Pins are a quieter way of referencing another section of your notes. They're like Rem References, but they show a pin icon instead of the name of the Rem they point to.
Typically, pins are used to provide a link back to the source of some information. Such connections between information and its sources are often extremely helpful, but working the links into your text can be too obtrusive. Pins offer an alternative, a link that takes up virtually no space, perfect for bibliographic references or long quotes or images.
RemNote also offers sources. These have some overlap in purpose, but are typically attached to an entire document rather than a single Rem, and they typically refer to a document outside of your notes, like a PDF or website, rather than another part of your notes.
Note: Adding a pin to your notes is unrelated to pinning a document to the sidebar, which is done with the star icon in the upper-right corner.
(Learn more about the document sidebar here.)
Turning an existing Rem Reference into a Pin
The simplest way to create a pin is to take an existing Rem Reference and set its text to nothing:
Right-click on the reference.
Choose Edit Reference Text and delete the text.
The submit button's text will change to Set to Pin. Click the button or press Enter.
As you can see, the reference now appears as a pin icon instead of text.
Pasting a pin
Pin is one of the options on the Rem paste menu. To use this menu, place your keyboard cursor over a Rem (by clicking on it or using the arrow keys to navigate there), then press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac) without highlighting anything. Now put your cursor where you want the pin to appear and press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac), and select the Pin option.
If you haven't used the paste menu before, you'll first need to click on Change to expand the menu:
Copying a pin from a PDF
When you create a highlight in a PDF, the highlights created will be copied just as if you had pressed Ctrl+C as described in Pasting a pin above. Paste into any document to create a pin that links to the highlight.
You can also copy a pin from a highlight that you've already created. Click on the highlight, then the copy icon.
Suggested ways to use pins
Regardless of the type of learning you are using RemNote for, Pins can come in handy in many ways.
For Students
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 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 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.