Irreal readers can’t help but know that I’m a fanatical Org mode addict. I use it for almost everything that doesn’t involve coding and sometimes, via code blocks, even then. I’m an inveterate data gatherer and note taker and all that data and notes go right into Org files.
Still, not everyone is as fond as I am of Org mode but they still need to take notes and collect data. There are lots of ways of doing that, of course, but if you’re an Emacser who hates leaving Emacs, you’ll want a way of taking notes from within Emacs.
Scott Nesbitt offers 3 Emacs modes for taking notes. One of those, of course, is Org mode and I’ve written at length about its virtues for note taking and other tasks. The other two are deft-mode and howm.
I’ve written about deft before (1, 2, 3, 4) and lots of Emacs users—including Org users—swear by it. It’s main attraction appears to be the ease with which you can search and filter the notes. I use tags in Org mode for that and have never seriously used deft but, as I say, lots of knowledgeable people have and love it.
Finally, there’s howm. I’d never heard of it before I read Nesbitt’s post so I can’t add anything intelligent to the discussion about it. Nesbitt says it’s a bit quirky but that he really likes it. You can get an idea of what it’s like by following the howm link above.
As usual, Emacs gives you lots of opportunities to do it your way.