The Curious Engineer

All blogs / Essays / personal

Zettelkasten.de

zettelkasten.de

A Zettelkasten is a personal tool for thinking and writing that creates an interconnected web of thought. Its emphasis is on connection and not mere collection of ideas.

Essays / personalDev tools / editors / IDEs

’15’20’25
Posts
382 from 26 Nov 2013 to 27 Oct 2026
Posting
weekly (75 in the last year)
Kind
company blog
Feed
https://zettelkasten.de/feed.atom

2026 56

  1. How to Turn Note-Writing into Deliberate Mind Training
  2. ctietze
  3. Using GraphViz to Build Complex Models Bottom-Up
  4. 2026
  5. Rambling about Sorites
  6. Anchored Model Layering
  7. Enno
  8. ZettelDistraction
  9. Tomp
  10. romanthekat
  11. Supercharging Long Thinking: What Cal Newport's Notebook Method Leaves Out
  12. Register
  13. Sign In
  14. jameslongley
  15. Regaining Focus With a Deep Reading Practice
  16. Harr
  17. July 19
  18. Sign In
  19. Register
  20. We Need a Gym for the Mind
  21. From Fleeting Notes to Project Notes – Concepts of "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sönke Ahrens
  22. July 1
  23. Balance AI With Mind Training
  24. Stop Merely Pointing at Ideas
  25. Eduman
  26. Sign In
  27. Register
  28. May 26
  29. Amontillado
  30. Let’s Roll the Dice to Have Awesome Ideas
  31. TrekFan
  32. Register
  33. Kaidoh
  34. Sign In
  35. What About Mnemonics?
  36. Why Beginners Have a Hard Time With Simple Advice
  37. Jwa
  38. What and Where is a “Link Context”? Explained Using Citation Conventions
  39. Thai
  40. The Hidden Problem with Note Titles as Links (And How to Fix It)
  41. Register
  42. jtmusky
  43. Sign In
  44. Stop Caring About Your Inbox
  45. FernandoNobel
  46. Understand Thinking Notes to Clear Up Your Workflow
  47. February 9
  48. Should You Have a Note Goal Per Day? How To Quantify Creativity to Boost Creative Performance
  49. norseman
  50. Fuelling My Top 2% Podcast With 15 Years of Atomic Note-Taking
  51. Rewriting Notes Is Thinking Work, Not Maintenance
  52. The Cultivation of Knowledge Is the Objective of Knowledge Work
  53. Marcus
  54. The Friction Fallacy
  55. Gtsimh
  56. Amc

2025 52

  1. December 2025
  2. Universal Questions for Any Note-Taking System
  3. 2025
  4. amahabal
  5. How to Start a Zettelkasten When You Are Stuck in Theory
  6. Register
  7. profCalculus
  8. Sign In
  9. Register
  10. Sign In
  11. December 2025
  12. December 2025
  13. One (and another) Gear in the Zettelkasten Machine: A Deep Dive into a Key Mechanism
  14. Optimal Concentration: Dedicated Sessions Are Your Success Recipe
  15. Register
  16. Sign In
  17. Jregan
  18. pro2type
  19. November 2025
  20. The Tools That Change Us (And the Choice to Change Back)
  21. Register
  22. Sign In
  23. October 2025
  24. The Complete Guide to Atomic Note-Taking
  25. Christoph
  26. Register
  27. Sign In
  28. Michael
  29. September 2025
  30. c4lvorias
  31. The Scam Called “You Don't Have to Remember Anything”
  32. Sign In
  33. Register
  34. September 2025
  35. Incorporating Your Zettelkasten Into Your Writing Workflow (Coaching Video)
  36. Nori, You Do Have a Zettelkasten!
  37. The Principle of Atomicity – On the Difference Between a Principle and Its Implementation
  38. On Developing a Deep Knowledge Work Practice (Comment on Nori’s Blog Post)
  39. Writing with the Zettelkasten in Mind (Coaching Video)
  40. How To Build Your Zettelkasten to Master AI
  41. Santema
  42. lambdaman
  43. Heal From Information Intoxication by Regaining Depth
  44. The Zettelkasten Method for Hindu Philosophy
  45. How to Explore the Depth of an Idea
  46. Nori’s Zettelkasten Journey and Why She Let It Go - An Interview
  47. The Archive v1.9: Hashtag Auto-Completion
  48. Optimize Productivity by Measuring the Mightiness of your Zettelkasten
  49. How to Do Research with The Archive
  50. Field Report #9: Excerpting Instead of Processing
  51. Develop Empathy with your Future Self
  52. The Archive v1.8: Plug-Ins and Automation

