Streamlining Academic Research: A PhD Student’s Guide to Efficient Literature Management
In the realm of academic research, an efficient workflow for handling scholarly literature is invaluable. As a PhD student and migration researcher, I have developed over the past years a workflow that allows me to efficiently search, download, read, and annotate my research literature. Although this process can be complex, it has proven to be extremely beneficial in my work. Thus, I am eager to share this workflow with others, hoping it can assist you in your endeavours as well. It might sound complicated, but I assure you, it’s not. So, without further ado, let’s delve into the details.
Discovering Relevant Literature for a Case Study on Migration Policy in Italy
When I started my case study on migration policy in Italy, my ideas were still vague, and my main goal was to gain an overview of the relevant literature. For this purpose, I have been using innovative tools such as Litmaps.co and researchrabbit.com. These platforms allow users to upload individual papers or search based on their DOI. They then provide additional papers that match the initial one, either because they were cited by the original paper or they cite it. This feature quickly gives an overview of the relevant literature in the field.
Litmaps is an amazing tool to quickly identify key readings in a particular field
In particular, Litmaps stands out due to its practicality. Not only does it help find related papers, but it also allows users to download these findings as a BibTeX file. This feature is extremely convenient as it enables an immediate import into a literature management tool like Zotero.
Thus, within a short period, I can compile a list of relevant literature to work through. Additionally, the bibliographic data is readily available due to the import into Zotero. This combination of tools and techniques has streamlined my literature discovery process, making my research more efficient.
Procuring PDFs: Diverse Approaches to Accessing Knowledge
Once I have my list of relevant literature, the next step is to obtain the actual PDFs. There are several methods I use to accomplish this, each with its own advantages.
Firstly, I utilize the online catalog of my university. Given that institutions often have subscriptions to a variety of academic databases, this is a great first stop to find the full text of articles.
If this doesn’t yield the desired results, I turn to a general internet search. Specifically, I use DuckDuckGo and append ‚filetype:pdf‘ to the search query. This often helps locate the PDF version of a piece of literature quickly and efficiently. Specialized platforms like ResearchGate are another great resource. Many researchers upload their papers there, making it a useful tool for accessing academic materials.
Finally, when all else fails, I resort to Sci-Hub. While controversial, I believe it underscores a crucial point: knowledge should be free. It has often proven invaluable in accessing materials that might otherwise be out of reach.
Reading and Annotating: The Role of PDF Expert by Readdle
To read and annotate these papers, I use PDF Expert by Readdle. I’ve tried many PDF readers over the years, but PDF Expert has consistently proven to be the best. Moreover, my license allows me to use PDF Expert both on my Mac and iPad.
Typically, I prefer using my iPad for this task. The experience of highlighting texts with the Apple Pencil is simply more pleasant. To ensure synchronization between my devices, I store the texts in the Documents by Readdle folder in iCloud. This setup allows me to read and annotate seamlessly, regardless of the device I’m using.
When it comes to the actual reading of the literature, there aren’t any shortcuts or secret techniques – it’s a part of the process you simply have to do. While there are strategies to enhance understanding and retention, the most critical factor is the time and effort you put into reading and understanding the material.
Transferring Annotations to Obsidian: Leveraging Alfred Workflows
After thoroughly reading and annotating the PDFs, the challenge is then how to transfer these critical literature notes from the PDF into Obsidian for further work. While PDF Expert does offer a feature for this and even supports Markdown, I find it too inflexible for my needs. For instance, it doesn’t support custom templates for export, which would require me to painstakingly reformat my literature notes.
To circumvent this, I use an Alfred workflow developed by Chris Grieser, also known as Pseudometa. He is a well-known figure in the Obsidian community, having also developed the Shimmering Focus Theme for Obsidian. This workflow allows me to efficiently transfer my annotations from PDF Expert into Obsidian, maintaining the format I prefer, and saving considerable time and effort.
Alfred Workflows: Streamlining the Transfer of Annotations
The technical details behind the Alfred workflow aren’t necessary for this discussion. What’s important is that it’s designed as a workflow for Alfred, a launcher app that replaces Spotlight. Grieser explains how to configure the workflow on Github, and spoiler alert: it’s straightforward.
Part of the configuration includes assigning a keyboard shortcut. Once I’ve finished reading and annotating the PDF, I return to the folder, press the shortcut, and the script automatically extracts all the annotations, including the correct page numbers – invaluable for academic work.
To ensure the workflow functions, I must name the file after its cite key. Otherwise, the association in Zotero wouldn’t work. However, thanks to the BetterBibTex plugin for Zotero, this isn’t an issue.
So, Grieser’s script creates a Markdown document with all the marked spots and the bibliographic information as metadata. It’s completely tailored to my needs, as I can fully adjust the underlying template.
From Seedbox to Archive: The Final Steps in the Workflow
With the perfect literature note in my Seedbox folder in Obsidian, I can then continue to work with it. For example, I can incorporate individual findings into articles or chapters of my PhD – a wonderful workflow where everything interlocks seamlessly, and the traceability of my sources is ensured for me.
Once I’ve finished working with a text to this extent, I move the file to Devonthink as it serves as my archive. I copy the item link and add it to the corresponding entry in Zotero. This way, I can directly access the PDF in Devonthink from Zotero in the future.
