For me it's Obsidian. The big draw is that it's compatible with what was already my note taking system, i.e. a folder of Markdown files. It means that I can enjoy the features without being locked...
For me it's Obsidian. The big draw is that it's compatible with what was already my note taking system, i.e. a folder of Markdown files. It means that I can enjoy the features without being locked in - if I wanted to ditch it tomorrow, the only change I'd need is a script to find all my todos and print them back to me.
Other than that, it's just a nicer interface than using VSCode or neovim for notes, with stuff like smart markdown tables, search options that make sense for notes and handy shortcuts (like making a weekly note from a template).
I don't go very far into the methodology stuff like Zettelkasten, for me that's a rabbit hole that consumes more time than it produces value, so I just have a structure with folders for Projects/{a,b,c}, Meeting Notes, and Misc. Nor do I go crazy trying to make notes atomic or deduplicate stuff, as I find that makes it more scattered for me trying to follow them, and also the more work notetaking becomes the less likely I am to do it. So really it's less of a "second brain" tool as I use it and instead a smart notes-focused markdown editor, but that's the way I like it.
One which you missed, but I periodically review is Dendron, which is trying to be Obsidian as a VS Code addon. I check it out from time to time since it's open source and Obsidian isn't but it hasn't tempted me yet
How does Obsidian manage syncing across devices. I've been curious about migrating off Notion to something that isn't dependent on an internet connection to run, but I also need them to sync back...
How does Obsidian manage syncing across devices. I've been curious about migrating off Notion to something that isn't dependent on an internet connection to run, but I also need them to sync back between my Macs and iPhone.
You can use either iCloud or Obsidian's proprietary sync service (paid) for Apple ecosystem sync functionality. From what I've heard, iCloud can be hit or miss sometimes. When I was trying it out,...
You can use either iCloud or Obsidian's proprietary sync service (paid) for Apple ecosystem sync functionality. From what I've heard, iCloud can be hit or miss sometimes. When I was trying it out, I didn't really have any issues. Obsidian Sync is supposed to be pretty good, but may be considered a little steep on pricing for what it is. I've not experimented with it (Obsidian's sync) because of how opaque their encryption standards and privacy stances are, but plenty of people use it and highly recommend it.
Obsidian did put out a blog post very recently about how you can verify their end-to-end encryption if anyone is curious https://obsidian.md/blog/verify-obsidian-sync-encryption/ I'm grandfather'd...
I'm grandfather'd into a 50% discount on sync, not sure if I would pay full price for it but it works very seamlessly across my iPhone, iPad, Macbook, and Windows PC.
You can just keep the note files in your dropbox/syncthing/icloud/etc folder. The beauty of plaintext! They have their own paid sync service too. edit: Actually only icloud and their sync are...
You can just keep the note files in your dropbox/syncthing/icloud/etc folder. The beauty of plaintext! They have their own paid sync service too.
Unless something has changed, I don't believe there is actually a way to access a vault on iOS that is outside of the iCloud app folder (aside from using their sync service). Obsidian calls this a...
Unless something has changed, I don't believe there is actually a way to access a vault on iOS that is outside of the iCloud app folder (aside from using their sync service). Obsidian calls this a limitation of iOS, but I am not entirely sure if that is true. It would have been wonderful for Dropbox in particular to be an option, but the only solution I found when I was trying it out was a hacked together Shortcuts workflow.
It's been a long time since I used an iOS device, but IIRC all apps are sandboxed, so you can't use an app A (say Syncthing or Dropbox) to manage files for app B. The only exception being iCloud,...
Obsidian calls this a limitation of iOS, but I am not entirely sure if that is true.
It's been a long time since I used an iOS device, but IIRC all apps are sandboxed, so you can't use an app A (say Syncthing or Dropbox) to manage files for app B. The only exception being iCloud, since it's integrated in the OS.
Obsidian could probably implement something themselves inside their own app via the Dropbox API, but there's likely not much motivation for them to do so since their own sync service is a revenue...
Obsidian could probably implement something themselves inside their own app via the Dropbox API, but there's likely not much motivation for them to do so since their own sync service is a revenue generating alternative for them.
I use an app called Notebooks on iOS and it has the option to choose your storage location, allowing sync with Dropbox if you want. It's quite an expensive app, but it's a one time cost and it's...
I use an app called Notebooks on iOS and it has the option to choose your storage location, allowing sync with Dropbox if you want. It's quite an expensive app, but it's a one time cost and it's less than a few months of Obsidian Sync.
I was having issues with iCloud Drive on Windows creating duplicate notes. I have no issues by using iCloud Drive sync between Apple devices (iPhone, MacBook, iPad, etc).
I was having issues with iCloud Drive on Windows creating duplicate notes. I have no issues by using iCloud Drive sync between Apple devices (iPhone, MacBook, iPad, etc).
Thiiiis is a big deal to me. I don't use obsidian at work for licensing reasons ,but also because I just feel like i'm in too many systems already. Given i'm living in VS Code, having an app built...
Dendron
Thiiiis is a big deal to me. I don't use obsidian at work for licensing reasons ,but also because I just feel like i'm in too many systems already. Given i'm living in VS Code, having an app built in to take notes is exactly what I need, and this looks like it meshes with how I think/work. There's a few features I'll need to check on, but I think this is going to solve a constant pain point for me.
I will add that Dendron has been a revelation for me, at least in how I want to organize my stuff. I find myself mostly creating the atomic units of snippets or data, then aggregating them into...
I will add that Dendron has been a revelation for me, at least in how I want to organize my stuff.
I find myself mostly creating the atomic units of snippets or data, then aggregating them into pages later.
For example, here's a "link" that will find all nested pages, and display the first paragraph from the snippet:
![[tech.java.gc.*#^begin]]
This will show me all the bits I've saved around Java garbage collection, as well as a quick paragraph for context.
The dot hierarchy makes it really easy to move things around and turn pages into folders as well.
it certainly looks interesting for work. Not sure how well it'll work for personal. I see 2 major hurdles for my main use case. I'll throw things I want to do (food/entertainment/whatever) in...
it certainly looks interesting for work. Not sure how well it'll work for personal. I see 2 major hurdles for my main use case.
I'll throw things I want to do (food/entertainment/whatever) in obsidian with a few tags, and then aggregate based on those tags using dataview and a few simple queries. Thus i've got a page for places to try out, and i can quickly update the ones i've done, and as i add more they'll automatically hit that page.
It seems that dendron doesn't really do this by default, or perhaps has a different way of handling that?
The other issue is just that the other upside of obsidian is that I have it sync'd and thus have it on my phone, which is of course always on me. Not sure there's a way around that part since I doubt dendron or vs code is coming to the app store anytime soon.
Their FAQ says they dont have a good way to use it on mobile and suggest using a different markdown client to view the notes or just using google keep to store stray thoughts and then convert it...
Their FAQ says they dont have a good way to use it on mobile and suggest using a different markdown client to view the notes or just using google keep to store stray thoughts and then convert it to dendron when back at a computer.
Honestly, this seems like a deal breaker for me as well. Dendron looks awesome, but I really rely on having my notes handy and up to day on my phone.
I commented this elsewhere in this thread, but I'm planning on trying out Silverbullet.md - seems like an open source obsidian that I could self host
A little more disheartening on the dendron project is that in Feb of this year they announced putting it into maintenance mode (they'll fix bugs, no new features). It looks stable enough as is,...
A little more disheartening on the dendron project is that in Feb of this year they announced putting it into maintenance mode (they'll fix bugs, no new features).
It looks stable enough as is, but it's certainly a downer to know that should something ever really choke nothing is going to change.
I use Obsidian and had no idea about the license! An alternative I've been thinking about swapping to anyway is https://silverbullet.md/ - mostly because it's open source, has many of the same...
I use Obsidian and had no idea about the license! An alternative I've been thinking about swapping to anyway is https://silverbullet.md/ - mostly because it's open source, has many of the same features as Obsidian, and can be self hosted
I'm sorry, but what would qualify as "using it when working"? It is just regarding their cloud services? How do they would even know if I'm working or not when using the software?
I'm sorry, but what would qualify as "using it when working"? It is just regarding their cloud services? How do they would even know if I'm working or not when using the software?
Using if to take notes in the workplace or from an intended to be commercialised project. If you want it explained in more lawyer reviewed terms, look at the actual license. For the most part it's...
Using if to take notes in the workplace or from an intended to be commercialised project. If you want it explained in more lawyer reviewed terms, look at the actual license. For the most part it's the honour system (I guess you could publicly stream yourself using it, show you don't have a license key and someone tell them as much?), they're a small house producing software that runs locally, but I can understand someone wanting to avoid it in case they sell out to an Oracle or someone and adopt their license enforcement model.
This kind of license makes me want to support them more. People who don't have the money, simply use it without paying. And any business, especially one big enough that suing is worth the effort,...
This kind of license makes me want to support them more.
People who don't have the money, simply use it without paying. And any business, especially one big enough that suing is worth the effort, should have enough to pay $50/year (<$5/month) per salaried employee.
Companies can't make stuff for free. This is the type of license I'd like to see more of, because it gives people who genuinely don't have the spare cash an out to still use the product. Unfortunately it usually just ends up with people who do have the money not paying; which is really a shame because the alternative is either "go out of business / don't have the time to support" or "everyone pays, and closed-source + invasive DRM to ensure that everyone pays"
See also the sold linker, zrythm, and mindustry. All of these are 100% open-source so you could use without paying, but you should pay because people paying is the reason these programs are still getting updates.
Yeah this is the key point of obsidian. The built in Graph view is nice, but adding something like dataview to your notes isn't something that's simple. To be fair I think they should formalize...
Yeah this is the key point of obsidian. The built in Graph view is nice, but adding something like dataview to your notes isn't something that's simple.
To be fair I think they should formalize and adopt dataview into obsidian proper, but so long as plugins like that exist, it's the main point of getting obsidian up and running.
If you use Obsidian at your work without the company paying for it, I think the biggest risk is with your employer's IT. They can find out and won't like it at all that you use software illegally...
If you use Obsidian at your work without the company paying for it, I think the biggest risk is with your employer's IT. They can find out and won't like it at all that you use software illegally on their machine and with company data.
Actually that's the main reason why I don't use Obsidian. If I can't use it for work I don't have a use for it.
I work in infosec, and Obsidian has come up. Our biggest problem is the sync features. No problem with it if people use it locally only, but then you are relying on them to not use the feature you...
I work in infosec, and Obsidian has come up. Our biggest problem is the sync features. No problem with it if people use it locally only, but then you are relying on them to not use the feature you don't want, so typically its easier to just block it outright.
I feel like a total pleb, but I just use Keep for on-the-fly note taking. I do find that, for my use case, inline images would be nice but using Docs on my phone was such a pain that I gave up on...
