What's your favorite note-taking application?
Currently I'm using Joplin with Syncthing-backed file system synchronization. I'm pretty pleased with it, as I do like tagging- and Markdown-based systems.
I plan to upgrade to server-based synchronization, but before doing that, however, I wanted to see what other people are using.
Edit: So far I see a slight favor towards Joplin and Logseq, but I totally didn't expect (and appreciate) getting so many different answers.
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Logseq, it’s a lot like Obsidian as it also has knowledge graphs, tags, is markdown-based and self-hostable but, in contrast to Obsidian, it’s fully open source
Much prefer Logseq as well.
Checking out Logseq now. I switched to Obsidian a few months ago and have been really liking it. Was time to switch it up from org-mode after YEARS of using it
Logseq user here too.
However, for a quick, transitory note, I use Kate or, more recently, Xpad. Only then I transcribe the content to Logseq. Why?
Because while Logseq is great as an outliner and for network thinking, it's as graceful and agile as an elephant.
The gist of what I'm saying is: for now, and for me (hardware might be playing a role here, but I don't think so) Logseq is a good note database. For quick typing, I have to use something else.
Unsaved n++ tabs
There's dozens of us
Tabs right?
New33
This is the way
It automatically restoring all those unsaved notes has made me so lazy.
I do that for some random notes, but I prefer app like Obsidian for managing notes/todo lists for some stuff like projects, etc.
Obsidian is where I landed after trying several.
Just tried it for a bit. Looks pretty sleek and has some nice features, but it seems like it's not open-source, which is something I'd like to avoid.
Does it store files in plain text?
👍👍
That looks very interesting, mostly because it's so different. I'll have to take a closer look later.
I am not trying to defend Obsidian here in regards to its closed source but in the least the notes are not obscured in some database and use markdown format. So once they go away from that, I am out and still have all my notes accessible.
Joplin. Obsidian is not open source, doesn’t have native self hosting and it gets complicated. Joplin is very simple and just works. Although, it stores the notes in a hashed database, so you can’t edit raw files without Joplin client
Good call on Obsidian not being FOSS! I don't know that.
Trilium for the same reasons, but the featureset of Trilium is more like Obsidian.
Trillium was originally created to be an open source replacement for Roam Research.Trilium came out in 2017, and had Roam-like features before Roam even existed. It's similarities to Obsidian are purely coincidental, probably because Obsidian is designed to be a cross between Roam and Evernote.Please, I don't want to be rude, so don't take me wrong.
I think that's not accurate. Trillium is not even an outliner, let alone a block note taking app. I think you're mixing trillium with Logseq.
My memory may be failing me, but I think trillium has been around longer than Roam Research.
And yes, it's a great open source note taking app!
I started using Trilium in early 2020, with version 0.40.2. Roam had released in 2019 and was growing in popularity quickly, I heard a lot about Roam, it looked cool, so I googled for an open-source self-hosted knowledge base note taking app with similar features to Roam, like notes arranged in a knowledge graph, and a backlinks explorer for each note. The only one that was available then was trilium. Looks like you're right, the development of trilium was started in 2017, before Roam existed. This is a great interview with the creator, answers a lot of the questions I had. https://console.substack.com/p/console-169
Obsidian didn't come out until a few months later (and remained under the radar until 2021), all my colleagues and friends use Obsidian now, but I prefer trilium. I had never heard of logseq before I read this thread. Just a quick glance, I see the first 0.1.0 version logseq was in April 2021, just before the first obsidian release.
Problem with Joplin: The raw files are randomly named so you can't easily find a specific note
That's not even the bigger problem. I found the desktop ui very clunky. There were too many papercuts for me to keep using joplin. However, its TUI and mobile app are excellent.
Obsidian. I know it's not open source, but it just felt right.
Yep, same. Though if Acreom ever goes local only on mobile OR when Notesnook opens up self hosting, I will take another look.
Just fyi notesnook is not really “zero knowledge”. They’re misusing that term.
I didn't make that claim though. Regardless, that wouldn't matter in a self-host situation.
Notesnook makes that claim. Why wouldn’t you consider that relevant when it’s the first thing you’re presented with on their website? And don’t even mention self hosting, that’s not only the last item on their roadmap but it’s also been there for a very long time with no updates.
Not sure why you’re getting defensive, this has nothing to do with you.
Not defensive at all, just didn't know where your comment came from. Do you have a link I can check out regarding that? Happy to read up on it. As far as self host, Dev team stated in their discord channel that they are still planning on it but want to get it buttoned up because once it's launched they can't take it back, paraphrasing what he actually said.
