncs files automatically, there is no need for me to
+sync anything manually or kick-off a sync job to update my files. This means
+that I can edit on mobile, and it takes about 5-10 seconds to see the changes on
+desktop.
+
+### Version Control with Git
+
+A different approach I've contemplated is storing my notes and attachments is
+using a hosted Git repository to track changes to the files. However, I don't
+want to rely on an external service that could potentially see into my data,
+even if the repository is private.
+
+I might just do `git init` locally and then commit my changes each time I write
+or update a note, but that seems to be a lot of work just for tracking changes -
+which I don't necessarily care to know.
+
+### Backups!
+
+One small addition to the storage/sync conversation is the idea of backups.
+Personally, I manually create periodic backups of my entire cloud storage,
+compress it into an archive, and store it on my home server.
+
+To improve my workflow, I am going to be exploring options to automatically
+compress the mounted cloud directory and send it over to my server on a set
+schedule.
+
+## Writing on Desktop
+
+> **Update (06.14.22)**: Since writing this post, I have reverted to simply
+> keeping my `notes` folder open and opening notes individually in TextEdit
+> for a more minimal and relaxing writing experience on the desktop.
+
+The bulk of my writing occurs in a desktop environment, with a full keyboard
+layout and wide screen. I don't illustrate with a smart pen, I rarely use
+embedded images, and I love being able to see all of my notes/directories in a
+sidebar.
+
+With this simple set of requirements, I chose [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md) as
+my desktop text editor.
+Obsidian has some in-depth tools like a graph view, command palette, 
+mentions, etc., but I've found that using it as a simple Markdown editor is 
+incredibly easy and straightforward.
+
+Here's an example of how my Markdown notes look when opened in plain-text mode:
+
+![Obsidian Markdown Source Mode](https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20220302-easy-reliable-note-taking/obsidian_source_mode.png)
+
+Here's the "live preview" version, where the Markdown is rendered into its HTML
+format:
+
+![Obsidian Markdown Live Preview](https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20220302-easy-reliable-note-taking/obsidian_live_preview.png)
+
+### Programming on Desktop
+
+While I was writing this, I realized I should specify that I don't use the same
+editor for writing notes and for writing code. For programming purposes, I use
+[VSCodium](https://vscodium.com) as my development IDE.
+
+## Writing on Mobile
+
+Personally, I write very little on mobile, except when needing to take
+important notes on-the-go. Any long-form writing, journals, etc. are done at
+home, where I always have my laptop available.
+
+I wanted a simple and foolproof editor for iOS, preferably open-source.
+After a long journey of testing the few (& terrible) open-source iOS 
+note-taking apps, I finally found a phenomenal one:
+[Runestone](https://github.com/simonbs/runestone). This app is fantastic
+for note-taking, has plenty of optional features, and integrates natively
+with the iOS file manager.
+
+This app opens the iOS file manager and allows you to click any file you want,
+opens it up in an editor, and lets me save and close out of that note.
+
+Quite simple but effective.