Try All The Things

Capacities

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Capacities is a versatile note-taking and knowledge management app that supports Markdown, backlinks, and graph views. It has a robust object typing system, and task management out of the box. It is designed for personal knowledge management and research, offering a local-first approach with offline capabilities.

DEVONthink

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Logseq

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Notion

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Notion is a versatile note-taking and productivity app that combines notes, tasks, databases, and collaboration features. It allows users to create custom workflows and organize information in a highly flexible manner. Notion is suitable for both personal and team use, offering a wide range of templates and integrations.

Superhuman Docs

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Obsidian

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking app that uses Markdown and allows for linking notes together. It's great for personal knowledge management and has a strong community of users.

Tip: Apple Notes can annotate PDFs

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I don’t use Apple Notes much, but in 2026 I started taking an online math course with a friend (it’s free from MIT!) and discovered the course materials are all PDFs. I heavily prefer physical handwriting and highlighting to digital note-taking, while actively learning a subject. So I was delighted to discover that Apple Notes can annotate PDFs, and that it does so in a way that is both simple and effective!

It’s very easy to use too. Just open a PDF in Apple Notes, and you can basically scroll through it like a book. You’ll see a toolbar at the top with options to highlight, underline, strikethrough, and add notes. You can also use the Apple Pencil on an iPad for more natural handwriting.

Examples

Highlighting straight on the PDF. Honestly I usually just scribble, but highlighting can be nice too.

And handwriting in the margins with the Apple Pencil, the way I’d scribble on a paper printout:

Apple Notes

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I haven’t written this one up, yet.

It’s Apple Notes: free, preinstalled, syncs everywhere, and much better than it was five years ago. You get the gist. The specs are below, and the tips are the part actually worth reading (for now).