That's fine, I was just trying to add the the conversation.
There's this page that actually explains the encryption as it is: https://vericrypt.notesnook.com/ Zero knowledge is mentioned here and in a few other places. They're misusing the term as a marketing device, knowingly or not I couldn't say.
As for how I know? It's easy enough to check zero knowledge by logging into the service. If a password is enough to display your notes, the service is not zero knowledge. There should be a second set of credentials known only to the user that gets entered with each new login to actually decrypt the contents of your notes. If you've ever used matrix chat you would either enter in the private key yourself or match some emojis on an already authenticated client that would then pass that private key in a peer-to-peer fashion.
I haven't verified this myself but I can clearly see from the website how the encryption is described vs the marketing terms being used.
I see. Admittedly it's been a minute since I've logged into a new session of Notesnook. But accessing the web portal prompts for my login name, password, and then a 2FA code sent to my email address. Within the app (at least on Android) there is an option for no privacy, some privacy, and max privacy. Which have various behaviors when you navigate away from the app or close and reopen. I'm no expert, but do these sound like zero knowledge in this context?
I've still not decided whether I'll stick with them, but I do like the app and was able to get a year of their pro membership for less than half off, so I figured I'd give it a try and at the very least support the devs to some degree.
Yep just swapped over from a self hosted solution with gitlab and sublime.. But that was to restrictive and the overall experience wasnt really good...
I then found a post somewhere on lemmy a post abotu PKMS and what people are using... One was obsidian... So I tried it and I'm really happy
Edit: I saw some comments about some missing self hosting. Since the notes are saved as standard md files you easily ca sync them with whatever you want... I set it up with my synology NAS and DS Drive, but any tool which can sync two-ways should be fine
Not being open source is the great... sin for me. Note taking is an investment in the future, and betting on a closed source platform is a big no no—for me, that is.
I know the content is safe in Obsidian, since it's just Markdown files. But the workflow? Not so much.
And I know the developers behind Obsidian have their reasons to close source it. Nothing against that. But since that's their way, it's not my way.
Joplin as well, syching my 3 devices with the WebDAV option. I checked a few other options about a year ago and Joplin seemed the best.
Joplin is where I landed, as well as hosting my own Joplin Server.
If Obsidian allowed a free self hosted option, I would have picked it over Joplin. (Yes, I tried the free plugin, but it at times wouldn’t sync correctly and I would end up losing notes.)
https://notion.so It's a web-based editor with a good android app. Has basic formatting, plugins/integrations, and dark mode. It's free for individual use cases. Has some nice paid features for collaboration and business use cases, though the free plan still allows sharing and concurrent editing.
E: noticed this is in self hosted after posting. Maybe not what you're looking for, but it's a good service if you're ok with that.
My only problem with them is the android app, while it has nice features it's soo slow that even on flagship phones it is hard to use, and when you have multiple accounts switching between them is awful, either the files won't load or it won't refresh the interface at all. I usually switch the workspace and then restart the app. Sometimes I can't open the subfiles of a file until I restart the app and wait for it to load.
I think the reason for that is touch screen, it is only good for social media. I use Google Keep on Android because it is fast and later copy the notes to Notion.
Idk, from what I heard the iOS version of the app is really performant and optimized.
Wish there was a self-hosted version of notion with all the same features
The closest is nextcloud collectives, tables, tasks and deck
Logseq.
I used Joplin in the past, but just didn't quite get completely comfortable with it.
I also tried Nextcloud in the past... that project has become too big for my needs and the file syncing had issues.
Logseq is very similar to Joplin (ie markdown files), but IMHO the editor is easier with Logseq, plus the files are just simple plaintext files, named after the page title, so are easy to edit outside of the application (and immediately update in the app)
At first, I was a little unsure of Logseq's default of working as a daily journal, but after a while it makes more sense for me - I use it at work, so 99.9% of my notes are meetings, tasks that occur during daily life... and of course those daily journals can refer to other "non-time based" project pages...
I also use syncthing to sync the notes between android phone, linux and Windows laptops and my NAS... so that wouldn't change for you.
Obsidian, and there's also another one that's not yet self-hostable but planning to, called Notesnook
Logseq
I use Obsidian - it's phenomenal! https://avidandrew.com/elevate-your-note-taking-with-obsidian.html
Trillium although I wish it has multiple users on the same instance, other than that it's amazing and suits my needs.
I was a fan too, but lost the portable version I was using when my usb died. The version I pulled off git now freezes every 10 seconds and closes itself down a lot. Not sure how they made it worse but it's worse now.
