A few years back I had seventeen note-taking apps on my phone and laptop. Notifications from Notion. Reminders from Evernote. Half-written ideas scattered across Google Keep, Apple Notes, and a random text file on my desktop. I spent more time organizing than actually writing. It felt like I was working for the software, not the other way around.
Then a friend pointed me to a different way. He said just use plain text files in a single folder. No database, no formatting toolbar, no cloud lock-in. I was skeptical. But I tried it for a week. After that week I deleted everything else. What sealed it was a guide I found on tohifer.org that walked through setting up a personal wiki with nothing but markdown files and a text editor. That site gave me the confidence to burn the boats.
The problem with most note-taking tools
Every app wants you to stay inside its walls. They build features you didn't ask for. Databases, templates, syncing that breaks, export formats that half-work. You end up trapped. When you want to switch apps you have to migrate years of notes. Most people never bother. They just tolerate the friction. I did that for three years.
Plain text files have no vendor. A text file from 1992 opens today on any machine. I can edit notes with vim, VS Code, even a terminal. No subscription fee. No feature update that ruins my workflow.
Why plain text works for long-term thinking
Ideas that last longer than a week deserve a format that lasts longer than a startup. Plain text is the closest thing we have to permanent storage. It compresses well. You can search it with basic tools. It doesn't require an internet connection. And it forces you to focus on words instead of fonts and colors.
I write notes that I expect to read again in ten years. One note might be a list of books I want to read. Another might be a rough draft of an article. Plain text keeps them safe without any maintenance.
The folder structure I use
I keep everything in a single directory called notes. Inside that I have a few subfolders: projects, reference, journal, and ideas. That's it. No nested tags. No category hierarchy deeper than two levels. The filenames are just the title in lowercase with dashes: how-to-build-a-desk.md. When I need to find something I use a tool called fzf to fuzzy search filenames and contents.
This structure works because it mirrors how my brain works. I don't think in taxonomies. I think in projects and random references.
How I sync across devices without cloud services
I use a combination of git and a small USB drive. My notes folder is a git repository. I push to a private remote when I remember to. Between pushes I keep the latest copy on a flash drive that stays on my keychain. It's not real-time sync. It's deliberate sync. That's fine for me because I don't need instant access to every note from every device.
If I want to write something on my phone I open a plain text editor like Markor and save to a local folder. When I get home I copy that folder into my main notes directory. Low-tech, but it works every time.
Using grep and find instead of search
Most note apps have a search bar. In plain text you have grep. It's faster and more reliable. I can search for a phrase across every file: grep -r "rust borrow checker" notes/. No indexing lag, no algorithm deciding what I meant. Just exact matches. If I want to find files by date I use find with -newer. You can script these tools to do almost anything.
I wrote a small script that lists all notes modified in the last week. That gives me a weekly review without opening any app.
One rule that keeps my notes in order
I have a single rule that prevents chaos: every note must have a title on the first line. That title becomes the filename. If I start a note about buying a new keyboard, the first line is # Buying a mechanical keyboard and I save it as buying-a-mechanical-keyboard.md. This rule forces me to give every note a clear subject before I write anything else. It eliminates the "untitled" mess that plagued my digital life.
When I break this rule I notice it immediately. The note sits in my folder unnamed, and I end up rewriting the same idea later.
What I still don't have figured out
I haven't solved every problem. Images are still annoying. You can't embed a picture in plain text. I keep images in a separate attachments folder and reference them by filename in the markdown. That works but breaks if I rename the image file. I also struggle with long-form writing. For articles I often draft in plain text then copy into a dedicated editor for formatting. The friction there is real but acceptable.
Another gap is collaboration. If I want to share a note with someone who uses a different system I end up pasting text into an email. I've tried git collaboration but nobody else in my circle wants to use that.
- Keep filenames short and descriptive. Use hyphens between words.
- Use a single text editor you know well. I use vim but any editor works.
- Back up your notes folder at least two ways. Git and a USB drive is minimal.
- Set a weekly habit to clean up notes you haven't touched in a month.
- Don't try to migrate all your old notes at once. Start new notes in plain text and archive the old ones.
- Write the date in the filename for journal entries so they sort automatically.