My Best Tips for Structuring Capacities- Objects, Collections and Tags
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- Опубликовано: 1 май 2023
- Capacities is the note-taking app that will revolutionise your note-taking... but how do best structure it? Here are my best tips.
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Beth, another thought (from someone who is 67yo and has been managing personal knowledge systems from card index to digital). The more you classify the less useful the information - unless you are burying it in a vault for ever more. If you are creating an archive in 2023 this borders on wasting time - the Internet is your archive. If you are looking to create ideas and new thoughts from a specialist collection - then spend less time and effort on storing classified information and more time (or all the time) on seeking relationships from that information.
Hi Harry! I actually don’t solely focus on constantly creating new ideas and new thoughts. That’s one element of my PKM sure but a lot of my PKM practice *is* about creating an archive that is specialised for my brain and that will allow me to find info later in a way that make sense to me about all my interests. I don’t see this as wasting time, it’s my favourite thing to do!
@@PKM_Beth whatever the need, even if archiving, I have everything flat (no classifications) only tags are [wip] work-in-progress and [todo] ... and when completed I detag and the item goes back in the ocean of knowledge. The only way I can see what I have used is searching references in the work that I produce
Well said
My counterpoint to using the internet as your archive, is that the Internet decays. Articles are removed from websites, websites disappear, DMCAs and legal threats can remove things. We even see movies and TV series being destroyed by media companies.
Key things should be stored locally. Set up a NAS or at least an external SSD to store things. The Internet Archive is a fantastic resource however, media aggregators and corporations are trying to attack them as well.
Download important things as PDF documents and store locally, with a weblink or bookmark to the original source--but beware of legal entropy.
I agree with Harry, one of the reasons I switched from Notion as a PKM tool. Capacities, similar to Evernote has a powerful search engine so I can always find what I am looking for. Even using tags will help me find what I am looking for in Capacities. Capacities advertises itself as "a studio for your mind" and Tiago Forte the main pioneer of the concept of using pkm tools as a second brain, discusses in depth the idea of using your second brain so you don't have to remember and use your actual brain for creating. Capacities has the ability to help you remember things easily and create.
This has saved me a ton of time and thought. I had just started using Capacities and after seeing this video picked up paper and pen to work out best object types and categories to set up, rather than muddle along in the app. Immediately I am finding it much easier to organise my notes in a way that works with my way of thinking. Many thanks and keep up the good work!
I'm so pleased to hear this! thank you.
Thank a lot for this Beth ! For as long as I've been looking for a happy medium between notion and obsidian
No problem! I think Capacities could be just that for many people :)
This was wonderful. I'm coming from a long, unsuccessful path through other apps but Capacities has just made so many good design decisions, it contains a lot of right choices from others while having unique implementation. That said, I developed habits that might work for something like Obsidian but are superfluous here. Your explanation of tags was immediately helpful. I'm going to check out your website and subscribed, will hopefully develop more useful questions but do hope you continue creating. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this feedback!! I’m so glad it was useful. I have a new website launching later this month which should provide more value and tips over time. Glad you are liking Capacities!
Thank you Beth. Your videos on Capacities are super helpful. I might just give this program a try. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions :)
This was really useful! I’d love more on the single and multiple select properties. Can’t seem to wrap my head around them. Keep up the good work! It’s nice having someone putting content out there on capacities!
Thanks Lindsey! Do you mean when to use single and when to use multi-select? :)
@@PKM_Beth yes! I'd like to know more about that functionality in general and how to best use it! Thanks for these videos!
Wonderful. Even though the structure you have created is meant for capacities, it is a good overall object lesson, no pun, in creating relationships of desperate data. I can see someone working backwards from your set up and invoking it in obsidian, not that I would prefer that. I have not tried capacities and now I am on a discovery tour to find out how portable the app is. Great work and thank you
Wow thank you, I'm so glad to hear it has use outside of Capacities too! Let me know if you have any questions at any point. Always happy to chat Capacities :)
Thanks for this video. I have used Notion and Obsidian to only medium success, and when I tried Capacities I hoped it would be the one for me, but I couldn't figure out the objects>collections>tags system. There isn't very much Capacities content out there at the moment so this is appreciated.
Hi Benjamin, thanks for this feedback! I will continue to create free Capacities content over time, but if you're looking for more content right now, I have just launched a course that goes through everything, the link to which can be found in the app with a discount code :)
Super helpful - thank you! I love using Capacities and this helps me figure out how to re-organize my content better as I've mostly been using pinned pages to then house information relative to that 'topic / subject'.