Were you downloading master or the latest release? If you're interested in using it, post the issue you have on their GitHub. The main dev is super helpful
cant you download the earlier version instead?
I've been running the Joplin server for over a year with clients on four laptops and three phones and share notes with my wife and its wonderful. There are certainly quirks and sometimes sync issues but by and large I'm really happy with it. There seems to be one cluster of notes I have that always irritates a fresh client sync and it shows up at 50 conflicts but I work through it. Also my notebooks are huge and the first sync can take an hour. It's a lot slower than I'd expect.
I’ve been running Joplin server for about two years now, and I concur. It’s been great.
A nice grid lined notebook and a mechanical pencil is still my favorite.
I like to use Google Keep for certain things, but I have a hard time explaining how those things are better for Google Keep.
I'm looking at giving Neorg a try.
If only my default font wasn't so bad that it causes data loss.
I also really liked Google Keep. Carnet was at one point a decent drop-in replacement on Android+Nextcloud, but it got progressively bitrotted over time and now I just use Nextcloud Notes until I find something better.
Ever try Quillpad? I don't love that it's sync is stuck on Nextcloud, but it's the best feature for feature keep replacement that I could find.
Logseq with Syncthing!
Love the journal style to it
Me too. Something about the bullet point style of note taking just clicked in me, and now I can't go back.
Testing this out now.
Markor on Android and Obsidian on Desktop.
All synced with syncthing
Hi all, I created the [email protected] community for this exact reason.
Notepad
On Paper not the computer
i heard about this a while back. unparallelled support for syntax, doesnt rely on a cloud service, incredible backwards-compatibility, and quick start-up time
Works well with nextcloud also.
Emacs with org mode. It has so many feature hooked into so many other things such as time management, calendar, email, jupyter. Hard to switch.
I am currently on Obsidian without any sync at all. Using this in both desktop and mobile.
But used it more in mobile for an offline note-taking app where I could write and read them without any internet connection. Especially to load images from local, make categorization (folders) and more with data I had in my mobile.
While for desktop, I rarely opened it anymore. I am more into VIM with markdown format and then just push it to git host for a quicker note taking.
Emacs + org-mode for task planning and knowledge base, Obsidian + Syncthing for notes on-the-go.
Holy crap I didn't know Syncthing existed and just realized it's perfect for my use case (taking D&D notes and keeping them on multiple devices). Thanks for the useful comment!
You are welcome! :)
orgmode with neovim on PC and orgzly on phone. syncing with syncthing
Edit: I'm actually using orgzly revived, a community maintained version of orgzly, since orgzly is no longer mantained
For anyone who is interested in note taking in your everyday editor like vim or emacs, orgmode is an emacs tool (in neovim there is a clone plugin) for note taking, todos, agendas, etc. It uses a format similar to markdown, and a good part is that with the orgzly app you receive notifications for your events. So basically you can use orgmode as a calendar as well (I do!).
Neovim orgmode plugin github
I like memos.
+1 for memos. I use MoeMenos on android. I don't need too many features in a memos app so it's perfect for me
I use Memos, but I didn't like the MoeMemos app when I tried it. Text to small and horrible theme. I installed a shortcut to the Web client and it works great. I usually want dedicated mobile apps for the stuff I use, but Memos is so simple, I don't think a mobile app is needed.
OneNote. Don't love being super reliant on all the Microsoft Office cloud stuff but there really isn't anything that comes close to what I use it for
Yeah, I know this is the self hosted community, but nothing is as easy and straightforward as OneNote. I keep coming back to it after trying self hosted solutions.
What do you use it for? If you don't mind me asking. I tried a few times to like it before I started my selfhost/open source journey earlier this year and couldn't click with it. But curious what it does that you haven't found an alternative for.
Not the same person but a couple of the reasons I can't get away from it are:
-ability to "print" a pdf in to it and directly markup the pages without having to open the actual file in another application (it also runs OCR on the pages so they remain searchable)
-you can also "print" PowerPoint presentations in a similar way
-it handles inking with a pen super well
I have lots of academic papers and presentations that I routinely reference for my job so these are killer features for me
Yep, those are features I wouldn't use. Sounds like the ideal situation, thanks for sharing!
I use it for a mix of text, handwriting/drawing, PDF annotation and image annotation, and I also pretty heavily rely on realtime sync between my devices. If none of that is stuff you use then I can see why you might want something simpler
Yeah, handwriting can be added to Obsidian, but it's a bit hacky and I don't use it. As far as instant sync, it is solid, but expensive. Some folks use Syncthing but I couldn't get it to work reliably so I but the bullet and paid for Obsidian Sync.
