Today I got rid of folders
Today I got rid of folders
I was really hooked by Obsidian right from the start. It's one of these things, where you feel the potential electrifying your fingertips. My first few notes were clumsy, as expected, but I also expected it to get better over time. I read something about Evergreen Notes and tried to apply those principles. I still sorted everything into neat folders though, some of which had sub-folders and it felt structured, but it felt like I wasn't getting the most out of Obsidian, not even a fraction. The process of sorting my notes into folders and searching for notes within those folders also became a tedium and I started forgetting about notes, just because I couldn't find where I put them.
Once I watched Nicole's video on the LATCH method, something clicked. I copied her format and adapted it for my use. I established parent-child-links between my notes, created index notes listing child notes via Dataview and today.. today I finally got rid of all folders (except one diary folder). They didn't give my vault good structure, but actually obfuscated information, and once I used LATCH they were obsolete.
What are your thoughts on and experiences with folders and linkage?
Do you have a method of organizing, that you want to share?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
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I started my wiki in TiddlyWiki, which by default means links and search were the only way to find notes. When I moved to Obsidian, I tried sorting everything into PARA-style folders, but… it’s way too much maintenance to mess about sorting everything so I’ve quit caring. I operate exclusively through links and search.
Everything is still in the folders but going back to a mostly-flat folder structure is on my to-do list. Since I’m already not using them to navigate my notes, though, I’m not in too big a hurry.
This is what I mean.
The more folders, the more work it is to sort and find.
The less folders, the more cluttered each folder becomes.
The only sensible solution is to completely move away from manually browsing notes and instead using the built-in search function or index notes.
@laurelinae @surrendertogravity if folders are to exist at all, they should be logical, and almost demand to be created because they simplify things.
I can agree with this. But this suggests that my topic-wise foldering wasn't logical. So what is logical to sort by?
@laurelinae Sorry, I wasn't commenting on your setup!
Just stating that as a general rule, it's fine to have folders if they seem to suggest themselves. It's not a great idea if they feel artificial, and you have to force yourself to use them.
No need to apologize. Thank you for sharing your idea. I'll keep an eye out for natural folders. I think I still have two folders that qualify for this as stated in my post: a diary folder and a template folder.
Personally, I almost wish Obsidian didn’t expose a folder structure - but the program is flexible enough to enable hiding the file browser, so that works for me.
Since TiddlyWiki doesn’t even mess about with the concept of folders, imo that forces users to dive in and really think about how they’re connecting notes through linking - which helps build a sort of mental roadmap through their notes. Roam and Logseq are similar, I believe.