Writing

How-to.

Practical guides, including the ones that do not involve this app.

  1. 4 min

    How to capture action items during a meeting without losing focus

    A practical Windows workflow for recording meeting tasks, notes and reminders in seconds without leaving Teams, Zoom or the document in front of you.

  2. 4 min

    Choosing a global hotkey that nothing else has taken

    Windows has hundreds of reserved and squatted combinations, and it will not tell you who owns one. A practical method for picking a shortcut that works everywhere.

  3. 4 min

    Read your own capture database

    Jot stores everything in one SQLite file with no proprietary format. Here is how to open it, query it, export it, and confirm for yourself what is and is not in there.

  4. 3 min

    Backing up a local-first app, properly

    The trade you make for owning your data is that nobody else is holding a copy. Here is what that actually requires of you, in about fifteen minutes of setup.

  5. 4 min

    Getting more out of Microsoft To Do

    It is already installed, already on your phone and already wired into Outlook. Most people use about a third of it. Here is the useful third, and the parts that are genuinely weak.

  6. 5 min

    Quick capture on Windows without leaving your current app

    Compare Sticky Notes, OneNote, Microsoft To Do and AutoHotkey for capturing a task or note on Windows without breaking your concentration.

  7. 5 min

    How a capture on your desktop ends up as a buzz in your pocket

    Jot has no phone app and no server, and it still gets a reminder to your phone. It does that by writing into Microsoft To Do, which already lives there — here is exactly what that involves.