I’m so glad this was helpful! Pinned pages are super useful 🤩
Well done, PKMBeth! Your overview was very helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
My takeaways are don't silo sub-objects and Capacities can facilitate the polymath that International Relations produces. My goodness, you're smart one Beth.
Really good tips! I just started using Capacities and was debating between creating a "media" object vs individual objects for books, podcasts, movies, etc. You've convinced me to use collections instead, so that's exactly the kind of insights I was looking for.
Fantastic! So glad it was helpful.
@@PKM_Beth The only drawback I've noticed is that Collections are not displayed on cards. I tried customizing the card display but there doesn't seem to be a way to add Collections, as it's not considered a Property. This means if I want a quick identifier on the cards to distinguish between books and movies, I have to also add a tag, which is duplicating information and rather clumsy.
Not a dealbreaker for me, but I hope it's something they address in future updates.
Saw your video on Keep Productive, enticed to test Capacities, then upgraded to the Believer plan :)
This video was super helpful. Gonna save me loads of time fixing silly mistakes I would have made 😂 Considering your course as well! Get ready to be a RUclips star, because I see a ton of potential in Capacities and you’re an early mover with engaging content.
What an endorsement, thank you! Feel free to reach out if you need any Capacities support at any point :)
There needs to be more use cases, for example I would not use Capacities as a recipe manager because I am not usually on a computer while I am preparing a meal. Although Capacities has a free plan you have to upgrade to the Believer Plan which is expensive in order to use the mobile app at present. I use Paprika for managing my recipes which has a built in web clipper.
This was so useful, thank you so much! I realise I have just been tagging everything, and a lot of my tags are just duplicates of each other but slightly reworded or just collections. Your structuring process was also explained so clearly, I got a lot out of this and will be making some enhancements to my own workflow :)
Amazing, glad it helped! I definitely tagged everything to start, and still need to fully update tags/collections, but I find this method has really helped make decision making easier :)
@@PKM_Beth May I ask for some advice in how to structure as a uni student? I would consider making my module note itself as a note similar to a MOC? Should I make it into an MOC or consider adding a new object type 'Module'? I would also have various lecture notes which some I quickly jot down on my laptop or by pen, then scanning them into capacities, I would mainly track this with the big 'module MOC note' relating to the lecture notes itself. Would you consider adding these lecture quick notes into the daily note and then adding flesh into these notes as a permanent note or make a whole new object type. I know this sounds confusing but I used obsidian and logseq before and would like to give capacities a try, so I'm still very confused with the structure, my notes are half way of worthing to create a new object and half way not worthing it.
@@wilsonlamlyt7138 Hi! I have written a post on Medium about this as my answer got too long. I think there's a clearer structural way forward that allows you to take the knowledge gained on a journey from input (lecture note/reading) to output (essays). Free link here: medium.com/@pkmbeth/capacities-for-students-dd6a7e88f5f2?sk=3b8b2d317e0c44546ca32025873f6954
If you want to talk specifics after reading that, I'm very happy to, just pop me an email at beth@pkmbeth.com. I will say as well this is based off experience of humanities studies, as that's all I've studied.
Great video. Many thanks!!!
Thanks Beth! I just found capacities and your insights have made it much easier to explore its capabilities…. ;-)
Yay I’m so glad to hear that, thank you! Lots more on the way :)
Thank you so much Beth, this is defiantly a game changer from obsidian.
Glad it was helpful!
OK. You've got a BIG Brain. I will be buying your course asap. I have so many damn thoughts in my head, I write them down, then when it comes time to use said thoughts.... 45 min to find it, now I dont even wanna work. I need to get organized thanks for your help!
That is so kind, thank you!
That was an excellent explanation of how to use those different buckets. It's really easy to slip into the "I used Evernote/Obsidion/Whatever" like "this" so that's what I'm going to place onto Capacities (in this example). I may have to give Capacities another look with this in mind.
Thank you so much! I definitely had this mindset too but now it's clicked I can't go back!!
@@PKM_Beth I don't know if this is new to you but it's new to me. I was playing around with your method: My "project" type is just a table of records listing everything I call a project. It's got fields to specify things like due date, status, etc. So next I started playing with the ideas from your video. I created a collection named for one of my projects. OK cool - so far so good. Next I created a "project" type and added a checkbox called "project item". If "project item" is checked it doesn't appear in my table (now becoming a dashboard) but it does appear in that project collection. Super cool. But then I was playing around more not liking that the only way to associate with another type was with a tag so I decided to see what I could add with the slash command and wa-bam....all the other types can be created from within a record. This creates the type in its home database and sets up backlinks between the two.
