I still use plain text for just about everything, but never thought much aboutwhyI do.
Weve talked about thevalue of plain text to-do lists before.
The short of it is simple: any computer can read plain, simple text.
Plain Text Forces Me to Keep Things Simple
I love organizing things.
I love formatting things.
I love outlining, keywording, and listing things.
Give me multiple notebooks for my notes and Ill give you days of my life building an organization system.
I will then go on to not actually use any of those systems.
What is important is simplicity.
Just give me an empty sheet of paper and a blinking text icon.
How do I find what Im looking for without those organization tricks?
Remember, this is plain text.
Its a simple file format.
Of course, I have some higher level organization too.
All my Lifehacker post ideas are in one file.
Fiction ideas in another.
You get the point.
Its simple, yet a little chaotic, which is exactly what I like about it.
I dont have to divide my brain space into different apps or services.
Plain text is as analogous to a single small creative notebook as software can get.
Your systemwill never be as organized as it could be with the likes of Evernote.
And thats exactly why I love it.
I have todays to-dos right next to an idea for a feature film Ill never write.
My list of ideas for Lifehacker articles is right next to some structural notes about a novel.
Because of this, my brains constantly churning through ideas good and bad.
Abandoned ideas and completed ones live in the same space.
This is great for me.
When my stupid idea for a video game sits right next to my grocery list, everythingfeelsdoable.
Of course, you dont have to go all in like that.
It works on every operating system, and on every mobile machine, regardless of who makes it.
A wide variety of apps can read it.
Youll never run into file compatibility errors.
it’s possible for you to take what you write from one app to another without a thought.
Likewise, plain text will never change.
Text editors may change, but therell always be another, and theyll never all go subscription-only.
This is really important to me.
I use plain text every single day for simple tasks.
I dont need anything getting in the way of me capturing text as quickly as possible.
Ive moved away from plain text in favor of apps in a couple places to help simplify things.
The big move for me was with recipes.
Ive replaced a ton of randomly shackled together ingredients in a semi-organized text filewith the recipe manager Paprika.
Recipe management is a chore with plain text, and Paprika made it enjoyable.
Writing in aformat like Markdown is great for this.
There are also tasks I used to use plain text for that have just become unnecessary over the years.
With services likeSpotify, I dont need to keep a list of music recommendations anymore.
So, nowadays, my plain text files are all related to creative endeavors alongside my to-do lists.
It makes it feel like even my craziest ideas are a little more achievable.
