[[1/19]] BACK TO THE [[BASICS]] This is a tweetstorm mostly for new users of Roam, but something I take to heart as an experienced Roam user (Experience in Roam? Not sure what that means, we are all Roam babies). So new or old - Go BACK TO THE [[BASICS]] #roamcut @roamresearch

Today there is a disturbance in the PKM force. @obsdmd released their FREE mobile app. I have been using beta for 2 months with their paid Sync service & all I can say is: Obsidian Desktop, mobile & sync - dream team in PKM space I highly recommend it! obsidian.md

Today I am launching my website as a collection point for all my writings, plugins, and experiments. My main goal is to consolidate all my research work into one place since the research is spread out across multiple sites like GitHub, Medium, Twitter, etc. As a side note, this is an Obsidian Publish site. So I develop the site %100 in Obsidian and published it from there. tfthacker.com

1/ Tools for Thought help us develop workflows that increase the value of our personal knowledge system. As our skills advance with these tools, the value of our system increases, but unfortunately, also the complexity. This is why it is important to document workflows. #TfT

The Opinionated Short Guide for Switching from Roam to Obsidian 1/ Many have asked for advice on making the switch. While there is no "one size fits all" approach, I will share some practical tips that should help you. Other switchers - feel free to hop in with your advice

New plugin in beta for @obsdmd. Looks promising! Calendar with daily, weekly, monthly views in your Vault. Events and Tasks in the context of your notes. GCal Sync support and task management are coming. Install beta now with BRAT. More info: github.com/davish/obsidian-f…

1/ Over a year ago I tried out Obsidian. At the time I found it to just be another Markdown editor. I was actually frustrated with the @obsdmd devs because it seemed like a shift from @DynalistHQ which is a fabulous product, but needing love. Well I was wrong, they were right

Big update coming to Obsidian called properties (let's say it is UI for metadata). This has been highly anticipated. #TfT obsidian.md/changelog/2023-0…

1/ Roam Milestone: Write API Today is important day in Roam history. Many users will likely not be aware of it, but those building tools & integrations on Roam have lots reason for joy. Team RR is working on extending their API allowing for some important capabilities. #roamcult

Obisidan graph for one user with “up to 18,000 files and over 2 million words..... medical, programming, psychology, science, gaming, and more”.

Forever Notes - Wild concept built around Apple Notes I personally love Apple Notes for what it is. But a whole PKM strategy built around it... interesting! I don't know why, I just love when simple solutions can solve problems. #TfT #PKM myforevernotes.com

1/ Strange New Worlds plugin for @obsdmd is released I am super happy to have SNW out in the Community Plugin store. SNW is a tool for displaying block reference counts and previews. It has one simple job: to help us better understand the connections in our vaults. #TfT

1/ Welcome to the future. Tana is a new graph-based Tool for Thought that sets the bar to a totally new level. I have had the privilege of being an alpha tester since early this year, and my conclusion ... It is the best graph-based TfT's I have ever used. #TfT

Check this out, now in Beta in @obsdmd mobile: Share Sheets. First phone is the icon in share sheet, second is once vault has been opened. Few options: + Insert into current doc + Choose another doc + or into your DNP Great balls of fire! #TfT

1/7 The definitive "RUNNING" list of learning material for @tana_inc Since Tana is so new and there is a budding list of new learning content, I started this thread as way of capturing online Tana learning material. Feel free to add if you find something else not on my list.

While Obsidian is not an outliner, did you know: Obsidian supports transclusion, which is considered crucial in modern outliners. Obsidian allows us to transclude an entire note into another note or also to include just specific sections of a note into another note. Transclusion is a powerful tool for reusing information from your notes in other notes. This is especially helpful in writing projects where you have collected valuable notes in various places in your vault and want to bring those thoughts together into another note. #TfT Find out more: medium.com/obsidian-observer…

I mentioned that @logseq is feature rich. Check out this mindmap by @HDanzu. Too many features to even see what is going on 🖖

1/ Tana is.... Tana is not... What is Tana to me? A lot of buzz about @tana_inc & people patiently (impatiently) waiting for their invite for early access. Many compare Tana to Notion and Roam, but Tana is its own thing and in its own class. #TfT

1/ What is possible with Obsidian? I present some pages people have made with @obsdmd using Markdown and various plugins. Obsidian is very flexible. These are collected from Discord server. Do you have cool examples to share? Please response to this tweet with screen shots.

