I know I know, this is yet another note about taking notes and workflow stuff - it usually misses the point. By now I have done several notes on how to deal with Tasknotes in my workflow and Uncreated Notes. But it all really boils down to one simple idea, and the reason I had kanban boards in the first place.
I have ideas. I dont always have time. I want to write down ideas to write about later, with just enough information so I can regain my train of thought when I return to a capture.
01-12-2026 Hot Take Change: REMOVE Captures
This is a bit of a weird choice, but I have been feeling the desire to simplify my workflow for a while now. Tasknotes, while great, is getting really bloated, and the fact that I create an extra note just for context for ANOTHER note makes me feel like Im making myself less productive.
Using an Inbox System is my idea for a replacement. What if instead of doing todo notes, captures, or really any kind of task management for CREATING notes(not reading etc), I just have an “inbox” folder that all new notes go to by default. Inbox notes HAVE to be moved somewhere eventually, whether that be by becoming an Atomic or Junk note, or by finding a place in the Notes folder under a subject.
What is a Capture?
A capture for me is now simply a category of my tasknotes board (called a context) that I can pin notes to. It means I can make tasks reminding myself what to do and write about, and then track my progress on these over time.
Why This, and not just the Todo Tag?
The todo tag is something different. Even though I hate uncreated notes, I feel as though if I create a note which I cannot write about now, I will forget about it and never return. Todo has too much stuff, and mixes notes which have nothing on them with notes that are about half done.
Captures allow me to use the tasks’ own individual note to capture the essence of what I want to write about, wihtout actually creating the note or linking to an uncreated note. It is a very clean way of dealing with it that doesnt clutter my graph with stuff I never return to, and correcly utilizes my philosophy of Tasknotes in my workflow to write information for later that isnt meant to be permanent.
When to Capture/Todo/Task
Capture when: you have an idea, maybe something to journal on, a topic of interest for a project, or a new thing you found which you have to document.
Todo when: you have a well established family of notes, with some that are lacking and incomplete. A good example is my differential equation self study, which has a few approx methods todo’ed, which I plan to redo. Ideally now that we have captures you should never just create a note and todo it.
Task when: you have a general field which you want to investigate/return to. I can’t put all of Game or Information theory in the capture section, so instead have tasks for learning routes you want to take.