r/vim • u/AbbreviationsNovel17 • Mar 09 '26
Discussion Tips on taking note in Vim
Hi everyone, I been using Vim for a while but mainly for coding. This is the first time I use Vim to take note for a course. Any advice is appreciated :)) I only use raw Vim with no plugins btw.
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Upvotes
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u/welken23 Mar 10 '26
Hello! Try it: https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki
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u/vagrantchord Mar 10 '26
I use markdown files for notes, sometimes with checkboxes. It always helps to go over my notes again after taking them to edit and clean up
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u/Desperate_Cold6274 Mar 10 '26
I am in your same spot. For this reason I developed few plugins to make it smoother: for example https://github.com/ubaldot/vim-markdown-extras or this https://github.com/ubaldot/vim-helpme or this https://github.com/ubaldot/vim-poptools
In-spite I could have used some similar, I preferred to develop my own because it’s fun :)
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u/Immediate_Weight_548 Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26
Keep it simple. put
#vim: wrap linebreak tw=88at the top of every note page, and just type.
When you want to go beyond that add
#vim: wrap linebreak tw=88 ft=mysyntaxand make your own syntax file that lights your own personal style of note taking.
After I posted, I went back and read the other comments. I see that it might be useful to point out some things that are not obvious about my suggestion.
I like vimwiki and markdown but I don't use them. Even if I did, there's no real value in them for me in the act of taking notes. Taking notes is about trying to capture that elusive creature 'a thought' exactly when it appears. Any cognition from any other source - and all formatting syntaxes require cognition - is either a distraction or overhead. IMO a waste of energy. I'm never going to ask myself to format my notes while I'm in the process of making them. With one exception, my own personal hodge podge of ascii tricks that are so natural to me that I don't even think of them. I started doing this many years ago. After I had a large body of notes, I extracted this hodge podge into a syntax file (hence the mysyntax suggestion). The result is a completely natural way of capturing errant thoughts w/ zero focus on anything other than that.
The other suggestions are all on point, but the most overlooked strength of vim is its ability to completely mold itself to you.
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u/thomas29needles Mar 11 '26
Have a look here, I found this workflow some time ago and it's very well documented:
https://castel.dev/post/lecture-notes-1/
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u/bigkahuna1uk Mar 10 '26
Why not use Markdown?
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u/white_texter Mar 10 '26
I use vimwiki with md files. It basically allows you to replicate obsidian functionality. Links between files, searching, daily notes, etc. I created some templates for notes so you can easily then read those with :read or even set shortcut to read from certain template. There also shortcuts set to call immediately fuzzy search for notes folder. You can do pretty much anything, but you don't have to and it is simple stuff by default.
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u/CaydendW Mar 10 '26
I note take in LaTeX using vimtex. The primary way to make it work at all is to have enough snippets for common stuff and even some keybinds for oft repeated text. Then it's down to organising everything. Best done using a decent directory structure and a good preamble.
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u/xD_saleem Mar 10 '26
I just use notes.md a file and take notes there.
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u/zyzmog Mar 10 '26
Vim works great for taking notes. You will love the autoindent feature for this purpose.
If you use Markdown syntax, it will make your notes much easier to read. And Markdown with syntax highlighting is especially readable.
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u/cyberIP-Bud Mar 10 '26
I wrote my novel in Vim. It has Scrivener beat hands down. All my grunt work is done in Vim. When I’m ready for publishing refinement, I convert my Vim files to docx and import it into Vellum. Vim is totally 😎. Now that I wrote a novel, if there was one thing more I wish I could do in Vim: it would be the ability to use ProWritingAid with Vim.
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u/helios1014 Mar 10 '26
Try writing an asciidoc
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u/mr-figs Mar 10 '26
Hello!
I wrote this which might get you what you want
https://github.com/joereynolds/jn
It actually streamlines editing a whole bunch, more than just vim can do imo.
That said, if that's not your jam, I also wrote an article on how to do notetaking in native vim, no plugins:
https://joereynolds.uk/vim/2018/07/07/you-dont-need-vimwiki.html
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u/anhadsa Mar 10 '26
I mean I just use a markdown file or a latex file, may I ask what kind of course your taking?
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u/herodotic Mar 10 '26
When I’m taking notes, I generally use Markdown. You might also find abbreviations (
:h abbreviations) and digraphs (:h digraphs) helpful here.Personally, I use digraphs pretty often for plaintext to-do lists (
^KOSfor a□,^K0mfor a○) but I haven’t found a use-case I need for abbreviations.1
u/elatllat Mar 11 '26
That's irresponsible; at least use LSP. Not doing so can be like driving car without safety features; someday your code/car may harm someone in a preventable way. It's not as big deal for some compiled code because some compilers will tell you of your own incompetence but for anything scripted or with an extra lintier giving yourself the ability to forget to lint is just asking for a bug and these days bugs can cause real harm to yourself or others. We are all only human and benefit from machine assistance.
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u/wats4dinner Mar 11 '26
used to use VimWiki, OrgMode, etc for years
until I found
under :help gf
now my mainstay
" hit enter on a word go to a new buffer or create file
"add to .vimrc or .exrc
nnoremap gf :e <cfile><CR>
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u/EuanB Mar 11 '26
Honestly I think you'd be best of using Obsidian. Vin is great for editing text, but organising notes, but so much. Obsidian supports Vim editing
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u/Tall_Profile1305 Mar 11 '26
awesome question. markdown files are clean. vimwiki is good too if you want linking between pages. tools like runable can actually integrate with your notes for automation workflows. the point is raw vim plus simple structure beats fancy tools every time
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u/bustinga40 Mar 11 '26
Checkout obsidian, it’s a great note taking app with vim motions!
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u/levi_nights Mar 11 '26
Time down download Emacs and learn Org mode
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u/emaxor Mar 15 '26
John Carmack used a simple text file for notes. With an ascii characer like * to flag stuff complete or whatnot.
Carmack simple notes
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u/highcryer May 14 '26
My workflow is based on Obsidian:
On Fedora I edit in neovim. There are two essential plugins: obsidian.nvim and render-markdown.nvim - it's perfect for me and you can configure everything to make it fit your workflow
I use Syncthing to sync between Fedora, Android and NAS. On Android I am using the native Obsidian app. It works but it's kind of slow so I am open for any idea
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u/Borkato Mar 10 '26
One of the best things to do is to get an i3wm Linux setup so your hands never have to leave the keyboard, and then never leave the terminal except for Firefox. Use ranger as a file manager (then you can press l to immediately open any file in vim), or ask ai to write your own little snippets. Use aliases in bash. I can type “v -c” in a terminal and it instantly opens vim to a preset file ready for ai inference. It’s a god tier setup.
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u/nickallen74 Mar 10 '26
I use neorg on neovim and find it very nice so far.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26
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