I tried out the PARA method, but so far it feels too involved with fiddling in the file system and I’m not really using it anymore. I use the “open file” command palette as my primary form of navigation, backlinks and other internal links secondarily, so folder organization doesn’t actually matter to me. I plan to un-PARA my folders and simplify them as much as possible so I can continue to ignore the file system organization.

I think it’s important to design your system around your own way of thinking/working. Sure, steal and adapt useful ideas from others but with time your system will shape to what you need it to be. Personally I use 3 folders ~/vault ~/vault/journals ~/vault/pages that contain .md and a few .org files. It’s all in Dropbox. I use Emacs (with md-roam) & Obsidian (with org plugin) for some cross compatibilty and mobile access. Journals folder is for daily/fleeting notes (an inbox of sorts). Pages are more fleshed out Evergreen or Zettelkasten type notes. I tried PARA but it didn’t really work for me…everything can be resurfaced through tags, interlinking and search so I wouldn’t get any benefits from that kind of file/folder hierarchy. So to answer the question, the best alternative system is probably one of your own design.

I don’t follow any particular method. Rather, I’ve let my vault grow and develop over time as I’ve used it to take notes for work, do research, and document things.

My take-off points are my home page which contains links to “dashboards” for specific projects, and my daily notes. I use a lot of links and tags and have just let things develop over time. I’m a heavy “search” user and am trying to get better at inserting back links.