I feel like a total pleb, but I just use Keep for on-the-fly note taking. I do find that, for my use case, inline images would be nice but using Docs on my phone was such a pain that I gave up on having that functionality. I'm mostly making lists of doors with their associated problems for later documentation/quotes. Occasionally making idea notes and to-do lists, and like having the option to add check boxes and share to others (pretty much just my wife).
Keep is my current notetaking solution. I am exploring Logseq based on recommendations elsewhere on Tildes. I think I have a decent high-level grasp on what Logseq can do after watching some...
Should I up my game?
Keep is my current notetaking solution. I am exploring Logseq based on recommendations elsewhere on Tildes.
I think I have a decent high-level grasp on what Logseq can do after watching some videos. What I've realized is: between labels and colors, the ability to filter on both, and search, I'm using Keep in a very similar way to what basic Logseq use looks like.
So what I would say is, if you don't feel the need to drastically up your notetaking game, maybe try and add labels and colors to your notes.
I also use Keep for on the fly notes. OneNote for work or more detailed stuff (custom drone builds). The homescreen widget for Keep is extremely convenient, I have an entire screen on my phone...
I also use Keep for on the fly notes. OneNote for work or more detailed stuff (custom drone builds).
The homescreen widget for Keep is extremely convenient, I have an entire screen on my phone dedicated to it. Useful for entering/storing vaguely temporary info like flight/booking numbers, good food at restaurants, or websites that people tell me about IRL. It's also really good for tracking an evening's expenses.
OneNote's ease of use on a Windows tablet (not Android/iOS) is why I use it for more in depth notes, e.g. you can Windows+S some pinout diagrams, then draw the connections between components before soldering to give yourself a better guide.
Do you mostly use on desktop or mobile? On mobile (Android) I use an app called "Journal It!" which does all of what you mentioned wanting, iirc. Not positive about the sharing function. It does...
Do you mostly use on desktop or mobile?
On mobile (Android) I use an app called "Journal It!" which does all of what you mentioned wanting, iirc. Not positive about the sharing function.
It does also have a web version, which is available for paid users. However, there's a fun caveat which is that you can get the paid version for free if you use the app daily for 19 or so days, and then contact the dev with your feedback. That's a genius system, in my book. I fully intended to do that, but ended up buying the full version before then because I knew I wanted it and I wanted to support the developer.
It's a really robust app and I find the tagging system very helpful. There are some features I don't use much (the Journeys are a cool idea but I don't seem to use them), but overall I'd definitely recommend it.
I'm mostly on mobile, though I do occasionally use Keep as a way to get text from my phone to my desktop browser or vice versa. I'll have to give that a look, seems like it might be just what I...
I'm mostly on mobile, though I do occasionally use Keep as a way to get text from my phone to my desktop browser or vice versa.
I'll have to give that a look, seems like it might be just what I needed. Thanks for the recommendation!
I just use Google Keep too. I use it on my phone and several computers, so it's a must that it has a good mobile app and syncs effortlessly between my devices, which are things that many of the...
I just use Google Keep too. I use it on my phone and several computers, so it's a must that it has a good mobile app and syncs effortlessly between my devices, which are things that many of the other solutions here fail. I like Keep's simple feature set: search, tags, note pinning, and note archiving. If I could add one feature it would be the ability to link notes to each other, but I don't need that too often and my workaround is to just use the title as a link which I can search for.
Joplin for me because of the license and it's E2EE. Since I have a fair amount of storage I don't really use on Onedrive I've set that as my storage provider, with the comfort that Microsoft can't...
Joplin for me because of the license and it's E2EE.
Since I have a fair amount of storage I don't really use on Onedrive I've set that as my storage provider, with the comfort that Microsoft can't read it.
I use Obsidian. I'm not even really particularly diligent about linking my notes, but I find it incredibly helpful to have a dedicated program for note-taking. Having native Task support would be...
I use Obsidian.
I'm not even really particularly diligent about linking my notes, but I find it incredibly helpful to have a dedicated program for note-taking.
Having native Task support would be a massive plus but the Tasks plugin is pretty nice.
I use Emacs with markdown-mode and evil-mode (not org-mode, just doesn't appeal to me tbh). I used to use Obsidian. Honestly Emacs is worse than Obsidian in a lot of ways, but I don't like using...
I use Emacs with markdown-mode and evil-mode (not org-mode, just doesn't appeal to me tbh). I used to use Obsidian. Honestly Emacs is worse than Obsidian in a lot of ways, but I don't like using closed-source software if I can help it. Emacs is basically the only open source note-taking software that can do fancy stuff like multiple font sizes, inline latex+images, and vim bindings. Plus you get the rest of the Emacs ecosystem along with it. My main issue is that emacs is quite slow on windows, even with native compilation.
Have you tried Emacs in WSL2? I used Emacs almost exclusively for 2+ years, and it was much faster running in WSL2 with X forwarding to X410 or Xming instead of native in Windows. I’m now using...
Have you tried Emacs in WSL2? I used Emacs almost exclusively for 2+ years, and it was much faster running in WSL2 with X forwarding to X410 or Xming instead of native in Windows.
I’m now using Obsidian, mostly because of a career change where I’m no longer in front of a computer all the time, and I was losing the muscle memory for how to do things in Emacs.
I personally use Standard Notes. To be honest I don't use it anywhere near it's full potential, and mostly used it as a personal diary during COVID for a long time, and have some basic wish lists...
I personally use Standard Notes. To be honest I don't use it anywhere near it's full potential, and mostly used it as a personal diary during COVID for a long time, and have some basic wish lists and stuff like that. I usually use Google Keep and Samsung Notes for my more everyday tasks.
I use Standard Notes as well, self-hosting the sync server. My main gripe is that the data doesn't live in a flat file format like in something like Obsidian, but I do like that it's e2ee,...
I use Standard Notes as well, self-hosting the sync server. My main gripe is that the data doesn't live in a flat file format like in something like Obsidian, but I do like that it's e2ee, third-party audited, and open source.
Another vote for Standard Notes. For me the big selling point is that it uses end-to-end encryption, and your data is encrypted at rest. I don't want somebody rummaging through my notes if my...
Another vote for Standard Notes.
For me the big selling point is that it uses end-to-end encryption, and your data is encrypted at rest. I don't want somebody rummaging through my notes if my phone gets stolen.
Seconded. While Standard Notes still doesn’t quite match the feature set of Obsidian it has come a LONG way in the past couple of years and it finally feels like it’s getting closer to being a...
Seconded. While Standard Notes still doesn’t quite match the feature set of Obsidian it has come a LONG way in the past couple of years and it finally feels like it’s getting closer to being a mature product.
Visual Studio Code. It's as simple as popping open a directory of markdown files and going to town, and there are plenty of plugins to make your life easier. Plus, no "commercial use" license like...
Visual Studio Code. It's as simple as popping open a directory of markdown files and going to town, and there are plenty of plugins to make your life easier. Plus, no "commercial use" license like Obsidian.
Yeah, this is how I roll. I can find everything I want by doing a search, there's no need for overly complicated note structure (which just becomes a barrier to notetaking). I sync the files to...
Yeah, this is how I roll. I can find everything I want by doing a search, there's no need for overly complicated note structure (which just becomes a barrier to notetaking).
I sync the files to iOS and use Notebooks there, which has a clean interface and good search functionality.
I also enjoy the fact that I can have code and markdown files in one repository. It's simple, yet so effective for my purposes. I don't take notes on my phone all that much, but Notebooks looks...
I also enjoy the fact that I can have code and markdown files in one repository. It's simple, yet so effective for my purposes.
I don't take notes on my phone all that much, but Notebooks looks neat! I will download it and give it a try.
Agreed, Visual Studio Code is surprisingly good for note taking with Markdown and folder organization. I really love the little outline tool that lets you collapse headings. The extensions are a...
Agreed, Visual Studio Code is surprisingly good for note taking with Markdown and folder organization. I really love the little outline tool that lets you collapse headings. The extensions are a huge plus too! So customizable.
For basic text I had been using Panic’s Nova app, but I hated that they switched to a subscription model.
What really made markdown a pleasure to edit in VS Code is the plugin Markdown Preview Enhanced. It correctly displays LaTeX and checkboxes (which VS Code's default preview couldn't, last time I...
What really made markdown a pleasure to edit in VS Code is the plugin Markdown Preview Enhanced. It correctly displays LaTeX and checkboxes (which VS Code's default preview couldn't, last time I checked), and it allows you to use custom CSS and export to static HTML. I cannot sing enough praises about that plugin.
Honestly never really realized there were dedicated applications for taking notes, I've just been using a discord server with only me in it, categorizing everything with text channels and pinning...
Honestly never really realized there were dedicated applications for taking notes, I've just been using a discord server with only me in it, categorizing everything with text channels and pinning important things I wanted to remember. Probably not the best idea though considering if I ever lose access to my account whatever I wrote is gone forever. I think I'll make a change after reading some of the comments on here.
I used Notion in the past, but now I use Obsidian for fully structured notes and create drafts in plain text. I synchronize my files using rclone and DriveSync, so I have no issues with their...
I used Notion in the past, but now I use Obsidian for fully structured notes and create drafts in plain text. I synchronize my files using rclone and DriveSync, so I have no issues with their cloud pricing. Using Notion was a good exercise to understand the basics of a personal knowledge system, but I find that it offers too little freedom in composing notes, if that makes sense (with the whole templates and whatnot). Additionally, I prefer to have full owernship over my files at all times.
Along the day, I use jrnl.sh as a personal journal and for making quick notes about personal matters. It's a great and simple application!
Did you import your Notion to Obsidian? If so how was the experience? I have a love-hate relationship with Notion at the moment and wondering if it's time to transition to something else. I've...
Did you import your Notion to Obsidian? If so how was the experience?
I have a love-hate relationship with Notion at the moment and wondering if it's time to transition to something else. I've tried to limit making nested databases for exactly this reason, but I'm concerned there will be some issues there - especially because when I originally started using it, all tables were automatically created as databases.
I think you may have a hard time transitioning if you have large databases. I used Notion mainly for personal projects organization, and was not difficult at all transitioning these pages to...
I think you may have a hard time transitioning if you have large databases. I used Notion mainly for personal projects organization, and was not difficult at all transitioning these pages to Obsidian, I just had to take some time and searching for some plug-ins that let me put organize my notes in the templates I was used to. Everything kept on my few notion databases was passed to niche contextual apps to organize them (e.g books:good reads; fitness:strong, habits:loop).
Obsidian does not implement databases out-of-the-box, but there is a very popular and developed plug-in that seems to allow just about any function that Notion databases have to offer, but you will have to study it first, a little. Maybe this could be a good place to start? There is also a plug-in that helps to manage plain markdown tables that are not databases.
At the end of the day, the plug-ins are the jewels on the crown of using Obsidian. I think maybe any usage you could think of regarding personal knowledge management could be adapted to Obsidian using the right plug-ins, but you will have to look after it.
