I can see how this repetitive process can be quite therapeutic. I’m an advocate for ink note taking because it helps me focus my thought just slightly faster than the speed of the ink coming out of the pen. There’s also a satisfying sense of achievement as you fill in a page. Even the script tells something of an ink-language (like body language) story of how I was feeling at the time I wrote. Inking notes has a chillaxing effect.

However, I too don’t think I could spend the time “migrating notes” between different sections. Or spend the time setting up the notebook weeks/months. I think the process could be easily digitised, still using ink, but using page templates. For instance, you can set page templates for sections OneNote 2016. (Not yet in OneNote for Windows, or the iPad/Android app cousins. Support the idea on OneNote.uservoice.)

I understand the desire to just focus on notes and remove the possibility for distracting notifications. I have been inspired by a few recent articles to turn more of my notifications off and at times, put the notifications in Do Not Disturb.

I just can’t give up the advantages of syncing my notes across devices, being able to copy and paste research and ideas as I work. Though I can totally see the therapeutic benefits, which is why I think digital ink is still important to a key-tapping world.

Darrell as a Service

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Microsoft MVP focused on Microsoft 365, productivity & collaboration. Father of 4, coffee roaster and cook. https://regarding365.com @regarding365