What type of user are you? 😃

[Sinacs]

Actually, I’m a bit curious about how you guys use AT. In my mind, I think there can be logically split into two largest groups of users:

1. Note-based users

• They feel comfortable writing notes and documents.
• They try their best to tidy up a page with detailed information and divide it into multiple sections to left, to right, etc.
• They turn everything into notes and documents.
• They use the Type and Set features for categorizing and tracking the status of documents.

This type of user may feel comfortable using tools like Notion, Obsidian, Logseq, etc.

2. Table-based users

• They are not that interested to take notes or making documents.
• They try their best to tidy up a Set’s table.
• They spend most of the time considering the way to set up the Sets and Relations.
• They want to track and manage everything using the Sets and not the notes.

This type of user may feel comfortable using tools like Smartsheet, Airtable, Monday, Clickup, etc.

I’m definitely the second type, so, how about you?

TBH, I’m extremely doubtful that people in these two user groups are evenly satisfied with Anytype. Currently, I think Anytype is more fit for note-based users. On the other hand, table-based users may seem overwhelmed by the lack of some features that they need.

IDK, it’s just a discussion. I’m not mean to judge anything about the AT team or app. Personally, I believe AT is going to be better and better.

[isle9]

I’m definitely both.

[jeffwllms]

I want to say that I am a more of a type 1 person. But I actually feel like anytype is easier to use as a type 2.

I think it just misses a couple things like true daily notes, backlinks more accessible, being able to focus on any block (click on it get a focused view), block level references.

Maybe these are all there but I just haven’t gotten used to the program.

[AnyChris]

Hi @Sinacs

Division into groups

It’s a fascinating question that you’re asking here. I definitely belong to both groups. I guess you are talking about the different purposes of Anytype, then I personally would rather name the groups differently.

1. for personal knowledge management
2. for task management & project management

Subgroups (for the respective area of life)

Now that I think about it, these could then be further divided into subgroups (for the respective area of life).

1. for work
2. for private

Subgroups for various application purposes

In addition, further subgroups can be found in the various application purposes:

1. education: teachers, students, etc.
2. databases for the respective interests: cooking, reading, traveling, watching movies / series, shopping …
3. habit tracking
4. diary writing

… you name it, it’s the everything app !!

Categorisation of notetakers

Regarding your categorisation of people who use certain note taking apps or features of an app, there is an intriguing YouTube video playlist by Tiago Forte on this topic:
Pick Your Digital Notes App: Step-by-Step Walkthrough

There’s also a blog post about this if you’re interested:
The 4 Notetaking Styles: How to Choose a Digital Notes App as Your Second Brain

I found this division relatively good. It also gives a bit of a guide to all the notes apps that have been, are, and will be available.

[Has]

Definitely note-based, but also what about Graph-based user? I like to make sure the links and relations of my pages are interconnected nicely in Graph lol

[sir-coffee]

Table-based user

[Sinacs]

Umm… I think time will drive all users to be the BOTH type like you, but new users who just started using AT should be going with one of them first until they feel familiar with it.

[Sinacs]

I don’t know what feature you require for your daily notes. For me, I only use the @now feature to write daily notes, then I will create a new page for each month. BTW, you can turn them all into objects and create a set for them if you would like to track those content separately.

I was using Logseq before I come to AT, and I write everything in daily notes, such as Ideas, journals, quick notes, todos, etc. Everything is in one place. But in AT, it is much better if you separate everything into different types. I can’t tell which app is better, but AT does make me feel like always having a bath because it made everything tidy in my mind, and I love this feeling.

[C.c]

What type of user are you? (Select up to 3 but please vote conservatively to make it meaningful😉)

• Note based
• Table based
• Graph based

[Sinacs]

HI @AnyChris

@AnyChris

1. for personal knowledge management
2. for task management & project management

Ya, that makes sense. But I think they both have needs for task or project management. The first type is more likely to go with GTD style, while the second type is going with kinds like OKRs, OGSM, etc. So, when both have project management needs, it is not clear enough.

@AnyChris

• education: teachers, students, etc.
• databases for the respective interests: cooking, reading, traveling, watching movies / series, shopping …
• habit tracking
• diary writing

Aha! There are a lot of things floating in your mind! And yes, users actually have a lot of purposes, which is why it would be much clear if grouping them into feature-based naming. You can see most of the items you listed like reading, traveling, and movies. Whatever else, they are all static information, it doesn’t change a lot once it is saved. This kind of information can be handled great with note-based features like interactive linking, keyword searching, version tracking, and tagging. Then, when talking about project management, they are more focused on GTD deadline tracking, and finishing things as much as possible in a possible time, some of them might love features like a tomato timer, focused mode, etc.

