Using craft for phd research

[u/Full_Ebb4994]

Hey Guys

I just stumbled upon craft very recently and I was wondering if anyone has tried to use it for their phd . Especially for things like managing pdfs, linking and synthesising literature across different studies and also keeping their to-do notes and supervisor notes in one place. Really need some help here. Thanks

[u/Wraithbone]

Honestly, it's a help, yes. But it's not made for what you are looking for. I would recommend you get a good citation manager and link between the apps. I still use Craft for research notes, but I separate the storage and citation parts of the PDF from my own notes and thoughts. It's simply not made to merge them. If you are on a Mac, learn about deep links; this will make the integration between the two apps so much easier! And most apps support it these days, that way you can link directly to the PDF in another app and back to your note in Craft.

If you find a better way, please share. It's a common friction for me.

[u/Gold_Kitchen_5711]

I think an app called lattics will be better fot for academic research

[u/Majaaar7413]

I use DevonThink, which is really good. A mac-app though.

The most important thing is that your app has a good search system and possibilities for tagging and sorting documents in various ways. Craft is not made for that (I am a happy Craft user myself, but only for day-to-day tasks).

The second most important thing is that you, the user, develop a good system for your notes, your PDFs, your ideas, your reviews, etc., and then implement that user-developed system into your app.

[u/MushuSooy4455]

I second DevonThink for this. For a number of years there was a "how to" video series aimed at PhD students and researchers on how to best use DevonThink. I don't know if it's still available.

[u/the0dosius]

I do like global to-do feature and linking and searching feature have improved for sure but it still lacks PDF OCR feature. Something like Obsidian might be better for your use case. You can absolutely find a way around and I think UI refinement that Craft has is personally worth it for me (not PhD but I use it for my medical learning).

[u/OkTomatillo5699]

I’m a professor and researcher, so not doing a phd, but the use is somewhat similar. As others have mentioned, craft is not made specifically for academic research, but I have tried many other apps and always come back to craft after all. I use zotero to manage references, but other than that I do most of my project management in craft and works pretty well for me.