Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples

by David Kadavy

Unlike a card-catalog in an old library, the purpose of a Zettelkasten is not to find an individual note, but rather to explore the connections amongst notes.

But the proper way to take notes is not to copy things word-for-word (except in the case of exact quotes). Instead, you re-write it in your own words, which is even more powerful. Second, you don't write down everything you read. You only write down the important things: Things that are interesting, relevant to your work, or that you otherwise want to retain.

Re-writing passages, choosing keywords, and linking notes to one another all cause you to think associatively. Thinking associatively has been shown to improve mood, so that explains why note-taking is deceptively fun.

Books: As I read an ebook, I make highlights (fleeting notes). I later export those highlights to plain text and keep them in my "Inbox," so I know they need to be processed. I condense those highlights into a literature note. I make permanent notes for each of the most interesting ideas. I store the highlights I exported in my "Raw" folder. Conversations: Over dinner, a friend tells me about an interesting story. I make a fleeting note in my pocket notebook. I later look up the story, and make a permanent note about it. Podcasts: While listening to a podcast, I hear a great quote. In a notes app on my phone, I jot down a rough timecode, and a two-word description of what the quote is about. I later re-listen to that part of the conversation, and capture the exact quote in a permanent note.

The purpose of a fleeting note is to say, "here's something interesting I might want to remember or refer to some day." You need to record just enough information to later decide whether you want to turn your fleeting note into a literature note, permanent note, or someday/maybe.

Literature notes are informal summaries you write about a piece of media you've consumed.

To write literature notes, you have to think about what you learned, and how you might explain it to a friend (or your future self). This helps you remember the material better than you would otherwise.

Permanent notes are explanations of a single idea, annotated with metadata about the subject of the note, other notes that note is related to, and the source of the note. You usually write permanent notes using literature notes as your source. You take only the most important ideas from your literature notes, and turn them into singular notes you can connect with other notes. Once you have many permanent notes, you can construct a rough draft for an entire article or book.

Highlight the highlights

Now take only the most interesting ideas from the literature notes, and turn each into individual permanent notes. Permanent notes should have one idea per note.

The way people choose their keywords shows clearly if they think like an archivist or a writer. Do they wonder where to store a note or how to retrieve it? The archivist asks: Which keyword is the most fitting? A writer asks: In which circumstances will I want to stumble upon this note, even if I forget about it? It is a crucial difference.