Get started with Logseq

What Logseq is

Logseq is a note-taking app that thinks in bullets instead of pages. Every line you write is a bullet that can be collapsed, moved or linked to another bullet. It sounds small, and it changes how your notes grow.

The other half is the links. If you write [[Marknadsföring]] in the middle of a line, it becomes a link to a page with that name, and the page creates itself. When you then open Marketing you see every place in your notes where the word was mentioned, no matter which meeting it was written in. You never sort into folders, you link, and the structure grows as you go.

The notes are saved as ordinary text files in a folder on your computer. Not in a database you cannot access, not with a company. If Logseq stops existing you can open every file in Notepad.

Windows

Logseq now comes in two versions: this guide describes the file-based variant, which has been given the name Logseq OG. There is also a newer variant that saves to an SQLite database instead of text files; look for the link to the file-based OG version on the download page if both are offered. Download the installer from logseq.com and run it. On first start, Logseq asks for a folder for your notes. Create a new, empty folder and point to it; choosing Documents or the Desktop directly gives you a mess that is a pain to sort out.

Linux Mint

Logseq is not in Mint's software repository. Two routes work instead.

Flatpak is the easy one. Open the Software Manager, search for Logseq and install the Flathub version, or run this in the terminal:

flatpak install flathub com.logseq.Logseq

The AppImage from logseq.com also works. The file needs permission to run as a program, via right-click, Properties and the Permissions tab. If it does not start, a library is missing: on Mint 22 the package is called libfuse2t64, on Mint 21 libfuse2.

Three things to do first

1. Put the notes folder in a cloud folder you already sync, for example Nextcloud or OneDrive. Then the notes are available on all the company's computers without Logseq needing an account.
2. Write today's journal for a week before you build anything fancier. Logseq always opens on today's date, and the habit of writing there is the whole difference between an app you use and an app you installed.
3. Link a single thing: the next time a company name or a topic comes up, put square brackets around it. Then click through to the page and see what ended up there.

The most common trap

Syncing the same notes folder to two computers that both have Logseq open at the same time. Logseq writes to the files constantly, the cloud service writes to them too, and the result is conflict files with dates in the name and a note that exists in two versions.

Close Logseq on one computer before you open it on the other. It is tedious but it works. If several people in the company are going to write in the same notes at the same time, Logseq is the wrong tool; use a shared wiki or a shared document for that, and let Logseq be your own thinking.