I use this tool to create and organize notes from books and PDF files

Logseq is a free, privacy-focused note-taking app that I use to capture and organize information from multiple sources, including articles, books, and PDFs. Here are some of the features that make it excellent for building my personal knowledge base.

Logseq’s approach to timeline annotation

Logseq is a network programmer that offers a unique timeline-based note-taking approach, allowing you to easily organize your thoughts chronologically. Logseq creates a new journal entry every day where I capture highlights, insights and reflections from my readings, as well as manage tasks, so it’s perfect for nested journals.

What makes this approach effective is that each entry becomes a chronological piece of a larger narrative, helping me easily capture and connect different main points or ideas from different sources and data. Since each journal entry is part of a linked graph, I can revisit ideas and discover connections I may have missed.

Upload PDF files to Logseq

As a knowledge worker or student, you may need an effective strategy for retrieving information from external sources, including research papers, books, and PDF files. I use Logseq to organize my thoughts and keep all my notes in one place, making them easily accessible and searchable.

Here’s how to add items like PDF files to Logseq:

1. Open Logseq and click on Diaries table
2. Use it / key and enter Upload, i.e. /Record.
3. Choose Upload the work and select the PDF you want to upload.
4. Alternatively, drag and drop the PDF file into the Logseq window.

This will create a link to the PDF enclosed in double brackets. Click the link to open the PDF file on the left side of the Logseq window so you can read it and highlight it while making notes on the right side.

If you don’t want to have your book or notes in PDF format on the Logseq journal Magazine since you may not want to mix them in with other notes or tasks from the day, consider creating a page for each book or PDF.

So you can have all the notes from a specific book on its page. Click on + Create button in the lower left corner to create a new page. Enter the title of the book or PDF and press Enter.

Find PDFs or books in Logseq

I’ve built my second brain in Logseq, which means I use it for everything, including meeting notes, journaling, and saving resources. As my knowledge base grows, it becomes difficult to find specific notes or resources. Fortunately, Logseq has several built-in features that make it easy to find information quickly.

One of the best ways to make the growing library of resources in Logseq easier to find is to add metadata, including book title, article link, document type, and tags. This way I can quickly find a specific resource by searching the name or using tags.

Let’s start by creating a book or PDF template that you can reuse whenever you want to add metadata to your resources instead of manually adding it each time. Here’s how to create a template in Logseq:

1. For better organization, create a page to store all your templates. Click on + Create button in the lower left corner to create a new page and its name Templates.
2. Open it Templates and enter the template name at the top (as a parent bullet), e.g. Metadata of the book.
3. Press Enter to move to the next block and Tab indent. In the indented block, include the following information (including anything else you might want to add): Title, Author, Tagsand Category.
4. Right-click the parent bullet ( Metadata of the book bullet), select Create a templatewrite the name of the template and click Submit.

Here’s how to add metadata to your assets in Logseq:

1. Go back to the book page (where you uploaded the PDF), write /Template press enter under the book link and select Metadata of the book template.
2. Fill out the template with the appropriate information, including book title, author, tags, and category. Enter this information [[square brackets]] to create links.

Once you’ve set up metadata templates like this, you won’t have to remember where you saved your assets or what they’re named. Just search for quick access to the information you entered in the template.

Text highlighting in Logseq

Logseq is one of the best tools for text annotation and highlighting. When reading a book or article in Logseq, you can highlight specific sections and add short notes. Every text highlight in Logseq becomes part of your graph, making it highly searchable and easily accessible via backlinks.

Here’s how to take notes and manage text highlighting in Logseq:

1. Open Logseq and go to the book page.
2. Click on the book link to open it on the left.
3. You can copy text from the book and paste it into Logseq for future reference.

This is a handy feature for quickly reviewing important points in a book or article without having to search manually. So you don’t need to highlight an entire paragraph or page, you can simply link to a specific keyword or title that you want to return to. Finally, you can quickly access all of your highlights by clicking on Bullet icon in the upper left corner and select Highlighting.

Import highlights using Logseq’s Readwise module

So how can you organize all the text highlights from other sources into Logseq? With Logseq’s Readwise plugin, you can import all your highlights from Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Pocket, or any other supported app. Readwise is one of the best RSS reader and read later apps that you can use to save and re-display text highlights from multiple sources. It’s a great way to have all the important notes and ideas from different sources stored in your personal knowledge base.

Sign up for a Readwise account and sync highlights from your favorite relevant apps. Next, you will need to install the Readwise plugin into Logseq; thus:

1. Open Logseq, click on the three horizontal dots (…) in the upper right corner and select Plugins.
2. Click on Marketplace tab and search Read on.
3. Install the official Readwise plugin.
4. Click on Read on icon in the menu bar and tap Connect button to automatically sync all your highlights. This will open a web page confirming that Logseq is connected to Readwise.
5. Return to Logseq and click on Start sync button to start sync. This will import all your highlights into Logseq.

Use the flashcards to review your notes

I use Flashcards in Logseq to review and remember key points from books and turn my notes into active study tools. Just add to create a card #card or [[card]] to any important highlight and instantly turns it into a question and answer prompt.

The parent block becomes the question, while the offset block becomes the answer, simulating a digital flashcard. This means you need to structure the flashcard so that the key question or concept is the parent block, with related information indented as an answer. You can access your cards at any time via Cards on the sidebar.

Logseq is a powerful tool for taking and organizing notes from books and PDF files. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or lifelong learner, Logseq helps you build a personal knowledge base that’s connected, searchable, and easily auditable.