Plain Text or a Word Processor for Notes You Keep
Choose plain text or a word processor based on whether the note is words to keep or a designed page.
A note you intend to read in ten years has a format decision hiding inside it. A word processor gives you headings, page layout, and comments. Plain text gives you words and almost nothing else, which is why it survives so many changes of software. Neither choice is virtuous on its own. The mistake is using a heavy format for a note that is only sentences, or using plain text for a page whose layout is the point, and then losing the layout when you convert in a hurry.
Plain text is the sturdy option for words
A text file stores characters. It does not store a specific application's private history of edits. You can open it in almost any editor on almost any current desktop, and you can read it even when the styling is irrelevant. For archive notes, indexes of a box, captions, retention agreements, and README files, plain text is the right weight. You already rely on that idea if you keep a README beside a project, as described in writing README files for folders. Use a widely understood encoding, and if you are unsure, save as the common Unicode text your editor offers and avoid a rare encoding option you cannot explain. The file should open without a scavenger hunt.
A word processor earns its place when layout matters
Minutes that must look like the signed pages, a newsletter, or a letter with deliberate formatting are not just a stream of words. A word processor or a PDF made from it can be the right working file. The risk is that the working file becomes the only file. Applications change, and a document full of features you used once may open with missing fonts or shifted pages, which is a different problem covered when you think about what a missing font does after you have seen it happen. If the layout matters, keep the working file and also export a simpler copy for reading. If the layout does not matter, do not take on the risk.
Comments and tracked changes are not the note
Word processor files often contain a second conversation: comments, old wording, and the name of the person who edited. That conversation can be useful in a workshop and inappropriate in an archive you will share. It can also confuse a later reader who sees deleted text and thinks it is still part of the decision. Before you archive a word processor file, decide whether the conversation is part of the record. If it is not, save a clean copy that shows the accepted text. Keep the messy workshop file only if you truly want the history of edits, and label it as history so it is not mistaken for the finished note.
Conversion is a copy, not a time machine
Turning a designed page into plain text will drop headers, tables, and emphasis. Turning plain text into a designed page will not restore a layout you never had. Do the conversion on a copy, open the result, and read a page rather than trusting the export dialog. For a simple table of names and dates, a spreadsheet or a CSV may be more honest than either a text file or a word processor. The format should match the shape of the information. A paragraph wants text. A grid wants a grid. A page that must look like paper wants a page format, with the cautions in choosing archive-friendly formats in mind before you pick an exotic one because it was the default.
Pick once for each kind of note
A household archive is easier to open when similar notes share a format. Folder indexes are text. Formal letters you must preserve as sent might be PDF plus the working file. Drafts can stay in the word processor until they are accepted, and then the accepted words can be copied into the text note that the archive actually relies on. Write the choice down in one line so the next volunteer does not save this year's minutes in a third format for variety. Consistency is a preservation strategy. It means the day you need the note, you already know how to open it.
Frequently asked questions
Is plain text too plain for meeting minutes? Not if the minutes are a record of what was decided. Use headings made of ordinary characters if you want structure. Choose a formatted page only when the look of the page is itself the record.
What if the family already uses one word processor for everything? Keep using it for drafting if it is working. For notes the archive depends on, also save a plain-text or other simple copy so a future computer is not required to be the same.
Do I lose search if I leave the word processor? You usually gain easy search. Plain text is visible to almost any search tool. A formatted file is searchable only when the tool understands that format.