Personally still on Notion myself. I find that it allows me to keep things simple with just nested documents or I can take it to the next level with databases. I have a few shared documents with...
Personally still on Notion myself. I find that it allows me to keep things simple with just nested documents or I can take it to the next level with databases. I have a few shared documents with my SO to collaborate on grocery lists and trip planning. It also helps that I use it at work so the functionality is seamless across my work and personal life. It can export and import markdown, so I feel fairly confident that I can migrate to another tool if that ever needs to happen (sans databases I suppose).
The only annoyance I have so far is that it can sometimes be slow to load up, but writing in it has been perfomant enough. To help with this, I wrote a small Alfred workflow to quickly submit one-liner notes that I can review later without breaking my workstream.
Honestly, any note taking software is what you make of it. It's probably best to not get too hung up in the nuances of any one tool.
I've been using Notion now for about a year and I find it really useful in a very primitive way — I basically just create a new note each day and put all my notes for the day in that, and then...
I've been using Notion now for about a year and I find it really useful in a very primitive way — I basically just create a new note each day and put all my notes for the day in that, and then have a list of these. Literally, my Notion just looks like this. What do you use databases for? I'm trying to up my game.
I use databases for anything that needs structured data. I'm currently house hunting so I have a few databases set up for the houses and neighborhoods I'm looking at. They're linked so I can...
I use databases for anything that needs structured data. I'm currently house hunting so I have a few databases set up for the houses and neighborhoods I'm looking at. They're linked so I can attribute each property to a neighborhood.
Otherwise, my databases are usually pretty simple. Similar to your daily log in most cases, but with fields that are relevant to the topic. For instance, my recipe database has a cuisine field and my video games database has a platform field.
I used word documents for years (easy to search for/within, image support, cross platform, tables, &c), then transitioned to Obsidian, but found that the allure of half-operational plugins too...
I used word documents for years (easy to search for/within, image support, cross platform, tables, &c), then transitioned to Obsidian, but found that the allure of half-operational plugins too much and didn't agree with a lot of their development priorities, and then I discovered Notesnook, open source, E2EE, very Evernote like and a proper note taking application instead of a document organizer. Development is incredibly swift and well supported.
Obsidian for me, but pretty much purely as a generic “folders of markdown” manager/editor. I’ve bounced through various markdown editors over the years and have been using “folders of markdown” as...
Obsidian for me, but pretty much purely as a generic “folders of markdown” manager/editor.
I’ve bounced through various markdown editors over the years and have been using “folders of markdown” as my notes for as long as I can remember. My entire life is in markdown notes. Obsidian is just the nicest one for me at this current time (cross platform, minimal, nice mobile app that lets me use my own cloud provider, etc).
Exactly, I was using folders of markdown with plain vscode (previously atom/sublime/np++/etc) before Obsidian, but Obsidian has just enough niceties to make it better.
Exactly, I was using folders of markdown with plain vscode (previously atom/sublime/np++/etc) before Obsidian, but Obsidian has just enough niceties to make it better.
I uses Apple notes for personal stuff too, it makes it easy to share with the wife which can be a godsend with things relate to e.g. daycare or shopping, projects, travel etc. Also handy that it...
I uses Apple notes for personal stuff too, it makes it easy to share with the wife which can be a godsend with things relate to e.g. daycare or shopping, projects, travel etc.
Also handy that it goes to all devices easily.
Not a fan of the UI, annoying how it does auto formatting, so for work I’ve been using markdown.
Keen to try out obsidian after all the recommendation here for work stuff!
I initially started with OneNote because I had a (gen 1, original) surface pro and could use the pen to write notes in school... and I actually really like it. I still use it today over a decade...
I initially started with OneNote because I had a (gen 1, original) surface pro and could use the pen to write notes in school... and I actually really like it. I still use it today over a decade later. I have been working on one big notebook to plan out and store information regarding trips and vacations I want to take in the near/long term future.
My note taking at work is more like .txt files and sticky notes, with a lot of pen and paper for things that I don't copy/paste. Lots of dev notes and copy pasteable commands and code snippets related to whatever I'm working on, or whatever I will have to touch again at some unknown point in the future long after I forget how.
I gave Emacs a serious try at the beginning of the year after various failed attempts over the years and since then I've switched over to it from neovim and vscode for pretty much everything. One...
I gave Emacs a serious try at the beginning of the year after various failed attempts over the years and since then I've switched over to it from neovim and vscode for pretty much everything.
One of the main draws for me was Org Mode.
I've switched to using it for readme's on new projects so that I can use various org stuff such as babel, kanban, and global agenda tracking.
I'm using Org-roam and org-roam-ui as my knowledgebase.
I haven't spent that much time on adding notes to it, but I've liked the experience with this so far.
The only think I'm really missing is having it all exported to a static site after every commit so I can browse it on my phone when away from home.
I have an elisp script to do the export and I've tested it out in a simple docker container, but I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to setting up actions on gitea to do it automatically.
For syncing between devices, I have a git repo on my gitea instance.
I've been a bit tempted to switch to using syncthing so I don't have to remember to commit every day or so, but I've held off because I like having a history of what I've done just in case.
I’m a big fan of the iOS notes and reminders apps. Especially with the upgrades made for iOS 17 which I’m currently beta testing. They are perfect for my needs both at home and in the office.
I’m a big fan of the iOS notes and reminders apps. Especially with the upgrades made for iOS 17 which I’m currently beta testing. They are perfect for my needs both at home and in the office.
It's always worth it to try Notes and Reminders, even for advanced usage. I used OmniFocus for 2 years but it was buggy and expensive. I switched back to Reminders and I was happy to discover that...
It's always worth it to try Notes and Reminders, even for advanced usage. I used OmniFocus for 2 years but it was buggy and expensive. I switched back to Reminders and I was happy to discover that it had almost all the features of OmniFocus for free.
Reminders have multiple views, deadlines, templates, syncing, etc. I don't think I miss any feature from OmniFocus so far.
This is a bit niche, and it's a bit more world-build-y than note-take-y. But there's an application called Fantasia that is a free lore and story builder. I haven't used it in years, but it's a...
This is a bit niche, and it's a bit more world-build-y than note-take-y. But there's an application called Fantasia that is a free lore and story builder. I haven't used it in years, but it's a free and offline alternative to something like World Anvil. I highly recommend if you're building a world for some creative venture! Used to use it for some short campaigns for table top rpgs and some books I was writing.
I use Notion. Started with Obsidian but a lot of my notes are for work, and their free license doesn't accomodate that while Notion's does. I've been pretty happy with it. Oddly enough, their paid...
I use Notion. Started with Obsidian but a lot of my notes are for work, and their free license doesn't accomodate that while Notion's does. I've been pretty happy with it. Oddly enough, their paid version doesn't give me anything additional I'd want so I haven't bought it.
I use ColorNote on my android. It let's you put widgets on your screen the same way you would use sticky notes. I use them for projects I've started or to do lists. I somehow never change colour...
I use ColorNote on my android. It let's you put widgets on your screen the same way you would use sticky notes. I use them for projects I've started or to do lists.
I somehow never change colour and keep them yellow.
It's simple, doesn't need an account or cloud service and just works as intended.
OneNote for sure if any drawing, diagrams, math, or physics is required. It's also amazing for grabbing screenshots from PDFs and drawing over them. Keep is good enough for most simple daily text...
OneNote for sure if any drawing, diagrams, math, or physics is required. It's also amazing for grabbing screenshots from PDFs and drawing over them.
Keep is good enough for most simple daily text only notes.
The work/school shared notebooks of OneNote/Teams are also incredibly useful if you are in a situation where you need to be sharing notes back and forth between multiple people. Even if you hate Teams, you can practically run everything through shared OneNote pages.
To get the most out of OneNote you really need a Windows tablet (not 2 in 1) so that you can uselay the tablet flat for writing, and use a stylus and bluetooth keyboard congruently. I personally use the ThinkPad BT keyboard with the clit mouse (no touchpad). Left hand runs mouse and keyboard shortcuts; right hand for the stylus.
I'm using Evernote. I've been really happy with it for a long time. They're trying to get AI into their application which is, frankly, a bit of a tire-fire but as a note taking app it's solid....
I'm using Evernote. I've been really happy with it for a long time. They're trying to get AI into their application which is, frankly, a bit of a tire-fire but as a note taking app it's solid. Search and especially search inside of images has saved my bacon a bunch of times.
I returned to Evernote for a year or two recently and liked it overall. But the Personal plan features are not worth $70+ a year to me. It’s not as robust, but now that I’m back on a Mac I’m back...
I returned to Evernote for a year or two recently and liked it overall. But the Personal plan features are not worth $70+ a year to me.
It’s not as robust, but now that I’m back on a Mac I’m back on Apple Notes.
I'm playing around with nb right now because I have some strange fascination with the command line. It's pretty feature rich and I like that it can sync with a git repository. I also like the...
I'm playing around with nb right now because I have some strange fascination with the command line. It's pretty feature rich and I like that it can sync with a git repository. I also like the simple usage of markdown files so I could very easily migrate to or from something like Obsidian. Most importantly, it's fun to take notes in the command line!
However, I can see this becoming problematic quickly when I find myself needing to pull up some notes on the road. As it stands right now, I can only add/edit notes from my work computer and my home computer.
I'm surprised I don't see Evernote in here. It's been great for notes organization for me, and I like anything that I can access on both my computer and my phone. I even use it for shopping lists....
I'm surprised I don't see Evernote in here. It's been great for notes organization for me, and I like anything that I can access on both my computer and my phone. I even use it for shopping lists.
When I need something I can write into though, I use a Rocketbook. It reads my handwriting pretty well, and I just have it put my notes into Evernote so I can keep everything all together.
Since people in this thread seem to love using Markdown for note taking, I'm gonna hijack this thread and give you another recommendation on a Markdown Editor. It's called Zettlr. I've only been...
Since people in this thread seem to love using Markdown for note taking, I'm gonna hijack this thread and give you another recommendation on a Markdown Editor. It's called Zettlr. I've only been using it for a few days yet, but it seems to be a good one. Open Source, (currently) free, and has features to organize and link your notes. Also, it seems to be cross platform, and allows for exporting to several formats (also custom CSS for exporting and editing).
I have been searching for an editor like this for quite a bit, so I thought I'd share my findings with you.
I use OneNote, wiith the desktop app on MacOS. I have individual notebooks for various classes and internships, with sections and pages within each as needed. Within each page, I use bullet...
I use OneNote, wiith the desktop app on MacOS. I have individual notebooks for various classes and internships, with sections and pages within each as needed. Within each page, I use bullet points, which I can quickly organize and indent/move up/down quickly via keyboard shortcuts, and I can move between pages and sections with keyboard shortcuts as well.
