The strongest argument for plain text is that the files I wrote in 2015 still open. The second strongest is that I can grep them.

Things I keep in plain text:

• Notes (this site is built on them)
• Todos (todo.md, dead simple, unfinished items prefixed [ ])
• Journal (one file per month, append-only)
• Drafts of essays
• Reading notes
• Half of what would otherwise be in spreadsheets

Things I tried to keep in plain text and gave up on:

• Calendar (needs reminders; gave up to Google Calendar)
• Contacts (rarely change, but iCloud handles it better)
• Money tracking (need real arithmetic; spreadsheets win)

The pattern is: if it's text I'll read, plain text wins. If it's data I'll compute, plain text loses. See Plain-text notes after a decade for the long form.

Related: Digital garden, Note-taking is not knowledge.

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