1/ Hi folks, today I changed my twitter handle to @TfTHacker. Basically using Roam less than other tools and my bias is toward being tool neutral. So going to be discussing many tools and their benefits and not just Roam, also @obsdmd, @rem_note, @logseq.

Obsidian: Understanding its Core Design Principles I just published an article about Obsidian and its design goals + Data local-first and plaintext + Links - core functionality + Extensability + Optimized performance + Powerful search link.medium.com/CDQOhw8bqnb #TfT

Obsidian community is going crazy over recent insider's build of @obsdmd. Two big changes: (1) tab support for opening files and (2) major facelift on the default styling of the app. The Obsidian dev/support team has also grown, which is a good sign for the product's future.

There is a fascinating new plugin in development for #Obsidian at outliner.md. It looks promising. 🌟 If you love outliners, this might finally be the middle-ground you have been waiting for: True markdown meets an outliner in Obsidian. #TfT 🔍

The new Bases feature in @obsdmd is exciting. I am curious how others are using it? What are the pro's and con's from your experience? #Obsidian #TfT

Dashboard++ — a simple organization and navigation method for Obsidian Vaults New article on creating simple dashboards in @obsdmd for better organization and navigation of vaults. #TfT tfthacker.medium.com/dashboa…

Did you know that in #Obsidian, you can drag HTML content from your browser right into notes, and it auto-converts to Markdown? Plus, drag any file from explorer to add it as an internal link or hold Ctrl/Option for direct link without importing. #TfT 🌟 help.obsidian.md/User+interf…

Roam42 Update: SmartBlocks 🧠🧠🧠 is now available in public version!!! Reload Roam with 42 installed and enjoy) This new version includes SmartBlocks, which adds to Roam the ability to create dynamic workflows (Templates on steroids!) #roamcult @RoamResearch

OBSIDIAN COMMUNITY REVIEW 1/ I have been promising for some time to write a review of the @obsdmd community. While a "community" is not a product, when it comes to "Tools for thought", community should be viewed as an important feature, not an afterthought or byproduct.

For a few days, I have been meditating on @NickMilo new prescriptive framework for managing knowledge in @obsdmd. He calls it ACE. I am excited about it. Yes meditating. What do I mean by that: + Watching his videos + Working with his free vault and learning how to use it + and long sessions of thinking about what this means for me in the future. You can get it from here (It is free - he should charge for it; it is valuable): start.linkingyourthinking.co… The part I am most mentally hung up on is the E in ACE, which stands for Efforts. Hung up in a good way! This is a new take on handling projects or commitments in life. It really reminds me of the value of kanban. Kanban's value isn't in that it's a visual representation of commitments into columns but rather "the Toyota way" of pulling, not pushing work. Efforts are about dealing with that, pulling work into the present, and managing a backlog. Nick recommends: + On + Ongoing + Simmering + Sleeping On is the present - now Ongoing is also the present, but now, past, and future until done Simmering - Ideas brewing reminds me of the GTD Someday/Maybe list Sleeping - Archive Some might think this is a competitor to PARA. But I think they complement each other and promote helping users set up easy but effective management structures early in their TFT experience. ACE feels especially suitable for creative types and free spirits who need structure but want to avoid being bogged down by structure. There is no perfect system, but ACE and PARA represent tribal wisdom captured over the last few years for PKM, and they are good starting points for people, just as GTD was a good starting point for personal time management. Nick is doing more videos on this, and I look forward to it!

