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Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#111

Post by mszcz »

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 went through a similar path. Tried everything and it all kinda sucked. Finally settled on using plain markdown files stored in a folder on Dropbox and edited by Sublime Text.

I love the format, enjoy using Sublime for text-editing and never had a problem with syncing (as opposed to say OneNone or Evernote).

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#112

Post by JesseAldridge »

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 had the same sort of idea. I built this when Notational Velocity broke when upgrading to the latest macOS: https://github.com/JesseAldridge/toothbrush It's a single python file for grepping a directory of text files as I type. I have a global keyboard shortcut cmd+J that gives focus to my terminal and I then launch the script by running `t`. Then I can just start typing to search a career's worth of notes.

Would be cool if you could share your setup on GitHub.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#113

Post by giancarlostoro »

I take all my notes with Sublime Text 3. After having bought it and VS Code being more suitable for my programming needs I just use it as a snappy notes taking application. I can close it and everything I leave will be restored as is in a snap when I come back. Not sure if there's a way to sync this but if there is, that would defeat any other "note taking app" for me.

Eventually I want to try using Microsoft Whiteboard but I'm waiting to buy the Surface Pen before I try it out.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#114

Post by Dolores12 »

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…

What is wrong with org-mode? It is plain text file. I see no major differences compared to markdown.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#115

Post by greyman »

OP, I am like you, but so far I wasn't able to find anything better than Evernote, so I learned to live with the 2 device limit...I just use the web version on the 3rd device.

In evernote, I can add new note very quickly via shortcut, search very quickly by tags or keywords, and also a lot of information fits on one screen. It's a unique mix of those conveniences which keeps me using Evernote.

Also, on Windows, what a lot of other apps lacks is that there isn't a native windows app. Then some things like hiding to system tray don't work, or the whole application looks just like a webpage.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#116

Post by garren »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #113

I take all my notes with Sublime Text 3. After having bought it and VS Code being more suitable for my programming needs I just use it as a snappy notes taking application. I can close it and everything I leave will be restored as is in a snap when I come back. Not sure if there's a way to sync this but if there is, that would defeat any other "note taking app" for me. Eventually I want to try using Microsoft Whitebo…

I've found myself doing this as well. I really appreciate the way Sublime Text persists unsaved files without having to give it any thought. I've kept a "scratch.txt" doc open with various notes and hints forever.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#117

Post by kissgyorgy »

Typora! I just found it recently, but maan, I was searching for something like this for a long time! It is basically a Markdown editor but with an unique touch and extra features like outline, sidebar browser, built-in image viewer and stuff. It's very beautiful.

https://typora.io/

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#118

Post by Jaruzel »

I tend to use several machines/devices during my working week, so anything installed locally is a no-no.

My solution was to knock up a web app in php (you can use the backend of your choice) that lets me create notes using markdown, these are auto saved to the server and browse-able via another php page.

Like a poor-mans markdown notepad, but online.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#119

Post by a_d »

Products from www.literatureandlatte.com deserve a mention on this list - they are called Scrivener and Scapple. I realize they might not be for everyone (both are paid), but I find them delightful.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#120

Post by generichuman »

chris_st wrote: post #19
nso95 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you utilize Quiver? Just making notes of programming concepts with code snippets?

That's what I use it for. I've found the " One column of concepts, with one column of articles in each concept" to be a really useful formalism. I found, when using wikis (even just my own) that it wound up being an unorganized mess. I wound up writing a Quiver-alike for the windows/linux world at work.

Is the one you wrote public? I'd like to try it if so.
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