And that’s how I research, read, and archive papers. This workflow has streamlined my research process, ensuring I can focus on the content rather than the logistics.
In January of this year, for the first time I published an overview of crucial apps that my professional life couldn’t function without. Inspiration stemmed from the ‚State of the Apps‘ segments within the Cortex podcast, hosted by CGP Grey and Myke Hurley, a title I found fitting to take up. This year, I managed to get a head start. In the following, I will showcase to you the apps I use spanning various domains including browsing, mail, task management, writing/thinking/note-taking, research, file and literature management, reading, and more.
Many of the apps presented here are also integrated with a Setapp subscription. I often only discovered these apps because I was browsing for new apps on Setapp. I have marked the apps with an *. I have been a Setapp customer for many years and find the model very convincing: For a monthly fee of currently 8.99 $ with annual payment, you get access to dozens of high-quality apps, including BetterTouchTool, CleanShot X, Ulysses, CleanMyMac X, or Spark Mail. If you want to try out Setapp, you can do so via this link and support me in my work, as I will then receive a small commission from Setapp without it becoming more expensive for you.
Browsing
In last year’s edition, Arc had freshly catapulted into the market and I gave it a chance. It was enticing: instead of tabs at the top of the screen, you get a sidebar. ‚Spaces‘ to segregate different aspects of life. And not least, the addition of Easels and Boosts to maximize browsing experience. A year on, I can vouch that Arc remains my go-to browser. Despite this endorsement, not all features have stuck. Let me explain.
Take ‚Boost‘, the feature that allows you to customize websites to your preferences; it’s a feature that soon lost its lustre for me. I simply had no idea what to do with it. ‚Easels‘ have also seen seldom use on my part: essentially whiteboards where you can collect content from various websites. Ideally, you’d set up collections for individual projects to have all the information in one place, like vacation-planning. My issue? I have other tools for this purpose (such as Devonthink) that are more adept. The solitary ‚Easel‘ I operate is a reading list for the year with corresponding links to the books.
So, why still Arc? In a nutshell, it’s simply a phenomenal browser. ‚Spaces‘ have become an irreplaceable part of my workflow. Moreover, the division in permanent and temporary tabs has become critical. Opening a browser filled with tabs from four days ago? A nightmare. Arc archives them after a preset duration (12 hours for me). And anything you need longer can be moved to the ‚Pinned Tabs‘ section. Thus, the default setting is not ‚keep‘ but ‚delete‘, greatly facilitating my work. How I would love this feature in Obsidian!
Then, the Arc team recently added some extremely thoughtful AI features, which are quite intriguing. For instance, automatic naming of tabs that give an instantaneous idea about the content or having the option to ask the AI questions about a page’s content.
In conclusion: Arc has firmly established itself. It might be that not all initial ideas have withstood the test of time, but overall, it’s a truly robust package.
E-Mail
I started the year on Apple Mail. My reason was straightforward: I don’t need fancy features when it comes to email. What I want is to work with my emails effectively, reliably, and most crucially, privacy-preserving. In this context, I have adopted a 100% no-nonsense approach. This made using Apple Mail quite logical due to its local storage and, in general, reliable functionality.
However, Apple decided to throw a spanner in the works not too long ago: they stopped allowing Mail Extensions. These were small third-party add-ons that enhanced the functionality of Mail. Though they were limited earlier, with the arrival of macOS Sonoma, they were abolished altogether. This meant a sad goodbye to my favoured little tool named MsgFiler. It had a simple but powerful feature that allowed me to easily file emails into folders using the keyboard – a serious game-changer in my email management routine. The loss of such an essential feature, as you may imagine, was more than a minor inconvenience.
It was at this juncture that I remembered MailMate. MailMate is an email application developed by an indie developer, crafted for power-users, and embodies the epitome of a ‚Mac-assed Mac app‚. The only reason I had stopped using it was to test the new features in Apple Mail two years ago, and somehow I ended up sticking around. Now it’s MailMate again, and returning feels like ‚coming home‘, much like it did with DevonThink or OmniFocus. Of course, it comes with a keyboard shortcut with which I can easily specify the folder an email should be moved to. Home, sweet home indeed!
To Do Management
Onto task management! With so many projects and tasks under my belt, I need an app that can keep pace. Between being a research associate, a PhD student in Migration Studies, managing this blog, and being a dad, it’s quite a juggle. Under this category, too, I’ve found myself gravitating back towards trusted solutions; in this case, OmniFocus.
Back in April 2022, I penned a farewell article to OmniFocus as it left something to be desired. Recent times, however, heralded my return (On the value of flip-flopping). Mainly, I had issues with the design decisions in the beta version of OmniFocus 4. As we speak, that fresh version hasn’t landed yet, but I find myself happily working with OmniFocus 3 once again. What I appreciate most is its effortless ability to handle my considerable requirements and reaffirm the feeling that no task is forgotten. Of course, I accept the possibility of OmniFocus 4 perhaps not living up to the job. But at the very least, I know now that alternatives like Reminders et al. will not cut it either and come with their own shortcomings.
For the time being, OmniFocus 3 forms the crux of my contentment – regardless of its somewhat outdated look. However, its performance outweighs the aesthetics, making it perfect for my needs.