When compared to the table-based users, they would highly need a great hierarchy system to organize things, notes are never the priority parts. Most of the data they want to track is kind of dynamic content, its always changes and always required to track. So, the static notes feature will never be a good idea, because they always want to read multiple documents on the same screen/page. Such as OKRs, I think no one would like to separate the O, KRs, and Tasks into three different places to manage. When it is a project, it should be always grouped into a single nested structure which can be much easier to track all related things in a single place.

For me, I really hate to keep switching between multiple pages to update some small details within a project. So, I think this kind of user would mostly look for an easy view to reach the entire all the related information within a specific topic, and it should be enough handy to make small changes to every detail they want. So, that is why they would like features like charts, diagrams, timelines, gantt, dashboard, and table, etc.

@AnyChris

Regarding your categorisation of people who use certain note taking apps or features of an app, there is an intriguing YouTube video playlist by Tiago Forte on this topic:
Pick Your Digital Notes App: Step-by-Step Walkthrough

There’s also a blog post about this if you’re interested:
The 4 Notetaking Styles: How to Choose a Digital Notes App as Your Second Brain

I found this division relatively good. It also gives a bit of a guide to all the notes apps that have been, are, and will be available.

I’m not yet watching it but will be take a look later. Thanks for sharing!

[Sinacs]

I think Graph-based is a kind within the note-based group. Because the Graph feature user are mostly handing statics notes.

[Sinacs]

Yay! Give a five!

[Sinacs]

Hah! Thank you for opening votes!

[jeffwllms]

I think maybe i am just not used to AT. But with Logseq you get daily blocks created automatically.

If you link another page or block to a date it surfaces via backlinks on the daily page.

If I am just logging entries into logseq and can click on any block and get a focused view if just that block. In anytype it seems like the best way is to create a new note object.

I just have to think about things alot more when using AT compared to logseq from a journal perspective. I can just go in logseq and it seems like things were automatically connected.

My guess is these things will come to AT. but I think right now I prefer logseq for straight journaling and note taking.

[C.c]

If only we have local graph view, then we have dynamic management, as well as the logic behind collection-specific relation for showing situational links.

The following example of mine (for a feature request) illustrates how graph view can be used for dynamic notes - one object’s situation with respect to other objects.

@C.c

As an illustration, the following is one of my local graph in Obsidian. If one has to spot another node among this, it is still quite hard… Of course, I could increase the filter; a level 5 depth graph with all display criterion is a non-typical use case. But it is still useful, just a random look and the third level 5 node I found should be promoted to level 3.

[Jeroen]

What about the link/MOC users?

I hardly use the graph, but I do use MOC (maps of content) notes backed up with some sets.

[Sinacs]

@jeffwllms

I think maybe i am just not used to AT. But with Logseq you get daily blocks created automatically.

Yes, you’ve pointed out the keyword “Automatically”! “Automatically”! “Automatically”! This is so important huh? I agree this is what Logseq doing great.

@jeffwllms

If I am just logging entries into logseq and can click on any block and get a focused view if just that block. In anytype it seems like the best way is to create a new note object.

I just have to think about things alot more when using AT compared to logseq from a journal perspective. I can just go in logseq and it seems like things were automatically connected.

My guess is these things will come to AT. but I think right now I prefer logseq for straight journaling and note taking.

Yes, it seems to require a lot more manual steps in AT but I think it will be improved shortly.

Everyone is walking through the same path to AT. You are not alone! I think Logseq is definitely the king in the journal area. It is hard to compare two apps when you focus on only small volumes of core features. But I’m pretty sure AT would be the overall winner when you need an all-in-one system. Automatic is not a big challenge, but AT wouldn’t copy the same Logseq journal experience to you. While AT might not give you the best journal feature, it can still take over all the shortcomings of Logseq and offer you a good journal feature at the same time. New software, new habits.

In addition, do you know you can get the hidden automation workflow after you create filters in Sets? If you apply all the filters correctly from the start, you can easily add new items without having to manually fill in all the categorized relations.

[Sinacs]

@C.c

local graph view

I think it just a graph version of floating TOC feature. When considering an overall app should display many helpful information in one screen in the future, I would use every corner carefully before implementing any new features.

In overall, I’m not a big fans of Graph view in any apps due to three biggest drawbacks:

1. Memory usage
2. Less function
3. The case like this Indicator for the searched object in Graph view

I often wonder if the graph view is one of the most useless and resource-consuming features in the programming world. However, it seems to have a place in the market trends because it looks cool enough. To be honest, I think the calendar is a much more valuable feature than the graph view. But this is just my personal opinion and maybe I’m wrong.

