This post is related to previously discussed topic: Boox Notes, Linux and Emacs
Purpose of Workflow
Annotate the pages/sections of a pdf to look back on it later to build a better text note.
- Input: PDFs
- Output: structured, annotated notes in org mode
Workflow
I was getting ready to write a package to facilitate this workflow, but I found this to be much easier.
Step 1: org-attach
Org attach is included in Emacs as a method for attaching files to org headings using different methods. There are several methods that you can view when you run org-attach. The one that I prefer is s - Set a specific attachment directort for this entry. Sets DIR property.
This attaches the file as a property and associated the current heading with the document which will be useful later
The default binding for org-attach is C-c C-a.
Step 2: org-noter
After step 1 we have an attachment added to our heading, so let's begin annotating with org-noter. I need to do this to process the PDF later when I want to view examples without having to type them out again.
I go through each page and type i when I want to create a new heading for that page.
Step 3: Refractoring
The ultimate purpose of this process is to reflect on the content and also type it into a more wiki-like structure for my own understanding. This is especially helpful for deep understanding of topics, especially for math. You can read about how I aspire to study math from this external article: How to Study Mathematics - Dr. Lawrence Neff Stout.