mirror of
https://github.com/org-roam/org-roam
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71 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
71 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
Org-roam was built to support a workflow that was not possible with
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vanilla Org-mode. This flow is modelled after the [Zettelkasten
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method][zettelkasten], and many of [Roam Research][roam]'s workflows.
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It is crucial to understand that Org-roam does not auto-magically make
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note-taking better -- it's changing the note-taking workflow that
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does.
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To understand more about the methods and madness, the [Note-Taking
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Workflow][appendix:ntw] page contains a page of useful references. The
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author has also written [a post][jethro-blog-post] about how he uses
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Org-roam.
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## Activating Org-roam
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Org-roam's entry point is the global minor `org-roam-mode`. This sets
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up Emacs with several hooks, for keeping the org-roam cache
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consistently updated, as well as showing the backlinks buffer.
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The cache is a sqlite database named `org-roam.db`, which resides at
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the root of the `org-roam-directory`. Activating `org-roam-mode`
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builds the cache, which may take a while the first time, but is
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generally instantaneous in subsequent runs. To build the cache
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manually again, run `M-x org-roam-db-build-cache`.
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## Finding a Note
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`org-roam-find-file` shows the list of titles for notes that reside in
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`org-roam-directory`. Selecting a note title will bring you to the
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corresponding note. Entering a title of a note that does not yet exist
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will create a new note with that title.
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Note that in the above image, the [ivy](https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper)
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completion frontend is used. The default frontend has some usability issues with
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non-matching candidates (e.g. when you want to enter a title of a new note,
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there is no completion candidate), so either `ivy` or `helm` is recommended.
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## Inserting Links
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`org-roam-insert` insert links to existing (or new) notes. Entering a
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non-existent title will also create a new note with that title.
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Good usage of Org-roam requires liberally linking files. This allows
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the build-up of a dense knowledge graph.
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## The Org-roam Buffer
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The Org-roam buffer is often displayed in the side window. It shows
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backlinks for the currently active Org-roam note, along with some
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surrounding context.
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## Exporting the Graph
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Org-roam also uses Graphviz to generate a graph, with notes as nodes,
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and links between them as edges. The generated graph can be used to
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navigate to the files, but this requires some additional setup
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described in the [Roam Protocol][appendix:roam-protocol] page.
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[zettelkasten]: https://zettelkasten.de/
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[appendix:ntw]: notetaking_workflow.md
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[appendix:roam-protocol]: roam_protocol.md
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[roam]: https://www.roamresearch.com/
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[jethro-blog-post]: https://blog.jethro.dev/posts/how_to_take_smart_notes_org/
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