What a Digital Zettelkasten Needs
Which No App I’ve Found Currently Offers
I recently wrote a short article about the “best app for my zettelkasten.” And that was a bit tongue-in-cheek. Because it wasn’t really an app.
One reason for that is because the best app doesn’t exist. At least, not for me.
So I thought I’d publish what I would need in a digital zettelkasten to make me transition from my physical one.
There are obvious benefits to a digital zettelkasten. It’s much more portable, you can take it with you everywhere (just as we’re used to doing with our writing tools such as our laptops, iPads etc.) so it makes sense to be able to bring your ideas and idea-generator with you too.
But in order to do that, here’s what I’d need from an zettelkasten app:
Bibliographical Features
Many of my zettels are connected to a book, film, podcast, or whatever, from the outside world. Many of the zettels I have that don’t have that bibliographical link are built off the ones that do, because that’s where my ideas come from: the ideas of others.
For now, I keep my bibliographical data in Zotero, and I’ve got a little automation that lets me automatically insert the citation into Ulysses as I write. So in the…