Hi ! (from France) Great Job ! Have fun with taxonomy and remember you make a better place for you and for me.
Bonjour d'Angleterre! Thank you so much- I have a lot of fun :)
Thank you for your video. This is super helpful as I evaluate Capacities.
Thanks Stephen! Glad it helps.
Very helpful insights on tagging. 👍🏻
Thank you!
I'm new to Capacities, but not new to PKM. You're doing an Awesome Job! Thanks for your videos
That's really kind, thank you!
Thank you for the suggestions - it will give an idea how to begin to structure my capacities area.
Glad it was helpful! Do reach out if you need anything clarifying, always happy to chat!
Love your vids! I'm intrigued to hear more about how you utilize spaces, and how and when you decide to create another space versus use your primary space.
Thank you! Check out my Capacities Tour from July as I talk about it there in more depth, but essentially it's to do with mindset. I don't want to mix work with my history notes, or my house inspiration with my work as I'll just get distracted. So essentially the question is "will having everything together distract me" yes = new space.
@@PKM_Beth thanks for the thoughts and recommendation! I think I'm mostly struggling with whether or not to separate my work space from my personal space, as personal contacts and projects can often intertwine with professional contacts and projects. I do a lot of contact management in Capacities, and there's some fluidity where personal might become professional, or when someone leaves the company they may be in my network in a new capacity, etc!
Will chew over your thoughts. Thank you again for such inspiration!
Thanks again for your thoughts. This really helped me sort out the use case for Collections. I can now get rid of a few unnecessary tags! Do you find the tags for priority etc. are really helpful for you? Do you just use those in a multi-select property or can they be used inline as well?
Keep it coming, Beth!
Thanks Paul!! Yep I use tags both with multi-selects, single-selects and in line! I don't use priorities as much as I should, but I do use ratings and task tags quite a lot.
thanks for the work, helps a lot to comprehend the different ways - capacities- can suit to different operating way of thoughts. ;)
No problem! I'm glad it was helpful :)
Awesome video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
First off - GREAT VIDEO. I learned so much from your examples, and your logic really resonated with me. So, THANK YOU. Secondly, near the beginning of your video you said "...my space on the Internet...", which made me think of My Space 🤣Talk about a blast from the past...
Excellent, so glad to hear it! Haha I never had my space so I missed that!
great video beth!
Thank you!!
This was very helpful! I'd throw out that seeing Tags at this higher level is critical to call out because without making that clarification, I would have assumed that tags were done at the same level as Obsidian or RoamResearch. That said, I am very curious, with new properties, I don't fully understand how the Capacities app handles the linking sub-selection. It would be helpful if you further defined this with examples, right now, I'm just leveraging it to create distinct relationships within only certain object types (instead of just universally tags - as I'm finding that is becoming very annoying).
Thanks so much for this feedback! Happy to make more content on tags. Could you clarify what you mean by "linking sub-selection"? and I'll make sure to work this into future content!
Very helpful! Thank you! Not sure what made me go try Capacities again but this time it's starting to click (hence looking for tutorials).
Very pleased about 7:00 being the equivalent of Notion relations. Guess I didn't realize that could be changed. 😅
What I'm understanding is that Collections are just tags but only for individual object types, while actual Tags can be for anything.
Glad to hear it's helpful!! Yes collections are for individual object types. I tend to think of collections as subgroups in one collection, and tags as the thing that pulls objects together!
Thank you very much! Very useful - please go on with your wonderful content on Capacities. Is there any way to annotate PDFs like in Logseq?
Hi Judith, thanks for this!! There isn’t a way to annotate them yet but it’s been requested :)
Of course did subscribe and 👍 👍
Thank you so much, Beth! Such a clear explanation. I'm brand new to Capacities and this was so helpful! I have 2 questions. When you say, at 18:38 "have a place for your inputs, outputs and process", what do you mean by "place"? Just an idea in your mind or an actual collection of collections (if something like that exists) for the three in Capacities?
Also, at min 17 re: the "French presidents" tag: Once you realized that your saved tweet was also about French presidents, did you then go back and tag each president as well as the tweet?
Glad it helped! I'm talking about object types at 18:38 :) I talk more about this in my note-taking process video from December!
