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Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#302

Post by albumdropped »

capitalletterG wrote: post #285

Can realy recommend https://joplin.cozic.net/ . It speaks md. Can do usefull syncing with many different services. has a firefox and chrome website importer and seems open-source on first sight. I use it now after a lot of other trys. i like it

+1 for Joplin. The UI isn’t as polished as evernote, but it’s open source, unlimited devices, and no vendor lock-in.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#303

Post by ejstronge »

sus_007 wrote: post #105
rexysmexy wrote: post #95

Over my last two terms I've invested in using markdown with Pandoc to write any notes in class. I needed a way to be able to take math notes, and be simple to use. After migrating to Linux, OneNote was no longer an option. It's simple to use, as it uses markdown syntax for anything text based, and LaTeX syntax for inlined math formulas. I as of recently also found out that VimWiki exists. I've started to use it becau…

+1 for VimWiki, it's just simple enough for decent note-taking although it's not as highly customizable as org-mode. Btw, I think the internal linking features and others do not work with Markdown syntax of VimWiki after the export, or have you figured out something ?

I haven't tried using links after an export before. One thing to check might be the source code of the exported file? That might give you a hint of where the exported page is looking for its link targets.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#304

Post by wooly_bully »

bmarquez wrote: post #14

Standard Notes: https://standardnotes.org/ for plain text, encrypted notes. Everything is easily importable or exportable in .txt format. MS OneNote is great however they have stopped updating their desktop application (which allows offline notes) in favor of putting everything in the cloud (which will require a subscription to yet another cloud service if you exceed the OneDrive limits.)

Another vote for Standard Notes. By far the best for my use case.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#305

Post by nojvek »

Boulth wrote: post #289
zachlatta wrote: post #53

I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. After trying Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, wikis, org-mode, and essentially everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system f…

> I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. I strongly agree with this. Actually I'm surprised that creating one's own tools is not more widespread in our industry as I consider this a quite…

Yep a private repo in GitHub goes a loooong way. With git you can be offline, dump whatever comes at any time. Markup syntax is remarkable in its simplicity but how much you can get out of it.

GitHub UI for on the move web committing is also pretty well done.

For a lot of things in life, you want to have simple interface yet sophisticated functionality. It’s incredibly hard to achieve that balance and so many software products screw up that balance.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#306

Post by gbraad »

zachlatta wrote: post #53

I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. After trying Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, wikis, org-mode, and essentially everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system f…

Still doing the same as many years ago;

  * a git repo (private on gitlab)
  * markdown editor (desktop, phone)
  * and several means of rendering (pandoc, gollum, etc)
See: http://gbraad.nl/blog/task-management-and-personal-kanban-ho... and http://gbraad.nl/blog/document-generation-using-markdown-and...

I use a container image to generate my resume, my blog, knowledgebase and presentations. All from the same files and workflow...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#307

Post by reubenmorais »

Boulth wrote: post #289
zachlatta wrote: post #53

I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. After trying Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, wikis, org-mode, and essentially everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system f…

> I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. I strongly agree with this. Actually I'm surprised that creating one's own tools is not more widespread in our industry as I consider this a quite…

> I consider this a quite unique trait of our profession.

(In case you really meant unique rather than special or valued). Machinists, woodworkers, and craftsmen in general all make their own tools when the situation calls for it.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#308

Post by booleandilemma »

I used Evernote for awhile but they did stupid things like putting the upgrade button back on the toolbar after I had removed it.

When I finally did upgrade to their basic tier they kept spamming me to upgrade to their mid-level tier.

Uninstalled it shortly after that.

Please don’t pester your paying users.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#309

Post by throwaway413 »

crazygringo wrote: post #235

Google Docs for long-form notes (meetings, classes), Google Keep for short-form (grocery list, to-do, etc.). Nothing beats the fact I can use it instantly across all devices (not Apple-only) and it's free.

Can access iOS Notes from iCloud on any device. I’d argue the web UI is just as easy to use as the native Keep UI.

My issue with Keep is that in my experience, if you aren’t religious with organization, it gets out of hand and unuseable fast.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#310

Post by martin_ »

mamp wrote: post #153
paultopia wrote: post #64

If on the Mac ecosystem, Bear is Apple notes but with fewer sync bugs and more useful features (like a close cousin of markdown and amazing tagging). I've switched to that for notes that might stick around for a while (from Evernote and Apple notes, though I still forward emails into the former as a convenient archive). For transient notes (like shopping lists etc.) I just use drafts on iOS. Seems to work for me afte…

I'm not sure how long ago you tried Apple Notes but I've use it all the time now after trying many apps. I don't have any sync problems and it has good support for images, pen input, tables, styles etc. For anything more technical I use Quiver which supports MarkDown, code with pretty printing, LaTex and diagram markup, but it doesn't have an iPad editor (just reader).

My biggest gripe with Apple Notes is if I throw some snippet of code in there it mutates the quotes to "smart quotes" and thus the code produces syntax errors if I try and use it again :(
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