The PARA method: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives in Noodle

PARA works in Noodle if you make a category for each active project and area, add one called Archive, and use tags for topics. It won't look like the folder version in the book, because Noodle's categories are one flat list. Below is how PARA works and how to set it up.

PARA is the filing system from Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain (2022), and he gave it a book of its own, The PARA Method, in 2023. Both are worth reading. Noodle isn't affiliated with Tiago Forte or Forte Labs.

The four buckets

Most people file by subject: cooking here, health there, work over there. PARA files by when you'll need something. It has four places, from most to least active.

• Projects have a goal and an end. Book the Lisbon trip, finish the kitchen, give the talk on the 14th.
• Areas are parts of life you keep up with no end date: health, money, the house, the kids, your job.
• Resources are interests that aren't tied to anything active yet, like sourdough, typography or birdwatching.
• Archives hold whatever has gone quiet: finished projects, areas you've stepped back from, interests you've dropped.

Things move between buckets. A bread recipe sits in Resources until you plan a dinner party, joins that project for two weeks, then goes to the archive. You file for the job in front of you.

Why sorting by project helps

When you open your second brain on a Monday, the six things you need for the kitchen are together, not spread across "Tiles", "Plumbing" and "Budgets". And "which project is this for?" is quicker to answer than "which of my forty topics fits?" You decide in a second and move on.

The archive matters too. Nothing gets deleted. Old projects just step out of the way, and they're still there when you need them. The builder's quote from the kitchen job is exactly what you'll want two years later when the bathroom needs doing.

Setting up PARA in Noodle

Use categories for the first two buckets and the last one, and tags for the third.

Make a category for each active project and area: "Kitchen redo", "Lisbon trip", "Health", "Money", "Work". Then add one called "Archive". Tags carry topics, like "bread", "tiles" or "taxes". A tag can sit on items in any category, so "budgeting" connects a video in Money with a quote in Kitchen redo.

Give every category a description. Noodle reads it when it suggests where a new save belongs. "Tiles, cabinets, the plumber, paint colors, quotes from builders" catches far more of the right saves than the name "Kitchen redo" on its own.

Where Noodle's categories differ from the book

PARA is easiest with folders: four top folders and everything nested inside. Noodle doesn't have those.

Don't overbuild Resources

Resources is the bucket people spend too long on. They make a category for every hobby and then agonize over each save.

Most people won't need that in Noodle. Search finds things from a description, even when you use different words from the ones in the item. If you saved a video about getting a crisp crust, typing "make bread crunchier" finds it, tagged or not. Tags are still nice for browsing a topic in the Library, though the suggested ones won't always be the words you'd pick. Accept the suggestions that make sense and move on.

Forte makes a similar point on his PARA page: add "just enough order" and no more.

Keeping PARA from going stale

PARA only works if projects really end. A short weekly look is enough.

On Sunday evening, scan your categories. If "Lisbon trip" is over, open the Library, filter by that category, tap Select, then Select all and File…. Pick Archive and tap Apply. Then delete the empty category in Settings → Categories. Clear To organize (it's a chip on Home) so nothing unfiled piles up. And before you archive a project, check for loose ends: Plan it on an item's screen puts a follow-up on a day in Plan.

Next in the series: distill and express, on turning what you've filed into something you use.