2024 22

  1. Field Report #8: How I Process a Chapter of a Book
  2. 2024
  3. Cal Newport vs Zettelkasten – SAD! (Clickbait)
  4. The Collector’s Fallacy and Reward Dependency
  5. WillowAnne
  6. System
  7. Will
  8. Mindscapes: The Zettelkasten as a Thinking Environment
  9. Mindscapes: Thinking Environments in Your Way of Living
  10. Cal’s Books are Salad
  11. The Heist – How to Process a Practical Book Quickly
  12. guxianbang
  13. Strange Loops: Reading a Book on How to Read a Book
  14. Kazi
  15. GraemeWeston
  16. jandamm
  17. fintelkai
  18. sylvaticus
  19. The Zettelkasten in Action: My Book on Habit
  20. The Iceberg Theory of the Zettelkasten Method — Exploring the Depths
  21. Celebrating The Archive Anniversary with Exclusive Discounts
  22. Field Report #7: How I Process “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

2023 14

  1. wbrochs
  2. 2023
  3. Upgrade Atomic Thinking to Holistic Thinking
  4. smoitzheim
  5. DavidWJ
  6. Workshop Announcement: The Zettelkasten Method 101 LIVE Workshop
  7. How to Increase Knowledge Productivity: Combine the Zettelkasten Method and Building a Second Brain
  8. GeoEng51
  9. The Archive: Introducing Image Import for Your Plain Text Notes
  10. Jvet
  11. How to Improve Your Zettelkasten by Learning from Athletic Training
  12. Why the Single Note Matters
  13. Little Machines in Your Zettelkasten
  14. Feynman's Darlings – Or: How Anyone Can Become Brilliant

2022 28

  1. 2022
  2. The Archive 3rd Party Macros
  3. Philosophy of Zettelkasten: What is the Ghost in the Box?
  4. orderinthecourts
  5. The Archive is Ready for macOS 13 Ventura
  6. English Translation of All Notes on Zettelkasten by Luhmann
  7. How To Use Creative Techniques Within the Zettelkasten Framework
  8. crankygeologist
  9. Vinho
  10. Every Step in the Process Must be Knowledge-Based Value Creation
  11. How Value is Created in a Zettelkasten (and Any System of Knowledge Work)
  12. Field Report #6: The Zettelkasten Method Works for PhD Students Very Well!
  13. Analog vs. Digital Zettelkasten
  14. How to Assess the Strength of Claims in Your Zettelkasten
  15. Playing the Zettelkasten RPG Through Arbitrary Constraints
  16. Field Report #5: How I Prepare Reading and Processing Effective Notetaking by Fiona McPherson
  17. How to Integrate Your Zettelkasten with Your GTD
  18. Introducing the Antinet Zettelkasten
  19. Book Teaser (2nd Edition): Improved Diagram of the Flow of Value Creation
  20. Using Cartography as a Metaphor for Investigating the Great Folgezettel Debate
  21. No, I Do Not Underestimate the Power of the Dark Folgezettel – I Embrace Its Source of Power
  22. HuLiHong
  23. Book Teaser (2nd Edition): Flow Diagram of the Zettelkasten Method
  24. Field Report #4: I spent six months using a Zettelkasten to write my thesis. Here's what I learned
  25. The Zettelkasten Method for Fiction IV - Creating Stories
  26. The Zettelkasten Method for Fiction III - Create a Toolbox to Analyse Stories that Live in Your Zettelkasten
  27. The Zettelkasten Method for Fiction II – Collecting and Processing Building Blocks of Story
  28. The Zettelkasten Method for Fiction I – Knowledge is Knowledge

