Live data from Hacker News

Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

github.com

31–40 of 211 posts

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#33

Since I can't test it right now: Does this use some kind of database to store the notes? The readme talks about syncing, including to the file system. Why are the notes not simply stored as files in the first place? Would this not be much easier than constant exporting/importing to various providers?

Hi, I'm the author of this app. The notes on each client are stored in an SQLite database for performance reason. If they were stored directly as text files it would be slow to query them, it would be very hard to make it work on mobile (and even slower), and you wouldn't be able to easily create relations between notes and tags, notes and notebooks, resource links, etc.

It's when exporting them or syncing them that all the app entities (notes, but also notebook metadata, tags, etc.) are converted to plain text files. One advantage of this is that the notes are not locked into an obscure format - it shouldn't take more than 1h to create a script that read and convert these text files to any other format.

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#34

Since I can't test it right now: Does this use some kind of database to store the notes? The readme talks about syncing, including to the file system. Why are the notes not simply stored as files in the first place? Would this not be much easier than constant exporting/importing to various providers?

That's exactly what I just built for myself. Flatnote, on the windows store (and soon on mac/Linux/mobile) is a rich-edit note app which stores files as .md files in the file system. Sync is handled by just putting your notes folder in Dropbox

That's interesting, I've tried to use plain text files at the beginning too but it didn't quite work. Also if I'm not mistaken on mobile Dropbox sync is not built-in so you'll need to implement it on top of their API (including conflict handling) which is probably the most difficult part in any app like this.

That's also why having a local SQLite is useful because you can more easily compare your local state to what they have.

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#35

Since I can't test it right now: Does this use some kind of database to store the notes? The readme talks about syncing, including to the file system. Why are the notes not simply stored as files in the first place? Would this not be much easier than constant exporting/importing to various providers?

Hi, I'm the author of this app. The notes on each client are stored in an SQLite database for performance reason. If they were stored directly as text files it would be slow to query them, it would be very hard to make it work on mobile (and even slower), and you wouldn't be able to easily create relations between notes and tags, notes and notebooks, resource links, etc. It's when exporting them or syncing them that…

You can use a database for queries without treating it as the canonical data store.

Whether that approach is a good idea is a different question than it being possible.

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#36
I'm currently using Apple Notes on my Mac and iPhone. It works just great!

    It synchronises perfectly
    I can drag and drop images to it, no problem.
    Cmd + C, Cmd + V, Cmd + B, Cmd + I all work as expected.
    I can even add to-do lists and cross out "Done"
    I think it even supports tables, But I don't use them.
    Export as PDF, html, airdrop, email whatever, works easily
    
What doesn't work:

    If I ever get out of Apple ecosystem, it won't work.
    Apple has my data, and I need to trust them.
Give me something with the same ease of use, and make it self-hostable without pain. I'd be happy to pay. I don't need Markdown or anything else. Text + Drag & Drop images support are a must for me.

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#38

Since I can't test it right now: Does this use some kind of database to store the notes? The readme talks about syncing, including to the file system. Why are the notes not simply stored as files in the first place? Would this not be much easier than constant exporting/importing to various providers?

That's exactly what I just built for myself. Flatnote, on the windows store (and soon on mac/Linux/mobile) is a rich-edit note app which stores files as .md files in the file system. Sync is handled by just putting your notes folder in Dropbox

boostnote[1] also does this

[1] https://boostnote.io/

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#39
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, we're going to trade that for Electron and React-Native?

Electron really pisses me off, and even I would rather use an Electron app than learn Emacs.

Spacemacs :)

Re: Joplin – A note-taking and to-do app with builds for desktop, mobile, terminal

#40

I'm currently using Apple Notes on my Mac and iPhone. It works just great! It synchronises perfectly I can drag and drop images to it, no problem. Cmd + C, Cmd + V, Cmd + B, Cmd + I all work as expected. I can even add to-do lists and cross out "Done" I think it even supports tables, But I don't use them. Export as PDF, html, airdrop, email whatever, works easily What doesn't work: If I ever get out of Apple ecosyste…

Useful tip (that I didn't know until recently) is you can also access your notes via any modern browser at https://www.icloud.com/

I recently moved to a Windows machine as my day-to-day home machine and thought I'd have to abandon Apple Notes (which I use on my phone and my work Macbook) but the web interface is basically identical to the apps.

Post reply on HN