Intro

This workflow has been updated.

In an earlier entry, I discussed how I initially set up my Zettelkasten, using The Archive, Drafts, and Obsidian. However, my workflow has evolved over the last few years. This entry will explain my current workflow using Drafts, Obsidian, and Devonthink, including the capture, curation, linking, and tagging of zettels.

One of the early roadblocks to my Zettelkasten system was the inability of Drafts to save to iCloud. Drafts can now save to iCloud. To capture Drafts to iCloud on the go, I followed this excellent tutorial on the Sweet Setup:. Since I now save directly to iCloud, I no longer need The Archive. I described my Zettelkasten Drafts Template in a previous entry. The concepts are similar although my Drafts template text has changed slightly and the save location is now iCloud rather than Dropbox.

Setup

I've set up my main graph in the Obsidian Folder in iCloud. Within my Obsidian Folder, I have my information separated into folders and subfolders in the following way:

My Zettelkasten Folder is a subfolder within my Obsidian Main Graph. I index (not import) my Obsidian Zettelkasten Folder twice into two separate databases:

I index the entire Obsidian Main Graph into my WritingSync Database. I discussed how I set up my WritingSync Database in my Taekman Writing Workflow 2020 Blog Entry. This is to find similar information across my vast collection of data.
I index only the Zettelkasten Folder into its own database. This is to limit my search to other Zettels related to the current idea.

Notes

When I have an idea for my Zettelkasten, I use Drafts to capture the concept in markdown. The note is auto-tagged as #WorkingNote and saved to the Zettelkasten Folder within the Obsidian Folder on iCloud. The nascent note contains my idea, a verbatim quote, and a link to the media I was consuming when I had the idea for the Zettel. The #WorkingNote tag helps me differentiate notes that I'm still working on from notes I've completed. I tag completed notes #EvergreenNote.

When I get to my Mac (or, in a pinch, my phone or iPad), in Obsidian, I polish the idea. Once I'm happy with the idea verbiage, I fill out the rest of the note. I search first for information in Obsidian that share main concepts with my new note. I add links to the relevant Obsidian files. Then I open the note in Devonthink (in my WritingSync Database) and see what other information bubbles up from my manuscripts, annotations, and lay articles. The relevant notes go under the Citations and References heading. As a side-note, there is a Devonthink plugin for Obsidian called DevonLink, but I've found it imports too many extraneous notes. This is not a failure of the add-on but, instead, is a reflection of the inherent messiness of my WritingSync Database.

I prefer to curate links as I'm building the note. I only add the most relevant links to my new Zettel. I have Devonlink installed but use it mainly for opening the current obsidian note in Devonthink.

Note opened in WritingSync Database. My WritingSync Database indexes a vast array of publications, annotations, and source material. Note the lower right pane where concordance is pulled from my entire library.

Lastly, I link zettels. First, I search within Obsidian for zettels that have keywords from my current note. Then I move to Devonthink. In Devonthink, I have a separate database that ONLY indexes my Zettelkasten Folder. So, as the last step in building a note, I open this database and see which existing zettels correlate with the new note.

Note opened in Zettelkasten Database. Note concordance is limited to other Zettels.

Once the note is complete, I change the #WorkingNote tag to #EvergreenNote.