Writing, Thinking, and Note-Taking
In this regard absolutely nothing has changed. Obsidian shines as the application I use most frequently for essentially anything related to writing. From jotting down quick notes to drafting my doctoral dissertation – it all takes place within the realm of Obsidian. Currently, I’m using the Minimal Theme, occasionally switching color tones, simply to keep things fresh. This steadfast cornerstone of my workflow remains predictably consistent and stable, just as any good tool should. In the realm of digital note-taking and writing, Obsidian is indeed my trusted companion.
Research
A new entrant since my last round-up, and I can’t imagine why it didn’t form part of it then: research. After all, it forms a substantial part of my day-to-day work-life, being a PhD candidate and a research associate in a project. Obsidian takes care of anything writing-related. However, quite a bit precedes the penning down phase!
Firstly, MacWhisper: a discovery that made it to my ‚best of the year‘ list and ranks high as one of the finest AI applicabilities. Essentially a GUI for Open Whisper with a few additional features, MacWhisper has been a game-changer by automating the transcription of my interviews. Prior to this, much to my chagrin, I had to manage this task manually, considering outsourcing transcription services was financially off-table for me. For anyone who has attempted to transcribe a one-hour interview, they would know the progress we are talking about here!
PDF Expert has remained my go-to PDF reader for years. I did try various other contenders, including PDF Viewer, PDF Pen, Highlights and several more – each with its own merits. Yet, time and again, I find myself returning to PDF Expert. Probably because it’s a robustly developed application that always works and steers clear of unnecessary trouble.
Next comes a highly specialised instrument: MaxQDA. It’s an app designed specifically for qualitative text data analysis and is widely utilized within fields like Social Sciences, Sociology, and the Humanities. For me, this software is an incredibly important research tool. Having said that, I’d be thrilled to find a decent non-commercial solution for it. Any leads in this direction would be truly welcome!
Another serendipitous find on SetApp is TypingMind*. Essentially, it is a Chat-GPT ‚GUI on steroids‘. It allows you to predetermine certain roles, along with the setting up of several other elements like output format or tone. Although I don’t use Chat-GPT extensively just yet, I’m actively trying to integrate it more into my daily workflow. So far, I find it the most suitable for writing up abstracts and similar summaries. The future of AI-assisted writing is intriguing, to say the least!
TypingMind offers a lot of usability enhancements for dealing with Chat-GPT
File Management
No change from last year on this front: DevonThink continues to do what it does brilliantly well. A classic case of ‚If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it‘, it persists as a reliable tool in my digital toolbelt, handling my file and literature management tasks with precision and efficiency.
Literature Management
In the realm of literature management too, stability rules the roost and Zotero provides just that. Here again, I have zero interest in the experimentation game. Zotero’s open nature fosters a vibrant community providing solutions to every conceivable problem. Particularly noteworthy is an Alfred workflow by Chris Grieser. Working in tandem with Zotero, it extracts annotated areas from PDFs, transforming them into beautifully formatted literature notes complete with all the relevant data.
The workflow is seamlessly rounded off by a couple of Obsidian plugins – Zotero Integration by MG Meyers and References. The former allows me to access sources from my Zotero database and directly insert them into a text in Obsidian. The latter displays a list of all the cited sources in a document which greatly aids in maintaining an overview. So here’s recognizing the power of a community-driven tool like Zotero and the plugins that make the usage experience an absolute breeze.
Reading
The realm of reading bifurcates into two parts for me: RSS and Read Later. For RSS reading, I’m armed with NetNewsWire for its sheer reliability and speed, not to mention its simplicity. It doesn’t get carried away with itself and focuses remarkably on its core skill set, a trait I find particularly appealing.
Choosing the right ‚Read Later‘ app is a tad more challenging. Last year, I was all in for Matter, until the advent of the Readwise Reader that entered its public beta. I’ve discussed Readwise before and was excited by the idea of having a ‚Read Later‘ app from the same brand, uniting all functions in one place which felt like a winning endgame move.
Long did I utilize Readwise Reader but also frequently found myself frustrated. Mainly because it tries to do too much, and in the bargain, sacrifices vital areas of clarity and speed. This led me, in the final months of the year, to Omnivore, a nod back to the NetNewsWire’s philosophy: executing the core function impeccably and nothing more.
Omnivore is so good that it not only metaphorically blew my socks off but also made me question why I hadn’t discovered it much sooner. Its recent version’s synthetic voices for article readings is uncannily humanlike! Well, such are the ways of life. I plan to give Omnivore a comprehensive introduction in a dedicated article soon. Stay tuned!
Everything else
Raycast
Indeed, there has been a changing of the guards when it comes to launchers. After years with Alfred, I’ve taken a leap and switched to the new ‚cool kid on the block,‘ Raycast. What persuaded me to make the change, you ask? It’s primarily the in-built store that tipped the scales in its favor, where Raycast extensions can be quite readily found and installed. This process was always somewhat more convoluted with Alfred. With its user-friendly interface and simplified process, Raycast has managed to firmly cement itself as my launcher of choice.
Popclip*
Up next is Popclip, an absolutely splendid little utility that populates a small pop-up either above or below the highlighted text, showcasing things you could do with that text. Some examples include the ability to copy, add to OmniFocus, or translate the text. These small but powerful functionalities of the tool can certainly help increase productivity while reading or writing, providing quick options to interact with the text in ways that would have previously taken more time or required additional steps. A small addition to my arsenal of tools, but an undoubtedly impactful one in improving my workflow.