Last year @calhistorian inspired me with his @RoamResearch PKM dashboards. I am now prototyping the concept in @obsdmd. It is very useful to have a personal homepage upon starting the app. #TfT For 1.5 years I have been using DNP, but now experimenting with a different workflow

Impressive work. A plugin for reference and citation map for literature review and discovery. Academic nerds, rejoice!

The BIG LIST of Digital Gardens Let us together create a big list of digital gardens created by the TfT / PKM Community. Let me get the list started with a few nice examples, and you add the ones you like or Retweet to get more people involved

1/ So I have been deep diving on @logseq. Let me just say its brilliant and has so much potential. It really is a local @RoamResearch, but in some ways better (and in a few not so). One thing I really like is this hybrid blend of a graph database with markdown under the hood.

🎈 Hi everyone, just posted a video demonstrating new Roam42 SmartBlock commands designed to allow you quickly change the Roam environment (basically creating workspaces - quickly moving between projects / contexts) piped.video/dR-WvH5tBSM

1 of 3 #Zettelkasten and @soenke_ahrens's book How to Take Smart Notes are very popular in the #TfT community. @zsviczian did a 1-hour walkthrough of Zettelkasten and the book. This is the BEST BEST summary with thoughtful and smart explanations. piped.video/o49C8jQIsvs

1/2 @logseq has updated its website, and it is a good update. Logseq is open source, but its future is dependent on developing a customer base, so this revamped site is a good sign they understand this.

So I want to confess something. I know this is going to be very unpopular. But I really thought about it, and I think it's time I say it. I don't like Zettelkasten Man, that felt good!

Did you know that in #Obsidian, you can drag HTML content from your browser right into notes, and it auto-converts to Markdown? Plus, drag any file from explorer to add it as an internal link or hold Ctrl/Option for direct link without importing. #TfT 🌟 help.obsidian.md/User+interf…

1/11 Super-thread: Resources for the Obsidian Plugin Development I want to share my "GOTO" bookmarks for developing in Obsidian and why they are very helpful. If you have useful Obsidian developer links, please tack them onto this thread.

Big news!! Official @readwiseio plugin for @obsdmd is out!! Straight from the Readwise mothership. #obsidianmd

Obsidian42 - it has begun github.com/TfTHacker/Obsidia… @obsdmd #obsidianmd

1/ What is a block in Roam? It is a chunk of text, right? This is true. What is a paragraph in a Word document? A chunk of text, right? What is the difference? A very important and BIG difference. In Word, you identify a paragraph by its location ... #roamcult

I am very excited about the TaskNotes plugin for #Obsidian. It is a very well-done concept. It creates a note for a task, using properties. However, it has inline widgets that allow tasks to be inserted inline in notes and render like a task. #TfT #PKM github.com/callumalpass/task…

Just made my first @logseq hack. It has likely been done before, but a hacker can't resist reinventing the wheel 🤣. It is a CSS snippet to compress the space used by some of Logseq's built-in features in the sidebar. #TfT Images show after and before. discuss.logseq.com/t/compres…

While Obsidian is not an outliner, did you know: Obsidian supports transclusion, which is considered crucial in modern outliners. Obsidian allows us to transclude an entire note into another note or also to include just specific sections of a note into another note. Transclusion is a powerful tool for reusing information from your notes in other notes. This is especially helpful in writing projects where you have collected useful notes in various places in your vault and want to bring those thoughts together into another note. Find out more: medium.com/obsidian-observer…

1/ ANNOUNCEMENT: Roam42 - exciting developments for the future!! Roam42 is joining the collection of great Roam plugins available at roamjs.com managed by @dvargas92495. What does this mean? Read on roamjs.com/ #roam

Create a dashboard for #Obsidian with Canvas. What a great idea Jake, check out his article at the Obsidian Observer link.medium.com/84CAnboOLJb (Medium Member Only) #TfT

If you liked my article on Spatial Canvases, this site has a lot of information on the idea of infinite canvases, plus a list of tools with support. #TfT infinitecanvas.tools/

