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Archiving Your Notes

20 December 2004Posted By: Trevor
Posted in: General Tips, Note-Taking, Organization

Hey everyone! I’m back.

So I’m all finished with finals and another semester is behind me. Now if I was using some antiquated paper I’d be filing all my notes and stashing my notebooks away somewhere where I would never use them again. Us tablet users are better able to take advantage of the notes we’ve taken and more easily store them for later use. How should you archive your notes so that you can make the most of them for later?

The first thing to think of when archiving notes is to figure out how your notes are stored. This will vary by the program that you use for your note taking. GoBinder stores your notes in a database file. OneNote stores your notes in a series of folders and .one files. I use MindManager for my note taking, and my notes are stored as discrete .mmap files.

Before I go into how to archive my notes, I should explain how my notes are stored. Within my My Documents folder I have a folder for each class. A handy tip is to use an exclamation point (!) before your class names so that they are always at the top of your My Docs folder.

Within that folder I have all my files for that class. They tend not to be too well organized as I just dump them in there as I am going through the semester. They all have good file names though and I am fairly consistent about that. Here is a folder for my Cultural Psychology course.

As you can see there is a lot of crap in there. I choose not to reorganize my folders at the end of the semester primarily for memory reasons. That is, when and if I need to go back into this folder I want it to look familiar. When I open up this folder six months or a year from now it is going to trigger memories of looking at this folder all semester and I’ll remember what things were what and what was important based on the context. Additionally I use transparent files names such as Lecture 13 or Section 10-13-04 and so it is easy to find. Your results may vary.

With the way I have my folders set up, it is very easy to archive my notes for later use. Also, since my notes are discrete files and not tied to any database, I have an even easier time doing this. I will go into archiving OneNote notes, but I won’t be able to cover GoBinder here.

I do my long term file storage on my desktop. It has basically been regulating to a file server since getting my tablet, but it comes in handy every now and then. I do keep some archives on my tablet, but it really varies on the class. For example I’ll likely keep my archives from my Cultural Psychology course on my tablet but my class on Oceanography I might as well delete right now. Additionally I have my textbook for Cultural Psych scanned in at only 30 megabytes. I can trade 30 megabytes for having an entire textbook at my disposal should the need ever arise.

The bottom line in deciding what to leave on your tablet is this: think about a time when you might need some information right away from a previous course, now think about the cost of not having that information when you need it, and then think of the benefit of having it right there and then. Factor that together with the amount of space you’ll need (likely trivial) and make your decision.

Now for my archives folder. I have one major archives folder on my desktop, which contains files all the way back from my sophomore year of high school. I have a minor archives file on my tablet that contains various courses that are relevant to me and I might need while on the go.

Here’s a pic from my UC Berkeley folder in my major archives folder:

As you can see the folders are organized by semester. So now all I need to do is copy my folders from my classes over into the new Fall 2004 folder. Voila!

Now I’ve got all my notes squared away. I also recommend copy each semester’s material to a CD or external HDD. Digital notes are less vulnerable than regular notes in most ways except that computers are not infallible and one virus or power surge can ruin your day and your notes. Make backups!

Since this article is getting quite long, I’ll go into backing up and archiving OneNote-based notes in a separate posting. Please post any questions or comments you have and I’ll do my best to address them.

It’s good to be back!

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4 Responses to “Archiving Your Notes”

1. uiupohvio Says:
   January 5th, 2005 at 1:16 am

   daertitt

   rukwzui

2. uiupohvio Says:
   January 5th, 2005 at 1:16 am

   daertitt

   rukwzui

3. uiupohvio Says:
   January 5th, 2005 at 1:16 am

   daertitt

   rukwzui

4. uiupohvio Says:
   January 5th, 2005 at 1:17 am

   daertitt

   rukwzui

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