One large note file or several smaller ones?

I have one large note file called My General Notes for writing notes on specific verses over the whole Bible when I am doing devotional reading or study. This file has become quite large and, often, very slow to update. Should I build a note file for each Bible book instead of having the large file? Would this speed things up enough to warrant the extra steps in opening the book's note file whenever I want to add a note? Any other thoughts on using Notes effectively?

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steve clark

Hi Bob,

This file has become quite large and, often, very slow to update.

i think that you may have answered your own question.

Large note files can take longer to scroll through. They can make it more difficult to locate items.

i would copy from your large note files into smaller ones, thus leaving the large one which would do for a backup. Below is a link to a wiki article which might assist you if you decide to do this: How can I copy/move notes to a New Note file

EDIT: i also use Favorites to help me keep track of these note files

Dave Hooton

I have one large note file called My General Notes for writing notes on specific verses over the whole Bible when I am doing devotional reading or study. This file has become quite large and, often, very slow to update. Should I build a note file for each Bible book instead of having the large file? Would this speed things up enough to warrant the extra steps in opening the book's note file whenever I want to add a note? Any other thoughts on using Notes effectively?

From other user's experience:-

keep note files small
keep formatting simple
work with one installation of L4 at a time (to avoid simultaneous sync'ing).

That said, you will need to find a balance between a large number of small files and small number of large files.

Nicky

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/232251#Comment_232251

I found the same problem.. I was doing a verse by verse study on 1 Thess and noticed the notefile started to slow everything up and became near impossible to continue with... why is that?

I've done the same thing too in creating a general notes for comments on certain passages.. but realised this isnt going to work because the note soon becomes larger.. so I'll just end up creating notes for each book.. and then if they get too large, will have to create notes for each chapter I guess.. yowzers.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/232363#Comment_232363

Many of us have been requesting performance improvements on Notes. I sure hope it's on their list of things to do in the next release.

Bruce Fraser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/232421#Comment_232421

Shorter notes is also advised in the Wiki page on how to speed up Logss: look for "Keep your Note & Clipping files smaller" on http://wiki.logos.com/Speeding_up_Logos_4_responses#Keep_your_Note_.26_Clipping_files_smaller.

But it doesn't say what "small" is. Right now, it's a guessing game: "Let's try this, and see if that makes a difference." What would be helpful is some general guideline, such as "If you copied your entire note file into word processor, it should be no longer than nnn pages."

Hmm, nice idea, but it seems like it's impossible to copy the entire note file to the clipboard. All I can do is copy the list of note titles, not their contents -- unless I do them one at a time.

tom

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384201#Comment_384201

Hmm, nice idea, but it seems like it's impossible to copy the entire note file to the clipboard. All I can do is copy the list of note titles, not their contents -- unless I do them one at a time.

If you want to do this, use the print function.

Bruce Fraser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384343#Comment_384343

Hmm, nice idea, but it seems like it's impossible to copy the entire note file to the clipboard. All I can do is copy the list of note titles, not their contents -- unless I do them one at a time.
If you want to do this, use the print function.

Tom,

Have you actually tried this yourself? The Print/Export function is exactly what I was referring to. Here's a screenshot of what I get:

10 pages of the titles of my notes, but not the contents. Furthermore, the menu has options for where to print or export, but no option for choosing titles or full text.

tom

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384370#Comment_384370

Hmm, nice idea, but it seems like it's impossible to copy the entire note file to the clipboard. All I can do is copy the list of note titles, not their contents -- unless I do them one at a time.
If you want to do this, use the print function.

Tom,

Have you actually tried this yourself? The Print/Export function is exactly what I was referring to. Here's a screenshot of what I get:

10 pages of the titles of my notes, but not the contents. Furthermore, the menu has options for where to print or export, but no option for choosing titles or full text.

Print is only going to print what you have showing. You need to expand all before printing.

Bruce Fraser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384377#Comment_384377

Print is only going to print what you have showing. You need to expand all before printing.

Tom,

Ah yes, now I see it: choose "Full" rather than "Compact" near the top. Thanks!

But that leads us back to the main question: it would be useful if Logos gave some guideline: "Your Notes files should not exceed nnn pages in length."

tom

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384384#Comment_384384

it would be useful if Logos gave some

IMHO, what would be useful would be for Logos to provide a halfway decent note subsystem.

For an of examples, if notes were displayed like a normal book (read only), it would speed things up a lot. The user could click on an edit icon and the note would pop up in an editable format. In this format, there would be no background work like syncing or making a link. All of this could happen after the user clicked on the save button.

IMHO, Logos tries to get toooooooo fancy. It might look cool, but it slows down the program to a point that the program is almost not usable.

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384384#Comment_384384

But that leads us back to the main question: it would be useful if Logos gave some guideline: "Your Notes files should not exceed nnn pages in length."

Easier said than done. Guidelines for my little two year old Mac Mini or the latest and most expensive iMac? Slow internet connection or fast? What if I upgrade from 2GB RAM to 8: how much bigger can I make the file then? Many small notes or a few really large ones? Many small note files or a few really large ones? You see the problem...

Also, I don't think they have any real clue what the limits are. At the end of the day developers cost more than computers, so Logos can't afford to pay them for staring at beach balls and waiting for things to happen, like most of us have to. They get nice strong modern computers with fast broadband connection to work and test on, so they never see the problems we have, unless they make a deliberate effort to dig out an older computer and recreate them.

And all in all, I'd rather see them spending a week on improving the code than on testing various combinations of computer specs, connections and files just to see where the limits are.

Bruce Fraser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384448#Comment_384448

fgh,

Very well put. I think that pretty well wraps up this discussion for me.

George Somsel

I have one large note file called My General Notes for writing notes on specific verses over the whole Bible when I am doing devotional reading or study. This file has become quite large and, often, very slow to update. Should I build a note file for each Bible book instead of having the large file? Would this speed things up enough to warrant the extra steps in opening the book's note file whenever I want to add a note? Any other thoughts on using Notes effectively?

Definitely separate smaller files. I have Separate note files for every chapter I study which makes it easy to find a note—If I'm studying Re 4, all I need to do is open the note file labelled "Revelation Commentary 04." If I want my links to the Church Fathers, I open "Alpha Church Fathers." You will undoubtedly develop some note files with very little in them, but the difference in speed and the ability to locate the note easily is well worth it.

Graham Owen

Should I build a note file for each Bible book instead of having the large file? Would this speed things up enough to warrant the extra steps in opening the book's note file whenever I want to add a note? Any other thoughts on using Notes effectively?

I use mix of large files that encompass the whole Bible with smaller ones that cover specific issues, books or thoughts. I know that some of my larger ones probably cause a slow down but choose to ignore this because I don't want to lose the flow of thoughts worrying about the correct place to file something plus I live in the hope that one day notes will just work!

So my view is that the structure you use for notes should be determined by the way that you work best and not the perceived limitations of the Logos implementation.

tom

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/384618#Comment_384618

So my view is that the structure you use for notes should be determined by the way that you work best and not the perceived limitations of the Logos implementation.

[Y]