Cross-reference navigation through your @obsdmd tags and notes Very interesting plugin under development by @alexobenauer. It is worth watching this 3 minute video just to see the concept in use. Video demo here: piped.video/sm5HXFNN8jE Install info in following tweet. #TfT

1/ Years ago I used something called paper, often with a pencil or pen. Maybe you have seen these ancient writing instruments in a museum. For handwritten notes, I used the Cornell Note taking system. I really liked it, it worked so well! Here is what a Cornell note looks like:

It is time for a 2022 review of "Tools for Thought" Please give your opinions: + Any tools stand out to you this year? Why? + Any tools disappoint you this year? Why? + What new features have become core to your workflow? Why? + Any predictions for 2023?

1/ @RoamResearch has silently pushed out a new feature called Command Palette (get to it through CMD+P or CTRL+P). However the big news is the AUTOMATIC BACKUP feature (AMEN, an angel gets its wings today) #roamcult

Bringing the beauty of Cornell Note style to Obsidian. notice the cue's on the left, and the document summary at the bottom. #TfT

Logseq Review After two months of using Logseq as a daily driver in my #TfT needs, I am happy to now provide you with my favorable review of Logseq. I highlight the features I like, how you can get started with Logseq & what to expect in the future. open.substack.com/pub/tfthac…

Very cool new feature for sizing viewable content area in Roam. Look in the upper right hand corner. #roamcult rejoice I may be wrong, but seems this concept was prototyped in the community. a.k.a @AbhayPrasanna @shawnpmurphy8

Up at the Obsidian Observer, Jake Mahr shares how Canvas transformed his @obsdmd use. He explores dynamic vs static notes, rethinking daily notes & task management. Learn about his canvas dashboard homepage (member-only): 🔗 medium.com/@jakeamahr/canvas… #ObsidianMD #PKM #TfT #Obsidian

Ok Nick Milo, I was intrigued by this discussion. Here are the results of my experiment. Eisenhower Matrix - Kanban style for Obsidian. - Kanban plugin - CSS Snippet More info: tfthacker.com/eisenhower-mat…

Offline mode in @NotionHQ is coming; they just announced it. They have a large team working on it. #TfT #PKM #Notion

I'm burning all bridges, today I deleted my @instapaper and @Pocket accounts. I'm all in on @ReadwiseReader

1/13 Update on my deep dive into @logseq. Logseq is feature rich. I am two weeks into my deep dive. There are many things I like and a few that I hope will improve. Let me give you an update. Bottom line: If you prefer Outliners and want local first, Logseq is a solid choice.

1/2 One fantastic thing about Obsidian is the degree of customizability. Some view this as a loss of productive focus, but for many, it increases productivity. TfT is not a "one size fits all." For example, I really like the Obsidian customization by @RobinTual.

Tufte Style Sidenotes in Obsidian My newest article on Tufte Sidenotes. What are they? How are they useful in our notes? And how they can be done in Obsidian with tools provided in the Cornell Notes Learning Vault. #TfT medium.com/obsidian-observer…

I am preparing a 2021 review of "Tools for Thought" tweet series. I would enjoy your feedback: + Any tools stand out to you this year? Why? + Any tools disappoint you this year? Why? + What new features have become core to your workflow? Why? + Any predictions for 2022? #TfT

1/ I am super happy to announce that the “Obsidian42 - Text Transporter” plugin was released to the @obsdmd community plugin list and is available for general download. Text Transporter is the Swiss Army Knife of text manipulation plugins. #obsidianmd #TfT #PKM

This is an amazing new app for the PKM space. Quick Capture at its best. Retweet this so others will learn about it. I am using it now for many weeks with Obsidian, Reminders and DevonThink.

