What are Pins, in RemNote?
Pins are a discreet way of referencing another section of your notes or quotes from a source. In other words, Pins are Rem References without a name.
Why use Pins in RemNote?
Backlinks are an essential way to create connections within your notes, but they are not always easy to work into your text. Pins offer an alternative, a link that takes up virtually no space, perfect for bibliographic references, long quotes/images, or pining multiple references to the same Rem.
How to create and use Pins in RemNote?
As Pins are a variation of Rem References, it is worth reading this article on creating and using Rem References if you are not already familiar with how they work.
Turning a Rem Reference into a Pin
The primary way to create a Pin in RemNote is to take an existing Rem Reference and edit it. Choose any Rem Reference and right-click on it, click on Edit Reference Text and delete the text. The enter button option should now read “set to Pin”, click that or hit enter to turn your Rem Reference into a Pin.
Now it appears as a small Pin icon instead of text. Clicking on the pin will still take you back to the original Rem Reference.
Pinning References From PDFs
The other way to generate Pins in RemNote is by pining references from PDFs as you read them with the PDF Annotator. If you are not already familiar with the Annotator, it lets you read, highlight, and copy from, PDFs without leaving RemNote. You can read more about RemNote’s PDF Annotator here.
Highlight Sections to Create Pins in PDFs
Once you have a PDF Open, you can easily copy a text or box selection. For text, highlight the words you want to copy, for a box, hold down Ctrl/Cmd then click and drag to select an area to copy.
An option will appear to “Add Highlight” if you click this the selection will be highlighted to find it again easily, but will also be copied as a Pin (a popup in the top right shows this). Alternatively, if you hit Enter it will also copy your selection as a Pin. If you then paste it into your notes, it will appear as a Pin.
This Pin links back to the PDF and the specific spot you highlighted within it.
Pinning Already Highlighted Sections
It is still possible to create new Pins from already highlighted sections.
Right-click on a highlighted section, then select the copy anchor option (it has the icon of a Pin!). Simply paste it into your notes, and you will have a Pin to that section. It will even keep the colour of the initial highlight to help you stay organized and track your sources.
This works great for building up bibliographies and other unintrusive references to your sources. But there are plenty of different ways to use the Pin feature in your studies, research, or work.
Examples of how to use Pins
Regardless of the type of learning you are using RemNote for, Pins can come in handy in many ways.
For Research:
Use Pins while reading in PDFs to connect evidence to ideas in your notes.
Pins help make sure you never lose track of where you learned or read a specific piece of information.
Use Pins to connect your bibliography to your work or outline, making later footnoting or referencing a breeze.
For Studies:
Use Pins to connect concepts in your textbook to your notes to easily find important pages and explanations.
Use Pins to textbook sections or sections of your notes when making flashcards to be able to review more in-depth explanations without spoiling them on the cards.
Pin practice questions from the textbook to a section of notes for later review.
Use different colors for explanations/examples/practice questions to easily keep track of which Pins are for what.
For the Workplace:
Pin links to legal documents, forms, or guidelines to tasks to find them just in case
Pin client names to tasks involving the client to easily jump to their details if needed
Every user will find different ways to integrate this feature into their workflow. Now that you know how to create & use Pins in RemNote, feel free to share your ideas with other users on forums or online!