Boxing notes

The boxing method groups related notes inside a drawn box, one box per theme, each with a short label. On paper or a tablet the boxes are literal rectangles; the page ends up as a set of separate chunks rather than one long stream. It works because each box is a unit of study: the eye can take in one box, cover it, recall it, and move on. Boxes also make the boundaries between topics visible, which a running list hides.

It is popular with tablet note-takers because boxes can be drawn, moved, and resized. In Markdown, a box becomes a labeled section with a horizontal rule between boxes, or a quote block for a box that should stand out. This skill sorts notes into boxes and writes them that way.

When to use it