There's a particular kind of productivity trap that note-taking enthusiasts fall into.

You discover a new tool — Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Logseq. You spend a weekend building an elaborate system. Tags, templates, linked notes, databases, automation. It's beautiful. You feel productive just looking at it.

Then you try to actually use it. And the friction of the system — the configuration, the maintenance, the decisions about where things go — makes capturing a simple thought feel like work.

Two months later, you're using Apple Notes for everything.

The paradox of the perfect system

The more powerful a tool, the more decisions it asks you to make. Every decision is friction. Friction accumulates. Eventually you avoid the tool.

This isn't a character flaw. It's psychology. The cognitive overhead of "where does this note go, what template should I use, what should I tag this, how does this link to my existing notes" competes with the actual thought you were trying to capture.

By the time you've decided all that, the thought might be gone.

The case for simplicity

Simple note-taking apps aren't "less powerful" — they're optimized for a different thing. They're optimized for capture speed and retrieval speed, which are actually the two most important things a notes app can do.

Capture speed: how quickly can you open the app, create a note, and write your thought? This needs to be as close to zero as possible. Every second of overhead is a thought you might lose.

Retrieval speed: how quickly can you find a note you captured three weeks ago? This needs to be fast enough that you actually search instead of just starting over.

A consistent capture habit with a simple tool will outperform an elaborate system you only use when everything is perfectly aligned.

What "simple" actually means

Simple doesn't mean "no features." Simple means the features are in service of the core workflow, not the other way around.

Krokanti Notes has:

A Markdown editor that renders as you type
Folders and tags for organization
Instant full-text search
Version history on every note
Public sharing

That's a lot of features. But none of them require configuration. You open the app and they're all just there, waiting.

Compare this to Obsidian, which ships with ~100 settings screens and a plugin ecosystem of 900+ community plugins. Obsidian is genuinely powerful — but using it well is a skill that takes months to develop.

The "good enough" principle

For most people, most of the time, a simple notes app is good enough. And "good enough, consistently used" beats "perfect, occasionally used" by a wide margin.

Here's what good enough actually covers:

Capture: New note in under 3 seconds ✓
Organization: Folders + tags + search ✓
Retrieval: Instant full-text search ✓
Collaboration: Public note sharing ✓
Safety: Version history ✓
Access: Any device, any browser ✓

What it doesn't cover:

Bidirectional links for knowledge graphs
Database views for project management
Advanced automation and templating

If you need those things, you need a more complex tool. But if you've been telling yourself you need them without actually using them — you might be building complexity for its own sake.

Try the simpler way

Open it. Write. Find it later. Free forever.

Create your free account →

The 80/20 of note-taking

80% of the value of any notes system comes from:

Writing things down when you think of them
Being able to find them when you need them

The remaining 20% — smart connections, automatic linking, knowledge graphs — is compelling in theory. But it requires more effort to maintain than most of it saves in retrieval.

Start with the 80%. If you find yourself genuinely needing the 20%, then it's worth investing in a more complex tool.

An experiment

If you currently use a complex notes tool, try this for two weeks: use only Krokanti Notes (or any simple notes app). No databases, no linking, no plugins. Just write.

At the end of two weeks, honestly assess: how much did you miss the complexity? Were there specific things you couldn't do, or just things you thought you'd miss?

For most people, the answer surprises them.

FAQ

Isn't a simple notes app just lazy? No — it's intentional. Simple tools force you to focus on writing, not on configuring your writing environment.

What if I need project management too? Use a separate tool for project management. A notes app and a project management tool are different tools with different jobs. Keep them separate and both work better.

What about the Zettelkasten method? Zettelkasten is a powerful research method that works brilliantly in Obsidian. If you're doing academic research or writing a book, it might be worth the investment. For general professional note-taking, it's usually overkill.

Can Krokanti Notes grow with me if my needs become more complex? Krokanti Notes will keep improving — more features, better organization, team collaboration. But it will always optimize for capture speed and retrieval speed first.