The cloud-synced nature has been a life-saver, including a short period where my laptop's screen died, and when I forgot my laptop at home for a class, as I was able to pull up OneNote on my phone and take notes/follow along.
For events and reminders, I use Google Calendar, which syncs across devices.
I've bounced between a lot of different note taking apps and for the now I've decided to go with a hybrid solution of notebooks for short-term things and Journaling and then One Note for longer...
I've bounced between a lot of different note taking apps and for the now I've decided to go with a hybrid solution of notebooks for short-term things and Journaling and then One Note for longer term types of notes.
We've been using notion at our workplace, so I've started to like using notion a lot. I don't need a large feature set, and notion perfectly fits what I want to do. I haven't explored other...
We've been using notion at our workplace, so I've started to like using notion a lot. I don't need a large feature set, and notion perfectly fits what I want to do.
I haven't explored other options yet however, so maybe my opinion will change over time.
I now have a combo system that I'm trying to get both to talk to each other with great difficulty. My primary note taking app is NoteJoy, I snagged it on AppSumo a while ago and haven't looked...
I now have a combo system that I'm trying to get both to talk to each other with great difficulty.
My primary note taking app is NoteJoy, I snagged it on AppSumo a while ago and haven't looked back, great tagging system, folders with good nesting options and the search function is very nice. I was using it to manage multiple clients and storing meeting minutes while also setting up some other information like scratch paper or 90-day to 180-day planning, plus sharing an individual note from within a notebook was very handy.
Alternatively and Recently, I have begun using my reMarkable for just about everything. With the type folio, I can take easy minutes during a meeting, freehand options for to-dos and true scratch; but also there are a bunch of intuitive integrations such as the mobile app, desktop app, and chrome extension, which is great for siloing all of my reading into one place.
Two caveats which I'm personally overcoming:
1c) I do not want to pay for connects, this was an indulgent purchase for the busy side of my brain, and they are requesting that I pay an additional annual premium on it, which kinda sucks. But that comes with enhanced cloud functionality and the ability to edit documents on multiple devices with streamlined back and forth.
2c) Everything gets logged as PDF's, their OCR is good, but I wouldn't test it extensively because I have the on-set keyboard making it easy for me to not take freehand notes with my dogshit handwriting. But I know OCR transfers everything to DocX which makes it easier for me to markup my existing notes in a different app (such as notejoy) if I wanted to. So now what I'm doing is daisychaining zapier connections to convert a pdf to docx, then import that docx to Notejoy so I can keep my notes in one place, but interface with that same database in a number of different ways.
This is what I get for not checking my comments frequently enough. So I'm going to make a few clarifying points for my impression and where I'm coming from with my interactions with the...
This is what I get for not checking my comments frequently enough.
So I'm going to make a few clarifying points for my impression and where I'm coming from with my interactions with the Remarkable.
But the short and sweet, I love it, I do all my reading, note-taking, and most of my writing on this device. To me it's been difficult to find a device that can holistically encompass that.
As an eReader, I had an original nook for a good amount of time, then I wanted to try out the Kindle Fire and switch to an LED screen and found that I didn't like interacting with the screen or the ecosystem. I hate seeing random ads, I hate having bloatware and it turned me off to ereaders for a bit.
As a writing/note-taking tool, I've done a lot of my school oriented work and casual writing on a first generation Chromebook that is still used to this day. When it comes to freehand and tablet work, I have had a Wacom but not one with an in-set screen.
I knew I wanted to give eReaders another try especially since eInk has come a long way, my chromebook is looking rough and I want to find something that can be a similar minimalist writing environment, and while I wasn't outrightly seeking a freehand tablet, it was something I factored in as a potential hobby I could get back into because I like sketching, but it's not a dominant hobby for me.
So for me, with a ~$600 investment on this hardware, that is how I justified it as really satisfying three niches. But otherwise it's a little steeper than I would typically pull the trigger on.
As a reader, it's a total gamechanger. PDF's and ePubs read with zero issue, and the intuitive chapter reading/ToC generation is a fun feature that I didn't expect. Plus the added benefit of a free-hand tool for highlighting sections has made me a more active reader, which I think gives it an edge over the Paperwhite, which I was considering.
As a typing tool with the TypeFolio, It's great. Literally no issues with it. I own multiple mechanical keyboards and have played with several compacted and truncated keyboard setups, and considering you just want to sit down and pound the keys, the reMarkable does that. Additionally, it makes for an easy notetaking app for when I'm on video calls for my job so it has a two-fold benefit.
As a freehand tool, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I can craft to-dos with it and make simple checkboxes, I enjoy doodling and having fun little sketches with it. But this isn't something that I can adeptly assess as I can with the other two categories.
So across the board, I love it. However, initially (90-days since purchase at this point) I am going to be viciously critical of hardware failures for this device. I take good care of my devices and considering the backdrop of this is having a $330 chromebook that lasted ten years, I am having a potentially unreasonable expectation that I will get 5-10 years out of this.
Small notes
The connects thing for cloud storage is annoying as a SaaS option, but seeing how much it has consumed my life and productivity, I will be trying it out shortly.
They have a scaling PDF issue which is annoying. When you page down to continue writing it elongates the pdf instead of paginating it. Which can definitely create anomalous file exports. But the easy workaround is to just create another page so it's a human issue not necessarily a software issue.
The Read on Remarkable Chrome extension is amazing. Have a page that is 2-3 pages, click the chrome button and it just exports it as a pdf scan to your tablet. There are some code-break issues, and dynamic content /Jscript issues that make this unusable on certain sites, but it works on teh ones that count like Microsoft, Google, and other WebDev Docs.
Pinchzoom, scaling, and scrolling while zoomed needed maybe an hour of work before I felt comfortable with it.
I am very happy with the diverse tagging, category and file/folder system the device has.
I am also a larger frame person, so my hands can comfortably handle this object, but it is an 8.5x11 size tablet which could affect some users.
Nope. At first I thought that some of those functionalities would do me alot of good, but now I can't imagine mixing medias with it. I will say it has drastically increased the amount of reading I do.
Nope. At first I thought that some of those functionalities would do me alot of good, but now I can't imagine mixing medias with it.
I will say it has drastically increased the amount of reading I do.
I have written and re-written several plugins for (neo)vim. The latest incarnation I'm working on uses djot for markup. I've started using hardwrapped lines because it makes for a much better...
I have written and re-written several plugins for (neo)vim. The latest incarnation I'm working on uses djot for markup. I've started using hardwrapped lines because it makes for a much better plain text experience. For example, having centered headings, right aligned tags, nicely wrapped lists etc. Djot is easy to parse, and can be done in a single pass. It is a very efficient yet expressive format.
For me, being able to quickly add, alter, navigate, and query notes is essential. Vim's built-in functionality is quite powerful for this, and is easily supplemented by other cli tools or lua scripts. What I have made is always simple and fast. I toyed with emacs and org for about a year, and although it gave me lots of ideas, it was just so so sluggish! It felt like having to have a car running just to hear the radio.
All my plugins are hacky and crazy, but they work well for me, and since I made them, they are easy to adjust. I think developing and maintaining a system like this has been an important part of the second brain endeavour for me. I have come to use gardening as a metaphor for this reason; compost for ephemeral notes or references, flora for "cultivated" or "atomic" ideas and questions, or constellations of them, and an almanac where I plan, track, and reflect on my thinking (gardening).
I've written a bit about this before, but basically, I don't take notes because notes fall out of sync with life and my thoughts unreasonably quickly, especially in this "second brain" format....
I've written a bit about this before, but basically, I don't take notes because notes fall out of sync with life and my thoughts unreasonably quickly, especially in this "second brain" format.
Instead, I just collect and categorize highlights from everywhere (specifically highlights, not bookmarks, which I think should only be recorded as metadata; if something isn't important enough for me to highlight, then the place it came from isn't important enough for me to bookmark), and there are some topics and areas for which I publicly share RSS feeds of my highlights.
I use a program I am developing myself: Tangent. Version 0.5.5 just went out today! It's very much inspired by Obsidian, but I've tailored it to my own particular wants and desires. The UI is...
I use a program I am developing myself: Tangent. Version 0.5.5 just went out today! It's very much inspired by Obsidian, but I've tailored it to my own particular wants and desires. The UI is based on the "Sliding Panels" UX concept, and I'm developing an automatic map that builds itself as you write and navigate your notes. I've found this to be super helpful for getting a bird's-eye-view of my thoughts when I'm working through something that is expressed over several wiki-linked notes. I don't use it all the time, but when I do use it, it's very helpful. Tangent also has a "Feed" view that is excellent for daily notes. You can just scroll up to see what you wrote yesterday, the day before, etc.
I also use Apple Reminders as an ingest point for links and other things I want to think/write about more when I'm not at a laptop or desktop.
I've heard some people like using a personal instance of Bookstack for this! Personally, I just use Apple notes to quickly jot things down that I will reference again in the near future. I don't...
I've heard some people like using a personal instance of Bookstack for this!
Personally, I just use Apple notes to quickly jot things down that I will reference again in the near future. I don't really have a system for organizing more important long-term content. However, I would consider using Bookstack if decide I need this functionality.
I have been using Bookstack at work to create a set of user guides for our customers. So far, I really like the functionality it provides! While it is targeted at creating a way for teams to organize internal documentation, I think that it could be really powerful for personal use if the idea of writing books organized onto different shelves is interesting to you.
I migrated from org-mode/org-roam to Obsidian recently. I love Emacs when it works well, but it was so badly behaved (and inconsistent across the platforms I use), that I just grew too frustrated....
I migrated from org-mode/org-roam to Obsidian recently. I love Emacs when it works well, but it was so badly behaved (and inconsistent across the platforms I use), that I just grew too frustrated. Add in the time sink involved in maintaining it (I don't have the time to learn elisp), and it was a no brainer.
Obsidian won over everything else mostly because it had Vim input support. I've gotten too use to it now.
Notion is used for anything where a table comes in handy. Tables suck in both org and Markdown.
I keep going back and forth between Notion and Obsidian. I would probably switch over to Obsidian completely, as I love the customization and power it has, but I'm to much of a cheapskate to pay...
I keep going back and forth between Notion and Obsidian. I would probably switch over to Obsidian completely, as I love the customization and power it has, but I'm to much of a cheapskate to pay for a Sync account and there's not really a great way to sync my notes up across my phone/PC/work computer (for personal use). For Notion though, I really like the general setup and ease of use, plus the syncing just works (and it's free). So I kind of just bounce back and forth depending on what/when/where I'm using it.
I actually tried using it before, but found weird issues with syncing, there were alot of conflicts between file versions. Otherwise it was pretty effortless to setup and seemed to be a good...
I actually tried using it before, but found weird issues with syncing, there were alot of conflicts between file versions. Otherwise it was pretty effortless to setup and seemed to be a good solution, but I don't know if it's how I was using it or if I messed up a setting I just didn't want to have to deal with constant sync conflicts.