1/ I have always loved outliners. Please join me in my mental walk down memory lane and here are some of the outlining tools I used and once loved. What is your outliner history? Share it with us. First props to the @davewiner I wish we could bring back the good old days

1/5 In this video Cal Newport, author of the popular productivity book "Deep Work" discusses his personal system. Interesting note, he is a @obsdmd user. Let me note a few highlights I appreciated from the video. #TfT Cal Newport is one intense dude. piped.video/3FipKTzkTD4

Very proud of our own @zsviczian for having the most downloaded @obsdmd plugin. This is one of the most powerful, and used plugins. Not to mention the best well-maintained and documented. He raised the bar very high. His love for visualization of knowledge runs deep. #Tft

I don't use PDFs much, but today I had a need and with the help of @ednico_ video piped.video/OOZA7APwZy4 I learned how to use @logseq PDF annotation feature. + Highlighting + Linking into PDF + Linked references from PDF to graph If you use PDFs, this is a well-done feature.

1/7 I am coming up on my two-year anniversary with @obsdmd. I have to admit, I didn't think then I would stick with it for more than a few months, but I was wrong. Let me highlight a few things that have kept me with Obsidian. #TfT

Interesting article "I Deleted My Second Brain" by Joan Westenberg - Why I Erased 10,000 Notes, 7 Years of Ideas, and Every Thought I Tried to Save I sympathize with her argument for simplifying her mental space. joanwestenberg.com/p/i-delet…

1/ Tools for Thought - 2021 Recap and 2022 Dreams For those who follow Tools for Thought (#TfT) closely, 2021 has been an exciting year. I want to provide a totally biased and opinionated recap of 2021, and also some of my hopes for 2022

Resurfacing your captured knowledge when its relevant and needed is the silver bullet of Tools for Thought. No one has figured it out fully (or even 10%).

☑️ Task Management in Obsidian This, for many, is a dream come true, but it is not for the faint of heart. The amazing @mikeschmitz has an excellent video discussing the mindset and techniques for doing this in Obsidian. #PKM #TfT #Obsidian 🔗 piped.video/watch?v=ZjVBQHyL… 🎥

Creating your own Obsidian iOS Widget I just published Creating your own Obsidian iOS Widget link.medium.com/uG2o5gWranb #TfT @obsdmd #ioswidget #iphone #ipad

Early 2023 predictions + @tana_inc and @ReadwiseReader are game changers + Next gen of TfT'ers. Hope we have left them a good legacy to build on + Former tool I loved is dead by the end of 2023, along with a few others Excited for @obsdmd @logseq @napkin_ideas @thunknotes

I recently did a major update to my plugin Strange New Worlds for Obsidian. It provides inline reference counts in text. It helps visualize links in your vault. What is new: - Major performance improvements - Links in properties - Sorting results #TfT #Obsidian #ObisidanMD

Obsidian is developing a game-changer: Bases turns scattered notes into organized databases with zero coding. Filter hundreds of notes instantly, create dashboards, track research—all while keeping plain text files. 🧠✨ @obsdmd #Obsidian tfthacker.com/article-obsidi…

Early thoughts on Tana - by TfTHacker Check out my writeup at: tfthacker.medium.com/early-t… #TfT

1/ Yesterday on @clubhouse, we were talking about the importance of going back to basics even if we have been using @RoamResearch for some time. #roamcult We discussed in depth the importance of the "OUTLINE" Roam is an Outliner - a powerful tool that we may underappreciate.

ROADMAP Since last summer I have been intrigued by this quasi-no roadmap concept from Roam. But now almost a year later, I actually don't think it's a good strategy. @conaw maybe now is a good time to lay out a plan with the public and timelines.