Transloader*
Just an indispensable little tool with a single purpose: to open websites on my Mac when I’m looking at them on my iPhone on the move. Many times you want to read a page in more detail later or compare prices for a product. Transloader reminds me of this by opening the page I’ve just viewed on my Mac the next time I’m sitting in front of it. Indispensable!
Hookmark*
Another little helper that I use for a single purpose. Hookmark can create links for files, which you can then insert elsewhere as a click target. For example, I create links for emails that I then insert into a project note in Obsidian.
Shimo*
And another little tool, which I also found at SetApp. Shimo is simply a GUI for VPNs, but it saves me a bit of typing when I have to log into the VPN for my work.
Timery
Timery just continues to impress me. Of course, I could do my work without tracking it. However, it is a cornerstone of my approach to productivity. I try to balance the various projects in my life and also hit a certain hour mark every week in order to achieve a baseline of weekly work. And Timery helps me with that by getting out of my way. It’s just there and does its job – as it should be. With apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, I can toggle timers wherever I am. And then there is the addition of interactive widgets this year, which makes the app even more accessible. Nowadays, I interact with Timery via its widgets most of the time, be it the lock screen widget on my phone or the desktop widget on my Mac.
Mela
I love to cook and Mela is the perfect app to manage all my recipes. I just love everything about it: from the simple but beautiful design, to the integrated browser for importing dishes, to the ability to plan my meals in advance and write them in my calendar – Mela is just a joy!
— I hope you found some inspiration here! If you would like to try Setapp now, I would be delighted if you would do so via this link. Thank you!
Obsidian is primarily a text-based tool for me. I only use images occasionally, and I’ve also outsourced my PDFs to DevonThink. I take the approach that it often makes sense to use specialized tools and not do everything with one app, even if that’s potentially possible. Drawings and diagrams are a bit different. I need them relatively rarely anyway because I work very text-based. However, I’m currently trying to get into the habit of using drawings a bit more because I believe that complex topics can be understood much better that way.
And that brings us to the topic of visual note-taking. The champion in the Obsidian scene in this respect is certainly Zsolt Viczian, whose plug-ins Excalidraw and Excalibrain I have mentioned here several times. Excalidraw, in particular, is constantly under development and is an impressive tool. I would go so far as to say that Excalidraw is one of the five best plug-ins for Obsidian overall.
As I said before, I rarely create drawings and the like. However, I am interested in handwritten notes, as evidenced by my many articles about GoodNotes here on the blog (1, 2, 3). Unfortunately, I can’t work with GoodNotes in Obsidian. Excalidraw would be the obvious solution here. And to some extent, I have already used it in the past. However, you can see that Excalidraw is not primarily made for handwriting. It works, but the delay between pen movement and the appearance of the strokes on the screen is a bit too long for my taste. This makes writing feel sluggish.
Scribble Helper is a game-changer
This leads me to Scribble Helper, which is a game-changer! Zsolt has built his plugin system (scripts) for Excalidraw that extends its functionality. One of these scripts is the so-called Scribble Helper. If you activate it, a small input field opens in which you can use Apple’s system-wide feature Scribble. This allows you to handwrite in normal text input fields with the Apple Pencil, and the system converts the handwriting into typed text. I love this feature, and thanks to Zsolt and Scribble Helper, it is now available in Excalidraw. It’s true that Scribble also works like this in Obsidian itself, but then you miss out on the great features of Excalidraw.
Installing Scribble Helper is quite simple. First, you should make sure that Excalidraw is updated to the latest version. To do this, open the settings in Obsidian on the iPad, tap on Community Plugins, and then tap on Check for Updates. Once that’s done, a new Excalidraw drawing can be opened. There, you have to look to the top right at the gear icon. If you tap on it, the Scripts Store will open. Then scroll for a while (and admire the many other great scripts or install them right away), and tap on Scribble Helper. The script is now installed.
After that, you can click on the Obsidian icon in the upper right corner of Excalidraw drawings to open the Actions menu. At the bottom, under the heading Downloaded, you will find the just-installed Scribble Helper. The Scribble Helper itself is divided into two parts. At the top is the input field, where you type the text. Typing is also possible, and then you can still use the formatting options. These are in the lower part of the window. There, you can change the text color and set that you can easily open Scribble Helper with a double-tap of the Apple Pencil. I find that very handy. You can also insert line breaks, spaces, links to notes, and delete text.
I still need to play around with the new feature a bit more, but I have the impression that Excalidraw together with *Scribble Helper* could be a real replacement for GoodNotes. Especially the ability to combine handwriting, drawings, machine text and images seems extremely appealing.
Looking for a great source to get an overview of Markdown editors? Hermann Rotermund’s recent article „Workflow mit Markdown“ over on weisses-rauschen.info provides you with an extensive overview. Whether you’re new to Markdown or just not sure which editor to use, this article is highly recommended. It provides an in-depth overview of several Markdown editors, making it easier to choose the right one for your needs.
The article covers various Markdown editors, including Typora, Bear, Ulysses, and iA Writer, highlighting their key features and pros and cons. It also touches on some essential Markdown syntax and provides tips on how to optimize your workflow.
