# Start Here The essays on this blog follow one question: why do saved notes so rarely turn into developed ideas, and what would a tool need to do about it? They were written in no particular order. This page puts them in one: first the thinking, then the choice of tool, then the practice. ## 1. How to think about notes Start with the argument the rest of the blog builds on. - **[Stop Managing Notes. Start Developing Concepts.](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/stop-managing-notes-start-developing-concepts)** Why the unit worth building around is the concept, not the note, and what the paper Zettelkasten already knew about it. - **[Why Backlinks Are Not the Same as Relationships](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/backlinks-are-not-relationships)** A backlink records that two notes touched. It does not say how, in which direction, how strongly, or since when. - **[Personal Knowledge Management with Jotaid](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-management-jotaid)** The five skills personal knowledge management named in 1999, and why the fifth, integrating and relating, is still mostly left to you. - **[What Is a Personal Knowledge Engine?](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-engine)** Keeping what you decided apart from what software worked out, so you and your AI agents can both pick up where you left off. - **[AI Should Help You Notice Connections, Not Decide What They Mean](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/ai-notice-connections)** Why the meaning of a connection should stay with you, what four studies say about it, and six tests for AI in a thinking tool. ## 2. How to choose a note app Apps differ less in their feature lists than in what they think a note is. - **[How to Choose a Personal Knowledge Management App](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/personal-knowledge-management-app)** Obsidian, Notion, Capacities and Jotaid organize knowledge four different ways, and a one-afternoon test to find out which suits your work. - **[Folders, Tags, Files, Entities: Four Ideas of What a Note Is](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/four-ideas-of-what-a-note-is)** Apple Notes, Bear, Obsidian and Jotaid store notes in four structures, and the structure decides which questions you can ask later. - **[10 Best Obsidian Alternatives in 2026](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/best-obsidian-alternatives)** Ten apps compared by what each one changes, with prices checked on each official site. - **[Jotaid vs Obsidian](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/jotaid-vs-obsidian)** What the same `[[link]]` becomes in each app, five questions that separate them, and how to use both without giving up your vault. ## 3. How to read what your notes show Graphs and matrices are only useful if you know what to look for. - **[How to Use a Knowledge Graph for Notes](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/knowledge-graph-notes)** What a connection in a note graph can and cannot tell you, and a workflow for using one. - **[When a Beautiful Knowledge Graph Becomes Useful](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/are-knowledge-graphs-in-note-apps-useful)** Several apps' graphs, through their documentation and what their users report. - **[What a Co-occurrence Matrix Can Reveal About Your Notes](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/co-occurrence-matrix-notes)** Seven shapes to look for in a grid of your own concepts, what each one means, and what the grid cannot tell you. ## 4. Why Jotaid exists - **[Why I Built Jotaid](https://jotaid.com/blog/posts/why-i-built-jotaid)** The problem behind the app, in the words of the person who built it. ## 5. Putting it to work The guides at [docs.jotaid.com](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/getting-started) cover how to do things in the app. A few that pick up where the essays leave off: - [Zettelkasten](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/zettelkasten): one idea per note, with concepts as the keyword index. - [PARA](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/para): where projects, areas, resources and archives each land in Jotaid. - [Design Thinking](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/design-thinking): from affinity mapping to insights and "how might we" questions. - [Connect AI Agents (MCP)](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/mcp): let AI agents on your Mac read your notes, read-only, and choose which projects they can see. - [Import & Export](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/import-export): bring Markdown in, and take it out again. - [Free vs Pro](https://docs.jotaid.com/en/guide/pricing): what the free tier includes, and what Pro adds.