PKM Weekly - 2025-06-29
A look at the latest Personal Knowledge Management PKM news from the past week.
Hi Everyone,
We are back with another episode of PKM Weekly. Let’s see what is in store for us today.
Obsidian
Bases Update
The Obsidian bases have been updated, and we can now have a “Cards” view, which looks something like the following:
We have also been graced with a great new image() function for rendering images inline:
See the full changelog
Obsidian was supposed to help me take notes. Now I’m a front-end developer.
This post showcases how overcustomisation can lead to issues. OP spent a considerable amount of time in Obsidian but was not actually taking any notes and was more playing around with the styling and aesthetics.
I started using Obsidian a week ago to improve my note-taking habits and become more productive.
Well... instead of taking notes, I spent the whole week tweaking CSS and HTML like a man possessed 😅
I tried Notion and Obsidian for a month and here's how it went
Parth tried out both Obsidian and Notion for a month. Both transform how we capture ideas, organise our thoughts, and manage our lives. Yet, their approach is different. For an entire month, I lived within both ecosystems, switching between Notion's flexible databases and Obsidian's networked thoughts.
In the end, and perhaps as expected, there is no clear winner, as both tools serve slightly different purposes (although with Obsidian Bases improving, the gap may be narrowing). Obsidian is a champion of long-term data ownership and interconnected knowledge. Notion shines as a collaborative workspace, offering an extensive library of predefined templates.
I will stick with Notion for its advanced database features, but I will keep a close eye on Obsidian Bases, which aims to offer the same flexibility in the future.
I Deleted My Second Brain
Two nights ago, I deleted everything.
Every note in Obsidian. Every half-baked atomic thought, every Zettelkasten slip, every carefully linked concept map. I deleted every Apple Note I’d synced since 2015. Every quote I’d ever highlighted. Every to-do list from every productivity system I’d ever borrowed, broken, or bastardized. Gone. Erased in seconds.
What followed: Relief.
Check out the full post here.
Capacities
Database and Queries Improvements
The Capacities team are looking for feedback on Databases and Queries.
We are planning on making some exciting improvements to databases and queries within the next couple of releases. We've compiled a list of requests from Canny, but we'd like to know what your top three requests for improvements are. What query and database features do you feel are missing most from Capacities at the moment? Please reply in the thread below. 💭
Also, you can look forward to an updated 'what's next' article with the next release.
Share and post your thoughts and comments here.
Synced Properties Coming Soon?
An online post suggested that Synced Properties may be coming soon to Capacities. We will be able to activate them our multi-select property and it will allow us to automatically sync all of our, say, “Authors” properties on our book object type with our “Books” property on your person object type.
With the above update, Better List Views are also being worked on, which will tweak many details around how objects are displayed in a list.
Capacities - Chaotic UI/UX?
There were quite a few comments on the Capacities UX/UI over the past week or so, and Ven summed up their thoughts succinctly.
I've been a long-time subscriber even though I stopped using the app half a year (a year?) or so ago. I quit the app because even though I really like the concept, I couldn't stand the chaotic and busy UI. I had forgotten my subscription was still ongoing and just logged in today to see if things have improve and my god it has gotten even worse. There's so much stuff everywhere - buttons, sliders, bounding boxes, borders, colors, icons, redundant information. Maybe it's just my ADHD, but capacities UI feels so distracting, overwhelming and claustrophobic. The UI doesn't need "polishing" - it needs a complete overhaul. Time to stop wasting money on this.
Do you agree with the above or do you like the layout and design of Capacities?
TANA
Tana European Summer Office Hours
Tana announced that they will be having a European Summer Special Edition of Tana Office Hours.
Join us for a special summer Office Hours, where Olav and Matt will walk you through product updates. We’ve just wrapped up our latest 6-week sprint, and we will share what we’ve been working on, what’s about to be released, what’s coming next, along with answering any questions.
