Zettelkasten

org-roam (Emacs Zettelkasten Package) Version 2 Released

Last week, free and open source knowledge management package org-roam was updated to version 2.

org-roam is an Emacs package (or “plug-in” as we normies would call it) that adds Zettelkasten features to connect small pieces of knowledge.

Screenshot of org-roam v2 in action: the main pane shows a note, the right sidebar shows incoming links

The format used to store and display notes used the popular Emacs package org-mode: org-mode has a plain-text file format (.org) not unlike Markdown, and the package comes with functionality for note-taking that allows you to write formatted text, and also organize projects and tasks. Its variety of features actually makes org hard to describe.1

org-roam adds functionality for a Zettelkasten on top of org, like displaying all incoming links (aka backlinks) for any note in a sidebar. You also get quick capture functionality to create a new Zettel from anywhere, and link auto-completion to make connecting notes easier. So org-roam’s job is to maintain a web of knowledge, while org-mode is the file format to write rich notes with e.g. images and tables inside. – The capabilities of org-roam actually go beyond mainainting a Zettelkasten, since org’s task-management features can be interwoven with Zettelkasten-style notes if that’s something you’re into.

Want an introduction to org-roam and its Zettelkasten features by a veteran Emacs screencaster? Check out this video:

Building a Second Brain with org-roam, by System Crafters; see show notes for text version

What’s new in v2? The most breaking change from v1 to v2 is that they now use org-mode links IDs instead of individual files. This is supposedly making it much more snappy when you work with a lot of notes. Migrating from the old v1 file format is a bit of work, but they offer a migration wizard for this purpose. If you’re just getting started, the new version 2 is good to go, though!

Notable links to learn more about org-roam, org-mode, and a starting point for Emacs if you want to check this out:

  • Sacha Chua publishes Emacs news every week to provide an overview of activity in the community. Her latest issue from 2021-07-26 contains a huge section about org, org-roam, and the update to v2.
  • org-mode website to get to know the .org file format and a glimpse of its features
  • org-roam website to learn more about the roamification of Emacs org-mode notes
  • org-roam-bibtex, a package that makes it possible to use BibTeX for reference management in your notes
  • /r/emacs is a surprisingly active subreddit where people share their Emacs love stories, setups, configuration helps, and also org-related stuff
  • /r/orgmode is a place to get help and discover tricks pertaining org-mode, but is less active than /r/emacs
  • Xah Lee’s Emacs tutorial if you want to get your hands dirty with Emacs

  1. Really, where do you even start? It comes with tables and spreadsheet functions to auto-update table cells based on formulae; it displays and manages images and other attachments in your notes; you can have executable (!) code blocks that show results in your notes, be it text or images (think plotting data); you can manage your address book; and it’s a very capable task manager with customizable project and task rules, scheduling, deadlines, and automation for everything, including a dashboard-like overview of everything you have to do for the day. Oh, and you can use it to power your website or blog because there’s extensions that spit out HTML. If a task can be accomplished with text, org can probably do it for you. ↩