Yes French presidents are tagged now :) it's even easier now bulk actions have been released as I could tag them all at once rather than one by one!
Hi Beth , thank you for sharing your knowledge, I am far too newbie to be able to take all your recommendations because I simply not yet understand enough ,saw Notion also today for the first time and well you imagine { got lost} nonetheless do like Capacities and will come back to you ,in search of good advice.Kind regards
Thanks for your kind words. There are lots of tools out there and so much to learn but start small and go from there. Always happy to answer questions if you need anything :)
Very nice work on this illustration of how-to of capacities ❤
Just one thing that i find hard to get how did you have nested tags? at 17:38 in the "test" space?! I can't create it on my own, can you help me with this?
Thank you! They're not nested (by my understanding of this term), it's just others tags that have appeared in the same place as the rating tag. This is because my media object uses tags in three properties: Type, Rating, and Status. Let me know if you want any more info on this set up!
@@PKM_Beth I got it thanks, It's really useful way to use tags.
Just started using Capacities and your channel is an invaluable resource ! I’m a bit worried about Capacities being so new and having so many competitors… and if it will be available in the long run. But so far this is the best PKM system I’ve come across. It has a certain lack of rigidity while still maintaining a sense of organization.
Just one question… I was thinking about splitting the “People” object into “Contacts” (people I know in my real life so I can include contact information) and “Figures” (historical figures, famous people, etc. so I can use those pages a sort of database) but it seems to me the way you structure your objects, you would advise against it?? The other thing is that when you have a title (e.g. Wolf of Wall Street) marked as multiple types of media (film, book) it seems like the there would be multiple completion dates, and it might not account for different remakes, etc. For example, there are many different film versions of the same classic novel.
Glad you're finding my content helpful! Welcome to Capacities :)
It sounds like Contacts vs Figures would make total sense for your set up. Whilst they're all people, you want to know different things about each group, therefore having two custom object types with properties that best serve each one would work great. In reality, I also have this but all my history things are in one space and things related to my life and home are in another.
I think if i was dealing with remakes in Media I'd just do something like {title}- {Year} and then search for Robin Hood 1991 for example. Haven't had to think about that before, but good point!
Thanks for this, it's very helpful. While I love Notion, I recently learned about Capacities and find myself using it more frequently than Notion.
Glad it was helpful! I use both extensively but I find myself missing Capacities features in Notion, especially with the link views and network approach. But then Capacities is missing some Notion features too, so I just use them both together! Works quite nicely. What are you using Capacities for the most atm?
@PKM_Beth Right now, I'm utilizing it for my class notes, internship notes, and even general note-taking purposes. Notion is synced with my Google calendar, so I primarily use it for task management and habit tracking.
Thanks for tips Beth. Keep it going. How many spaces do you use? Is possible to connect the content between spaces or are they completely separated? I'm personally thinking to move my knowledge management over from Notion and put everything in one single space. But I don't know why I would use other spaces. I'll keep my life management related databases in Notion. What are your plans with spaces?
Thanks!! They are completely separate. I have a few. My main ones are one space for knowledge, one essentially for a better file storage, and then one for PKM Beth. There's not really any crossover between them so I like the separation the space gives. Totally recommend having knowledge in notion and everything else in Notion. That's exactly what I do and I love it :)
2x Notion? Typo?
@@vanderstraetenmarc yes😅 sorry. LifeOS in Notion, knowledge in Capacities.
Hi Beth. Thank you for a good, clear tutorial on Capacities. I'm very new and just learning my way around. I have a question please regarding collections. I have set up a media object, the same as you and can access the collection boxes for films, TV etc. at the top of the main screen. However, I tried to add actors and actresses as collections to my people object and they do not show up at the top of the screen the same as the media object. Is there a way to do this so that I have a list of collections at the top of the main screen for "people".
Hi, thanks for your lovely comment! Could you send me some screenshots to beth@pkmbeth.com so I can visualise this and help you find a solution? :)
@@PKM_Beth Thanks Beth - Email just sent. 😊
Hi Beth thank you for your video. Have you a suggestion on setting up capacities for a literature review? I have notes on all my journals but no way to organize them. The literature matrix doesn’t work for me. Thanks much.
