Roam Research is one of the best tools for thought, but it can be intimidating at first. Learn how to make the most of it with step-by-step guides and tutorials. Use Roam for note-taking, journaling, brainstorming, project management, spaced repetition, and more.
Roam is a note-taking tool for networked thought which I find incredibly powerful. One of the exciting aspects of using Roam is joining a community of curious minds interested in metacognition and thinking in maps. While Roam is a pleasure to use out of the box, this community has created many browser extensions to improve …
One of the most exciting aspects of Roam Research is metaprogramming: the ability to modify Roam’s behaviour inside Roam itself, without ever touching the source code. This ability opens the door for building custom algorithms for thoughts, and designing a thinking environment as close as possible to the way your mind works. Using CSS to …
Read moreRoam themes: how to style Roam Research with custom CSS
Since I started using it a few months ago, Roam has become an integral part of my workflow. I use it for interstitial journaling, to outline articles, and in general to seed my mind garden. If, like me, you spend a lot of time inside of Roam, you may want to add some productivity shortcuts …
In French, “cultiver son jardin intérieur” means to tend to your internal garden—to take care of your mind. The garden metaphor is particularly apt: taking care of your mind involves cultivating your curiosity (the seeds), growing your knowledge (the trees), and producing new thoughts (the fruits). On the surface, it’s a repetitive process. You need …
As you may know by now, I’m a massive fan of Roam Research. It’s a fantastic tool for thought and has the potential to become a powerful enabler of collective intelligence. But for various reasons, you may not want to rely on a SaaS to save your notes. For instance, a friend of mine mentioned …
Read moreOpen source and self-hosted alternatives to Roam Research
Spaced repetition is one of the few evidence-based learning techniques you can actually trust will help you remember things better. In this short tutorial, we are going to use Roam Research to build a simple spaced repetition system from your notes. 1. Create your box You need a box with five sections to put your …
Read moreHow to build a spaced repetition system in Roam Research
Welcome to the third instalment of Mindful Makers, where we interview highly creative people and ask them what they think about creativity, productivity, and building products that matter in today’s connected world. In the previous editions, we chatted with Buster Benson and Khe Hy. Today, we are pleased to take a deep dive into the …
Read moreGetting compound interest on your thoughts with Conor White-Sullivan
Taking smart notes is one of the most efficient ways to increase your productivity and your creativity. But what kind of notes? Once you start considering all the mediums, techniques, strategies, and formats available to you when taking notes, the combinations are almost infinite. This attempt at a taxonomy of notes was inspired by a …
Want to write an original article but still at the idea stage? This step-by-step tutorial will teach you a simple method to go from research idea to original article. One of the best ways to learn is through the generation effect. Creating your own material based on what you want to learn activates your semantic …
By this point, most of my readers know how much I enjoy using Roam for research. But many messages I get are about how to get started. People are convinced this is an amazing tool for note-taking, thinking, and metacognition, but the interface can be a bit confusing at first. So here is my super-simple …
Read moreA beginner’s guide to Roam Research: getting started in 5 easy steps