Expert Insights: Using the Timeline System on Supernote to Organize Life

By Vlad Campos

Workflow Consultant

Happy Supernote Manta and Nomad user

As I was keen to explore the Supernote's full potential, I intentionally avoided reading the manual or watching tutorials. My goal was to discover how intuitive the device was and what unexpected ideas I might come up with. This experiment was a success, and I had a lot of fun testing the Supernote's features and capabilities.

However, when it was time to streamline my workflow and make the most of the Supernote, I started using my Timeline System (TLS). This system has helped me to harness modern technology to effortlessly find and present the information I need when I need it, without getting caught up in organizational routines.

In case you'd like to try it, here's how it works.

Containers of Information

One important element of my Timeline System is what I call the Containers of Information. I usually create them with folders, but any grouping feature, even tags, will also work fine.

The Containers serve two purposes:

• They provide a dedicated space to intuitively and quickly save all the information related to a specific topic, project, or activity. This makes it easy to find what I'm looking for when I need it.
• It's a way to quickly switch to another activity—Container—to look for something or save a new idea and effortlessly come back to what I was doing in the previous Container.

One of the Containers is the Timeline, which at first glance may resemble an archive, but as you'll learn below, it is a dynamic part of the system that also works as a temporary storage space. The others, known as Action Containers, are in constant use. However, in both cases, the content is always chronologically ordered, from newest to oldest.

There's a third type of container, the Static Containers, but I don't use them in the Supernote. However, if you can learn more about it on my website.

Setting Up Containers

Now that you have a better understanding of Containers, let's explore some examples of how I've set them up within the Note folder on the Supernote. Then, I'll show you how the system works:

• Demonstrations — To create screen recordings of the Supernote, which I use in my videos.
• Euro Camper — Dedicated to my long-term project of building a van and traveling across Europe.
• Maker — As a maker, I use this Container to sketch out concepts for projects and document my progress.
• Random Thoughts — This is where I jot down random ideas that come to mind, especially after running.
• Timeline — We'll explore its functionality in more detail later.
• YouTube — This is where I store scripts, thumbnail sketches, and other information related to the videos I'm producing.

You can think about all the activities you'd like to keep track when creating Containers.

Quick Access

Except for the Timeline folder, all others are set as shortcuts, arranged based on usage frequency. However, that's not to say they follow a priority order. For example, 'Demonstrations' is at the bottom because I need to quickly spot it when recording my shred screen for a video. The same is true for 'Random Thoughts' at the top. As soon as I have an idea, I want to quickly find that folder in the list.

Remember, this setup is highly customizable. You are welcome to rearrange items and add or remove shortcuts as your activities change. Think of this space as a dynamic workspace, where tools are constantly rearranged and replaced to meet your current needs.

By creating notes within their corresponding Containers, I avoid the time-consuming task of inbox triage. This approach also provides instant access to relevant information about the activities I keep inside the Containers of Information.

Essentially, each shortcut represents an ongoing activity. When completed, notes are moved to the Timeline folder, creating a chronological record. More on that below.

Real-Life Scenario

Let's imagine I had an idea for a woodworking project similar to the one I recently shared on my YouTube channel. Capturing that is as easy as getting my Supernote, sliding down to open the menu, and then selecting the Make folder.

My first sketches are usually just a rough idea with some basic measurements. They work as a reference that I'll be checking in the next few days as I try to figure out exactly what I want to build. As you may remember, the completed activities are frequently transferred to the Timeline, so It is often effortless to find the appropriate drawing due to the limited number of notes in the Maker Container.

And talking about timelines, do you remember that my notes are ordered from newest to oldest? For that reason, the most recent activities—notes—are naturally grouped at the top and the older ones at the bottom of the screen. In other words, more recent activities will naturally be at the top of the page, which is another hint to know where to look for a specific note.

On that point, every so often, all one needs is to open a note that was in use moments ago. The Supernote has you covered there too. The sliding menu has the perfect set of shortcuts to the recent past. Last Opened Document, Last Opened Note, and the one I love the most: Recent Files. This is a list of the last used files in reverse chronological order. And those are precisely the ones you'll most likely need next.

Back to my project. In addition to the drawing and the measurements, I may need to purchase some items, which I write down in that project note using the To-Do feature. When I'm at the hardware store, I can use the Supernote companion app on my phone to help me buy all the items I need. However, if it is a project that requires more attention to the details, it's also easy to find the note on the Supernote by quickly opening the Maker folder in the shortcuts area. Now that I have all the materials, it's time to build the project, using the sketches on the Supernote as a reference.

But if I love to build things, my Make folder would quickly become an overwhelming space with multiple notes. Even the chronology trick would fail me. To troubleshoot, I use the Timeline Container.

The Timeline Container

Like already mentioned above, once a project is complete, I'll add the Maker tag to the corresponding note and move it to the Timeline Container. But, as you might remember, that's not simply an archive. It also works as a reference space.

Let's say I want to upgrade an old item I built or need its sketch to help me with a similar project. Filtering my notes by the Maker tag will show all the previous projects. Once it's found, the next step is to move that note back to its original Container, which brings us once again to all the benefits I talked about at the beginning of this article. In other words, that note is now in an Action Container, sharing space with very few notes, and I can easily tell which is which.

If you think about other situations in your personal or professional life, the reasoning is the same. For example, once you are done with all the items and tasks in a meeting note, you can add the client name as a tag and move it to the Timeline. If a previously completed note becomes relevant again, simply move it back to its original Action Container. However, if all you need is to remember something you wrote, there's no need to move it back to the Action Container.

If you prefer not to use tags, just create subfolders in the Timeline folder, with the same name as the Action Containers. And if you have expanded the Supernote storage using a SD card, another option is to move the entire Timeline to the card, as demonstrated in this video.

The Benefits

The goal of this system is to streamline your workflow by transforming your notes into actionable activities and harnessing modern technology to effortlessly organize, find, and present the information you need when you need it.

I believe we should focus our time on creating and doing, rather than getting caught up in organizational routines. And as I mentioned, there are many things that Supernote features can help us with.