mnmal:

I use a simple hierarchal structure of folders, where the topmost folders are the largest portions of my life, (Home, Work, College, and Farmdog currently) followed by further topical or task-based folder names. I then use plain text files to store the data, either in Markdown, or just as plain text without markup. I find that this structure maps directly in my mind to how I think about how the computer works. Search is useful, but I use it when I can not remember where I saved a particular file, or if I inadvertently saved it in the wrong place.

Great article about the use of plain text files and the reason behind it. I’ve talked about it before.

This is exactly my set up as well. All notes are in markdown files which I can edit in gVim, easily grab the HTML with the excellent Marked.app and find text using Finder or grep.

Another trick, is since everything is stored in Dropbox I can easily pull up and edit notes on iPhone using my favorite mobile editor Nocs.