Thoughts of my perfect knowledge base tool

I am dissatisfied

There are dozens of productivity, knowledge management, todo management or media management apps. I will not list them all but we do not present Bear, Evernote, Notion, Obsidian, Pinterest, MyMind, Eagle, etc. All these apps have in common that they do 1 feature in particular very well. I do not know if I am the only one in this case, but I am greatly frustrated not to have 1 single application to do everything, and to have to change environment to have to manage my notes, or my images or my todos, when in the end everything is linked. Having to change environment or tool to manage resources that are all related to the backup / enhancement / bookmark of data, although they are of different types (adds mass friction, cognitive load, gets out of the flow, multiplies the ways to get lost along the way). If I'm writing a note, I'll want to write a quick to-do list, paste a few images that I saw somewhere, or link other notes to get inspiration. This is a problem, I can't find an application or ecosystem that allows me to do this kind of use case very well: having my monitoring linked with my notes and my todos. We enter a paradigm of nested hierarchy where from a tag or content, I must see related content appear and we then enter the theme of the second brain. I think I need to create a tool that allows me, while remaining in the same ecosystem, to easily store everything I think, read, see or hear, using one or more tags without being afraid of forgetting it, and that I can easily find with a search from anywhere.</p><p>Until now, I have not found an application that combines all these characteristics. I don't know why, but getting image and text together in the same place is so complicated.

The challenge of ease to classify inputs

The term "easily" is decisive in this experience. It doesn't simply mean that I add everything I consume on the fly like a brute. It mainly means that I structure my environment in the image of my brain, to be able to find it more quickly.</p><p>I always find myself faced with apps that impose a way of functioning on us. Most of the time, it is up to the user to adapt to the environment and not the other way around. For such a project, it is counterintuitive and counterproductive.</p><p>In this context, the key to the success of an application lies in its flexibility. The more it is able to bend to the way the user thinks, the more they can appropriate it and create an environment that suits them, in which they can flourish. It is not for nothing that platforms like Obsidian, Eagle or Notion work so well, they are the image of their users.</p><p>The tag seems to me to be the simplest way to organize my content. Whatever content enters the application, it is qualified by a tag and then saved. We can imagine smart folders that capture the content if the rule is valid, but let's not go into that kind of depth, it's much too early in my thinking. I need it to become an extension of our brain to avoid the welcome of losing what we have seen</p><p>In summary, I must be able to manage:</p><ul><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>note</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>audio recording</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>screenshot</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>video</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>image</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>task list</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>tag</p></li></ul><p>Associated features:</p><ul><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>create notes, task list</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>link notes, tasks to a project or another type of content</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>auto tagging</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>image compression</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>filter (by tag, colors?, content type)</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>smart folder</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>advanced search</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>save different types of content (reddit thread, tweet, youtube video, post or insta video, URL)</p></li></ul><p>Supported platform:</p><ul><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>ios</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>browser</p></li><li data-preset-tag="p"><p>desktop app</p></li></ul>

Wherever I am

<p>The ease also and above all lies in the context. I need a tool that allows me to put down what I have in my head regardless of the environment and ecosystem in which I find myself.</p><p>Whether we are talking about Obsidian, Notion, MyMind, Eagle or Cosmos, open source or not, we are dependent on their exploration capacity, their speed in making new features without necessarily taking into account what users really need, or at least users like me. (I should put down on paper my own mental schema, linked to this article.)</p><p>This is the direction in which my thinking must be directed both for a desktop environment and mobile, otherwise it makes no sense. Beyond the hardware, and in this specific context, I find that there is a real inability for Notion, Obsidian or others to easily access or add information, from anywhere.</p><p>By the way, recently, the founder of <a href="https://x.com/thomaspaulmann/status/1849748121284132924" target="_blank">Raycast tweeted this</a>, and it's true, I don't understand why apps as powerful and sprawling as those previously mentioned are not accessible with a launcher, an <a href="https://unclutterapp.com/" target="_blank">Unclutter</a> drawer in the status bar or even iOS quick actions.</p><p>We also have the example of Eagle's chrome extension which allows, with a simple drag, to add and qualify content in the application. Apps like MyMind are starting to get into it, but it's still relatively timid for my taste, given the importance of this kind of functionality.</p><p>In 2024, we must be able to add content or work in an application with a simple shortcut, and without having to enter it. We only enter it for a browsing experience. Just like our memory, this kind of tool must be an easy-to-use extension.</p>

The power of the "Share" function

<p>My entire previous point about ease of access is crystallized through the ancestral Share functionality. One of the most important features in my opinion. You want to scroll on insta and quickly share an inspiring reality in an easily accessible bucket when you want to show this reality to friends or just to centralize photos from your library.</p><p>This is perhaps our first starting point. Rather than focusing on how to view a note, it is perhaps knowing how to easily share content to this application.</p><p>I am not going to go into backend and security considerations, but this is exactly what we need. A tool that allows me to centralize what I perceive from any type of platform.</p><p>I need a tool that is not overwhelming when I arrive on the home page. I imagine something like MyMind, where I have my inspirational wall with everything I have recorded. Potentially, I can have pinned items to keep them hyper accessible at all times. I have a formatting adapted to each type of item. If it is a tweet, a reddit thread or a note, I would not have the same formatting, it will be different so as to be able to differentiate between the types of content.</p><p>I am aware that what I imagine that what I have in mind remains for power users, but the naivety of believing that I will be able to destine it to users less experienced with digital and that is precisely my whole point, to make something super accessible, intended for everyone.</p><p>But on the other hand, do people who are not aware of this, not remain in an app by app logic with a note app for notes, an inspiration app for inspiration, etc. Do they really want to have a master app that allows you to manage your project todos among the inspirations and notes? At first glance I would say no, but if we look at what MyMind does, I tend to believe that yes, especially for creative people like designers, illustrators, etc.</p><p>We will see where this new adventure takes us ...</p>