Hi Mikey! Could you send me an email at beth@pkmbeth.com so I can understand your situation more and give you a longer answer? :)
I wonder if it would be better to implement a proper object-oriented inheritence system. For example, you create a media object. Then you create various media types as children of the media type, i.e., from media you create a book that inherits all the properties of the media object and you add custom properties that make it a book. Repeat for movies, and other types of media. In the database, All books are media, but only certain media are books. Similar for movies, and other types of medias. You continue this to make specialized books with unique properties, etc, ie., All novels are also books are also media. If you add a property to media as an afterthought, that property propagates down to all its children.This way you can keep the media object fairly generic and child type would have properties specific to that type instead of trying to make a catch-all media type with all possible media properties and separate them with categories or tags. This would not necessarily make the app more complicated as the use of child objects is purely up the the user, but would add a lot of power to those who are familiar with the concept.
That’s a really interesting idea! In the meantime I think you can get some of that functionality through hiding properties when empty and using templates for each media type to pre-fill some properties, but your suggestion would make it a cleaner process.
Can you inherit properties in Capacities? I know there’s a similar functionality in Tana (called ”extend” a supertag)
@@KristianBorglund not right now!
Beth this is awesome! Do you do set up coaching?!
Thanks Andy!! Happy to chat about coaching- pop me an email at beth@pkmbeth.com :)
Can you do Canvas type of work on Capacities? Something like infinity paper or the Canvas in Obsidian
Not at this time!
If storage capacity is available why not archival; unless you've perfected templates for each and all specific scenarios. I find hand-written notes and posts online and just like others I say "Did I do that" quasi Urkel
Beth, thank you for your thoughtful guidance. However, at @ c.02:44 "media database" - why on earth does it matter if you have, say, a classification of TWEETS? In other words, does it really matter what type of media it is?
Hi Harry! My research interest is representation of various things through different types of media, so this classification is important to me :)
Thanks this is very useful. Devil's advocate: why not go the other way round? Why not just tag everything and not even use Collections?
Fair point! I think that short term it wouldn't make a bug difference, but long term you'd have pages and pages of tags to go through, and then you'd probably want to organise them into collections to make it more manageable, so I feel this method cuts that bit out. I think that being intentional about adding to collections is good too, it's so easy to add random tags and then have to sort them later whereas collections take a bit more set up which makes me actually think about how I'm using them which I like. Personal preference though!
@@PKM_Beth Makes sense. Thanks a lot for the insight!
@@PKM_Beth I've played around with this a little more and it seems that Collections are limited to a single object type? That seems like a needless restriction and an odd choice for a platform whose whole thing is flexibility and malleability. I figured Collections could be used like folders- a bin where you put all kinds of different objects related to one project. That way if you open a Collection you'd see all the books, blogs and people related to, say, your thesis on Marx. But I guess you need to use Spaces for that..?
@@zoetekauw9647 collections are indeed limited to one object, it’s really for creating subgroups within that object. Think of the tags as folders as they unite content from different objects under that one heading.
@@PKM_Beth Now I know how to use tags.
Would it work to prioritize tags before collections instead? Do they store the same information, or are you saying collections only store one object type?
It depends on a lot of factors. Collections do only work per object, they are essentially creating subgroups of them, whereas tags are letting you group content together from across your space under that key word.
I wrote a post here that might help explain more: docs.capacities.io/tutorials/tags-vs-collections.
I personally use tags way more than collections, but that's because the things I'm interested in grouping together are across my different objects. I currently don't spend too much time looking more granularly at a group of things within an object, but I think this is all personal preference and will depend on the user and the type of info they're working with!
You are the best
Haha that's very kind, thank you!
Would you recommend to use a separate Room in Capacities for my Business belongings? I am not sure if the Daily Notes are also separated if i use more than 1 room. Best regards Michael
Hi Michael, I'm personally a fan of multiple spaces. Spaces are completely separate, so if you're a daily note user I'd say it's important to think about any friction that would arise from having them together or separate. I also tend to think of search results too. For example, I don't want shopping lists in the same place as my history notes, so they are in separate spaces and I know that a search in my history space will always give relevant results. Do you think you'd benefit from the compartmentalisation of business and the rest of life?
thank you for your feedback. So I will use a separate Room for my business. So far as I can see its impossible, to move a page from one room to another.@@PKM_Beth
"AI, help me to develop a study of Hegel using Capacities in Hegelian style. Then as a separate project, describe your intentions and reasons for doing so as if you are Hegel" I wonder how verbose and how much classification would be involved.
Awesome
Thanks!
Awesome ideas here. Is this kind of material in your course on Capacities?
Yes, absolutely!
@PKM_Beth244, This is honestly one of the best laid out video describing and detailing an equally very impressive tool. Thanks a lot for your effort. :)
Thank you Tom!