# How do you keep track of them?



## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Do you have any good tips or trick on how to keep track of all tips and tricks you hear or read of?
I quite often find myself knowing I have seen a tips somewhere that would be useful in that situation but I can't remember where I have seen it. Problem is that there are so many sources of information - books, magazines, this forum, other websites and so on. Does anyone have a good (and simple) method for this?


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

I just try to store it away in the back of my head for future use.

Witch reminds me, I just learned a new trick today.....

Oh.......... never mind.............. I forgot it!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Save them to your "bookmarks", or "favorites". Or, "copy/paste" to a folder in your "documents".












 









.


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## Ledhead (Aug 3, 2009)

I have a 3 ring binder with some printed tips in it. 
I also have a folder on my C: drive for wood working, then cut / paste from whatever source into a new MSWord document, save file with an appropriate name.


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## schnitz (Sep 5, 2009)

Page protectors full of magazine article tear-outs and book photo copies in a 3 ring binder work really well for me. Since I'm a car guy, I have binders specific to my favorite car (my '78 Monte Carlo) and one with tips I've learned while working on other stuff.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

cabinetman said:


> Save them to your "bookmarks", or "favorites". Or, "copy/paste" to a folder in your "documents"..


Of course, the links to webpages might go away rendering your bookmark useless so when they are REALLY good, save them to disk and then try to reopen them from disk (and make regular harddrive backups and try to restore to a 2nd drive once in awhile to test your recovery ability).

Or just print them out. 

I have folders on my harddrive for "router" "table saw" "finishing" et cetera, and try to sort out saved webpages that way. 

For magazines I have a pile of clippings I gradually feed thru my scanner when I'm housecleaning or something. They get scanned to pdf and.... sorted into my folders.

Also, I am starting wordprocessing text files for each folder that will just be a running list of tips, and I sometimes add a tickle in that file to one of the html or pdf files on my drive. If any of those files get long I can sort them out into subsections and use the wordprocessor's features to create table of contents or a word index but that day is long off. . 

Speaking of which, I just might have to post a tip under "shop safety" about harddrive management and disaster recovery. How many people do you know who actually make regular backups and store the backup offsite (away from the building fire god forbid)? And of those, how many actually TEST whether they can truly restore from their backups before disaster strikes?


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## MariahHolt (Jul 21, 2010)

*tracking*

I bookmark most of my sites. I also use Microsoft OneNote and do a lot of copy/paste and the screen captures. You can also make your own notes.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

I have a leather bound 3 ring binder in the shop. Whenever I find a great tip on the internet I print it on cardstock and place it in a page protector in my binder. If it is a tip that I have discovered by myself, I make up a sheet on the word processor, print the page on card stock and file it in my binder. It works for me. Who knows, when I die, someone might find this binder interesting or valueable. Kind of like my own little shop notes.
Ken


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Thanks guys for all the good tips! :thumbsup: Now all I have to do is to figure out where to store them until I decide which I'll use ........


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

A file in the file drawer of the file cabinet in my garage.

George


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## RLFX (Feb 2, 2010)

I make a sub DIR c:\Woodwork\tips and inside there I keep making Dir's the name of the tip and put all my text files in there ! some with pictures and some without ..


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## Demosthine (Jan 18, 2011)

I do a combination of several of the techniques listed above. I have a folder on my USB Drive with all of my woodworking plans, organized by categories. One of those categories is Tips and Tricks. This allows me to keep digital editions and print them out whenever I need a copy.

I've also recently purchased a three-ring binder, as I'm just finally getting my tools and equipment for woodworking. I use Avery Ready-Tabs to maintain the same organization structure as my digital copies. Any time I tear a page or it gets too dirty, I can simply go print it again.

The other great thing about the three-ring binder is that I can store my tools' Owner's Manuals in them as well. My table saw is a 1932 Craftsman that was a nightmare to find a manual for. My newer tool manuals get scanned and saved to my drive as well. If you're like me, you're bound to get glue or stain on the paper at some point.

For printing various online pages, you can download CutePDF for free and use it. It will allow you to print them to a PDF document, rather than mess with formatting issues, Word Documents, or saved HTML pages. It is a very efficient program.


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## yocalif (Nov 11, 2010)

I know this is a old thread, but I have seen this same question on cooking forums, and other hobby forums.

The older we get the harder it is to rem stuff and especially where we put it.

I tried bookmarking, using notepad and saving in folders, I tried various other solutions.

The best thing I have found is TreeDBNotes. This is a very simple database structured like the windows explorer file tree, and uses tabs as the main branches. Loaded with lots of features, you can copy a webpage right into a TDBN notes page, use the built-in editor to construct your own templates or modify whatever you are saving.

The good news is there is a free version, although some of the features are limited it works great for note db. I went ahead and got the Pro version so I could password protect tabs and create contacts. Again the free version is fine for bookmarking, note taking, storing a wide collection of whatever you want to archive.

Check out the features and give the free version a trail.


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