UOMF: My Current Mobile Capture Process

This is an article from a series of blog postings. Please do read my "Using Org Mode Features" (UOMF) series page for explanations on articles of this series.

One of the most important PIM workflows everybody should have is a quick and easy to use capture process in any situation. My capture workflow is threefold:

1. Capture while I'm working with my Emacs.
   • This is well documented in the manual and you can even see my capture tempates online.
2. Mobile capture by a Hipster PDA.
   • I wrote about that back in 2015.
3. Mobile capture using my mobile phone running Android.

Here, I want to briefly explain my current mobile capture process using Android.

1. Manual: Capture with Android app Orgzly to capture-mobile.org
2. Automated: Sync of the capture-mobile.org file to my desktop and notebook computers via Syncthing
3. Manual: Invocation of a DIY-function my-mobile-org-import() (see my configuration)
   1. Merges individual inbox files from different hosts and appends their content to the combined mobileorg.org file.
      • Separate files (one capture file per capture device) does reduce the sync conflict issues with Orgzly and Syncthing to an acceptable level.
        • If you're interested in the sync-conflict topic, you might want to read that, that or Sacha's take on that topic.
      • Sometimes I still have to "overwrite server file with mobile capture file" to resolve conflicts by duplicating already "inboxed" tasks.
   2. Invocation of org-mobile-pull to get the captured headings to my inbox.org where I work.
      • I am not using the mobile-org Android app any more but I do like the staging model within Emacs: mobile.org → inbox.org on manual invocation.
      • When I'm capturing while working with Emacs, I usually capture to this inbox.org if the template does not have a specific target defined.
4. Doing tasks from inbox.org (remember the two minute rule from GTD or Inbox Zero?) or refile them to different Orgdown files.

I can not emphasize it enough: always make sure that your capture note contains a verb (what to do) and a noun (with what you should do something).

If your capture heading should be the absolute minimum (yes, typing on mobile devices is really tedious), make sure it is a verb and a noun such as "prepare visit" or "finish document". It should never ever be something like "prepare", "visit" or "document" alone. Trust me, I sometimes still fall into that trap myself then I end up with tasks I don't understand a couple of hours/days/weeks later.

Currently, I am using more status keywords in my Orgzly and my inbox.org than I'm using in the rest of my Orgdown files.

My current general keywords are:

• TODO
  • This was once a status for todos that are not relevant for now. I actually don't use this any more because I tend to start with NEXT all the time.
• NEXT
• STARTED
• WAITING
• SOMEDAY
• DONE
• CANCELLED

Additionally to that, I'm using following keywords in my capture process:

• READ
  • I want to read that thing later-on.
• FILE
  • That thing needs to be filed away into my knowledge base or in any other Orgdown file.
• ANSWER
  • That thing requires me to add a comment myself or any other kind of written answer.
• BOOKMARK
  • That should go to my bookmark collection.
• DOWNLOAD
  • Here is something I want to download and maybe archive on my computer.
• COMMENTS
  • I want to read some comments below that article.

As you can see, I tried an approach that frequently used verbs are already in the list of todo keywords. I am not sure if selecting the keyword from the drop-down list is more efficient than writing the verb myself while sticking with a generic NEXT keyword. For now, I'm going to stick with that habit.

Please note that those additional keywords aren't working in my other Orgdown files. Therefore, those tasks need to be done right within inbox.org and not refiled somewhere else.

Mobile capture is one of the most important workflows I maintain. I get ideas in the weirdest situations. Similar to trying to remember that funny dream after waking up in the morning, ideas often vanish very quickly. Therefore, they need to be written down somehow as soon as you get them.

I've got a friend who bought a under-water note-taking set from SCUBA diving just to be able to write down ideas while being in the shower.

Be prepared to collect your precious ideas and tasks everywhere and have a good life!