For those interested in @obsdmd plugin development, this is a rough object model diagram I put together to visualize the API. Thought I would share this out. This was drawn quickly with @zsviczian amazing Excalidraw plugin for Obsidian. #obsidianmd

1/ I have been working on an @obsdmd plugin now since May in preparation for the Obsidian October Plugin contest. The plugin is an experiment with bringing referencing counters inline to the text flow of Obsidian. Did this promo video. #TfT piped.video/watch?v=i08ksJ-n…

Zen-like Focus with Obsidian Bookmarks Manage the chaos of your vault and find clarity and tranquility with the new Bookmarks feature of @obsdmd #TfT tfthacker.medium.com/zen-lik…

So I have become a big fan of @readwiseio. I now firmly believe they are a crucial component to the future of PKM/TfT. I am curious how ReadWise fits into your TfT universe. How has it changed the way you do things? How has it helped you? What things do you think are missing?

Update on my deep dive into @logseq Steadily become more content using it daily. Things I am enjoying: + Solid outlining + Mobile + Sync + Backlinks + Ref counts + Infinite Canvas + Namespaces + Attributes + Powerful queries (hard to use) + TNO + Markdown + Friendly community

1/6 HelpMate for Obsidian - ready for testing With this year's Obsidian October, I started work on my newest plugin, which is now ready for beta testing. Read on to learn more. It is my attempt to bring Obsidian's help into the Obsidian UI, but not just Obsidian's help. #TfT

1/5 🎉 Exciting News! Introducing Canvas Candy, the game-changing toolkit designed exclusively for canvas in Obsidian! Upgrade your canvas boards like never before! 🚀 Follow the thread for a %25 discount. #TfT buff.ly/460CYOq

1/4 🆘 HelpMate 🆘 - my newest Obsidian plugin is now available This plugin is all about making Obsidian easier to learn. HelpMate adds the help of Obsidian, plugins, and themes directly into the UI of Obsidian. #TfT obsidian.md/plugins?id=helpm…

A fellow Cornell Notes enthusiast (@OGuy64) is learning Rust & using Obsidian & Cornell Note method for his notes. Check out the juicy cues along the left to make key thoughts pop out & a solid summary of the concept at the bottom. Beautiful learning environment.

1/ Block References in @obsdmd There are two falsehoods about Block References that I want to cover in today’s tweet rant: Falsehood 1: @RoamResearch invented the block ref Falsehood 2: Obsidian doesn’t have block refs Strap in, it’s going to be a crazy ride #obsidianmd

I want to put together a collection of community articles/books that are considered life changing in the realm of PKM and Tools for Thought. What would you recommend? Crossing the party lines, don't matter if you use @RoamResearch @obsdmd @craftdocs @logseq or others.

Some people on Twitter are complaining about those who "waste" time customizing their Tool for Thought with themes, plugins and so on. I proudly waste lots of time enjoying myself in tricking out my note-taking home. Don't make me feel guilty for doing something I enjoy. #TfT

1/ I submitted my 1st plugin to Obsidian for review. The process is nice. Not only is the dev experience good & support via the forums helpful, but the process of submitting a plugin makes you feel confident in @obsdmd leadership. Here is the feedback I got with needed fixes

workBench - a new Roam42 prototype feature released. Move, pull, swap and more to come. Rather advanced feature. You'll know you need it, if you need it. #roam #roam42 piped.video/GX90lyDW7H0

Well done Obsidian. Welcome aboard Evernote users.

Show off your folder structure in @obsdmd Show us a picture of the folder pane -- show us the creative ways you manage that or use emojis to dress it up. Post a picture as a response to this Tweet. #TfT

WordNet Dictionary plugin for Obsidian released! My first plugin is out. Simple, but useful. It is a port of the Roam42 Dictionary to @obsdmd. WordNet is an open source & developed by Princeton university. If you are a hacker, you can even augment this with a custom dictionary

The / slash command has come to @obsdmd in the most recent insider build. Till now, Obsidian was driven by command palette. While familiar to developers, it is often foreign to most users. The slash / feels instantly natural, as a growing range of tools are using the / slash.

I'm beta testing an amazing new AI tool called Hunch. It's a canvas for creating visual AI conversations that can be repeated as workflows. 🤖 Check out this demo video: #TFT #AI @RicardoSaavedra piped.video/I0ydDRNpbQ0