We’ll also share what to expect during July, as the Norwegian team rotates through their traditional holiday season. Grab a cold drink and come hang out, all welcome
Wednesday 2 July - Details
This Tiny Toggle Turns Your Tana Day Page Into a Laser-Focused Dashboard
Ev gave us a Fix your Tana related content mess: Instantly filter your day page using The Focus Mode Method
Logseq to Tana import Tool
It seems that OP was a little put off by Logseq's lack of updates, its complete dedication to the DB mode, and the failure to have a decent working mobile app, which led them to move over to Tana. The issue is that there is no easy import and they found that some things aren't imported over properly, assets (images), queries, headings, among other things.
To overcome the above, the OP has said they will be looking to Build a tool to import Logseq to Tana by expanding on the open-source Tana import tool https://github.com/tanainc/tana-import-tools, to make things great.
What were the biggest problems you faced when moving over?
Tana vs Capacities
OP posted Can't make the choice - How did y'all make the decision? Using for work so I think Tana might have the flexibility I need...curious what others think.
Lots of great responses and insight in the Reddit post.
Logseq
Pages vs Blocks
The devs appear to be working on a way they we can create pages or revert to blocks through the use of a tag. set/unset #Page to convert between page and block It will be interesting to see how this is implemented.
This avenue could also be used to create a full-form page (i.e., a non-outliner page) for those who occasionally want to write a proper document. Could be the start of things to come?
AppFlowy
Hi @everyone, AppFlowy Web now supports creating and editing Grid and Board-view databases. Simply visit appflowy.com to get started!
Note:
Creating or linking inline database views in documents is not supported yet in AppFlowy Web.
However, you can edit existing inline Grid and Board views using the web app.
The self-hosted version will be updated next week.
See demo here.
What we're working on next for the web app:
Log in with password (already available on desktop & mobile apps).
create and edit calendar-view databases (already supported in desktop & mobile apps).
Add or link inline database views in documents.
Orca Note
Orca Note release v1.20.0:
Bug fixes,
Added copy block ID command to block menu.
Direct alias editing after focusing on the alias block; supports adding multiple tags at once,
Added dark mode for PDF blocks for comfortable reading in low-light environments.
Added migrate aliases and references command to page list and block menu, allowing you to "merge" two blocks with the same meaning.
New query engine with enhanced query capabilities.
Optimised journal date handling in queries.
https://github.com/sethyuan/orca-note/releases
Heptabase
Heptabase AI Chat is here. Heptabase just released its highly anticipated AI Chat feature! Now you have more control over how you'd like to leverage AI.
In this walkthrough, Antone shows us everything we need to know about this game-changing addition to the visual thinking platform.
Noteey
V1.25.0 is available to update! New Features and Improvements:
Added folder organisation for boards in one project.
Added type switcher in Library.
Improved board operations:
Elements now support auto-layout
Frames automatically expand to fit elements.
Added GIF support with auto-play.
Connection line endpoints auto-adjust and remember the last used style.
Improved PNG/PDF export quality.
Pasting cards/PDFs/web links now defaults to embed mode,
Referenced projects can be quickly copied via shortcuts or the right-click menu.
Enhanced card operations:
Card text can be converted to new cards and added directly to the board
Slash menu now supports quick reuse of library images when inserting pictures.
Added ability to create notes directly after adding highlights (same for PDFs).
Added floating window support for images,
Recently used tags now appear at the top in tag management popup,
Global search now includes more types
and more.
AFFiNE
We've started testing our mobile app. Now, whether you're an iOS or Android user, you can pick up your phone and begin your mobile journey with AFFiNE:
Android Test Link: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.affine.pro
iOS Test Link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/TkNnZNVW
Thymer
Journal Note Showcase (still no product though)
If you want to keep up to date (as and when the app is released), do check out the unofficial Subreddit.
That’s all for this week. Thank you very much in advance for reading and I look forward to bringing you more PKM news next week.
Affine mobile app tho 👀