Question for those who use Notes in Logos

Reading and responding to another thread made me wonder about how others are using Notes in Logos - and maybe those who use and external note source as well.

First some context. I'm a pastor who highly values the ability to store and then easily access useful information I come across, for teaching purposes. The computer age has made this radically easier for me than it was in the past.

So, when I read books on the Church, Christian living, theology, I will heavily highlight, and occasionally make notes. I then import the notes and highlights into Evernote, and tag liberally. This makes them easily searchable from any computer, tablet, or my phone, at home, at the church, or at a coffee shop where I might be working.

I also do the same thing with illustrations I observe in movies, music, and from life in general. I have them separated into categories, so I can easily get back to particular books, movies, and music, if I want to search that way, but I can also just search across all my notes.

My question is, does Logos Notes allow such things? I know you can make notes and highlights in books, and I presume you can search just your notes, and not your entire library. If you use Notes in this way, how effective have you found it searching your notes (I don't have great success searching other things in Logos)? And, can you make other, unaffiliated notes as well - for things like general illustrations or movie references - and can you make categories? I will confess that I haven't looked at Logos Notes for a long time (and don't have access to my Logos right now). However, I am curious, as it has seemed to me that so many people on this forum seem to really like the Notes feature in Logos for reading material, as well as for Biblical study. I may well be missing something significant.

I would also be interested in hearing how anyone else organizes and then accesses useful information in other ways, if you are interested in sharing.

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Comments

Bryce Hufford

I am also a big Evernote user, so I'm really interested in any workflows people have developed to make their Logos notes work with Evernote. I do know that Logos has been planning to change the way notes work within the program. While I would love for all of my Logos notes to be available in Evernote, i have not figured out a good way to do this. In my opinion, the current notes features of Logos is clunky and inefficient; however, there are some definite advantages to being able to tie notes to Bible text and other books within the program.

Chaoyu-Bian

If you use the tool-thebrain 9 for logos, their note system very efficiency more than logos.

Al Het

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992284#Comment_992284

If you use the tool-thebrain 9 for logos, their note system very efficiency more than logos.

I hadn't heard of "The Brain." What specifically do you like about it?

Jonathan Bradley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992284#Comment_992284

If you use the tool-thebrain 9 for logos, their note system very efficiency more than logos.

So I've just started fiddling with TheBrain, the free edition. Is there a way to attach Logos/Logos files to the workflow of TheBrain, so I can click on a note and have it open to a passage from Scripture or a commentary/book that I take a clipping from? Or is this just for using as a good way to help sort out notes and the such as you go through a passage/book/sermon series, etc.?

Reuben Helmuth

does Logos Notes allow such things?

The short answer is, YES! Though these things are possible in the current (old) notes system, they're easier and better in the new (beta) system. You can get access to the new notes beta by joining this group: https://faithlife.com/logos-notes-tool-beta/activity There's still work to be done on the new system, but the faceted approach makes it already preferable over the old system IMO. So... in the new system:

I presume you can search just your notes, and not your entire library.

The new system automatically associates a ton of metadata with your 'note' and provides a faceted interface for filtering on this metadata. You can, of course, also search the contents of your all your notes within the notes tool.

can you make other, unaffiliated notes as well

Absolutely.

can you make categories?

Yes, you could different Notebooks for different categories (or use tags).

One of the things that are coming to the new Notes Tool 'soon' is "bulk actions" which will allow, for example, adding a tag to multiple notes at once, or moving multiple notes into (or out of) a particular notebook. Another feature I'm really anticipating is an automatic assignment to a notebook.

I'd strongly encourage giving the new Notes Tool a try, especially if you are reading within Logos. Set your preference to the new system, set up hotkeys for your highlights and you're ready to roll! I really like keeping everything in one ecosystem if possible and the new notes just made that so much more feasible.

Al Het

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992678#Comment_992678

Wow. I'd not heard anyone this positive about the Notes system in Logos.

I'd strongly encourage giving the new Notes Tool a try, especially if you are reading within Logos.

Once I get a chance to figure out some other elements of newer Logos, I might look into the notes, given your optimism about it.

I could really see the benefit of making notes in the Biblical text. It WOULD be convenient, for sure. My concern would continue to be whether new versions would keep access to the older notes.

As far as reading resources, I can't imagine making the switch, for several reasons. One is that books I read are FAR less expensive at Amazon. I also can read, highlight, and take notes with my Kindle Reader, instead of trying to read entire books on my computer or tablet. And the searching ability is SO easy in Evernote. I can't search for anything effectively on Logos. However with Evernote, I can easily search just my book notes (or any of the other categories that I've put notes into) or all my notes. I will almost always search several words or topics when putting together a teaching or sermon. Each time, I get general illustrations I've collected for 25 years, quotes, movie illustrations, Bible passage notes I've made, the notes from pretty much every sermon I've preached, as well as book highlights and notes I've made. While that sounds like I might get a massive list of hits, I am rarely overwhelmed by how many results I get. It usually takes me only a minute or two to work through all of them, and find anything that might be useful. I can't count the number of times that I searched, intending to use a specific note or illustration I was thinking of, only to find one or more other things that fit better.

Anyway, thanks for replying here. It is good to hear that the new Note system is much more effective and useful.

Fred Littlefield

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992284#Comment_992284

Removed

Fred Littlefield

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992657#Comment_992657

Jon

In TheBrain 8 there was. Now in TheBrain 9 they restructured to get away from Java so now it won't handle local URL as well such as OneNote and Logos URLs. They say that they are working on it but it has been a year since I asked about it and it hasn't happened yet. I still store the local URLs on the note page in the hope that someday they will make them work locally. Everything is a WIP (Work In Progress). I love TheBrain for so many other things as well. They are like Logos, far ahead of their competition.