2021 27

  1. 2021
  2. Book Teaser (2nd Edition): Declare Software Independence to Unshackle Your Mind
  3. Live Zettelkasten Session on Dec 10th (Episode 7)
  4. FreezerburnV
  5. Live Zettelkasten Session on Nov 12th (Episode 6)
  6. malkomalko
  7. Live Zettelkasten Session on Oct 22nd (Episode 5)
  8. Sascha
  9. Live Zettelkasten Session on Oct 8th (Episode 4)
  10. Field Report #3: Mini-Workflow of a YouTuber
  11. Live Zettelkasten Session on Sep 10th (Episode 3)
  12. Processing Empirical Studies and Separating the Three Layers of Evidence
  13. Live Zettelkasten Session on Aug 27th (Episode 2)
  14. Live Zettelkasten Session on Aug 13th (Episode 1)
  15. System Crafters Answered org-roam and Zettelkasten Questions in Livestream
  16. org-roam (Emacs Zettelkasten Package) Version 2 Released
  17. RE: Backlinks Should Be Context-Rich
  18. Create Image Previews for Your Notes From Links With This Tool
  19. Field Report #1: A PhD About Writing with His Zettelkasten
  20. Insert a New Zettel Where You Are with Will's Macro
  21. Measure What You Want to Achieve with Your Zettelkasten
  22. Alternative The Archive App Icon Fan Art
  23. Use Case: Investing with the Zettelkasten Method
  24. The Archive: 3rd Anniversary
  25. The Archive v1.6.0: Image Preview in Your Notes
  26. Use Image Capturing to Couple Your Desk and Your Zettelkasten
  27. How to Use Wiki Links for Saved Searches in The Archive

2020 36

  1. 2020
  2. How to Use Tabs in The Archive
  3. First Teaser for the Second Edition of the Zettelkasten Method Book
  4. Backlinking Is Not Very Useful -- Often Even Harmful
  5. Q&A #6 - Plural of 'Zettel'
  6. Q&A #5 - How to write good titles for your Zettelkasten
  7. Getting Started Series
  8. The Archive v1.5.7
  9. All notes are malleable: Strive for permanently useful notes, not permanently unchanging notes
  10. Q&A #4 - Are Zettlers Cat People? Why?
  11. Leave Breadcrumbs on Bookmarks for Your Future Self
  12. Q&A #3 - Some tips on how to write good notes
  13. Q&A #2 - How permanent a permanent note is
  14. Alfred Macro Collection for The Archive
  15. Q&A #1 - How to start a Zettelkasten
  16. Welcome Visitors from Jooble!
  17. PhD Student Reporting What It's Like to Use a Zettelkasten for Classes
  18. Don't Dehorsify the Horse
  19. Brunoc
  20. August 2020
  21. Video Demo: TextMate as a Zettelkasten App
  22. Tying Blogging and the Zettelkasten Method Together for Fast Feedback
  23. Baker and Me -- Joe Pairman Uncovers Universal Principles
  24. seanakabry
  25. Pryley
  26. Zettelkasten Chatrooms
  27. Understanding Hierarchy by Translating Folgezettel and Structure Zettel
  28. The Archive Turns 2 Years Old
  29. Make [[WikiLinks]] Clickable in Marked 2
  30. Piotr
  31. argonsnorts
  32. Field Report #2: Lessons Learned From Processing "Team of Rivals"
  33. Eiff
  34. Emulate Automatic Link Suggestions in Your Note-Taking App and The Archive
  35. You Should Read David B. Clear's Summary of the Zettelkasten Method
  36. Insert a List of Backlinks Into All Your Notes