If you’re looking to get started with Markdown or are curious about which editor to use, Rotermund’s article is an excellent resource to check out. Unfortunately, the article is written in German, but in times of real-time browser-integrated translation functionality this should be not a huge issue.
Cortex by Myke Hurley and CGP Grey is one of my favorite podcasts and I eagerly look forward to each episode. Every year, in the penultimate episode of the year, they talk about the most important apps and services they currently use. And then, the always worth reading Mere Civilian also recently wrote an article under that theme. Last year, I actually wanted to do the same, but then didn’t for reasons I don’t remember. This year, however, the time has come. Which apps do I use every day? What has changed in the last year? And where do I see potential for new apps in my life? Let’s go!
I see two trends in my app usage over the past year: on the one hand, I’ve returned to a few core apps that form the absolute backbone of my workflow. On the other hand, there was some real movement for the first time in a while. I discovered a few new apps that absolutely have the potential to be more than just brief love affairs. But one after the other.
Note: I have been a very satisfied customer of Setapp for several years. Setapp is probably already a household name to many, but I’ll explain it briefly anyway. Setapp is basically an app subscription where you pay $9.99 a month and get access to a huge range of high quality apps. Examples are BetterTouchTool, Bartender, MarginNote, or Ulysses. I want to write another longer article on this as well. For now, it suffices to say that I mark apps I get through Setapp with a star in this post. If you feel like supporting me for my work and trying out Setapp, feel free to register via my link: Register for Setapp. I will then receive a small commission. Thank you very much!
Browser
For 11 1/2 months, the browser category was clearly in the first column: Apple’s default browser Safari was set. And why not? It’s a damn good browser. It’s integrated with the operating system, consumes few resources, is optimized for security and has recently added tab groups. So you can store certain websites in a group and preserve them for later. Especially when you work in different contexts, this is quite practical. Everything is fine, you might think.
But then I got a mail from the Browser Company. This is the company behind Arc, a new browser based on Chrome. I had put myself on the waiting list for the beta a few weeks before, and now the time had come. And I have to say that I really like Arc. It’s definitely a browser for power users. Very keyboard oriented. Many good ideas. I particularily like that you can create so called Easels which basically are web canvasses to collect all kinds of website snippets in one place. Here you can see my Easel/collection for some of the books I’d like to read in 2023:
It would lead too far, if I would explain all this here. For that I would simply refer to the page of Arc itself. Arc is certainly not for everyone, but if you like to try a new app, you should give Arc a chance. I have an invitation code here that works five times. So if you are fast enough, you can start right away: https://arc.net/gift/e560c538. All codes have already been used, sorry! There are five new codes, woohoo: https://arc.net/gift/cc0eb3fe.
E-Mails
Here I went the opposite way. I started the year with Mailmate, at least on the Mac. Mailmate is a damn good, very classic mail app that gets to the essentials, but does it very well. The problem is that it’s developed by a single indie developer, and the update pace isn’t terribly fast. Still, I was quite pleased. With the latest versions of macOS and iOS, however, Apple has done quite a bit for its own app Mail, including a much better search and a send-later feature. These innovations brought me back to Apple Mail, simply because it’s easier to use the same app on all platforms.
Writing and Thinking
Obsidian. I don’t need to say much more than that. My love for Obsidian should be known if you look around a bit on the blog here. I use Obsidian for all my work. I take notes, write texts, think in Obsidian. Both for my work as a research assistant, as a PhD student and also for the blog. I hope to write a post this year explaining my Obsidian configuration. The last update on this was quite a while ago and even though much has stayed the same, some things have changed. One important detail is that this year I moved to making Obsidian my task manager. I abandoned OmniFocus for it, as I wrote about in this article. My experiments with alternative task managers were very short-lived and eventually I ended up with Obsidian here as well. I’ll hopefully write an article about that soon as well.
File Management
Again, there is a simple answer and that is DevonThink. I have described the reasons in this post: My newfound love for DevonThink.
Literature Management
Nothing works without Zotero. Everything that is scientific literature ends up there. My library is organized in folders, so it’s very traditional. However, I have moved away from storing the PDFs in Zotero as well. They are now all in Devonthink. There, I copy the item link and add it to the respective entry in Zotero (right click on the entry > Add Attachment > Attach Link to URI) and I have a hyperlink to the file in Devonthink. I like this better because Devonthink is where my files are for me. Other applications like Zotero only use this resource by linking to it. Easy linkability is the key here.
Reading
I have to differentiate here. I use different apps depending on the use case. For a long time now, I no longer get my news via social media, but via RSS subscriptions. My app of choice for a long time was Reeder, but for about half a year now it’s been NetNewsWire. The reason is that I like NetNewsWire’s simple design very much and especially the RSS engine behind it is extremely good. I have subscribed to quite a few feeds and yet the updating is extremely fast.
But that is only for receiving articles. I rarely actually read texts in NetNewsWire. Generally, I send articles I want to read to my read-later app. That was Matter for a long time. A few weeks ago, however, I finally got into the beta of Readwise Reader and here I feel I’ve arrived completely. I’ve been using Readwise (the web service) for a long time and I can’t imagine my workflow without it, because Readwise keeps everything together in the background, as you can read here: Readwise – My new Information Hub?. The Reader is a fantastic addition to my workflow, especially because it allows me to read and mark web articles. The highlights then go via Readwise directly into my Obsidian Vault. It couldn’t be easier. If you want to have a trial month, you can do so via my referral link. This will give you and me a free month.
