Ask HN: Where do you save links, notes and random useful stuff?

[a_protsyuk]

I have 2,600+ notes in Apple Notes and can barely find anything.

My kid just dumps everything into Telegram saved messages. Running a small research - curious what systems people actually use (not aspire to use).

Do you have a setup that works or is everything scattered across 5 apps like mine?

[moowmoow]

The real issue isn't where you store notes — it's whether you find them when you actually need them.

I've gone through Notion, Confluence, and plain markdown. The pattern is always the same: I diligently save everything, then never look at it again because the moment I need it, I'm in a completely different context (a ticket, a chat, a meeting).

The "low friction = actually use it" point resonates. I've started thinking the answer isn't a better note-taking app, but surfacing the right information where the work happens, rather than making people go find it.

[bawis]

This is actually the truth, we all have tens or hundreds of priceless saved links. However, I claim that 90% are forgotten after a day or two, maybe that's actually something that small language models can fix ?

[nicbou]

It's hard to keep it all together.

I use Obsidian for journaling across devices. My work notes are in a Markdown folder under the project. My personal notes are in a paper notebook and scanned when I run out of pages. Links are bookmarked.

The paper notebook solves the recall problem; it's just a few pages back. Most things I write down are only useful for a few months, then they become a mere artifact of my life at that point in time.

[egberts1]

My only friction with hierarchy-type store of bookmarks is the orthogonal labeling scheme remains poorly or unsupported.

Slapping a tag or two (or many) is bandaid.

Need a way to navigate a tree for a bookmark that is repeatedly tagged and filed across hierarchy.

Perfect example: retirement, budget, investment firms, reviewed

Each day has a focus, and it often arrives differently to a same bookmark.

Handcrafted Wikipedia category tree is a good start but still no navigation panel and a search box thereof.

[a_protsyuk]

This is the fundamental problem with hierarchies - knowledge is multi-dimensional but folders are one-dimensional. You shouldn't have to decide if "Vanguard 2026 review" lives under /retirement or /budget or /investments. What if you could just search "retirement investment options I reviewed" and find it regardless of where it was filed - by meaning, not by path?

[throwaway5465]

Tools: Zettlr for notes. user?weird_tentacles explained the concept of zellelkasten. These are synced to a cloud folder so I have access to them on the move.

Blog: Compiling notes into 'new' knowledge is challenging and interesting. I try to keep on doing what I did in postgrad research.

[a_protsyuk]

Zettlr is underrated. When you're compiling notes into something new - how do you find the right notes to pull together? Do you browse, search, or does the linking do the work?

[choutos]

LogSeq, with the "brain" shared across devices using Koofr over webdav

[a_protsyuk]

  LogSeq with WebDAV - nice setup. Do you use it mostly for linked notes/graph, or more as a daily journal?

[theMezz315]

Google Keep CherryTree - which is much nicer than the web site portrays https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/

[a_protsyuk]

CherryTree looks interesting - hierarchical nodes. Do you split notes between Keep and CherryTree by type, or is there a different logic?

[gagik_co]

I’m also a “text myself” kind of person. I’m using my own chat-based notes app called tetrify, which is now adopting the Matrix protocol for sync.

[Arathorn]

ooh, that's cool - come tell us about it in matrix.to/#/#twim:matrix.org when it's ready :)

[umtksa]

using obsidian for notes raindrop.io for bookmarks and have my own jekyll template just for public links

https://github.com/umtksa/links (repo)

https://umtksa.github.io/links/ (demo)

[longitudinal93]

I pin "Note To Self" in Signal and drop important stuff there. For less important stuff I have a Matrix room on my own server.

[TheKnack]

I used to keep everything in Obsidian, but I recently switched to keeping notes in Obsidian and links and articles in Karakeep (self-hosted).

https://karakeep.app/

One of many things that I like about Karakeep is that when you save a link it captures both a screenshot and text from the page, and uses AI to create tags and a summary for the link. Basically it automatically categorizes everything that you save.

[sandreas]

I use a selfhosted flatnotes install with a cronjob commiting the changes to a private github repository.

Works pretty well

[HardwareLust]

I'm lazy, so I use Google Keep and will probably regret it someday.

[a_protsyuk]

"Will probably regret it someday" - what's the thing you're most worried about losing?

[JohnFen]

I keep all that stuff on a Wiki that I run in my house.

[a_protsyuk]

Self-hosted wiki - what software? And do you access it on mobile when you're out, or is it strictly home network?

[agcat]

I use chrome bookmarks and sublime app

[agcat]

Also, whatsapping myself

[adelowo]

Matter!

[journal]

in md files in the file system.

[a_protsyuk]

Do you organize into folders, or just dump everything flat and rely on search?

[ZYZ64738]

...sending myself an email

[a_protsyuk]

Email as inbox - do you ever actually process it, or does it just pile up with everything else?

[weird_tentacles]

The core idea of Zettelkasten:

1. ONE (shared) dump-pile of all new notes. Your 2,600 pile should do fine

2. REGULAR 'cleaning' of the new notes: a) Each note gets one or many tags (#urban-decay #gaming #assets) b) Each note is trimmed down to its essence, ready to be used for reasonable purposes. (e.g further writing)

3. 'cleaned' notes are moved to your golden store, ready to be found by searching (search "#urban-decay")

You have 1. You need 2. It's slightly work-y, but interesting and ... fun. Rediscovering and polishing forgotten dust-rubies.

[a_protsyuk]

That's a solid workflow. The "cleaning" step is where most people fall off though - how long does it take you to process a batch, and how often do you actually sit down to do it?

[CodeBit26]

My system is basically a 'digital graveyard' if I don't use full-text search. I moved everything to Obsidian because it's just Markdown files on my drive. For links, I use a simple Telegram bot I wrote that dumps everything into a CSV. Low tech, but it’s the only thing I’ve actually stuck with for more than a year.

[a_protsyuk]

The "low friction = actually use it" insight is real. When grep fails you - topic you don't remember the exact words for - what's the fallback?

[LetsAutomate]

Notion — good for linking related notes

[a_protsyuk]

Does the linking actually pay off when you need to find something, or do you mostly just search?