Keep for My Stuff, OneNote for Work Stuff. Several of my colleagues are still on the Pile o’ Crumpled Coffee Stained Papers method. I have no idea how they ever find anything.
Keep for My Stuff, OneNote for Work Stuff. Several of my colleagues are still on the Pile o’ Crumpled Coffee Stained Papers method. I have no idea how they ever find anything.
I am actually really surprised that no one has mentioned (Zim)[https://zim-wiki.org/]. Its my go personal note taking option because it store data in human readable plaintext files. I don't get...
I am actually really surprised that no one has mentioned (Zim)[https://zim-wiki.org/]. Its my go personal note taking option because it store data in human readable plaintext files. I don't get this desire to integrate notetaking with sync when you can just use an existing sync solution like rclone or syncthing to sync instead. Much more flexibility that way.
I use Obsidian for general note-taking for my personal life. Contact info, meeting notes, to-do lists, home inventory (so I can just look up what brand/model of <random appliance> we have, the...
I use Obsidian for general note-taking for my personal life. Contact info, meeting notes, to-do lists, home inventory (so I can just look up what brand/model of <random appliance> we have, the serial number, the warranty info, and when we bought it), my long-term notes on yard care (when to plant, when to seed, when to prune, fertilizer/compost schedule and history), and a lot more. It's easy and pretty and painless, except for the publishing aspect. I'd love to have a version of obsidian that adopts Dendron's dot-structure hierarchy (and embeds!!)
For my tech library, I use Dendron, since it's embedding features and easy publishing are killer features. Plus, the dot-based hierarchy really meshes with the way my brain thinks. Combine loose hierarchy with tags, and you can do damn near anything.
I have a few: bitwarden to remember my passwords, credit cards, totp keys, ssh keys, and secure notes notion to document solutions and observations Microsoft todo for keeping track of tasks at...
I have a few:
bitwarden to remember my passwords, credit cards, totp keys, ssh keys, and secure notes
notion to document solutions and observations
Microsoft todo for keeping track of tasks at work
twilio so I can send myself sms reminders, wake up calls, and call my phone when I misplace it (I use a script which uses the python library for their api -- the pricing is very affordable)
crontab to schedule those reminders and calls, and also to play music to wake me up
I’m currently on LogSeq but I’m far from a power user. I toyed with Obsidian and Notion, but found myself outlining everything, and somehow LogSeq got on my radar around the same time. The daily...
I’m currently on LogSeq but I’m far from a power user. I toyed with Obsidian and Notion, but found myself outlining everything, and somehow LogSeq got on my radar around the same time. The daily journal format also works well for me. I made the switch and never looked back.
I’m mainly using it as a journal and book/movie tracker. I’m into gardening it’s a nice reference for when I plant certain things, fertilize, which varieties of plants are which, and so on. I’m also using it for a general knowledge store but most stuff never makes it out of the daily journal pages, to be honest.
I’m paying $5/month which gives me access to their sync. It a works fine between my Windows PC, iPhone, and iPad. I do have to periodically log back in on the different devices but it’s not a big deal.
I’d love to use it for my day job as a financial advisor / CPA but it’s a no-go from IT for a variety of reasons, compliance being a big one. I do use OneNote there for some things.
I’m also using Apple Notes and Reminders. Reminders is great for wishlists, and the lists are easy to share. Apple Notes is good for adding things via Siri while I’m driving. I can also share those notes with my wife, which is handy.
I’m kind of thinking about trying obsidian again now that I’m more in the habit of using these systems. I do like the idea of how LogSeq linking works (atomic level) but I’m not really using it much in practice.
I highly recommend Literature and Latte’s Scrivener. I agree with the thread on many of the other tools mentioned. Though Scrivener has a few advantages. It’s highly customizable, available for...
I highly recommend Literature and Latte’s Scrivener.
I agree with the thread on many of the other tools mentioned. Though Scrivener has a few advantages. It’s highly customizable, available for Windows and MacOS. It saves locally but has the option to sync via Dropbox. You can create multiple separate projects / databases for different purposes.
The first few times I tried it, the approach didn’t click. But the barrier was getting my mind wrapped around the potential and options it had.
It’s kind of like all the good things from OneNote, but with much more powerful and flexible tagging and organization options. And thanks to it being born as a writing tool for authors and script writers, it can export to an insane number of formats.
For medium to big projects at work, I put all my files and notes with the Johnny Decimal system and Sublime Text as a text editor, it's simple but very powerful for me. For long tasks, notes or...
For medium to big projects at work, I put all my files and notes with the Johnny Decimal system and Sublime Text as a text editor, it's simple but very powerful for me.
For long tasks, notes or bugs, I use org-mode because I can quickly view huge files that sometimes span a few years. My biggest file had more than 100,000 lines and contained everything I did, and important notes from meetings for 3 years, and it saved my ass a few times.
I also like Taskwarrior for very short daily tasks.
I'm really liking FSNotes. It's a fast and easy plain text notes app, like nvalt, which is what I was using previously. Unlike nvalt, it's being actively updated by the developer. FSNotes: type in...
I'm really liking FSNotes. It's a fast and easy plain text notes app, like nvalt, which is what I was using previously. Unlike nvalt, it's being actively updated by the developer.
FSNotes:
type in the search bar to search for a note or create a new note
toggle sidebar view; sidebar contains quick links and a list of your tags
tags can be nested
link to a note with [[note title]]
MacOS & iOS, and syncs via iCloud
free and open source
I also use Telegram for quick notes! It's my messaging app of choice, and it's also really handy for quick notes as I find it syncs fastest across all my devices and its search function is responsive and reliable. It's easy to organize my "notes" (chats with myself) by topic/folder and I also really like that I can schedule when messages are sent (so these act as my reminders), and I can schedule auto-delete too (to keep my notes from getting too cluttered).
For me it's Obsidian. The big draw is that it's compatible with what was already my note taking system, i.e. a folder of Markdown files. It means that I can enjoy the features without being locked in - if I wanted to ditch it tomorrow, the only change I'd need is a script to find all my todos and print them back to me.
Other than that, it's just a nicer interface than using VSCode or neovim for notes, with stuff like smart markdown tables, search options that make sense for notes and handy shortcuts (like making a weekly note from a template).
I don't go very far into the methodology stuff like Zettelkasten, for me that's a rabbit hole that consumes more time than it produces value, so I just have a structure with folders for Projects/{a,b,c}, Meeting Notes, and Misc. Nor do I go crazy trying to make notes atomic or deduplicate stuff, as I find that makes it more scattered for me trying to follow them, and also the more work notetaking becomes the less likely I am to do it. So really it's less of a "second brain" tool as I use it and instead a smart notes-focused markdown editor, but that's the way I like it.
One which you missed, but I periodically review is Dendron, which is trying to be Obsidian as a VS Code addon. I check it out from time to time since it's open source and Obsidian isn't but it hasn't tempted me yet
Huh, that's how I already take notes. Guess I have to try Obsidian...
In addition to Dendron there is Foam Bubble for VSCode.
Obsidian for me as well, for basically all the reasons/use cases you just shared.
How does Obsidian manage syncing across devices. I've been curious about migrating off Notion to something that isn't dependent on an internet connection to run, but I also need them to sync back between my Macs and iPhone.
You can use either iCloud or Obsidian's proprietary sync service (paid) for Apple ecosystem sync functionality. From what I've heard, iCloud can be hit or miss sometimes. When I was trying it out, I didn't really have any issues. Obsidian Sync is supposed to be pretty good, but may be considered a little steep on pricing for what it is. I've not experimented with it (Obsidian's sync) because of how opaque their encryption standards and privacy stances are, but plenty of people use it and highly recommend it.
Obsidian did put out a blog post very recently about how you can verify their end-to-end encryption if anyone is curious https://obsidian.md/blog/verify-obsidian-sync-encryption/
I'm grandfather'd into a 50% discount on sync, not sure if I would pay full price for it but it works very seamlessly across my iPhone, iPad, Macbook, and Windows PC.
You can just keep the note files in your dropbox/syncthing/icloud/etc folder. The beauty of plaintext! They have their own paid sync service too.
edit: Actually only icloud and their sync are supported on iOS: https://help.obsidian.md/Getting+started/Sync+your+notes+across+devices
Unless something has changed, I don't believe there is actually a way to access a vault on iOS that is outside of the iCloud app folder (aside from using their sync service). Obsidian calls this a limitation of iOS, but I am not entirely sure if that is true. It would have been wonderful for Dropbox in particular to be an option, but the only solution I found when I was trying it out was a hacked together Shortcuts workflow.
It's been a long time since I used an iOS device, but IIRC all apps are sandboxed, so you can't use an app A (say Syncthing or Dropbox) to manage files for app B. The only exception being iCloud, since it's integrated in the OS.
Obsidian could probably implement something themselves inside their own app via the Dropbox API, but there's likely not much motivation for them to do so since their own sync service is a revenue generating alternative for them.
I use an app called Notebooks on iOS and it has the option to choose your storage location, allowing sync with Dropbox if you want. It's quite an expensive app, but it's a one time cost and it's less than a few months of Obsidian Sync.
I use iCloud to sync across my iPhone, iPad and Windows 11 PC, which has the ability to use iCloud directly in explorer. Works flawlessly for me.
I was having issues with iCloud Drive on Windows creating duplicate notes. I have no issues by using iCloud Drive sync between Apple devices (iPhone, MacBook, iPad, etc).
Thiiiis is a big deal to me. I don't use obsidian at work for licensing reasons ,but also because I just feel like i'm in too many systems already. Given i'm living in VS Code, having an app built in to take notes is exactly what I need, and this looks like it meshes with how I think/work. There's a few features I'll need to check on, but I think this is going to solve a constant pain point for me.
I will add that Dendron has been a revelation for me, at least in how I want to organize my stuff.
I find myself mostly creating the atomic units of snippets or data, then aggregating them into pages later.
For example, here's a "link" that will find all nested pages, and display the first paragraph from the snippet:
![[tech.java.gc.*#^begin]]This will show me all the bits I've saved around Java garbage collection, as well as a quick paragraph for context.
The dot hierarchy makes it really easy to move things around and turn pages into folders as well.
it certainly looks interesting for work. Not sure how well it'll work for personal. I see 2 major hurdles for my main use case.
I'll throw things I want to do (food/entertainment/whatever) in obsidian with a few tags, and then aggregate based on those tags using dataview and a few simple queries. Thus i've got a page for places to try out, and i can quickly update the ones i've done, and as i add more they'll automatically hit that page.
It seems that dendron doesn't really do this by default, or perhaps has a different way of handling that?
The other issue is just that the other upside of obsidian is that I have it sync'd and thus have it on my phone, which is of course always on me. Not sure there's a way around that part since I doubt dendron or vs code is coming to the app store anytime soon.