But then there is the not inconsiderable amount of literature that I am reading for my PhD or for work. If it’s just to get a quick impression of the usefulness of a text, I just do that with PDF Expert. I still have an old license and don’t pay any subscription fees. That’s also quite enough for me and I’ll use the app until it falls apart. But when it comes to really getting through text and making it usable for my own work, MarginNote is the app of choice. MarginNote allows me in a fairly unique way to read multiple documents, mark them up, and rearrange parts of them so that I build up a tapestry of knowledge that I can then use again for my own writing. This is something that classic PDF readers can’t do, but that I need for scientific work. This is another topic I hope to cover in the coming year. For a long time I used LiquidText for this purpose, but recently I was no longer in agreement with the direction of development and MarginNote simply fits better overall.
For literature that I simply read for recreation, I use either the Kindle app or Apple’s own Books app. Depending on where I bought the book.
Grab Bag
Hookmark*
First and foremost here is Hookmark, which until recently was just called Hook. Hookmark is a little helper, but it is very useful for me, because you can link any files with it. Most often I use it for mails. I open a mail, invoke Hookmark and copy a Markdown link to this mail. I then paste the link into a project note in Obsidian, for example, and can quickly and easily access that mail again. It’s the same principle as with the links in Zotero to files in DevonThink. I’m all about speed and simplicity. Of course, I could just search for the mail, but it’s much more convenient to click on a link in a note.
Transloader*
I couldn’t live without Transloader anymore. With Transloader I can open a link on my iPhone or iPad and send it to my Mac. There the link opens automatically the next time I log into my MacBook. I find that incredibly handy because I’m always thinking of things while I’m on the go or I’m searching for something on DuckDuckGo and want to take a closer look at it later. Of course, I could use DevonThink for that, or even a Readlater app. But somehow it’s all too cumbersome for me, and knowing that I’ll just see it again automatically when I sit down at my Mac is fantastic.
Timery
I’ve already written about Timery here and nothing has changed since then. The app is fantastic and has only gotten better with the latest update. Now there is also an app for the Apple Watch, which is very handy when you don’t have a device at hand, but a timer is still running.
Mela
Last but not least, an app that has nothing to do with productivity, but is all the more important for my well-being: Mela. Mela is a recipe app from Silvio Rizzi, the developer of Reeder. I love this app because it is simply a perfectly formed piece of software. You pay once and then you can import all sorts of recipes from various sources, categorize them and customize them with ease. Plus there is a special cooking mode that customizes the interface and many other conveniences. I love to cook and Mela is just the right companion for that.
The tools fit
I feel like I’m in a good place when it comes to apps. Over the years, I’ve been eliminating more and more construction sites in my workflow. Obsidian has certainly played the biggest part in that. In fact, the last major gap was the question of which read-later app I use. Here the answer seems to be found with Readwise Reader. I was only surprised to switch to Arc and thus a new browser. At least for now. We’ll see if this switch becomes permanent, or if I go back to Safari sooner or later. In any case, I’m looking forward to working with my tools again in 2023, because one thing is clear anyway: You have to do the work yourself, no matter how good the tools are.
So… it’s been a while. In the past, I usually aimed for about two to three articles per month. Lately, I was not able to maintain this schedule due to several reasons. Most importantly, I try to focus on my PhD. Then, there was a (much needed) vacation and just a lot going on. And I am not sure that the slower cadence will change any time soon. Sorry!
But enough of the excuses, back to the content: Notebooks 12 (or Notebooks 3 on the Mac) has been released. Notebooks is an app that is comparable to DevonThink or KeepIt. Sort of a digital notebook and document repository in one. I really enjoyed using the app for a while when I took my break from DevonThink. I especially like that the app is easy to understand and yet quite powerful. So if you’re looking for an app like this and don’t really need DevonThink right away, you’re in very good hands here. In addition, the developer is really very nice. I wrote him several times about questions and feature requests and always got very kind answers.
In version 12/3 the most important improvement is now the completely revised link management and the introduction of backlinks. Backlinks have gained immense popularity since Roam Research, Obsidian, and many other knowledge management apps introduced them. The idea here is that in a note, you can also see which other notes link to it. Now Notebooks has that too, which is of course welcome.
New technologies for better link handling
But what I find even more interesting is Smart Link Resolution (SLR) and Automatic Link Management (ALM). Links are a fine thing, but they are also very fragile. For example, if you rename linked resources, they usually can’t be found anymore. The same is true if you move them. ALM tries to fix exactly that and uses the newly introduced backlinks for that. Link targets can be found again and links can be adjusted. SLR, on the other hand, actively searches for possibly matching link targets for links if they (supposedly) do not exist. This is useful in two use cases: Firstly, if you have an error in the link and secondly, you can also specify only a keyword in this way and SLR will then find the correct link target automatically.
All in all, this sounds very promising. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to test the new version and ALM or SLR myself. But my experiences with Notebooks leave me optimistic. Notebooks addresses an important issue here. Developers need to work on more robust technologies for links. The backlink revolution we are currently experiencing in the PKM space is worth nothing if you are faced with a bunch of broken links after a few years. For that reason alone, Notebooks‘ approach is very commendable.
