I mark all documents I want to read with that label (yes, I’m aware of the reading list functionality ).
However, I also wonder what is the advantage of having this as a label, vs. as a tag — i.e., “want-to-read” tag. Therefore, my first question is: where do labels stand out compared to tags…? And how do you use labels?
My second question is: what is this “Chat Suggestion” thing? I’ve clicked it a few times, but I can’t see any effect of it…
In general, I see tags as long term, labels as short term. “Tax receipt” would be a tag, “to read” would be a label.
Tags describe the content, labels the status.
Tags are quite static, labels change
And tags are kind of unlimited, tag colors are not.
Labels are visual indicators applied relative to an item’s name for at-a-glance visibility. And as @chrillek noted, they tend to be dynamic versus the more often static use of tags.
What would be really interesting is if others could post screenshots or lists of their labels. I would like to use them labels, but I haven’t found a structure that helps me, or that I follow and use regularly. So I’d really appreciate to be able to learn from others…
So albg and Lieblingskaro are two companies I’m involved with. Backlinks completion, Abstract writing, and "cut into Zettel” have to do with my Zettelkasten. And the rest is unused, actually. But as I said, this does not help me, I’m almost not using it at all.
Thanks for sharing. That’s always interesting to see how others use the app — I think there is a lot to learn from each other.
A few details about my approach these days: so I definitely was one of the “over optimize this and that” person. I’d use all the shiny new apps, spend hours learning some “productivity” hacks etc. instead of actually doing the real work.
so these days, my approach is instead to rely on the defaults / base functionality and only extend it if I really need it.
for example:
I’m back to use apple notes (with some occasional use of nvalt).
I also don’t spend much time sorting / organizing my tags / categories: instead, I relay on the search functionality to find my stuff.
tbh even after this thread, I decided to ditch the “want to read” label and use the built in reading list in DT.
This approach has brought me so much more joy and happiness over the years and I’m actually reading the things, instead of constantly “re organizing and optimizing”
I only use one label, ever, to indicate updated tax statements, invoices, and the like. Only when a newer document overrides an older one and I want to keep the trace.
Company names always go into the document names here and sometimes additionally in a tag.
If I needed something like your pink tag (“must be tagged”), I’d use a smart group: Less work, since the document will automagically disappear from the smart group as soon as it is tagged. I have to manually remove a label. The same goes for “complete backlinks” (green).
Something like “AKTUELL!” also requires manual labeling and delabeling. I’d probably use a smart group collecting all documents related to “albg” or “Lieblingskaro” that are younger than … whatever time frame is appropriate.
I’m wondering why you decided to do that. I stopped looking at that thing long ago, because I found the interface awkward, and it was too difficult to find or export something. Nowadays, they offer MD export (I read; I haven’t moved to macOS 26 yet), which might remedy the latter point. But them storing everything in an SQLite database from which I can only retrieve it with a lot of brain damage is a no-go for me.
And I do not trust Apple software in general anymore. They’ve let too many things go into bit heaven that were once touted as the latest and greatest. JXA, Aperture, and Automator being some of them, and we can see the same thing with Shortcuts being on dwindling life support. Nowadays, I use Apple software only if it relies on open standards.
I’ve switched back to Apple notes because it’s just good for my sanity — at some point, I have found myself in the loophole where I was mostly tweaking stuff, instead of actually using it in a productive way.
I’ll get a lot of hate for this, but on my journey to productive note taking I even spent time on emacs and vim-inspired solutions. This has only cost me time and energy.
I think apple notes has evolved quite a bit the last few years and for me it does the job done. For a quick jotting I use nvalt. For long term storage all goes into DT.
I still could not manage to find a way to use DT as a primary note taking because simple things as adjusting the font size or image seem to be very difficult.
I for the proprietary format: I once tried an approach similar to what Derek Sivers using, but it was just not worth my time. I’m a happier person now using sane defaults
That’s related to the format you take your note in. MD doesn’t have a notion of image or font size, but the rendered HTML does. As do formatted notes, RTF and some proprietary formats like Word and Pages.
In Notes it is simpler, true.
Good point.
That’s probably a terrible experience for someone used to Apple’s OS. It might not be so bad if you come from another environment and/or are good at typing and remembering a tone of mnemonic short cuts. But even I have stopped using Emacs at all
Both tags and labels are optional. Just because you’re not using them, it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. Forget about FOMO and decide if you really have a need for labels.
And a thought… the label and color aren’t intrinsically tied together. There are times I use a red label, not because it’s To Do, but because it’s very visible. So the color can just be used to make something stand out. It doesn’t necessarily have to match the label name. Unless you’re working in a collaborative setting where everyone agrees to and adheres to specific colors and meanings, you use them how they suit you.
Here is my set up. To Do and Done are extremely ephemeral, as they change all the time, with “Done” really just being to note I did whatever I planned to do with the file in a given work session. Files don’t stay labeled “Done” for very long. In Claude is kind of not used because I have started replicating files to another group in my projects, though the Orange label helps to see on sight what’s been thrown at AI and what hasn’t.
I don’t use the labels functionality at all. Mostly because I already knew how tags worked so didn’t see the point.
As my unread list is always giant (3844 items today ) I have a triage system of tags that denote what’s a high priority etc. They start with a number so that they’re separate from my proper tags.
I don’t tag all inbound documents, but if I know for sure something is high, medium or low priority I will mark it so I don’t forget (“low priority” might seem an odd choice since I also don’t assign a priority at all, but I tend to think “low priority” is lower than stuff not assigned a priority at all. If something gets assigned “low priority” it means I thought it was fun/interesting but it’s really not relevant for me at the moment, whereas stuff with no priority is probably stuff I need but don’t want to spend time on right now).
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) I have a triage system of tags that denote what’s a high priority etc. They start with a number so that they’re separate from my proper tags.