Organizing Notes

The ACE (Atlas, Calendar, Efforts) framework offers a solid foundation for organizing notes based on knowledge, time, and action. This flexible structure simplifies note storage while allowing for dynamic organization through links, maps, and tags.

Connected notes

Links connect Obsidian notes using internal Markdown links with double-bracket syntax. External Markdown links are used to access any internet URL address for web pages or services, or URL schemes as links into other local apps.

Links represent relationships for connections between notes. Links are bi-directional because you connect to a single target note, and Obsidian automatically creates a backlink there to the referencing note.

These associations are usually based on conceptual similarity or intersection, although they can also be used to establish parent-child or sibling relationships (like up and related). Sometimes they are a chronological relationships based on time (like yesterday or this week).

Thinking and linking

I'm actively thinking while linking my ideas with related notes. This extends beyond internal links between my notes, but also includes external links to apps, documents, images, web pages, services, and data.

It's extremely powerful to combine Obsidian for internal linking with the Arc Browser for external links to non-note resources, especially when making maps. This unique capability enables you to think about all your connections in context so they're more than just bookmarks. You can follow your interests through curiosity and then make sense of it later in your notes and maps as you explore and leverage the relationships further.

Maps combine the best features of folders, links, and tags together with additional benefits of curated context and commentary about a cluster of related notes. They are much more just a simple outline index, although they may start out that way with a list of links to related notes or web pages.

They are not confined by artificial alphabetical or proximal ways to identify relationships among a group of notes by file naming conventions or sharing a common folder.

Fluid frameworks

Nick Milo's concept of "fluid frameworks" allows for flexible structure in your PKM system using links, maps, and tags, as well as folders. This supports various thinking styles in a flexible workflow pipeline for idea emergence, creates an evolving structure of maps and views for easy search and navigational access, and connects reusable atomic notes for eventual packaging to share.

Earned structure

Unlike folders, you don't need to predefine useful structure. With maps "we can fluidly add any structure, at any time", especially when it's "earned".

It's not necessary to design everything upfront as software developers learned with agile methodologies. And the same lessons apply to our PKM systems. In general, you don't need to build infrastructure before it's actually needed. Structure can also evolve over time as our linked notes evolve and grow.

Organization categories

These categories help me organize related notes. I use templates to create notes, maps for structure and navigation, and views for managing my workflows.

Home note: Home base for maps and notes
Template notes: Consistent note structure and properties
Map notes: Overview, context, structure, and navigational hubs
View notes: Metadata query displays for workflow processing

Home note

My home note connects the main maps for major efforts, areas, and interests of my life, as well as relevant tags and views that help manage my notes.

Its my home base and dashboard in my Obsidian vaults where I can always return to get grounded and focused on what's next. From here, I can find any note easily using my linked and curated network of maps.

Maps

Maps provide overview and structure for related notes and cluster groups, and navigation to related maps.

App map: Outline of application features and roadmap of efforts
Category map: Structure and context for related topic notes
Hub map: List and categorize other notes for groups or navigation
Effort map: Focus on actions for area, interest, or project
Output map: Outline and context for series or cluster of outputs

ACE folders

Organizing my PKM system using the ACE folder structure based on knowledge, time, and action (Atlas, Calendar, Efforts) offers a solid foundation for making notes.

This simplifies where notes reside, while not restricting how they are used (and reused). Links, maps, tags, and views provide a more flexible way to organize notes without the limitations of hierarchical folders.

With my ACE organization, I create notes in the Add (+) inbox before moving them to the main spaces of Atlas, Calendar, or Efforts, with Extra (x) for supporting files.

Add (+): Inbox, new notes, sparks, drafts, focus folders, sources
Atlas: Maps, views, dots (things & statements), apps, outputs
Calendar: Periodic notes, journals, logs, reviews, plans
Efforts: Actions, projects, areas, interests
Extra (x): Templates, images, PDFs

Suggestions

These are some tips and techniques that help with making maps.

Make sure you have hotkeys setup as keyboard shortcuts to move lines up/down (like Cmd+1/Cmd+2) so you can be a map ninja to quickly rearrange lines in a map as you develop its structure.
Also, remember to use indent/outdent and folding techniques as well as an associated outline and/or local graph view. This helps significantly to help you organize the content in a map.
It's also extremely helpful to pin the map and nurture the notes while you work on refactoring and developing a cluster of related notes using multiple Obsidian split panes side-by-side.