I used to use Joplin, and its great, but the Electron client isn't great on Linux mobile, so now I am using GNOME Paper on all devices, synced via Nextcloud. It's much simpler than Joplin but I need exactly 0 of the missng features.
I'm curious about changing to a Linux smartphone, on which device are you using Linux mobile?
Librem 5. I absolutely love it but also recognize it isn't for everyone, yet.
That thing looks really interesting, I've only two problems from a first glance:
I'm not informed on mobile CPUs, the thing looks fine, but aren't 3 GB RAM not way too less these days? I mean my cheap ass 150€ wiko phone has six
I get it that companys like that one have smaller margins than big tech, but 1000 $ for that phone? Why does not a single of these FOSS/privacy/degoogle companies offer a budget phone around 300 bucks? I don't need a device that runs crysis in 4K, I just want to communicate, browse the web, answer mails, and take okayish photos on something different than big tech spyware.
The first point probably comes down to time. When they designed the phone, RAM was more expensive and phones came with 1-2-4 gigs.
The second one is manufacturing cost. If they could sell at least a few million units, it would be way cheaper.
Ooh, I like the look of that. I've been using Iotas on Linux for my Nextcloud synced notes, Quillpad on Android, and Nextcloud Notebook on MacOS. I'll have to check this out!
Joplin syncing on my Nextcloud instance. I love being able to quickly screenshot something on my laptop for reference and later retrieve it on my phone :)
Hi, is this syncing instantaneous, or periodic?
You can manually sync. Otherwise when you close it it syncs and you can also set the period for syncing.
neovim + git with gitea/forgejo
I’d like to highly recommend QOwnNotes with. File system sync like Nextcloud. Superb.
I used this for a bit. I'm on obsidian now.
Logseq but I know the sync is tricky
It's been a piece of cake syncing with Syncthing
Flatnotes for me. I haven’t tried many others, but it was perfect for what I needed. Markdown, writes plain text files so no database/easy to backup
I loved how easy it is to setup. Just was too minimal for my purpose though.
Historically I've been using Google keep or one note (I'm a monster I know). I've been trying to see if I can migrate over to Nextcloud notes as I slowly de-FAANG my life.
I find it interesting that every product from Google/MS/Apple/etc is inherently evil in implications from our community.
I don't mind OneNote, and like that it syncs to everything I use. I guess I've done IT/Infosec for 20+ years, so I don't hate everything MS does, just some things :)
Yeah, my "monster" comment was sarcasm. I'm in the same boat. I've been in IT for just as long and most places are Microsoft shops, with a little linux sprinkled in for flavor. I refuse to engage in the holy war. Msft, esp these days, makes decent tools and you can pry PowerShell from my cold dead hands. We use o365 at work and honestly OneNote is a solid product and does the job well.
For my personal life my note taking requirements are pretty basic and keep/onenote/etc... fits the bill. Esp since I share notes with my wife. But I'm a tinkerer at heart and I'd like to take more control of my services/data, so I'm experimenting with how much I can pull in without making my life overly and unnecessarily complicated.
Yeah, I'm still stuck on Google Keep, since it's the only one that's integrated with the (even worse) Google home
The convenience of saying, "Hey Google, add milk to my shopping list", and having that list shared with my wife, is too great. Long term goals would be to find a self-hosted alternative but right now that's where I am.
That being said I am trying to diversify as and pull in house what I can and notes is one of the things I've been experimenting with.
I've stuck with Joplin for a while. Self hosting the sync server so it's all saved privately.
I've used Joplin and Standard Notes. I do use Standard Notes premium and I much prefer it.
I've tried lot of different apps, but I think I've settled on Trilium for now.
It doesn't have a great mobile experience, but the web app works fine on mobile. The app in general is super customizable and way easier to write scripts / plugins for.
OneNote was my favorite until it started crashing on my iPad every 3 minutes.
I still use Keep. That have yet to fuck it up, but I'm sure they will eventually. Just like every god damn thing they do.
I used to use Joplin, I liked that it integrated with my Nextcloud, and the markdown format. However, the way that it handles the markdown files was too black-boxey to me, with the way it split them up in a weird scheme.
Now I use Ghostwriter with straight markdown files inside my Nextcloud folder. So I still get the syncing functionality, but a more flexible setup that doesn't require a specific app to access all of my notes.
I didn't mention it, but that's actually my one (small) gripe with Joplin. It would be neat if I could access my notes with any markdown editor without having to open it through Joplin. That said, I don't know how I would've handled the file structure differently while keeping features like the history alive.
That's and the awful android app is what made me give up on Joplin.
