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Plain Text for Personal Knowledge Management, Part 1

AI-GENERATED published: November 1, 2025 estimate: 3 min read view-cnt: 3 views

Introduction

Personal knowledge management (PKM) systems help us organize thoughts, track goals, and preserve insights. While tools like Notion and Obsidian offer rich features and polished interfaces, there’s a compelling case for building your PKM on the simplest possible foundation: plain text files.

The Pros of Plain Text Storage

Future-Proof and Portable

Plain text files will outlive any proprietary format. A .txt or .md file created today will open perfectly in 2050. You’re not locked into a platform, database, or company. Your knowledge survives as long as computers exist.

Simple and Transparent

Everything is visible. You can search with grep, track changes with git, and edit with any text editor. There’s no hidden database, no export hassles, no vendor lock-in. The data is yours, in the clearest possible form.

Fast and Efficient

No loading screens. No syncing conflicts. No database overhead. Plain text files are instant to open, tiny in size, and work perfectly offline. Your entire knowledge base can fit in megabytes.

Privacy by Default

Your data lives on your disk, not in someone else’s cloud. No analytics, no tracking, no third-party access. Complete privacy without configuration.

The Cons of Plain Text Storage

No Built-in Interface

You won’t get a slick UI out of the box. Searching means using command-line tools or basic text editor features. For non-technical users, this creates friction.

Manual Organization Required

You need to design your own structure—folders, naming conventions, prefixes. Without discipline, plain text can become chaotic quickly.

Limited Rich Media

Plain text excels at text. Images, videos, and complex formatting require workarounds. If your PKM needs visual richness, plain text feels constraining.

A Real-World Structure

My PKM uses plain text with these principles:

• Categorization: Folders for topics (general, devotion, projects, material, virtual)
• Format flexibility: “Prose” for journals, “data” for structured records
• Prefixes: Code-based organization within categories

Pros of this structure: Clear categories, flexible content types, simple hierarchy

Cons: Requires consistent discipline, no automatic linking between notes, manual prefix management

Plain Text vs. Modern Tools

Tools like Notion offer collaboration and databases. Obsidian adds backlinks and graphs. But they also add complexity, potential costs, and platform dependency. Plain text trades features for freedom, sustainability, and simplicity.

Conclusion

Plain text PKM isn’t for everyone. If you need real-time collaboration or rich media, look elsewhere. But if you value longevity, privacy, and simplicity—if you want a knowledge system that will last decades without depending on any company or platform—plain text is unbeatable.

Your thoughts deserve a foundation that won’t crumble.

In Part 2, we’ll explore different approaches to organizing your plain text knowledge. In Part 3, I’ll show how these methods can be blended into a syncretic system tailored to your needs.