{"id":20,"date":"2025-06-11T11:24:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T06:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localblog.local\/?p=20"},"modified":"2026-06-19T23:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T23:23:03","slug":"comparing-productivity-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/productivity\/comparing-productivity-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing Productivity Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-info wp-block-paragraph\">This is a living post &#8212; will update as I go, remember things, explore, etc. As of February 2026, I think I&#8217;ve found what I&#8217;ve been looking for: <a href=\"https:\/\/journalit.app\/\">JournalIt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are way too many articles on the internet about <strong>productivity apps (including PKMs<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"\/blog\/#b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a\" id=\"b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a-link\">1<\/a><\/sup><strong>) with note-taking features<\/strong>\u2013recommending one over another, comparing features, people holding up one app as <em>the solution<\/em> but based on a specific need\/way of working\u2013but I have decided to <strong>document what I&#8217;ve tried<\/strong> because I&#8217;ve spent a lot of time comparing, customizing, and using solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This post doesn&#8217;t have a conclusion, necessarily, as it&#8217;s just a list, but as far as productivity  solutions go <strong>any solution will work as long as you&#8217;re consistent,<\/strong> just like every other solution, and thinking something will work <em>this time around<\/em> despite not working before is very human.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I Was\/Am Looking For<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1\"><strong>Text suggestions (autocomplete\/typeahead): <\/strong>When adding new data, typeahead\/autocomplete\/search suggestions to prevent duplicates by using simple %LIKE% searches to prevent duplicates and to suggest text based on past data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2\"><strong>Templates<\/strong>: Custom, pre-filled forms (e.g., if adding a certain type of task, certain fields are already autofilled\/shown\/hidden)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3\"><strong>Adding relationships between data <\/strong>(goals and tasks, mostly, but could be many relationships between <em>all the things<\/em>): \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4\">Grouped\/hierarchical table view with unlimited levels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5\">Custom views of data in tables<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6\">Arbitrary\/custom relationships &#8211; parent\/child, order (depends on, blocked by, etc.), related, is contained by\/contains, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7\"><strong>Alternate visual layout views<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>graph view of linked objects (like Obsidian&#8217;s graph view)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>hierarchical view<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kanban like board (or Trello-like)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Goal\/objective, habits, tasks (+ subtasks) management<\/strong>: includes tasks with done\/not done, time spent\/tracking, estimates, linking to other objects (e.g., depends on, related to, etc.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8\"><strong>Calendar events (with recurring events)<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9\">With ability to link recurring events and habits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-10\"><strong>Rich text editor for single pages and documents with in-line annotations\/relationships<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-11\">Multi-document view\/tabbed views<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Templates (e.g., sources vs daily journal template)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-dark-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-12\">Document references (like bookmarking words for an index, links to sources, links to other sources, mentions, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tagging\/labels: <\/strong>open-ended categorization<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Predictive text\/suggestions, auto-cat<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things I&#8217;ve Tried<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, I&#8217;ve tried a variety of solutions to collect my thoughts, tasks, ideas, journal entries, events, etc. The below were mostly used on desktop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Apps (desktop + browser-based)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/aardappel\/treesheets\">TreeSheets<\/a> <\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a &#8220;hierarchical spreadsheet&#8221; &#8211; it&#8217;s like nested Excel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>good if you want a no-frills interface, can remember shortcuts, have a handful of tags, and work with data that&#8217;s strictly hierarchical, though, in theory it might also be good for interaction design due to its drill-down nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/icloud.com\/notes\">Apple Notes<\/a> <\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>great for notes only when topics are clear and you don&#8217;t need to cross reference things<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Microsoft <a href=\"https:\/\/to-do.microsoft.com\/\">To Do<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.office.com\/\">Word<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onenote.com\">OneNote<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To Do is great if you only track tasks across a handful of projects\/areas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OneNote is like Word &#8211; advantages are tabs, easier linking to paragraphs, but formatting options are limited and the st<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/drive.google.com\">Google <\/a>Docs, Sheets, Tasks, Calendar <\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>with<strong> <\/strong>custom functions and menus via App Scripts (e.g., syncing calendar &lt;&gt; spreadsheet, collecting\/analyzing Sheets data) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/obsidian.md\/\">Obsidian<\/a> <\/strong>(PKM) \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>learning curve, allows for templates, visual layout<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.notion.com\/\"><strong>Notion<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pretty much a Confluence alternative in terms of templates, embeddables<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/evernote.com\/\"><strong>Evernote<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>notes only<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\"><strong>Trello<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>tasks only<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/airtable.com\/\"><strong>Airtable<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>opinionated, intuitive, enables flexible &#8220;build-your-own-database&#8221; functionality, but extended<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nocodb.com\/\"><strong>NocoDB<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Airtable <em>open source <\/em>alternative (local storage) but fewer features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Favorite feature is connecting to external databases<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/clickup.com\/\"><strong>ClickUp<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>complicated, buggy in certain places, but lots of features<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And of course, <strong><a href=\"\/blog\/#Custom%20Solutions\"><em>custom<\/em> solutions<\/a><\/strong> (my own full-stack applications)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Static (paper, digital)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Custom designed paper planners (using InDesign<sup data-fn=\"59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"\/blog\/#59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9\" id=\"59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9-link\">2<\/a><\/sup> and a printer) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pre-printed planners, bullet journals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>E-ink notebook\/planner alternative <strong>Remarkable<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Custom Solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Code-based<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Full-stack applications<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dockerized Flask + MySQL application<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Extensions for existing solutions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Google Apps Scripts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Template-based (paper and digital)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a\">PKM &#8211; personal knowledge management; solutions are thought of like a brain dump\/second brain&#8211;you put your thoughts, what you learn, notes, tasks, etc., all in one place  <a href=\"#b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9\">I&#8217;ve been using Adobe CS products for <em>years<\/em>, starting back when I thought I wanted to be a graphic designer and still use Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign regularly (I have a lot of hobbies) <a href=\"#59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 2\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a living post &#8212; will update as I go, remember things, explore, etc. As of February 2026, I think I&#8217;ve found what I&#8217;ve been looking for: JournalIt There are way too many articles on the internet about productivity apps (including PKMs) with note-taking features\u2013recommending one over another, comparing features, people holding up one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"PKM - personal knowledge management; solutions are thought of like a brain dump\/second brain--you put your thoughts, what you learn, notes, tasks, etc., all in one place \",\"id\":\"b6bb77f3-4ea9-464f-b09d-498c081dcf0a\"},{\"content\":\"I've been using Adobe CS products for <em>years<\/em>, starting back when I thought I wanted to be a graphic designer and still use Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign regularly (I have a lot of hobbies)\",\"id\":\"59ca704d-6418-4a93-9b4b-e955c20b0ad9\"}]"},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[30,37,39],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity","category-programming","tag-productivity","tag-tasks","tag-todo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanahryding.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}