I used Coggle (https://coggle.it) when outlining my setup, it’s basically mindnode with less features and online. I was using 4 devices across windows and iOS, so I had to find something easy to setup and cross platform.
If you are going to call it Megathread, then it needs to go mega
For outlining systems (to include mindmaps) you have the old but still going strong Workflowy. Another newer outliner is Tana. My goto local tool is the outliner app Bike from maker of TaskPaper, another great tool.
Also worth mentioning xMind and another nice local (offline tool) Scapple for mockups and mindmaps.
For notes; nvALT was great but no longer active. The Archive is inspired by nvALT and in active development. I would also mention the amazing iA Writer that I use daily, along with a great text based presenter tool, iA Presenter. Some other good mentions are Typora and Standard Notes. To mention a few…
I’m using Checkvist as an outliner for figuring out my system structure. It’s a web-based, keyboard-centric list / to-do manager that I’ve been using for keeping track of my reading list and other stray to-dos. I might end up keeping my JD index there as well.
A few unique tools that haven’t been mentioned yet:
I’ve been considering tagging all my files using tagspaces. While tagspaces has its own note taking solution, I think I want to take daily notes (e.g. 2024-06-03.md) and then every time I use a file in any JD folder, I tag it with the date of use/access. This way files don’t move, and can be stored in their respective JD ID folder, but then can be used in multiple notes and referenced in multiple ways (e.g. by use-case or even a particular learning from the file if it’s a book). This date tagging system is a way I get out of the tagging trap of having to retro-actively tag new states to all preceding old files. The only states possible are access dates, and it’s an in-the-moment change to be made. Then if I cross-reference my notes quite well, I should be able to surf through tags without having it be a part time job. This would also mean that I can tag a JD ID to the file and regardless of where it moves to it maintains its original intended identity because JD IDs become a status not a location. Just something I’m toying with.
I’ve been considering moving my whole JD system into the cloud with backblaze b2. It’s expensive, but if I only store 1-2TB total, then it’s less than the price of my own electricity consumption + file backup maintenance. If that’s the case then I can backup my NAS using duplicacy to b2 and then mount the b2 drive back to my computer using cyberduck. This would mean that I can then have my files on demand whenever I turn on any of my computers, without my NAS having to stay on all the time. Then I can turn on my NAS once or twice a month to make sure I re-arrange all files as necessary for organizational maintenance/archiving.
Finally, there’s a few classic tools that I think accomplish 95% of personal organization needs with an afternoon’s worth of setup effort:
Tailscale allows the creation of an overlay network between all your computers including NAT hole-punching. This means as long as two computers or phones or whatever you have are connected to the public internet, they can see each other privately across the internet. This then enables…
Syncthing is a file sync tool. It’s open source, high quality and can allow for remote target encryption. Syncthing basically is the answer to the “bring your own sync” category of apps like…
Anything that works with the todo.txt format for personal productivity, the plain text accounting system for personal finance management, the keepass ecosystem for password management. Each of these exist somewhere in my JD system, and I just synchronize their folders on all my devices with the tailscale+syncthing combination.
I second the use of Syncthing, as I mentioned in this thread. I’ve used it previously for syncing and backup of photos, plaintext accounting files like you mentioned, passwords, and most important for JD, my notes app. I use Joplin, which I talk about more in the linked thread above.
I am a Evernote fan for notetaking.
I use Dropbox for files; PDF, GIF, GPEG, spreadsheets.
We are an Apple household. I use a MacBook, and have my iPhone, two iPads, watch and tags all synced. Also have AirPods. My children use iPads and iPhones and have Itags each.
This makes my life so much easier as everything has the same structure and for one who loses their keys and phone multiple times a day, it’s easy to use another device to find them . “Where are your keys?” … “I don’t know, I’ll phone them” … open find my app and set the ringtone! I feel like an absolute genius and legend despite not even designing this eco system and I am far happier and excited about it than the average person!
Mindnode: for overall mind mapping, organization, and brainstorming Bear: so far for quick link dumps to YouTube videos and websites, using #file after ‘share’, then filing in proper JD# later — huge timesaver as I used to save/share the links to my email then get to it later (maybe!!) Concepts: for taking notes during, well anything — webinars, YT videos, courses, live sessions, reading. Prints vector at any size, uses Apple Pencil. Great for note taking on iPad — found it after ‘finding’ notesketching tutorials last year and wished I’d found practice decades ago — also great for brainstorming as notes can be moved around, originally into Venn diagrams, but now that I think of it into a JD planning exercise AITable: alternative to Airtable, just getting into it now but can see the power of it as a DB/SS CMS resource
Hoping to sync all of the above within a JD system I’m just starting to build now
Almost forgot a few timesavers TextExpander: can save from minutes to hours per week in mundane typing. I use it in our business for signatures, how-to’s, forms etc. Keyboard Maestro: just getting into this but it’s like scripting on steroids StreamDeckXL: not sure where I’d be without my Stream Deck on my Mac. From single button access to apps, to multi-function buttons that can perform a series of actions, SD is in constant daily use!
My StreamDeck is one of the best computing devices I’ve purchased over the years — best bang for the buck ever.
I opted for the XL version and even at that I quickly filled up the first page/screen of buttons… followed by the creation of more pages, more profiles and…
— just now — a turned itself on and I got to thinking — holy shamoley!!! — I could create a fully functioning StreamDeck Profile of my JD System
Seriously — this could actually work — JD at the press of a button!!
I found out there’s an iOS app that gives up to 64 streamdeck buttons. I’m wondering if I myself can “click” certain JD modes on to automatically open their notes and folders.
I’ve been using Treesheets for the capture and exploration phases of JD setup. It’s a kind of hierarchical grid (grids nested in grids) which allows for visualising things in two dimensions and playing with the hierarchy.
There are two really interesting features:
changing text size of cells relative to each other (SHIFT+scroll). Allows playing with relative importance, or making children really small (1px) so they don’t take up much space. Really useful for playing with what is a category, area, id etc.
zoom in on any cell (CTRL+scroll). zoom in on a small area, the rest gets hidden, do some work there, zoom back out.
Like all software it has its shortcomings, but for me it worked better than a classic mindmap app.
. “Where are your keys?” … “I don’t know, I’ll phone them” … open find my app and set the ringtone! I feel like an absolute genius and legend despite not even designing this eco system 
— I think I’m on to something here!