RemNote tables, like tables in any other note-taking app, display content in rows and columns. But in RemNote, they’re not just for formatting – they can also be used to collect related information from around your knowledge base, generate flashcards, and more.
Tables are a RemNote Pro feature. Free users can create up to two tables to try the feature out.
The Tabular Data Model
The source of the data displayed in a table is simple: each table pulls its data from a particular tag in your knowledge base. Each row of the table represents one instance of the tag (that is, one Rem to which the tag is applied). Each column of the table represents one property of the tag. The first column of the table is always called Name and displays the text of the instance's Rem.
You can create a one-off tag for a new table, or you can select an existing tag to view. The same tag can be viewed through an unlimited number of tables throughout your knowledge base.
Creating a New Table & Tag
You can create a new table and tag together by choosing “Table/Tag” from the Create menu in the lower-left corner.
After you type a name for the new tag, you’ll be taken to the tag’s page, preconfigured to show a table of all its instances.
Creating a table from an existing tag
You can view any existing tag as a table by navigating to the tag’s page and choosing Table from the View As selector under All Instances:
You can also insert a table showing Rems with some tag anywhere in your notes by typing /table and selecting the Use Existing Tag option.
Working with tables
Editing content
You can create new rows or edit existing content by clicking on the appropriate table cell and typing.
Table cells in all columns except Name can have multiple bullet points (which are just like any other Rems) inside them. Press Enter within a cell’s text to create bullet points.
Editing columns
To change the name or options of a column/property, hover over the column header and click on the down arrow. This menu shows some options for working with columns (e.g., Sort, Filter, Hide Property), and some options for configuring the properties themselves. Read more about configuring properties.
Generating flashcards
You can generate Concept/Descriptor flashcards from a table. Each value in the Name column is a Concept, and the other columns are Descriptors of that Concept. For each Descriptor, you can control whether flashcards are generated in the forward direction (show the Concept and column name and ask for the cell value), backward direction (show the column name and cell value and ask for the Concept), or both.
To select what directions you want to use, hover over the column header and click on the flashcard icon.
In this example, we learn the element names and symbols in both directions, and the element names and atomic numbers in both directions, as well as the phase in the element name → phase direction only (since trying to guess the element name from the phase at standard temperature and pressure wouldn’t make any sense):
Tip: Hovering over the arrow in the column header will show a preview of the cards generated from that column.
Showing additional properties on table flashcards
While table flashcards are fundamentally defined by a relationship between the Name column and one other column, it's possible to also show other columns on the front or the back of the flashcard. To do this, click on the header of a column that has flashcards, then select Configure Cards. There you can select any other properties from the table that you'd like to add to the card.
Additional properties on the front of the card are usually used to give yourself hints or supplementary information that you need to answer the card correctly.
Example: In our Chemical Elements table, imagine that we want to create flashcards asking the name of an element when shown its number, while including its phase at standard temperature and pressure (“phase at STP”) as a hint.
To accomplish this, we can create a backwards flashcard from the atomic number column and add the phase at STP column as an Extra Property on Front of Card. The front of the flashcard will look like this:
Additional properties on the back of a card work just like the Extra Card Detail Power-Up does on other kinds of cards. As with that power-up, this can be used to display, for instance:
Additional context or examples that clarify why the content is important.
Non-essential facts or trivia that make your study experience more enjoyable and help make the idea more salient so you can remember it better.
References to related material you can review if you’ve forgotten the information on the flashcard.
A reminder of a common misconception or a way you might misinterpret the answer.
Synonyms or translations of a term or idea.
Example: With our Chemical Elements table, imagine that we want to remember the name of the element by just looking at its symbol, and the atomic number is something we consider nice to be reminded of, but not essential.
In that case, we should create a Backwards flashcard from the Symbol column and add the atomic number column as an Extra Property on Back of Card. The flashcards will look like this:
Practicing specific flashcards using a table
You can filter a table to only show specific rows based on certain conditions (see how to filter tables). When a table is filtered, only the flashcards from the visible rows will be added to the document where that table view is located.
For instance, the table below is filtered to only show Chemical Elements that have “gas” in the phase at STP property. So when practicing the Gas Elements document, only the flashcards for gaseous elements will be shown in the queue.
See Practicing Specific Flashcards for other ways to study a small subset of your cards.