Reading through Ellane’s look at One Big Text File it seems to me that most of her issues could be solved with OrgMode. You can resurface notes on a set schedule with the Agenda feature. Events are simply headings with dates, and tasks get TODO added to the front of a heading.

OrgMode is easy for taking lots of notes under a heading, or lots of sub-headings as needed and you can filter the content easily by folding headings as you need to get stuff out of the way.

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3 responses to “One Big Text File Sure Sounds like OrgMode”

  1. Ellane Avatar

    “OrgMode is easy” is tech-ableism personified! Kidding, but kind of not. Like yes, I get that OrgMode is the holy grail for plain text, but it’s not something I feel drawn to learning how to use. It’s like having to build my box out of Lego, instead of just adding a wee bit of duct tape to the cardboard box I’ve got sitting around the place. So yeah, I don’t disagree with you, but I’m hoping to find a way that is no more complex than performing in-file searches.

    Who knows, though? Maybe OrgMode is in my future. Just not right now.

    1. Curtis McHale Avatar
      Curtis McHale

      I don’t think it’s easy and I spend my days in Vim/SSH/Terminal managing servers. It is tempting though when I see all that it can do.

      1. Ellane Avatar
        Ellane

        Thank you—you’ve just cemented my decision. Because the OBTF is a helper solution for when I’m away from my physical notebook, the kind of power OrgMode would bring isn’t worth the price I’d have to pay to learn and use it.