VSCode + Foam + gitea (+ hexcalidraw if you want to draw)
I find Joplin perfect for my needs. Markdown, embedding images, links etc. I sync to my selfhosted nextcloud.
I like tags, I would like them to add a "directory tree" type of view to help sort "folders" (the thing they call "notebooks") but only because I am more used to just filesystem type structured filing. But the notebooks and tagging idea works for me too.
I strictly use it for notes/note keeping, in particular "HOWTO's" and specific topic notes. So I dont even do a great deal of markdown in my notes, but I love the ability to add screen captures etc to them for clarity.
And being on nextcloud, I can access those notes anywhere on any device, PC, Android, Raspberry Pi!! Joplin has an app for all of them
I tried so many, eventually landed on trilium. It's not perfect by any means, but it ticks the most boxes for my needs
This was a good topic to bring up, saw some stuff I have not heard of. Thanks.
Hedgedoc and Nextcloud Notes
Markor + synvthing
Joplin uses it's own database so interoperability is not perfect. Markor is so effing cool. That's on Android. On the laptop I use want ever is best suited for the task. Most often, a vim variant of notepad++
https://github.com/gsantner/markor
I'm using trilium and very happy with it.
Siyuan. Ive been using it for a while now and find it very effective for my needs. Its gone through quite a few updates since i started using it and became open source in that time. It even has an android version as well which i do have installed on my phone but admittingly rarely use. I prefer writing information on a keyboard generally.
I use silverbullet, it is great for tasks and notes! https://silverbullet.md/ - the manual itself uses it, so it is both a manual and a demo page
Logseq
Me too. I realised I don’t need anything more. It’s easy, supposedly private and quite elegant.
Notally on Android. Simple and light weight. Has widget support too.
notepad
I'm using Notion for everything now. I heavily rely on reminders scattered everywhere because Todo lists don't work for me.
For long-term, permanent notes, I'm using Obsidian with Nextcloud and FolderSync Pro (which I also use for backing up some Android stuff to my Nextcloud).
For quick, easy notes while on the go (or that I need quick access to while out and about), I use Memos, which is more of a Google Keep replacement.
I like this one too but haven't fully committed yet. I think once they open self hosting up I'll give it an honest try .
I've been using Trilium Notes for the better part of two years and love it. I have used Obsidian and similar markdown apps, and I find it frustrating to add images due to the need to store them in a separate folder and reference them instead of just pasting them into the page and being done with it. To me, that's a barrier for notes when I'm trying to brainstorm. I really do like markdown, but it doesn't work with my though process.
I have a sync server setup at home (with no outside access) and do my main writing inside my network. For notes on the go I use the Notes app on my iphone (its quick and easy) and then drop the notes into Trilium when I get home.
Emacs+org-mode
Perhaps not as full featured as the others, but I host wiki.js for my knowledge base on my local server.
I used logseq for my first semester of university and I can't see any reason to switch right now.
It handles markdown and KaTeX, so it handles everything I need really, in a fast simple program.
Not exactly self-hosted but, I like UpNote a lot.
It's reasonably simple but, powerful enough for me, and it's fast & intuitive
same.
I use https://simplenote.com/ I was thinking about switching to a Foss alternative from fdroid but haven't yet. Works good for me.
Xed
It opens quickly
Hypernotes. Work on every platform.
Link
I personally like Nextcloud notes for quick notes and nextcloud collectives for detailed stuff e.g revision. With nextcloud tables and deck it makes a great notion replacement
Notable. Cross platform (no mobile app), sync with cloud drive of your choice, markdown support, easy interface.
Linwood butterfly on f-droid and any app i can type text into
Ghostwriter and syncthing. Ghostwriter really has a good focus mode that really gets me in the right spot for writing. I use Markor if I am on Android and syncthing still works there as well.
VSCodium on the desktop, and Markor on Android. I write everything in markdown, and VSCodium is already where I spend half my time editing and writing code, so it was an easy choice. I also use Vim for quick one-offs, especially if I'm already working on a project with it.
Like others here, I also use Syncthing to keep my notes synced between home server, remote clients, and mobile devices.
Trilium. Tried a bunch but fell in love with this one. Others either didn't have support for inline math or weren't wysiwyg (Joplin). Also easy syncing between computers with its own server in docker, and it even doubles as a web version of the app.
I use Vscode with markdown preview, with a git repo. The only downside is that Windows incessantly wants to group instances of an application, so it's hard to keep my notes separate from my coding stuff.
Zim.
on a desktop or laptop I use Emacs org-mode. on my phone I have tried so many options and the best thing that I found for me is Delta chat. I just use the saved notes which is basically an email to myself.