Hi @julianps , welcome to the forum. I hope we can help clear up your confusion.
Reading your post carefully, I’m not sure I can discover the root question. Here are a few handles I can latch onto from your post that might lead us in the direction of clarity.
This has to do with Johnny wanting to be able to update and expand the contents of the LAS, without requiring you to download a new set of files which would overwrite your local copy. The local copy of the JDEX is intended for taking notes. But adding that ‘open in Bear/Obsidian’ link, you can read the latest documentation on the website, then jump to your own copy of that file where you might have made lots of modifications. I don’t think there have been many updates yet, so this might feel unnecessary so far.
I think the thread Johnny linked to relates to this. The JDEX is meant to be a collection of plain text files in which you take notes for yourself about where things are. It seems like you are confused about how to integrate these plain text files with all the rest of your files, the ‘content’ shall we say. It is possible to mix these together, as discussed in that thread Johnny linked to, but a key principle of JD is that there is a clear conceptual, if not physical, split between the JDEX and the ‘rest’. For the JDEX to work as intended, one must develop the habit of always consulting the JDEX first, rather than going straight to the files.
The rationale is: information can be stored all over the place these days. On your hard drive, in cloud/sync folders, in your email program, in webmail, in corporate collaboration environments, in chat apps. the JDEX is proposed as a location which is under your control, where you can create a structure in which to categorize things, and also record instructions on how to locate information in all those different places. Maybe with hyperlinks, maybe with written instructions. And it also makes sense to ‘do work’ in the JDEX if that simply involves textual notes. E.g. you might keep a worklog in the JDEX entry for a project, but you probably would store more complex documents elsewhere.
Bear/Obsidian/etc. are tools to make working with the JDEX text files more convenient. They provide search, quick creation of new files, and hyperlinking.
So, the idea is not, as it seems you are thinking, to put all your files in the folder where Bear’s notes are stored. Some people use other applications for navigating their JDEX files – think text editors – and then it could make sense to mix the JDEX files in with your local files, in a folder structure following the JD layout. But that’s not required.
hmm. The LAS package is structured as follows:
- a folder
10-19 Life Admin
- a few folders with variants of the ‘text files for your index’.
The ‘text files’ are meant to go in 00-09 System/00.00 System Index. That folder needs to be created by you. The LAS is only a format for Area 10-19, to use in a larger JD system. E.g. you might have separate areas for hobbies, work, etc. The text files would exist in 00.00 alongside the text files for those areas.
I hope the above comments make clear why there is this distinction. You could put them all in the folder structure if you want to just access them alongside your other files with your file manager. A script could be written to do that. Or if there was enough demand, maybe Johnny could provide that as one of the alternatives in the download pack.
I hope these observations give you some handles to ask further clarification questions if necessary.