Their FAQ says they dont have a good way to use it on mobile and suggest using a different markdown client to view the notes or just using google keep to store stray thoughts and then convert it to dendron when back at a computer.
Honestly, this seems like a deal breaker for me as well. Dendron looks awesome, but I really rely on having my notes handy and up to day on my phone.
I commented this elsewhere in this thread, but I'm planning on trying out Silverbullet.md - seems like an open source obsidian that I could self host
A little more disheartening on the dendron project is that in Feb of this year they announced putting it into maintenance mode (they'll fix bugs, no new features).
It looks stable enough as is, but it's certainly a downer to know that should something ever really choke nothing is going to change.
My problem with Obsidian is getting it started to be honest.
I use Obsidian and had no idea about the license! An alternative I've been thinking about swapping to anyway is https://silverbullet.md/ - mostly because it's open source, has many of the same features as Obsidian, and can be self hosted
Also, my first comment on Tildes!
I'm sorry, but what would qualify as "using it when working"? It is just regarding their cloud services? How do they would even know if I'm working or not when using the software?
Using if to take notes in the workplace or from an intended to be commercialised project. If you want it explained in more lawyer reviewed terms, look at the actual license. For the most part it's the honour system (I guess you could publicly stream yourself using it, show you don't have a license key and someone tell them as much?), they're a small house producing software that runs locally, but I can understand someone wanting to avoid it in case they sell out to an Oracle or someone and adopt their license enforcement model.
This kind of license makes me want to support them more.
People who don't have the money, simply use it without paying. And any business, especially one big enough that suing is worth the effort, should have enough to pay $50/year (<$5/month) per salaried employee.
Companies can't make stuff for free. This is the type of license I'd like to see more of, because it gives people who genuinely don't have the spare cash an out to still use the product. Unfortunately it usually just ends up with people who do have the money not paying; which is really a shame because the alternative is either "go out of business / don't have the time to support" or "everyone pays, and closed-source + invasive DRM to ensure that everyone pays"
See also the sold linker, zrythm, and mindustry. All of these are 100% open-source so you could use without paying, but you should pay because people paying is the reason these programs are still getting updates.
Obsidian's value (IMO) mainly resides in its plugin ecosystem. The app itself is a nice markdown editor with backlinks, but that's it.
Yeah this is the key point of obsidian. The built in Graph view is nice, but adding something like dataview to your notes isn't something that's simple.
To be fair I think they should formalize and adopt dataview into obsidian proper, but so long as plugins like that exist, it's the main point of getting obsidian up and running.
So it's like WinRAR...
If you use Obsidian at your work without the company paying for it, I think the biggest risk is with your employer's IT. They can find out and won't like it at all that you use software illegally on their machine and with company data.
Actually that's the main reason why I don't use Obsidian. If I can't use it for work I don't have a use for it.
I work in infosec, and Obsidian has come up. Our biggest problem is the sync features. No problem with it if people use it locally only, but then you are relying on them to not use the feature you don't want, so typically its easier to just block it outright.
People reading this topic might also be interested in this previous discussion, last week:
What do you use for note taking/writing?
I feel like a total pleb, but I just use Keep for on-the-fly note taking. I do find that, for my use case, inline images would be nice but using Docs on my phone was such a pain that I gave up on having that functionality. I'm mostly making lists of doors with their associated problems for later documentation/quotes. Occasionally making idea notes and to-do lists, and like having the option to add check boxes and share to others (pretty much just my wife).
Should I up my game?
Keep is my current notetaking solution. I am exploring Logseq based on recommendations elsewhere on Tildes.
I think I have a decent high-level grasp on what Logseq can do after watching some videos. What I've realized is: between labels and colors, the ability to filter on both, and search, I'm using Keep in a very similar way to what basic Logseq use looks like.
So what I would say is, if you don't feel the need to drastically up your notetaking game, maybe try and add labels and colors to your notes.
Good ideas, thank you!
I also use Keep for on the fly notes. OneNote for work or more detailed stuff (custom drone builds).
The homescreen widget for Keep is extremely convenient, I have an entire screen on my phone dedicated to it. Useful for entering/storing vaguely temporary info like flight/booking numbers, good food at restaurants, or websites that people tell me about IRL. It's also really good for tracking an evening's expenses.
OneNote's ease of use on a Windows tablet (not Android/iOS) is why I use it for more in depth notes, e.g. you can Windows+S some pinout diagrams, then draw the connections between components before soldering to give yourself a better guide.
Do you mostly use on desktop or mobile?
On mobile (Android) I use an app called "Journal It!" which does all of what you mentioned wanting, iirc. Not positive about the sharing function.
It does also have a web version, which is available for paid users. However, there's a fun caveat which is that you can get the paid version for free if you use the app daily for 19 or so days, and then contact the dev with your feedback. That's a genius system, in my book. I fully intended to do that, but ended up buying the full version before then because I knew I wanted it and I wanted to support the developer.
It's a really robust app and I find the tagging system very helpful. There are some features I don't use much (the Journeys are a cool idea but I don't seem to use them), but overall I'd definitely recommend it.
I'm mostly on mobile, though I do occasionally use Keep as a way to get text from my phone to my desktop browser or vice versa.
I'll have to give that a look, seems like it might be just what I needed. Thanks for the recommendation!
I just use Google Keep too. I use it on my phone and several computers, so it's a must that it has a good mobile app and syncs effortlessly between my devices, which are things that many of the other solutions here fail. I like Keep's simple feature set: search, tags, note pinning, and note archiving. If I could add one feature it would be the ability to link notes to each other, but I don't need that too often and my workaround is to just use the title as a link which I can search for.
Joplin for me because of the license and it's E2EE.
Since I have a fair amount of storage I don't really use on Onedrive I've set that as my storage provider, with the comfort that Microsoft can't read it.
I'm a Joplin user as well. Sometimes nothing beats simple.
I'm also using Joplin as I can self-host it and it's open source. It does its job very well and has everything I need.
I use Obsidian.
I'm not even really particularly diligent about linking my notes, but I find it incredibly helpful to have a dedicated program for note-taking.
Having native Task support would be a massive plus but the Tasks plugin is pretty nice.
I use Emacs with markdown-mode and evil-mode (not org-mode, just doesn't appeal to me tbh). I used to use Obsidian. Honestly Emacs is worse than Obsidian in a lot of ways, but I don't like using closed-source software if I can help it. Emacs is basically the only open source note-taking software that can do fancy stuff like multiple font sizes, inline latex+images, and vim bindings. Plus you get the rest of the Emacs ecosystem along with it. My main issue is that emacs is quite slow on windows, even with native compilation.
Have you tried Emacs in WSL2? I used Emacs almost exclusively for 2+ years, and it was much faster running in WSL2 with X forwarding to X410 or Xming instead of native in Windows.
I’m now using Obsidian, mostly because of a career change where I’m no longer in front of a computer all the time, and I was losing the muscle memory for how to do things in Emacs.
I personally use Standard Notes. To be honest I don't use it anywhere near it's full potential, and mostly used it as a personal diary during COVID for a long time, and have some basic wish lists and stuff like that. I usually use Google Keep and Samsung Notes for my more everyday tasks.
I use Standard Notes as well, self-hosting the sync server. My main gripe is that the data doesn't live in a flat file format like in something like Obsidian, but I do like that it's e2ee, third-party audited, and open source.
Another vote for Standard Notes.
For me the big selling point is that it uses end-to-end encryption, and your data is encrypted at rest. I don't want somebody rummaging through my notes if my phone gets stolen.
Seconded. While Standard Notes still doesn’t quite match the feature set of Obsidian it has come a LONG way in the past couple of years and it finally feels like it’s getting closer to being a mature product.
Plus, as you said, e2e encrypted and audited.
Visual Studio Code. It's as simple as popping open a directory of markdown files and going to town, and there are plenty of plugins to make your life easier. Plus, no "commercial use" license like Obsidian.
Yeah, this is how I roll. I can find everything I want by doing a search, there's no need for overly complicated note structure (which just becomes a barrier to notetaking).
I sync the files to iOS and use Notebooks there, which has a clean interface and good search functionality.
I also enjoy the fact that I can have code and markdown files in one repository. It's simple, yet so effective for my purposes.
I don't take notes on my phone all that much, but Notebooks looks neat! I will download it and give it a try.
Agreed, Visual Studio Code is surprisingly good for note taking with Markdown and folder organization. I really love the little outline tool that lets you collapse headings. The extensions are a huge plus too! So customizable.
For basic text I had been using Panic’s Nova app, but I hated that they switched to a subscription model.
What really made markdown a pleasure to edit in VS Code is the plugin Markdown Preview Enhanced. It correctly displays LaTeX and checkboxes (which VS Code's default preview couldn't, last time I checked), and it allows you to use custom CSS and export to static HTML. I cannot sing enough praises about that plugin.
Honestly never really realized there were dedicated applications for taking notes, I've just been using a discord server with only me in it, categorizing everything with text channels and pinning important things I wanted to remember. Probably not the best idea though considering if I ever lose access to my account whatever I wrote is gone forever. I think I'll make a change after reading some of the comments on here.
+1 Obsidian for me. I use cloud storage to sync between devices. My needs are simple, and I'm very much a fan of files being stored in open format.
TiddlyWiki! I run it on my home server. https://tiddlywiki.com/
Yeah, I use it with a Google drive plugin. Can access it from anywhere. Amazing and highly customizable note taking system
Care to link the google drive plugin? That sounds super useful.
Sure, it's called Tiddly drive. You can find more info on the project website https://lordratte.gitlab.io/tiddlydrive/
thank you muchly!
I used Notion in the past, but now I use Obsidian for fully structured notes and create drafts in plain text. I synchronize my files using rclone and DriveSync, so I have no issues with their cloud pricing. Using Notion was a good exercise to understand the basics of a personal knowledge system, but I find that it offers too little freedom in composing notes, if that makes sense (with the whole templates and whatnot). Additionally, I prefer to have full owernship over my files at all times.
Along the day, I use jrnl.sh as a personal journal and for making quick notes about personal matters. It's a great and simple application!
Did you import your Notion to Obsidian? If so how was the experience?
I have a love-hate relationship with Notion at the moment and wondering if it's time to transition to something else. I've tried to limit making nested databases for exactly this reason, but I'm concerned there will be some issues there - especially because when I originally started using it, all tables were automatically created as databases.
I think you may have a hard time transitioning if you have large databases. I used Notion mainly for personal projects organization, and was not difficult at all transitioning these pages to Obsidian, I just had to take some time and searching for some plug-ins that let me put organize my notes in the templates I was used to. Everything kept on my few notion databases was passed to niche contextual apps to organize them (e.g books:good reads; fitness:strong, habits:loop).
Obsidian does not implement databases out-of-the-box, but there is a very popular and developed plug-in that seems to allow just about any function that Notion databases have to offer, but you will have to study it first, a little. Maybe this could be a good place to start? There is also a plug-in that helps to manage plain markdown tables that are not databases.