2019 20

  1. 2019
  2. Beginnings of Bryan Kam's Zettelkasten Journey
  3. mediapathic
  4. "Thinking Outside Experience" - David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 06
  5. "Learning, Fast and Slow" - David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 05
  6. David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 04
  7. David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 03
  8. David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 02
  9. David Epstein: "Range" - Book Processing Ep 01
  10. Some Q&A on the Zettelkasten Method and Student Life
  11. The Zettelkasten as a Lattice of Thought Strings
  12. Trust the Process
  13. The Archive (v1.4) Introduces Multi-Tabbing
  14. The Archive (v1.3.0) Browser Navigation
  15. Breadcrumbs in Your Archive
  16. Three Layers of Evidence
  17. The Archive Turns 1 Year Old!
  18. ∞ Permalink
  19. Cdguit
  20. ∞ Permalink

2018 9

  1. 2018
  2. The Difference Between Good and Bad Tags
  3. The Barbell Method of Reading
  4. April 2018
  5. A Tale of Complexity – Structural Layers in Note Taking
  6. The Archive Has Arrived.
  7. The Archive: Available March 15th
  8. What are Buffer Notes?
  9. Another Win for the Zettelkasten Method

2017 24

  1. 2017
  2. The Next Edition of the Zettelkasten Method Book
  3. Overview Notes and Clickable Links
  4. Come and Visit the New Forum
  5. Image Capturing with the Archive App (Video)
  6. Practical Integration of the Zettelkasten Method: My Deep Work Days
  7. Christian's Impressions of Sascha's Book's 2nd Edition
  8. The Next Edition of the Zettelkasten Method
  9. Book Processing Workflow (Video)
  10. The Archive App – Why We Chose the nv-Core
  11. The Archive App – Introduction to the Introduction
  12. Is Bear for macOS a Zettelkasten Archive Fit?
  13. No Beta Invitation Video Today ☹️
  14. Writing Links
  15. The Archive (Mac app) Beta Invitation
  16. Displaying Flow Charts in nvALT's Preview Window Using Mermaid.js
  17. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 7: Visualizing Branching Off in your Archive
  18. Note Archive for Music?
  19. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 6: Automation, Dumbing-Down, Business, and 2 Idiots on the Balcony
  20. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 5: Automation is Dangerous
  21. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 4: Structure, Structure, Structure. Bringing Order to Your Archive
  22. A Few Website Changes
  23. Using Trello as a Zettel Note Archive
  24. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 3: Collaboration Using the Method, plus Zettel Extraction Demos

2016 17

  1. 2016
  2. Zettelkasten Live Ep. 2: Limits of our Zettelkasten Archives
  3. Reader Question: Why Not Use a Plain-Text Wiki?
  4. This Week's Episode Will be Delayed Until Next Week
  5. The Money Is in the Hubs: Johannes Schmidt on Luhmann’s Zettelkasten
  6. Zettelkasten Live: the Intro Video
  7. How to Not Get Lost in a Book
  8. Where Should My Writing Ideas Go?
  9. Nassim Taleb would love the Zettelkasten Method
  10. Fixed Links
  11. When Should You Start a New Note?
  12. Reading for the Zettelkasten Is Searching
  13. Tag Pages Fixed
  14. Your First Note – Don't Overthink It
  15. Fake Progress
  16. First Draft from Outline – a Compiler Script
  17. Why Luhmann Had to Start a Second Zettelkasten

