MY Knowledge Management Solution

Software & Operating Systems
1

Thank You!

First I want to thank everyone who answered my questions, offered their feedback and thoughts, and took their time to help! To say that my mind was about to explode during all this is an understatement. Below are the related posts.

Software Disclaimer

Since not every app/service in this post is considered open source I decided to post it in the overall Software and OS category. Hope that is ok!

Various Questions I Asked Myself

So regarding the different solutions and ideas I was given, and had on my own prior, I ended up asking myself the following questions when trying to find my solution(s).

  • Was there any existing applications/solutions that I had used in the past that would work?
  • Did I need/want a single solution for everything?
    • Even if I did, does such a solution even exist?
  • Did I need/want the solution(s) to be cross-OS?
    • If yes, how much of each OS did it need to support?
    • If yes, how would the content remain synced up?
  • How do keep the contents secure?
  • What types of information am I storing as “knowledge?”
    • How do I collect and sort the knowledge?
    • Did the “knowledge” I wanted to collect even require a solution?
    • Was I matching the correct solution with the correct “knowledge?”
  • Did I care about open source, self-hosted, free, and/or paid solutions?
  • Did I care about file types, formatting, editing, and viewing of the knowledge?
    • Regarding later access, if I used proprietary software/formatting, what would happen if later the service/software went out of business?
    • Should I ensure that the choice is as open/basic as possible for greater use/integration options?
  • While a “right” answer from someone else wasn’t possible, what various options existed, so I could pick the best one for me?
    • Am I wasting time trying to reinvent the wheel when something better already existed?

My “Knowledge” Breakdown

  • Administrative, Financial & Legal
    • Receipts/Payment Confirmations
    • Contracts/Agreements/Policies/Taxes/Statements
  • World Building
  • Writing (Stories)
  • Tasks, Lists & Schedule
  • Websites/Articles (Links)
  • Thoughts/Knowledge
  • Instructions/How-Tos

My Process/Workflow Breakdown

  1. Collect/Gather/Receive*
  2. Review/Sort*
  3. Store/Record**
  4. Retrieve/Use**
  5. Edit/Update**
*Can be combined depending on type of knowledge/process used.
**Are interchangeable regarding their place in the process.

My Chosen Apps/Services

Knowledge Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5
Admin, Fin, & Legal Email Attachments, Scanned Papers, Exported/Downloaded from Web See *2. Review/Sort Below. PDF on File Server, Attachments in Email SearchMonkey & PDF Viewer, Email Search Master PDF Editor 5 (File Server Only)
World Building NextCloud Notes iOS App & Physical Voice Recorder See *2. Review/Sort Below. Customized TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki Search and View Results TiddlyWiki Edit & Save
Writing (Stories) NextCloud Notes iOS App & Physical Voice Recorder See *2. Review/Sort Below. Customized TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki Search and View Results TiddlyWiki Edit & Save
Tasks, Lists & Schedule NextCloud Notes iOS App, NextCloud Calendar & BulletJournal See *2. Review/Sort Below. NextCloud Notes, NextCloud Calendar & BulletJournal NextCloud Notes, NextCloud Calendar & BulletJournal NextCloud Notes, NextCloud Calendar & BulletJournal
Websites/Articles (links) Zoho Notebook See *2. Review/Sort Below. TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki Search and View Results TiddlyWiki Edit & Save
Thoughts/Knowledge NextCloud Notes iOS App & Physical Voice Recorder See *2. Review/Sort Below. TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki Search and View Results TiddlyWiki Edit & Save
Instructions/How-Tos (links) Zoho Notebook See *2. Review/Sort Below. TiddlyWiki TiddlyWiki Search and View Results TiddlyWiki Edit & Save

*2. Review/Sort

No specific application/process. Simply review the content in order to move to Step 3 if needed or delete/discard if not

Why I Chose Them

App/Service/Hardware Reason(s)
TiddlyWiki Extremely Customizable (can be used to create web apps/CMS). Single file for on the go editing if needed. Open source. HTML so future proof. Cross OS supported. Supports markdown via plugin.
Linux File Server Open source. Privacy.
NextCloud Notes & Digital Recorder Open Source. Privacy. Web-Based. iOS App. Easy to Carry.
NextCloud Calendar Open Source. Privacy. Web-Based. CalDAV for Mobile Support.
SearchMonkey Seemed like the best choice, Supports Linux
Master PDF Editor 5 Linux, Free Version
Zoho Notebook Only option that as “Share With” iOS App support and Firefox extension support.

Possible Alternatives

App/Service/Hardware Alternatives
TiddlyWiki Evernote, OneNote, Zoho Notebook, Obsidian, Campfire, World Anvil, Scrivener, NextCloud Office, Zoho Writer, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, OnlyOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, DokuWiki
Linux File Server NextCloud Files, Zoho WorkDrive (formerly Docs), Google Drive, iCloud, OwnCloud Files, DropBox, Box, SharePoint. Windows Server, Mac Server
NextCloud Notes & Digital Recorder Evernote, OneNote, Zoho Notebook, Obsidian
NextCloud Calendar Google Calendar, Zoho Calendar, iCloud, Hosted Email with Calendar
SearchMonkey Maybe SharePoint? I can’t remember if it supports PDF content search.
Master PDF Editor 5 Adobe Acrobat (Windows), LibreOffice Draw (Cross OS, limited functionality)
Zoho Notebook Email Address, Email Drafts, Evernote, OneNote, Firefox/Chrome/Chromium/Brave Bookmarks, Self-Hosted Bookmark Manager (Floccus)

Please feel free to ask any questions/provide any feedback/request confirmation/etc! Thank you all once again!

Change Log:

  • 7-20-22: Changed Step 1. Collect/Gather/Receive for Websites/Articles (Links) and Instructions/How-Tos from Firefox Bookmarks to Zoho Notebook. Firefox Bookmarks was a solid solution, however, the Firefox iOS app doesn’t support extensions and its built in ad blocker is insufficient. With extension support iOS’ Safari browser is much more robust in blocking ads on websites.
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