An overview with all new features can be found here: release notes.
Obsidian is an incredibly powerful tool. However, it can be difficult at times, to get a sense of all the information in your vault. This is where visualization comes into play. In this two-part series, I’d like to talk about two plugins that help me greatly in working with my data visually: the Kanban plugin by MG Meyers, and Excalibrain by Zsolt Viczián.
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference keynote is always one of the most interesting dates in my tech year. I love to see what awaits us in the next iteration of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS, respectively. This Monday, it was that time again.
For ages, I’ve been a devout OmniFocus user. Even more so after reading Kourosh Dini’s excellent book Creating Flow with OmniFocus. OmniFocus was an integral part of my productivity system. Most days, OmniFocus’ familiar interface was the first thing in the morning and the last in the evening on my computer screen. One could say, it was the most important app in my life.
However, sometimes it feels like a company is moving in a direction you don’t want to follow anymore. I had this feeling first when OmniFocus introduced its built-in automation engine. Yes, it is an incredible achievement from a technical standpoint. However – how many users need this on even a semiregular basis? It seems to me that this is only used by such a tiny fraction of the user base that it feels more like being developed for themselves and probably a handful of extreme automation power users. Don’t get me wrong, no offense against extreme automation power users. I just think that they have left an approach which is useful to most of their users. I am not certain if this is something that serves them well in the future.
The stroke that broke the camel’s back, though, was the ongoing beta for the new iPad/iPhone version. It is true that OmniFocus looks quite dated and that a new approach is urgently needed. And they delivered on this front: the new design looks way more modern than the old one. And yet, I really don’t like it. OmniFocus always had a busy interface, and I am fine with that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have used it for years in the first place. Unfortunately, the new version tries to look modern, not be modern. It feels like they try to implement a modern interface by using Swift UI, while sticking to too much cruft from all those years.
Redundancy is not a good design principle
It also became more complicated than it has been before. In my eyes, the old design and way of handling things was way more intuitive. Instead of simplifying things, they added complexity and visual overload. For example, why do we need two inspector views, one inline and one as a separate pane? This does not just feel redundant, it is redundant. And except for safety concerns, redundancy is not a great design principle. Also, the new way of displaying Perspectives is not a good fit, in my opinion. I used to use a lot of them because Perspectives are one of the most useful features in OmniFocus. In the new version though, Perspectives are stuck to a scrollable strip, hiding a fair amount of them. Especially on the iPhone, where this strip is located horizontally at the bottom of the screen, most of my Perspectives are not instantly accessible. The list goes on, but I stop at this point.
I tried to force myself getting used to it and to like it for a couple of months, but to no avail. Finally, and with a heavy heart, I decided to quit OmniFocus. I considered several potential successors and landed on GoodTask, a highly customizable client for Apple’s Reminders app. I certainly will write about my experiences and use case at some point. Oh, and don’t get me wrong: I might return at some point, just as I have done with DevonThink. But for now, I have to leave my dear old friend OmniFocus behind. I wish them luck.
Ich hatte DevonThink lange den Rücken gekehrt: zu kompliziert, ständig Probleme mit iCloud und oft einfach zu viel des Guten. Seit kurzem ist die App aber wieder fester Bestandteil meines Set-ups. Was hat sich geändert?
Vor einiger Zeit hatte ich hier auf dem Blog eine Reihe zu Devonthink, in der ich das Programm vorgestellt und auch bewertet habe. Ich habe es damals als mein digitales Archiv genutzt, in welchem ich eigentlich alles abgelegt habe: vom wissenschaftlichen Paper bis zur Stromrechnung.
Über die Zeit haben sich dann die Frustrationen gehäuft, v.a. weil ich immer wieder Probleme mit dem iCloud-Sync hatte. Ob das in erster Linie an iCloud, oder an Devonthink liegt, weiß ich nicht. Fakt war, dass es mich genervt hat. Außerdem mochte ich nicht, dass meine Dokumente in einer Datenbank liegen und damit eine Komplexitätsschicht hinzukommt. Sofern ich etwas mit dem jeweiligen Dokument machen möchte, was Devonthink nicht kann, muss ich es zunächst mal exportieren. Irgendwie umständlich.
Ich habe dann verschiedene Dinge ausprobiert, u.a. die wirklich gute Notebooks-App oder auch einfach alles nur mit normalen Ordnern im Finder zu lösen. Und doch nutze ich aktuell wieder DevonThink. Wieso?
3 Gründe für DevonThink
Der erste Grund ist die eingebaute Künstliche Intelligenz, die mir beim Einsortieren von Dateien hilft. Da ich so ein umfangreiches Ablagesystem habe, war es extrem nervig, wenn ich für jedes Dokument zunächst den (teilweise tief verschachtelten) Ordner suchen musste. DevonThink hilft mir hier enorm, weil es für eine erstaunlich große Anzahl von Dokumenten den richtigen Ordner vorschlägt.
Auch die andere Richtung ist denkbar, gerade im akademischen Kontext. Die KI kann nämlich auch ähnliche Dokumente finden. So könnte man ein Paper öffnen und dann schauen, welche Paper mit ähnlichen Themen man noch so in der Datenbank hat. Ich nutze das relativ selten, aber das muss ja nicht für alle gleichermaßen gelten.