At the end of the day, the plug-ins are the jewels on the crown of using Obsidian. I think maybe any usage you could think of regarding personal knowledge management could be adapted to Obsidian using the right plug-ins, but you will have to look after it.
Personally still on Notion myself. I find that it allows me to keep things simple with just nested documents or I can take it to the next level with databases. I have a few shared documents with my SO to collaborate on grocery lists and trip planning. It also helps that I use it at work so the functionality is seamless across my work and personal life. It can export and import markdown, so I feel fairly confident that I can migrate to another tool if that ever needs to happen (sans databases I suppose).
The only annoyance I have so far is that it can sometimes be slow to load up, but writing in it has been perfomant enough. To help with this, I wrote a small Alfred workflow to quickly submit one-liner notes that I can review later without breaking my workstream.
Honestly, any note taking software is what you make of it. It's probably best to not get too hung up in the nuances of any one tool.
I've been using Notion now for about a year and I find it really useful in a very primitive way — I basically just create a new note each day and put all my notes for the day in that, and then have a list of these. Literally, my Notion just looks like this. What do you use databases for? I'm trying to up my game.
I use databases for anything that needs structured data. I'm currently house hunting so I have a few databases set up for the houses and neighborhoods I'm looking at. They're linked so I can attribute each property to a neighborhood.
Otherwise, my databases are usually pretty simple. Similar to your daily log in most cases, but with fields that are relevant to the topic. For instance, my recipe database has a cuisine field and my video games database has a platform field.
I used word documents for years (easy to search for/within, image support, cross platform, tables, &c), then transitioned to Obsidian, but found that the allure of half-operational plugins too much and didn't agree with a lot of their development priorities, and then I discovered Notesnook, open source, E2EE, very Evernote like and a proper note taking application instead of a document organizer. Development is incredibly swift and well supported.
Obsidian for me, but pretty much purely as a generic “folders of markdown” manager/editor.
I’ve bounced through various markdown editors over the years and have been using “folders of markdown” as my notes for as long as I can remember. My entire life is in markdown notes. Obsidian is just the nicest one for me at this current time (cross platform, minimal, nice mobile app that lets me use my own cloud provider, etc).
Exactly, I was using folders of markdown with plain vscode (previously atom/sublime/np++/etc) before Obsidian, but Obsidian has just enough niceties to make it better.
I uses Apple notes for personal stuff too, it makes it easy to share with the wife which can be a godsend with things relate to e.g. daycare or shopping, projects, travel etc.
Also handy that it goes to all devices easily.
Not a fan of the UI, annoying how it does auto formatting, so for work I’ve been using markdown.
Keen to try out obsidian after all the recommendation here for work stuff!
I initially started with OneNote because I had a (gen 1, original) surface pro and could use the pen to write notes in school... and I actually really like it. I still use it today over a decade later. I have been working on one big notebook to plan out and store information regarding trips and vacations I want to take in the near/long term future.
My note taking at work is more like .txt files and sticky notes, with a lot of pen and paper for things that I don't copy/paste. Lots of dev notes and copy pasteable commands and code snippets related to whatever I'm working on, or whatever I will have to touch again at some unknown point in the future long after I forget how.
I gave Emacs a serious try at the beginning of the year after various failed attempts over the years and since then I've switched over to it from neovim and vscode for pretty much everything.
One of the main draws for me was Org Mode.
I've switched to using it for readme's on new projects so that I can use various org stuff such as babel, kanban, and global agenda tracking.
I'm using Org-roam and org-roam-ui as my knowledgebase.
I haven't spent that much time on adding notes to it, but I've liked the experience with this so far.
The only think I'm really missing is having it all exported to a static site after every commit so I can browse it on my phone when away from home.
I have an elisp script to do the export and I've tested it out in a simple docker container, but I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to setting up actions on gitea to do it automatically.
For syncing between devices, I have a git repo on my gitea instance.
I've been a bit tempted to switch to using syncthing so I don't have to remember to commit every day or so, but I've held off because I like having a history of what I've done just in case.
Workflowy is the one for me - a great balance of functionality with restrictions so it doesn’t get bloated.
I’m a big fan of the iOS notes and reminders apps. Especially with the upgrades made for iOS 17 which I’m currently beta testing. They are perfect for my needs both at home and in the office.
It's always worth it to try Notes and Reminders, even for advanced usage. I used OmniFocus for 2 years but it was buggy and expensive. I switched back to Reminders and I was happy to discover that it had almost all the features of OmniFocus for free.
Reminders have multiple views, deadlines, templates, syncing, etc. I don't think I miss any feature from OmniFocus so far.
This is a bit niche, and it's a bit more world-build-y than note-take-y. But there's an application called Fantasia that is a free lore and story builder. I haven't used it in years, but it's a free and offline alternative to something like World Anvil. I highly recommend if you're building a world for some creative venture! Used to use it for some short campaigns for table top rpgs and some books I was writing.
I use Notion. Started with Obsidian but a lot of my notes are for work, and their free license doesn't accomodate that while Notion's does. I've been pretty happy with it. Oddly enough, their paid version doesn't give me anything additional I'd want so I haven't bought it.
I use ColorNote on my android. It let's you put widgets on your screen the same way you would use sticky notes. I use them for projects I've started or to do lists.
I somehow never change colour and keep them yellow.
It's simple, doesn't need an account or cloud service and just works as intended.
ColorNote is brilliant, just wish it was easier to export notes en masse
I am trying crypt.ee at the moment.
Though I'd like something that works with the Proton Drive.
OneNote for sure if any drawing, diagrams, math, or physics is required. It's also amazing for grabbing screenshots from PDFs and drawing over them.
Keep is good enough for most simple daily text only notes.
The work/school shared notebooks of OneNote/Teams are also incredibly useful if you are in a situation where you need to be sharing notes back and forth between multiple people. Even if you hate Teams, you can practically run everything through shared OneNote pages.
To get the most out of OneNote you really need a Windows tablet (not 2 in 1) so that you can uselay the tablet flat for writing, and use a stylus and bluetooth keyboard congruently. I personally use the ThinkPad BT keyboard with the clit mouse (no touchpad). Left hand runs mouse and keyboard shortcuts; right hand for the stylus.
I'm using Evernote. I've been really happy with it for a long time. They're trying to get AI into their application which is, frankly, a bit of a tire-fire but as a note taking app it's solid. Search and especially search inside of images has saved my bacon a bunch of times.
I returned to Evernote for a year or two recently and liked it overall. But the Personal plan features are not worth $70+ a year to me.
It’s not as robust, but now that I’m back on a Mac I’m back on Apple Notes.
I'm playing around with nb right now because I have some strange fascination with the command line. It's pretty feature rich and I like that it can sync with a git repository. I also like the simple usage of markdown files so I could very easily migrate to or from something like Obsidian. Most importantly, it's fun to take notes in the command line!
However, I can see this becoming problematic quickly when I find myself needing to pull up some notes on the road. As it stands right now, I can only add/edit notes from my work computer and my home computer.
I'm surprised I don't see Evernote in here. It's been great for notes organization for me, and I like anything that I can access on both my computer and my phone. I even use it for shopping lists.
When I need something I can write into though, I use a Rocketbook. It reads my handwriting pretty well, and I just have it put my notes into Evernote so I can keep everything all together.
Since people in this thread seem to love using Markdown for note taking, I'm gonna hijack this thread and give you another recommendation on a Markdown Editor. It's called Zettlr. I've only been using it for a few days yet, but it seems to be a good one. Open Source, (currently) free, and has features to organize and link your notes. Also, it seems to be cross platform, and allows for exporting to several formats (also custom CSS for exporting and editing).
I have been searching for an editor like this for quite a bit, so I thought I'd share my findings with you.
Check out DevonThink for a second brain (Mac and iOS only). You can also use it to index Obsidian vaults.
I've used devonthink for years and have nothing but positive things to say.
I use OneNote, wiith the desktop app on MacOS. I have individual notebooks for various classes and internships, with sections and pages within each as needed. Within each page, I use bullet points, which I can quickly organize and indent/move up/down quickly via keyboard shortcuts, and I can move between pages and sections with keyboard shortcuts as well.
The cloud-synced nature has been a life-saver, including a short period where my laptop's screen died, and when I forgot my laptop at home for a class, as I was able to pull up OneNote on my phone and take notes/follow along.
For events and reminders, I use Google Calendar, which syncs across devices.
I've bounced between a lot of different note taking apps and for the now I've decided to go with a hybrid solution of notebooks for short-term things and Journaling and then One Note for longer term types of notes.
We've been using notion at our workplace, so I've started to like using notion a lot. I don't need a large feature set, and notion perfectly fits what I want to do.
I haven't explored other options yet however, so maybe my opinion will change over time.
I just use notepad++/geany
npp has a plugin to render markdown pages so I usually format my notes.
I now have a combo system that I'm trying to get both to talk to each other with great difficulty.
My primary note taking app is NoteJoy, I snagged it on AppSumo a while ago and haven't looked back, great tagging system, folders with good nesting options and the search function is very nice. I was using it to manage multiple clients and storing meeting minutes while also setting up some other information like scratch paper or 90-day to 180-day planning, plus sharing an individual note from within a notebook was very handy.
Alternatively and Recently, I have begun using my reMarkable for just about everything. With the type folio, I can take easy minutes during a meeting, freehand options for to-dos and true scratch; but also there are a bunch of intuitive integrations such as the mobile app, desktop app, and chrome extension, which is great for siloing all of my reading into one place.
Two caveats which I'm personally overcoming:
1c) I do not want to pay for connects, this was an indulgent purchase for the busy side of my brain, and they are requesting that I pay an additional annual premium on it, which kinda sucks. But that comes with enhanced cloud functionality and the ability to edit documents on multiple devices with streamlined back and forth.
2c) Everything gets logged as PDF's, their OCR is good, but I wouldn't test it extensively because I have the on-set keyboard making it easy for me to not take freehand notes with my dogshit handwriting. But I know OCR transfers everything to DocX which makes it easier for me to markup my existing notes in a different app (such as notejoy) if I wanted to. So now what I'm doing is daisychaining zapier connections to convert a pdf to docx, then import that docx to Notejoy so I can keep my notes in one place, but interface with that same database in a number of different ways.
This is what I get for not checking my comments frequently enough.
So I'm going to make a few clarifying points for my impression and where I'm coming from with my interactions with the Remarkable.
But the short and sweet, I love it, I do all my reading, note-taking, and most of my writing on this device. To me it's been difficult to find a device that can holistically encompass that.
As an eReader, I had an original nook for a good amount of time, then I wanted to try out the Kindle Fire and switch to an LED screen and found that I didn't like interacting with the screen or the ecosystem. I hate seeing random ads, I hate having bloatware and it turned me off to ereaders for a bit.