I might change my mind if the graph view could implement more features like batch-node editing, instant relations, quick directory managing, etc. Can anyone tell me what makes you love using the graph view? I’m asking this question very seriously.

[AnyChris]

Each is made/better for a different purpose.

@Sinacs

Umm… I think time will drive all users to be the BOTH type like you, but new users who just started using AT should be going with one of them first until they feel familiar with it.

IMHO it depends on your use case because tracking is better with sets & relations and note taking is better with notes & pages.

The Looks of Anytype

@Sinacs

I was using Logseq before I come to AT, and I write everything in daily notes, such as Ideas, journals, quick notes, todos, etc. Everything is in one place. But in AT, it is much better if you separate everything into different types. I can’t tell which app is better, but AT does make me feel like always having a bath because it made everything tidy in my mind, and I love this feeling.

This is a very figurative use of language. I totally agree with you. I like the aesthetics of AnyType.
But until there is an easy way to self-host, I will continue to use Logseq because of its approach that puts privacy first, even though I don’t like its look and structure.

Needs for task or project management

@Sinacs

Ya, that makes sense. But I think they both have needs for task or project management. The first type is more likely to go with GTD style, while the second type is going with kinds like OKRs, OGSM, etc. So, when both have project management needs, it is not clear enough.

After re-reading and thinking about what you wrote, I understand your valid point. But one could argue, that you can create your own personal wiki or create a project/task management system, without the other. But to take full advantage of Anytype’s capabilities, I would consider using both in some fashion. Simply because one complements/enriches the other.
OKRs & OGSM I had to look up those abbreviations & learnt some things. Thank you for sharing.
Considering that: perhaps I belong more to the note-based users.

Your Answer

@Sinacs

Aha! There are a lot of things floating in your mind! And yes, users actually have a lot of purposes, which is why it would be much clear if grouping them into feature-based naming. You can see most of the items you listed like reading, traveling, and movies. Whatever else, they are all static information, it doesn’t change a lot once it is saved. This kind of information can be handled great with note-based features like interactive linking, keyword searching, version tracking, and tagging. Then, when talking about project management, they are more focused on GTD deadline tracking, and finishing things as much as possible in a possible time, some of them might love features like a tomato timer, focused mode, etc.

When compared to the table-based users, they would highly need a great hierarchy system to organize things, notes are never the priority parts. Most of the data they want to track is kind of dynamic content, it’s always changes and always required to track. So, the static notes feature will never be a good idea, because they always want to read multiple documents on the same screen/page. Such as OKRs, I think no one would like to separate the O, KRs, and Tasks into three different places to manage. When it is a project, it should be always grouped into a single nested structure which can be much easier to track all related things in a single place

ITA.

Your Point of view

@Sinacs

For me, I really hate to keep switching between multiple pages to update some small details within a project. So, I think this kind of user would mostly look for an easy view to reach the entire all the related information within a specific topic, and it should be enough handy to make small changes to every detail they want.

Thanks for sharing your point of view. Did you know that you can open multiple windows in AnyType? So a big screen would be preferable in this case. Unfortunately Split Screen or Tabs (looking at two pages in parallel) isn’t possible yet. Otherwise you can create a table of content to easier find your specific content on a page.

Desired Features

@Sinacs

So, that is why they would like features like charts, diagrams, timelines, gantt, dashboard, and table, etc.

You don’t long for them alone.

[Kerstie]

@Sinacs

I think Graph-based is a kind within the note-based group. Because the Graph feature user are mostly handing statics notes.

I don’t think so. I’m all three. I want everything looking tidy in my ‘folders’ and in my Graph. I sort based on topics, not on whether it’s a group of notes or a group of tables, so yeah, a good mix of both.

I think people coming from Notion are used to combining these two already. Before that, I was using Airtable for my databases and while it’s a good platform for its purpose, there’s just no going back once you’ve learned you can combine it with regular pages and have total control over your layout.

@Sinacs

I often wonder if the graph view is one of the most useless and resource-consuming features in the programming world. However, it seems to have a place in the market trends because it looks cool enough. To be honest, I think the calendar is a much more valuable feature than the graph view. But this is just my personal opinion and maybe I’m wrong.

Graph is very useful if you’re into building connections and prefer it having a visual representation. For example, I like building graphs of all kinds of things — from my family tree to the relationships of the many fandoms that I’m following. Links like that are not as satisfactory to look at in a note or table view.

With Anytype, I can now have all three. (Still migrating and rebuilding my stuff here.)

I agree on Calendar being a valuable feature. Just imagine all the ways you can organize your objects once we have that here.