I've tried every other software system and this is the one I come back to. Invest in getting this the way you like, and it'll pay off better than anything else. Custom agendas, remember mode, Babel export, the benefits just keep adding up.

For meeting notes, or quick todos, sometimes paper makes sense. Treat that paper as queued input for org mode.

For when you have to sit down and really think a complex problem through, high quality pen (fountain for me) and paper that just makes it feel good to write. The tactile feeling really helps nudge more out of you. When you have it figured out, refer to that when planning in org mode.

I use it to store code snippets, prototyping scripts, misc notes that don't fit in my main folder system for notes/todos, query output, and other random items. If the _misc/ directory becomes too cluttered , then I throw most of the items into an "archive_$DATE" sub-directory (inside _misc).

I'm still working on a broader, general organization system for notes, documents, links, todos, etc... (lots of good ideas in this thread). But this works well for more ephemeral project-specific stuff.

I've tried using more complex tools like vim outliner and evernote, but simple text files work better for me.

Latex, markdown, code cells with full syntax highlighting for dozens of languages. File format is JSON based so an entire work notebook can be thrown in version control and shared between a team.

I've tried fancier things like Bear, Evernote, and Workflowy, but keep coming back to the simplicity of nvALT. Evernote is for recipes. Bear is for avoiding rich text editors. Workflowy is for logging research notes.

nvALT is for everything else + kitchen sink.

https://tiddlywiki.com

I used to use it regularly, though my notes aren't generally terribly organized and nowadays I just use disposable legal pads.

Drawbacks: its search functionality seems to miss stuff sometimes, though I haven't figured out why yet. So I'm used to using ag (silver searcher) when I can't immediately find something.

Edit: added cross-platform requirement

I used to use Evernote but privacy changed my mind (can't keep IT Sec notes for clients' systems on 3rd party.

Also tried MS OneNote but it gets to complicated after the 5fth project with 10 sheets each (although the search rocks)

I am now looking into Scrivener, it's a s/w for book writers but it helps keep things structured and you can move around notes, merge etc.

I used to have a TiddlyWiki and then later a Wiki-On-A-Stick http://stickwiki.sourceforge.net/ in my DropBox, but they became a bit awkward to work with as the (non-standard) browser features they depended on for saving got removed.

These days I use Evernote.

https://www.overleaf.com/latex/examples/creating-pocketmods-...

    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    INPUT="$1"
    OUTPUT="$2"
    PAPERSIZE=a4
    pdftk "$INPUT" cat 2 3 4 5 1down 6-8down output "$OUTPUT"
    pdftops -level3 "$OUTPUT" in.ps
    psnup -p"$PAPERSIZE" -d -nup 8 in.ps out.ps
    ps2pdf -sPAPERSIZE="$PAPERSIZE" out.ps "$OUTPUT"
    rm in.ps out.ps

Google Keep is what I use when I need to make a fast note to look up something later with no urgency.

I'll use PushBullet to push a link or something from my phone to my desktop for when I'm back at that device (I have it setup on my phone/laptop/chromebook).

For focused writing, I'll use a vim plugin called Goyo (https://github.com/junegunn/goyo.vim).

I think I'm a bit of a mess but this is actually a refinement of systems. One day it'll be perfect!

I can access OneNote via the web too, so I'm not limited to my Windows workstation for access to my notes (I use two Linux based laptops for inventory and other "on the go" tasks). I think it's one of the best applications to ever come out of Redmond.

Documentation wise, I use Markdown (religiously keeping it to 80 characters) and Pandoc to build any kind of output. Again, I normally just add this stuff to a Wiki somewhere. I've been terrible at keeping this stuff up to date, but for the most part it acts as a good starting point and either myself or someone else in the team can update it.

On a different note, I would be careful about adding content related to work to outside resources (run this by somebody). Personally I like to stay in control and not rely on some relatively small company still being around in 10 years time.

Edit: +1 also for using paper and pen for coming up with ideas, etc. Most things start there for me and then end up being digitized.

It used to be harder to stand it up for personal use, but now it's quite easy.

I write my notes in Markdown, and have fenced code blocks. It provides search. You can do diffs.

It's a simple text file so I can easily search in it. But I use the 'jrnl' python script to help me append to it or view the lasts entries.

I found the practice very helpful, it helps me track the previous days or if I had to stop in the middle of a task but also help my work/life balance.

I usually set aside the last ten minutes of works to fill it. And if I had to leave in a rush I just send myself a mail from the train so I can append it the next morning.

I don't sync it and just leave it on my computer at work.

I usually have this sublime window open in a separate Desktop so it is easy to switch to it.

The best part of searching in Sublime is the speed and the formatting of the results. It opens a "Find Results" tab just like another file, and it accumulates all you're searches there. Very fast and easy to browse.

I use Sublime for notes too, not because I think it's a really good way for taking notes, but more along the lines of the legal pad note takers: I just needed to jot stuff down quickly and didn't want to hassle with anything. I already edit code in sublime, so it's comfortable for me to always have it open.

I always have a window with just my notes folder open, and I make a new file for each day I take notes, named after the day. I do waste some time flipping through files, but there aren't that many to go through, and the search is there to deep dive into the entire history.

Sublime has always been quick to restore anything I haven't saved. On Windows it has a session file in AppData/Roaming or something. I did get bit by running out of hard drive space during Windows updates, and the session file ended up empty. Lost everything in it (unsaved files, open windows/files, searches).

I have found that Sublime is pretty slow with opening files on network drives. I still use notepad++, partially for that reason. I've also had a better time dealing with whitespace characters there, so I use it for random of commands and I/O I'm working with.

> I use Sublime for notes too... I always have a window with just my notes folder open, and I make a new file for each day I take notes, named after the day.

Nice, we've converged on the same solution. I do daily plain text note files, and organize them into weekly folders. I sometimes create multiple per day if I'm working on more than one thing, or I want to dive deeper on one aspect.

For example: "4-12.txt" (the general one for the day), "4-12 Foo Schema.txt", "4-12 Baz Feature List.txt"

Sometimes I'll use markdown files instead of plain text if I want better readability. I'll switch from Sublime Text to the Typora markdown viewer/editor for those files. Typora is a pretty impressive tool as well. The nice thing about markdown that these files are still readable in Sublime, so I can switch between the two tools easily.

When I need to write from my phone or tablet, I use the Editorial app for iOS, which can read and write these files and sync with Dropbox as well.

https://zwischenzugs.com/2017/12/03/how-i-manage-my-time/

Basically, vim and notes in asciidoc on my home server stored in git.

It can synchronise with Own/NextCloud (I don't use that) and/or a local folder full of markdown files (with git versioning if you like).

http://www.qownnotes.org/

I also have my own private visualstudio.com environment - MS Team Foundation Services hosted version. (yes it uses GIT). It has a wiki that uses Markdown.

I have tried other more complicated things but always end up back to basics.

https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz

I have tried everything else. Believe me.