where I think about plain text

If you’re like me (that is, you read and listen to all things productivity), you’ve tried a lot of apps for taking notes, keeping to-do lists, keeping track of how much money you spend on things and so on. You’re also aware of the difference between database-based apps and plain text-based ones.

The main argument for keeping everything in plain text seems to be the durability argument. If it’s in plain text, it’s totally future-proof, cross-platform, human-readable and so on. Like, if you’re suddenly on Mars with a Linux computer and all the Macs ever made were destroyed when the Earth exploded, you wouldn’t be able to read your data if it’s in a proprietary format.[^1]

This is a great argument against the old Microsoft Office formats — .doc, .xls and so on, without the “x” — the new ones are XML-based: not very plain (i.e. not human-readable), but still text. But not a good argument against to-do list apps or money apps.

Because is it really that bad to lose your short-term[^2] data? Are you sure this data needs to be accessible in the long term? Do you really need to remember how much money you spent on apps and how much on hardware in November 2010? No? Then feel free to delete your Ledger file and start over with a shiny app like Koku. Just do it. Don’t feel guilty. Don’t regret it. You can reconsider plain text later. I’m reconsidering Ledger again, now that I’ve discovered Nebulous Notes which can append to a file using a URL that can be added to Launch Center Pro, which allows super-quick entry. But I’ll lose having instant statistics with fancy charts on my iPhone. Not that I really need them…

Feel free to use Clear for lists like “apps to try.” And something more complex like Firetask for work-related to-dos or anything that just requires complex metadata. Who said you must use one app for all the lists anyway?

Another argument might be accessibility — e.g. if you’re using someone else’s computer that has Windows installed, you’ll be able to edit a plain text file, but not a database of some Mac/iOS app that syncs over iCloud. I don’t buy that either. I’m much more likely to use my iPhone than someone’s Windows machine. And even if I forget my iPhone at home (never happened so far) and I’ll have access to a friend’s PC, could I enter my transaction or check off a to-do when I get home? Absolutely.

[^1]: Usually, Mac apps store data in a SQLite database, so you’ll be able to convert it to plain text after spending an hour writing a script.

[^2]: If you have long-term to-do lists, you have a huge problem. Ideas shouldn’t have a checkbox next to them. Your Someday list maybe should just die.