IR Flow Reading Extracting and Clozing

IR Flow: Reading, Extracting, and Clozing

This page describes the Incremental Reading workflow supported by the plugin — a SuperMemo-inspired loop for breaking down large documents into smaller, reviewable pieces and converting key passages into flashcards, all without leaving the editor.

The two core commands are:

Command	Shortcut	Action
Create Extract	Alt+X / Alt+Shift+X	Pulls selected text into a new child Rem and initializes it as an Incremental Rem
Create Cloze	Alt+Z	Creates a standalone cloze-deletion child Rem from the selected text

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Create Extract (Alt+X / Alt+Shift+X)

When reading a long Incremental Rem (a chapter, article, or section), you isolate the most important passage and turn it into its own Incremental Rem for deeper review later.

How it works:

1. Select the text you want to extract.
2. Press Alt+X (or Alt+Shift+X to set a specific priority immediately).
3. The plugin:
   • Creates a child Rem containing the selected text.
   • Highlights the original selection in blue in the parent Rem and inserts a reference pin (↗) next to it — clicking the pin navigates to the new child.
   • Adds a back-reference pin at the end of the child Rem pointing back to the parent, maintaining full traceability.
   • If the parent Rem was itself extracted from a PDF highlight, the child inherits a direct pin to the original PDF source as well.
   • Tags the parent Rem with #remove-from-queue so its original queue slot is suppressed — the children take over.
   • Initializes the new Rem as an Incremental Rem (with Alt+X: inherited or default priority; with Alt+Shift+X: opens the Priority popup).

This process is called "shredding" a document: you pass through it incrementally, pulling out what matters and leaving the rest behind.

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Create Cloze (Alt+Z)

While reading, you often encounter a key term, definition, or fact that you want to memorize — not just re-read. Alt+Z converts the selected text into a cloze deletion flashcard in the SuperMemo style.

What happens

1. Select the word or phrase to test yourself on.
2. Press Alt+Z.
3. The plugin:
   • Creates a child Rem as a standalone cloze flashcard.
   • The child's text contains the full content of the parent Rem (front and back, if it is a flashcard), with the card delimiter replaced by a directional arrow (⇒, ⇐, or ⇔ — derived from the card's practice direction).
   • Any existing cloze marks in the parent's text are stripped from the child copy and re-marked with yellow highlight + red font, so you can see where other holes existed without them interfering with the new cloze.
   • The selected text is marked as the new cloze deletion in the child.
   • If the parent is a Concept rem, the front portion of the child is rendered in bold. If it is a Descriptor, it is rendered in italic — matching RemNote's native UI conventions.
   • A back-reference pin to the parent Rem is appended at the end of the child's text.
   • The parent's selection is marked with yellow highlight + red font to signal that this passage has already been cloze-extracted.
   • The parent Rem is tagged with #remove-from-queue.
   • The child Rem receives a cloze-extract tag, which renders a small violet ↑ badge in the queue (hover for a tooltip) so you can always identify cards that originated from this workflow.

Visual result in the child Rem

The child inherits the full context. If the parent says:

Navigation systems :: GPS cannot be relied upon alone

and you select "GPS", the child becomes:

Navigation systems ⇒ [GPS] cannot be relied upon alone ↗

where [GPS] is the cloze deletion and ↗ is the back-reference pin.

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Comparing Alt+Z (SuperMemo-style) with Native RemNote Clozes

RemNote has its own built-in cloze system — marking text with {curly braces} or via the cloze toolbar. The two approaches have distinct advantages:

Native RemNote Clozes

• Spoiler protection: RemNote's scheduler automatically buries (hides for ~1 hour) other cloze cards from the same Rem after one is reviewed. This prevents you from accidentally getting spoiled on a related answer you haven't been tested on yet.
• Compact: Multiple clozes live inside a single Rem. No extra Rems are created.
• Simpler workflow: Just highlight and mark — no child Rem is generated.
• Best for: Dense material where multiple facts in a single sentence all need to be tested, and you trust RemNote's bury logic to prevent spoilers.

Alt+Z SuperMemo-style Clozes

• Standalone Rem: Each cloze becomes its own independent Rem in the knowledge base. This means it has its own scheduling history, its own priority, and can be edited, simplified, or reorganized entirely independently of the parent.
• Atomic by design: Because the child is a separate Rem, you are naturally encouraged to make each card as atomic as possible. Over time, you can simplify the child's wording — removing irrelevant context — making it faster to review and easier to memorize.
• Incrementally refineable: The child can itself be extracted further or restructured. Native clozes inside a parent Rem cannot be individually promoted or separated.
• Full context preserved: The child always carries the full front-and-back of the parent, so you never lose the context in which you learned the fact.
• Best for: Key terms, definitions, and facts you want to make truly independent, atomic, and long-term durable — especially during the first read of a new document.

Summary

	Native RemNote Cloze	Alt+Z SuperMemo-style Cloze
Spoiler protection (bury)	Yes	No (each card is independent)
Standalone Rem	No	Yes
Individually schedulable	No	Yes
Can be simplified over time	No	Yes
Atomic card design	Encouraged by discipline	Structurally enforced
Number of Rems created	0 (inline)	1 per cloze
Back-reference to source	No	Yes (pin appended)
Visual queue badge	No	Yes (violet ↑ badge)

The two approaches are complementary. Use native clozes for quick, spoiler-safe multi-cloze sentences. Use Alt+Z when a concept is important enough to deserve its own card and its own long-term refinement path.