Managing a large number of notes can be a daunting task. The chaotic flow of ideas, tasks, and notes requires effective tools for organization.

Automatic groups, automatic parent tags, and notes feed cleaning are three key approaches that help keep your digital workspace tidy.

In this article, we will discuss how these features work, their benefits, and potential limitations.

What are automatic groups?

Automatic groups are a feature that allows the system to analyze notes, find those that have common tags, and suggest grouping them together. The group name is usually based on the most popular tag among the selected notes. For example, if you have notes tagged "#work", "#plan", and "#ideas", and the tag "#work" appears most often, the system may suggest creating a group called "Work", which will contain all notes with this tag and related posts.

- How it works

  • Tag analysis: The system scans notes in the feed, identifying common tags. For example, notes tagged "#work" and related notes are grouped together.
  • Create group: The group name is automatically suggested based on the most popular tag.
  • Create a group: The group name is automatically suggested based on the most popular tag. 
  • The user confirms the group creation and moving notes with these tags.
  • Move notes: Notes with the selected tags are automatically moved to the new group

Example: In Apple Notes, the "smart folders" feature allows you to create dynamic folders that automatically include notes with certain tags, such as "#work". The user can set up filters so that the folder is updated automatically.

- Benefits

  • Save time: Automation eliminates the need to manually sort notes.
  • Dynamically update if user gives permission: Groups are updated when new notes with relevant tags are added.
  • Simplify navigation: Notes related by topic are collected in one place.

- Limitations

  • Fuzzy links: If the criteria for "related notes" are not clearly defined, irrelevant notes may end up in a group. For example, a note tagged "#ideas" may be linked to "#work", but be linked to a personal project.
  • Manual approval: To avoid errors, user approval is required before creating a group.


What are parent tags or high-level categories?

High-level categories, or parent tags, are the main tags that describe the essence of a project or group, such as "#work", "#study", or "#personal". In Conoted, all tags are equal, and high-level categories do not imply a hierarchy where one tag is more important than another. Instead, they serve as a convenient grouping of notes within the recommender system, helping the user to organize the information.

- How it works

Assigning categories:

  • Recommender system: Conoted uses AI to analyze tags and suggest high-level categories that best describe a group or project.
  • The user assigns parent tags to groups that reflect their topic.

- Benefits

  • Easy to organize: High-level categories allow you to structure your notes without a complex hierarchy.
  • Flexible: Since all tags are equal, the user can freely combine categories and tags.
  • Collaboration support: Categories help team members quickly navigate project topics.

- Limitations

  • Risk of tag overload: Without hierarchy, managing a large number of tags can become difficult.
  • Requires manual adjustments: Users may need to manually refine categories if automatic recommendations are inaccurate.


Cleaning up your main feed

Cleaning up your main feed is the process of keeping your main list of notes, which is what you see when you open Conoted, organized. The feed is designed to help you quickly capture ideas, and organized notes should be moved into groups to free up space. Unused tags are removed to keep the system clean.

- How it works

  • Moving notes: Once an automatic group is created, notes with matching tags are moved from the feed to the group. For example, notes tagged "#work" are moved to the "Work" group.
  • Removing tags: Tags that are no longer used in the feed (i.e. all notes with them have been moved) are automatically removed.
  • Filters and views: Users can customize the feed to only show new or untag notes, keeping it clean.

- Example

  • Let's say you have notes in your feed:
  • Note 1: "Meeting with Team" (#work, #plan)
  • Note 2: "Project Ideas" (#work, #ideas)
  • Note 3: "Quick Thought" (#ideas)

- System:

  • Finds notes tagged "#work" (Notes 1 and 2).
  • Identifies related notes (Note 3 via "#ideas").
  • Creates a "Work" group and moves all three notes.
  • Removes the "#work", "#plan", "#ideas" tags from your feed as they are no longer in use.
  • The feed becomes empty, ready for new notes.

- Benefits

  • Clean feed: Keeps your feed a place for quick ideas, increasing productivity.
  • Reduces clutter: Removing unused tags simplifies the system.
  • Focus on the current: The user focuses on new tasks.


Why Groups in Conoted?

Groups in Conoted are designed primarily to bring people together. Unlike traditional note-taking apps, where groups can be simple topic folders, in Conoted they serve as a platform for collaboration. Users can:

  • Share ideas: Groups allow you to work with public notes from experts and other users.
  • Find experts: Conoted's social graph ranks users by topic, helping you find experts in your field.
  • Co-develop projects: Groups bring people together around common goals, whether it's a school project, research, or creative endeavor. This feature makes Conoted unique as it shifts the focus from individual note management to collective knowledge creation.

- Conoted offers the following options for implementing the described functions:

  • Automatic groups: AI analyzes tags and relationships, suggesting groups with user approval.
  • High-level categories: Basic tags describing the project are used for filtering and grouping.
  • Feed cleaning: Notes are moved to groups, unused tags are removed with approval.
  • Collaboration in groups: The social graph and public notes support collaboration.

- Recommendations

  • Set up automation for creating groups and assigning high-level categories.
  • Control the process: Confirm the creation of groups to avoid errors.
  • Use groups for collaboration: Invite experts and use public notes to enrich projects.
  • Keep the feed clean: Regularly move notes to groups to keep the feed a place for new ideas.


Conclusion

Automatic groups, high-level categories, and feed cleaning in Conoted are tools that turn a chaotic flow of notes into a structured system. Automatic groups save time by grouping notes by common tags. High-level categories provide flexible organization without hierarchy. Feed cleaning maintains order, making it a place for quick notes. Conoted groups, designed to bring people together, add a social aspect, allowing users to collaborate and develop ideas together. These features make Conoted a strong tool for knowledge management and teamwork.


More information about duplicate notes in different groups:

  • Notes are not duplicated if they appear in multiple groups with the same tags.
  • A note with multiple tags will appear in every group that matches those tags, without creating copies.
  • If a note has a tag that matches one smart group and another tag that matches another, it will be available in both, but will remain the same note.

- How it works

Conoted uses references to notes, rather than duplicating them. Groups dynamically collect notes based on tags, and a single note can be visible in multiple smart groups if its tags match the criteria. For example, a note with the tags #work and #shopping will appear in a smart folder for #work and in a group for #shopping, but it will be one note, not two copies.