As a writing/note-taking tool, I've done a lot of my school oriented work and casual writing on a first generation Chromebook that is still used to this day. When it comes to freehand and tablet work, I have had a Wacom but not one with an in-set screen.
I knew I wanted to give eReaders another try especially since eInk has come a long way, my chromebook is looking rough and I want to find something that can be a similar minimalist writing environment, and while I wasn't outrightly seeking a freehand tablet, it was something I factored in as a potential hobby I could get back into because I like sketching, but it's not a dominant hobby for me.
So for me, with a ~$600 investment on this hardware, that is how I justified it as really satisfying three niches. But otherwise it's a little steeper than I would typically pull the trigger on.
As a reader, it's a total gamechanger. PDF's and ePubs read with zero issue, and the intuitive chapter reading/ToC generation is a fun feature that I didn't expect. Plus the added benefit of a free-hand tool for highlighting sections has made me a more active reader, which I think gives it an edge over the Paperwhite, which I was considering.
As a typing tool with the TypeFolio, It's great. Literally no issues with it. I own multiple mechanical keyboards and have played with several compacted and truncated keyboard setups, and considering you just want to sit down and pound the keys, the reMarkable does that. Additionally, it makes for an easy notetaking app for when I'm on video calls for my job so it has a two-fold benefit.
As a freehand tool, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I can craft to-dos with it and make simple checkboxes, I enjoy doodling and having fun little sketches with it. But this isn't something that I can adeptly assess as I can with the other two categories.
So across the board, I love it. However, initially (90-days since purchase at this point) I am going to be viciously critical of hardware failures for this device. I take good care of my devices and considering the backdrop of this is having a $330 chromebook that lasted ten years, I am having a potentially unreasonable expectation that I will get 5-10 years out of this.
Small notes
The connects thing for cloud storage is annoying as a SaaS option, but seeing how much it has consumed my life and productivity, I will be trying it out shortly.
They have a scaling PDF issue which is annoying. When you page down to continue writing it elongates the pdf instead of paginating it. Which can definitely create anomalous file exports. But the easy workaround is to just create another page so it's a human issue not necessarily a software issue.
The Read on Remarkable Chrome extension is amazing. Have a page that is 2-3 pages, click the chrome button and it just exports it as a pdf scan to your tablet. There are some code-break issues, and dynamic content /Jscript issues that make this unusable on certain sites, but it works on teh ones that count like Microsoft, Google, and other WebDev Docs.
Pinchzoom, scaling, and scrolling while zoomed needed maybe an hour of work before I felt comfortable with it.
I am very happy with the diverse tagging, category and file/folder system the device has.
I am also a larger frame person, so my hands can comfortably handle this object, but it is an 8.5x11 size tablet which could affect some users.
Nope. At first I thought that some of those functionalities would do me alot of good, but now I can't imagine mixing medias with it.
I will say it has drastically increased the amount of reading I do.
I have written and re-written several plugins for (neo)vim. The latest incarnation I'm working on uses djot for markup. I've started using hardwrapped lines because it makes for a much better plain text experience. For example, having centered headings, right aligned tags, nicely wrapped lists etc. Djot is easy to parse, and can be done in a single pass. It is a very efficient yet expressive format.
For me, being able to quickly add, alter, navigate, and query notes is essential. Vim's built-in functionality is quite powerful for this, and is easily supplemented by other cli tools or lua scripts. What I have made is always simple and fast. I toyed with emacs and org for about a year, and although it gave me lots of ideas, it was just so so sluggish! It felt like having to have a car running just to hear the radio.
All my plugins are hacky and crazy, but they work well for me, and since I made them, they are easy to adjust. I think developing and maintaining a system like this has been an important part of the second brain endeavour for me. I have come to use gardening as a metaphor for this reason; compost for ephemeral notes or references, flora for "cultivated" or "atomic" ideas and questions, or constellations of them, and an almanac where I plan, track, and reflect on my thinking (gardening).
OneNote + Anki because my first brain doesn’t always know what my second brain has in it.
I've written a bit about this before, but basically, I don't take notes because notes fall out of sync with life and my thoughts unreasonably quickly, especially in this "second brain" format.
Instead, I just collect and categorize highlights from everywhere (specifically highlights, not bookmarks, which I think should only be recorded as metadata; if something isn't important enough for me to highlight, then the place it came from isn't important enough for me to bookmark), and there are some topics and areas for which I publicly share RSS feeds of my highlights.
I use a program I am developing myself: Tangent. Version 0.5.5 just went out today! It's very much inspired by Obsidian, but I've tailored it to my own particular wants and desires. The UI is based on the "Sliding Panels" UX concept, and I'm developing an automatic map that builds itself as you write and navigate your notes. I've found this to be super helpful for getting a bird's-eye-view of my thoughts when I'm working through something that is expressed over several wiki-linked notes. I don't use it all the time, but when I do use it, it's very helpful. Tangent also has a "Feed" view that is excellent for daily notes. You can just scroll up to see what you wrote yesterday, the day before, etc.
I also use Apple Reminders as an ingest point for links and other things I want to think/write about more when I'm not at a laptop or desktop.
I've heard some people like using a personal instance of Bookstack for this!
Personally, I just use Apple notes to quickly jot things down that I will reference again in the near future. I don't really have a system for organizing more important long-term content. However, I would consider using Bookstack if decide I need this functionality.
I have been using Bookstack at work to create a set of user guides for our customers. So far, I really like the functionality it provides! While it is targeted at creating a way for teams to organize internal documentation, I think that it could be really powerful for personal use if the idea of writing
booksorganized onto differentshelvesis interesting to you.I migrated from org-mode/org-roam to Obsidian recently. I love Emacs when it works well, but it was so badly behaved (and inconsistent across the platforms I use), that I just grew too frustrated. Add in the time sink involved in maintaining it (I don't have the time to learn elisp), and it was a no brainer.
Obsidian won over everything else mostly because it had Vim input support. I've gotten too use to it now.
Notion is used for anything where a table comes in handy. Tables suck in both org and Markdown.
I keep going back and forth between Notion and Obsidian. I would probably switch over to Obsidian completely, as I love the customization and power it has, but I'm to much of a cheapskate to pay for a Sync account and there's not really a great way to sync my notes up across my phone/PC/work computer (for personal use). For Notion though, I really like the general setup and ease of use, plus the syncing just works (and it's free). So I kind of just bounce back and forth depending on what/when/where I'm using it.
I actually tried using it before, but found weird issues with syncing, there were alot of conflicts between file versions. Otherwise it was pretty effortless to setup and seemed to be a good solution, but I don't know if it's how I was using it or if I messed up a setting I just didn't want to have to deal with constant sync conflicts.
Keep for My Stuff, OneNote for Work Stuff. Several of my colleagues are still on the Pile o’ Crumpled Coffee Stained Papers method. I have no idea how they ever find anything.
I am actually really surprised that no one has mentioned (Zim)[https://zim-wiki.org/]. Its my go personal note taking option because it store data in human readable plaintext files. I don't get this desire to integrate notetaking with sync when you can just use an existing sync solution like rclone or syncthing to sync instead. Much more flexibility that way.
I use Obsidian for general note-taking for my personal life. Contact info, meeting notes, to-do lists, home inventory (so I can just look up what brand/model of <random appliance> we have, the serial number, the warranty info, and when we bought it), my long-term notes on yard care (when to plant, when to seed, when to prune, fertilizer/compost schedule and history), and a lot more. It's easy and pretty and painless, except for the publishing aspect. I'd love to have a version of obsidian that adopts Dendron's dot-structure hierarchy (and embeds!!)
For my tech library, I use Dendron, since it's embedding features and easy publishing are killer features. Plus, the dot-based hierarchy really meshes with the way my brain thinks. Combine loose hierarchy with tags, and you can do damn near anything.
I have a few:
bitwarden to remember my passwords, credit cards, totp keys, ssh keys, and secure notes
notion to document solutions and observations
Microsoft todo for keeping track of tasks at work
twilio so I can send myself sms reminders, wake up calls, and call my phone when I misplace it (I use a script which uses the python library for their api -- the pricing is very affordable)
crontab to schedule those reminders and calls, and also to play music to wake me up
notepad for jotting down quick notes
I’m currently on LogSeq but I’m far from a power user. I toyed with Obsidian and Notion, but found myself outlining everything, and somehow LogSeq got on my radar around the same time. The daily journal format also works well for me. I made the switch and never looked back.
I’m mainly using it as a journal and book/movie tracker. I’m into gardening it’s a nice reference for when I plant certain things, fertilize, which varieties of plants are which, and so on. I’m also using it for a general knowledge store but most stuff never makes it out of the daily journal pages, to be honest.
I’m paying $5/month which gives me access to their sync. It a works fine between my Windows PC, iPhone, and iPad. I do have to periodically log back in on the different devices but it’s not a big deal.
I’d love to use it for my day job as a financial advisor / CPA but it’s a no-go from IT for a variety of reasons, compliance being a big one. I do use OneNote there for some things.
I’m also using Apple Notes and Reminders. Reminders is great for wishlists, and the lists are easy to share. Apple Notes is good for adding things via Siri while I’m driving. I can also share those notes with my wife, which is handy.
I’m kind of thinking about trying obsidian again now that I’m more in the habit of using these systems. I do like the idea of how LogSeq linking works (atomic level) but I’m not really using it much in practice.
I highly recommend Literature and Latte’s Scrivener.
I agree with the thread on many of the other tools mentioned. Though Scrivener has a few advantages. It’s highly customizable, available for Windows and MacOS. It saves locally but has the option to sync via Dropbox. You can create multiple separate projects / databases for different purposes.
The first few times I tried it, the approach didn’t click. But the barrier was getting my mind wrapped around the potential and options it had.
It’s kind of like all the good things from OneNote, but with much more powerful and flexible tagging and organization options. And thanks to it being born as a writing tool for authors and script writers, it can export to an insane number of formats.
For medium to big projects at work, I put all my files and notes with the Johnny Decimal system and Sublime Text as a text editor, it's simple but very powerful for me.
For long tasks, notes or bugs, I use org-mode because I can quickly view huge files that sometimes span a few years. My biggest file had more than 100,000 lines and contained everything I did, and important notes from meetings for 3 years, and it saved my ass a few times.
I also like Taskwarrior for very short daily tasks.
I'm really liking FSNotes. It's a fast and easy plain text notes app, like nvalt, which is what I was using previously. Unlike nvalt, it's being actively updated by the developer.
FSNotes:
I also use Telegram for quick notes! It's my messaging app of choice, and it's also really handy for quick notes as I find it syncs fastest across all my devices and its search function is responsive and reliable. It's easy to organize my "notes" (chats with myself) by topic/folder and I also really like that I can schedule when messages are sent (so these act as my reminders), and I can schedule auto-delete too (to keep my notes from getting too cluttered).