2015 15

  1. 2015
  2. OneNote Review
  3. Different Kinds of Ties Between Notes
  4. Minimal Writing on the Mac ebook
  5. No, Luhmann Was Not About Folgezettel
  6. Zettelkasten Method – German Edition Now Available in Stores Worldwide
  7. Why You Should Set Links Manually and Not Rely on Search Alone
  8. 4 Use Cases to Determine What a Zettel Should Be
  9. Switching from Zkn³ to a Plain Text Approach
  10. Keeping a Study Log and Extracting Zettel Notes From It
  11. Should You Have One Zettelkasten or Many?
  12. Second draft of the Zettelkasten Method Book ready!
  13. Challenge Report: Writing a Term Paper with Evernote as Zettel Archive
  14. My Morning Routine and Some Thoughts on a Holistic Approach
  15. Take Reading Notes – A Reminder

2014 2

  1. Writing and Publishing an E-book on Leanpub Effortless and in no Time
  2. 2014

2013 1

  1. 2013

Undated 59

  1. Tasks and Goals of my Daily Review
  2. How a Daily Review Routine Improved My Life and Work
  3. On Using Intratextual Tags
  4. Alex Chamessian is Designing His Own Personal Knowledge Management App
  5. Jump to Headings in 1Writer
  6. Publicizing my Challenge Contribution – Plan of the Term Paper
  7. Why Categories for Your Note Archive are a Bad Idea
  8. 1Writer — Access Your Zettelkasten On Your iPad and iPhone
  9. Announcing: the First Draft of the Zettelkasten Method Book in German
  10. You Don't Need a Wiki – Being Content with Your Software
  11. Eco's 'How to Write a Thesis' Available in English
  12. Old Posts Moved to This Blog
  13. My Collector's Fallacy Confession
  14. Use a Real Notebook
  15. ConnectedText Review (and Other Multi-Purpose Info-Managers for Windows)
  16. How to Program Yourself for Productivity and Stop Searching for the Ideal Software
  17. 4 Months In
  18. How to Write a Note That You Will Actually Understand
  19. Getting Up to Speed with Reading about Evernote
  20. DEVONthink as a Zettelkasten Note Archive
  21. The Biography of Sascha's Zettelkasten
  22. Use Idea Indexes for Journals and Fiction
  23. The Two Forms of a Zettel
  24. The Frame of Mind and Routine to Tackle NaNoWriMo
  25. How to Write a Book – Without Even Trying (so hard)
  26. Stop Relying on a Source and Have Faith in Your own Thoughts
  27. A Life-Long Writing Project on Writing – and My Anxiety
  28. Zettel Note Header Automation in nvALT
  29. Racing – A Time-Saving Technique for Your Information Inflow
  30. How I Prepare to Work on a Research and Writing Project
  31. Dealing with Forgetfulness – Introducing Christian
  32. Call Me Ishmael – Introducing Sascha
  33. Composing and Revising – The Two Modes of Writing
  34. Challenge: Apply the Knowledge Cycle to Reading a Single Book
  35. Use a Short Knowledge Cycle to Keep Your Cool
  36. Make Writing a Part of Your Identity
  37. How to Track Your Writing Progress
  38. Include Images in nvALT for a Multi-Media Zettelkasten Experience
  39. How I use Outlines to Write Any Text
  40. Building Blocks of a Zettelkasten
  41. The Zettelkasten Platform – 2 Ways You Can Contribute
  42. SlipBox (Mac) Note Archive Review
  43. Lessons Learned from Losing All Routine
  44. Using nvALT as a Zettel Note Archive
  45. Baseline for Zettelkasten Software Reviews
  46. Reading Habits: Putting It All Together
  47. You Only Find What You Have Identified
  48. Learn Faster by Writing Zettel Notes
  49. Note-Taking when Reading the Web and RSS
  50. Count Your Words to Increase Your Productivity
  51. The Collector’s Fallacy
  52. Preparing Fragments Helps You to Ease Into Writing
  53. Extend Your Mind and Memory With a Zettelkasten
  54. Announcing a Zettelkasten Info Product
  55. Manage Citations for a Zettelkasten
  56. Create Zettel from Reading Notes According to the Principle of Atomicity
  57. Making Proper Marks in Books
  58. Create a Zettelkasten for your Notes to Improve Thinking and Writing
  59. ∞ Permalink