# An Opinionated Academic's workflow for using Org-Roam **URL:** \ **Category:** Guides\ **Created:** [August 5, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601 "2020-08-05T00:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mancub](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/mancub/32/347_2.png) [@mancub](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/mancub)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/1 "2020-08-05T00:18:44Z")
The goal of this post is to document how I use Org-Roam suite of packages. Note: My entire Org directory + All my papers live in Dropbox **Zotero + Zotfile + BetterBibTex Plugin:** I use zotero for file management. Moreover, I use the zotfile plugin to rename and save the PDFs in a folder in Dropbox. I have installed the BBT plugin to generate and keep updated a .bib file of all the papers in my Zotero. **Helm Bibtex** : I use helmbibtex in DOOM emacs to read the .bib file created in the previous step. I search for the file, and then hit `tab` to open the contextual menu and hit edit notes (`f9`). This opens a capture template that is prepopulated with all the necesary information about the paper. Note: this also allows me to choose the PDF I want to use for note taking. **Org-Noter+ Org-Roam:** The next thing I do is `M-x org-noter`. Which opens up the PDF and the Note taking buffer in a separate window. [Short gif here](https://imgur.com/hS7v13p) Then I use org noter to take the notes. You can look up the functionality of org-note [here](https://github.com/weirdNox/org-noter). It truly is an amazing package. The most often used shortcut for me is `M-i`. I have `company-roam` also installed which allows me to quickly insert links to existing notes - however, you can use `insert roam link` (`SPC n i`) to replicate the functionality. [Short gif here](https://imgur.com/TP87cZL) **Org-Roam-Server:** I use `org-roam-server` to see the visualization of my knowledge graph, the clusters give me a visual cue to think about how else I can link the paper I am processing, and how it relates to others concepts that I might be interested in. [My Org Roam Server in action.](https://imgur.com/WDAWYGk) Moreover, `Org-Roam-Server` also has an enable preview feature and a buffer view which can make parsing the information you have a little bit easier once the whole knowledge graph gets too complex. [Buffer Mode with Previews](https://imgur.com/qhWkxL3) ​ ​ I hope the academics on this subreddit find this helpful. If you are interested, my config files are here on [GitHub](https://github.com/sunnyhasija/DOOMEmacs). ---
**Author:** ![bepolymathe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/bepolymathe/32/688_2.png) [@bepolymathe](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/bepolymathe)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/2 "2020-08-06T08:46:26Z")
That’s great ! Same workflow for me 😉 ---
**Author:** ![santi-younger](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/santi-younger/32/275_2.png) [@santi-younger](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/santi-younger)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/3 "2020-08-08T14:28:49Z")
This is awesome thanks for sharing this! It’s awesome to see other people developing a similar set up! ---
**Author:** ![stites](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/stites/32/53_2.png) [@stites](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/stites)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/4 "2020-09-18T15:16:01Z")
org-roam-server looks great! Can it filter down to a subset of the graph and do a “neighbors n-hops away” selection? ---
**Author:** ![mancub](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/mancub/32/347_2.png) [@mancub](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/mancub)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/5 "2020-09-18T15:47:54Z")
Indeed, you can filter using roam-tags, and you can do n-hops away. ---
**Author:** ![sinqbad](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/sinqbad/32/414_2.png) [@sinqbad](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/sinqbad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/6 "2020-10-01T16:41:15Z")
How do you get org-noter to work with the the captured bibliography. When I try it it says “Invalid or no document property found. Please specify a document path:” ---
**Author:** ![mancub](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/mancub/32/347_2.png) [@mancub](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/mancub)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/7 "2020-10-01T17:01:29Z")
There should be a :NOTER\_DOCUMENT: property of the headline. That property is what tells org-noter which file to use. Please look at the config.el in my github to see how to configure this. ---
**Author:** ![mshevchuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mshevchuk](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/mshevchuk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 6:31am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/8 "2020-10-02T06:31:44Z")
Also note that if the file path is a part of a symlink, you have to set `directory-abbrev-alist`, otherwise your changes to the PDF documents, e.g. annotations won’t be saved. ---
**Author:** ![bepolymathe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/bepolymathe/32/688_2.png) [@bepolymathe](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/bepolymathe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 10:20am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/an-opinionated-academics-workflow-for-using-org-roam/601/9 "2021-02-24T10:20:02Z")
@mancub @mshevchuk What configuration do you use so that the note you clicked on the graph opens in the current instance of Emacs and not in a new window ?