Der zweite Grund hängt direkt mit dem ersten zusammen. DevonThink 3 hat die Möglichkeit, sowohl Smart Folders, als auch Smart Rules zu erstellen. Smart Folders sind gespeicherte Suchen, die alle Dateien in einen Ordner stecken, die der Suchabfrage entsprechen. Ich nutze das gern für einzelne Projekte, wenn ich Dokumente aus verschiedenen Ordnern zusammenziehen muss. Ein Beispiel wäre meine Steuererklärung, wo ich dann einen Smart Folder erstelle, der alle Dokumente bündelt, die mit Papierlos getaggt sind, aus dem vergangenen Jahr stammt, vom Dateityp PDF ist und das Wort Rechnung im Titel tragen. So habe ich schnell alle Dokumente zur Hand, die ich für meine Betriebsausgaben benötige.
DevonThink – mächtig, aber auch komplex (Source: DEVONtechnologies)
Smart Rules demgegenüber nutze ich aktuell noch kaum. Man kann hier Regelsets definieren, die automatisiert Dateioperationen vornehmen. Man kann so beispielsweise eine Rechnung, die immer gleich ist, nach einem festen Schema umbenennen und dann in den richtigen Ordner verschieben lassen. Wer Hazel kennt, wird das Prinzip direkt verstehen. Ich habe das bisher vor allem deshalb noch wenig genutzt, weil ich gern manuell auf meine Dateien schauen möchte, um Fehlkategorisierungen zu vermeiden. Smart Rules sind aber ein extrem mächtiges Werkzeug und ich bin froh, dass DevonThink das kann. Ich glaube auch, dass ich in Zukunft mehr darauf zurückgreifen werden. Man muss ja aber auch nicht jedes Feature sofort nutzen, nur weil es potenziell möglich ist.
Der wichtigste Grund, der mich zu DevonThink zurückgebracht hat, war aber ein ganz kleiner: das Archivieren von E-Mails. Es klingt trivial, aber ich habe einfach keine gute Lösung gefunden, um alte E-Mails abzulegen und durchsuchbar zu halten. Einfach alles in meinem Mail-Account zu lassen, ist dabei keine Option für mich. Ich möchte wichtige E-Mails zuverlässig abrufbar bei mir auf dem Rechner haben, da ich extrem oft Dinge in alten Mails nachschaue. Mit DevonThink kann ich E-Mails entweder per Drag & Drop importieren oder auch einfach per Tastatur Shortcut direkt aus meinem Mailprogramm MailMate. In DevonThink werden die Mails dann im eml-Format abgelegt, werden gut gerendert angezeigt und sind durchsuchbar. Zusammen mit der eingangs erwähnten KI und Smart Foldern ist das für mich eine unschlagbare Kombination.
Nervige Probleme umgehen
Bleiben noch die Probleme und Eigenheiten, die mich ursprünglich von DevonThink abgeschreckt haben, allem voran der Sync über iCloud. Nachdem ich zu Beginn direkt wieder Probleme mit einem unzuverlässigenn iCloud-Sync hatte, habe ich beschlossen, es einfach sein zu lassen. Kein iCloud-Sync mehr für mich! Stattdessen nutze ich jetzt Bonjour, um meine Geräte zu synchronisieren. Dabei kommuniziert mein MacBook direkt mit dem iPad und iPhone. Das geht rasend schnell und ist extrem zuverlässig, da alles im lokalen Netzwerk abläuft.
Außerdem bin ich dazu übergegangen, möglichst viel in DevonThink direkt zu lösen. Das gilt vor allem für das iPad und PDFs, die ich dort lese. Es gibt leider einen schon lang bestehenden Bug im Zusammenspiel von DevonThink to Go und meinem PDF-Editor der Wahl PDF Expert, welcher dazu führt, dass Markierungen nicht zurück ins PDF übertragen werden. Daher nutze ich auf dem iPad nun einfach die eingebaute Möglichkeit für Annotationen, die meist absolut ausreichend sind.
Fazit: Nur das nutzen, was man braucht
Was ist mein Fazit aus diesem Hin und Her? In erster Linie wohl, dass man nicht immer alles auf einmal nutzen muss, was eine App kann. Schon gar nicht bei so einem Funktionalitätsmonster wie DevonThink. Stattdessen sollte man hier behutsam ran gehen und sich an den eigenen Bedürfnissen orientieren. Nicht alles, was theoretisch möglich ist, ist auch sinnvoll. Weitere Features kann man sich auch dann noch anschauen, wenn man an Grenzen stößt. Man sollte nicht künstlich Bedürfnisse schaffen, wo eigentlich gar keine sind.
Und zweitens zeigen mir meine Erfahrungen mit DevonThink, dass man nicht gegen das Programm arbeiten sollte. Wenn ein Feature verbuggt ist, sollte man es einfach nicht nutzen, anstatt sich immer wieder damit herumzuärgern.
Seitdem ich diese beiden Ratschläge befolge, hat sich mein Frust mit DevonThink minimiert, wohingegen der tägliche Nutzen nach wie vor gegeben ist. Und demnächst werde ich mich mal um Smart Rules kümmern!
