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Tired of note-taking apps

akkshaya.blog

301–310 of 481 posts

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#301

I've tried many different systems, and the one I settled on is a single simple doc. It's the only method I've used for over a year. You can do google doc or office doc, but the key for me was having one doc that I just keep prepending to. Each day i'll add the date yyyy-mm-dd (dow) in bold and then list my work for the day... I use hyperlinks to dedicated docs or online guides for more involved projects (quick ctrl-k…

An outliner app like WorkFlowy (YC S10) or TaskPaper is nice for adding nesting and the ability to zoom in and out. You can also directly link to any node, at least in WorkFlowy. My approach is similar to yours except it's one hierarchical entry per day. https://workflowy.com/ https://www.taskpaper.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliner

+1 for TaskPaper.

Markdown for notes and Taskpaper for tasks, projects and outlines. It is a format and a Mac app, that is extremely well made. Super fast keyboard navigation, customizable styles and scriptable in JavaScript. Love it.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#302
post #148
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple Notes are not end to end encrypted. Thanks to programs like PRISM, US military intelligence has realtime access to the plaintext contents of much of the information you store in iCloud (including notes and photos), without a court order. That, for me, makes it a nonstarter.

You must have some very interesting notes. I think for most of us, the US government wouldn't be particularly interested in our musings, but what do you suggest?

Nobody's particularly interested in you taking a shit or jerking off, either, but I'll bet you close the door when you do.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like Apple Notes and would use it if it did not have the following limitations: - You cannot link between notes like a wiki (like Evernotes evernote://$note-guid) - You cannot export all your notes in a standardised format. - You cannot store notebooks in specific offline only encrypted disk images for privacy. - Cannot change background (must use paper emulation)

> You cannot export all your notes in a standardised format. This! When I tried to export my notes I realized how hard to impossible it was to get them out. An absolute no-go for me. So I gave up on accumulating notes in this otherwise beautiful and practical app.

Exporting your Apple Notes to Markdown-style at ease:

https://medium.com/macoclock/exporting-your-apple-notes-to-m...

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#304
I'm a serious pen and paper person but the only note taking app I've stuck with is Google Keep.

I think the constraints are a virtue. No hierarchy, no structure more complex than a list. It imitates my paper workflow which is a bunch of scattered post its and single sheets on my desk.

I do like Notion for more academic or deep work but it's not something I'd fire up without a second thought.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#305
post #131

Taking notes is a process. If you're tired of the apps, then you haven't put enough thought into the process. The available apps are fine. Picking a tool to solve a problem is the opposite approach to how you solve the problem. You instead need to define the problem and then find the tool which is the best fit. If you're frustrated with the tool, then you might need to put more thought into the problem.

Premature optimization also plays a role. Everyone should start with a notepad and a pencil and move up to something more advanced once they outgrow the most basic method of note taking. It's a bit like buying a top of line DSLR when you're just starting to get into photography.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#306
I'm using Pilot Custom 74 fountain pen with my favourite inks on high quality paper notebooks. It makes me want to take notes due to the whole experience and does't restrict me in any way the computer does . For longer text/programming related stuff nothing beats pure text and files in common directory.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#307

Personally I find Apple Notes the most convenient for quick jotting down of ideas etc. It’s not the most advanced in terms of features but it loads instantly, is quick to use and is available on all of my devices. Have tried numerous alternatives but they’ve never stuck e.g. they’re slow to start up or are fussy to use or don’t work well on one platform. For deeper sketching out of ideas, diagrams etc I really like C…

I like Apple Notes and would use it if it did not have the following limitations: - You cannot link between notes like a wiki (like Evernotes evernote://$note-guid) - You cannot export all your notes in a standardised format. - You cannot store notebooks in specific offline only encrypted disk images for privacy. - Cannot change background (must use paper emulation)

Workarounds / alternatives for the limitations:

1. You can link between Notes. On a note, click collaborate icon, click add people, in share options tap icon for Copy Link, and then dismiss the To: dialog with the “Copy Link” text top right. Paste that link in another note. Now they’re cross-linked like a wiki. Instead of doing all this, create/use a shortcut.

2. Use Exporter: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12

3. Protect any given note with a key. The note data is encrypted, and stored encrypted anywhere it is stored.

4. Surely changing the background is an optional feature, not a limitation? There are a ton of features Notes doesn’t have, but not having them may not be in the “limitation” category.

// FWIW, I mostly use Ulysses.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#308
I started doing my notes in ms access database and it's currently working really well for me. I'm doing zettelkasten inspired system and right now it's having only 3 columns - notes, sources and tags. The ability to fully modify the relation between them is something I find infinitely more valuable than anything an app can provide.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#309
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I really don't understand about OneNote is the default to a white-board-like free form placement mode for text blocks. If you move it a little, accidentally, it's not aligned the same as the other notes. This really put me off when I first started using it, and at a client site, it's really the only option. Otherwise, the organization system is something I've come to like/live-with, but still -- why the boxes th…

Yes and if you type one backspace too many it will delete the whole box and place it at an off-centre location when you click to make a new one. There's a workaround though: Click on the title and then press enter and it'll create one again in the right spot :) But yeah OneNote is bloated, slow, has the typical MS UI boneheadedness... But it's what I have to work with at work :'(

As much as I hate onenote, the ease of just hitting [super]+N to start a quick note is the lowest friction way to go from 'i need to write' to 'i am writing'. I've tried a few of the competitors but I guess I found my killer feature.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#310

Personally I find Apple Notes the most convenient for quick jotting down of ideas etc. It’s not the most advanced in terms of features but it loads instantly, is quick to use and is available on all of my devices. Have tried numerous alternatives but they’ve never stuck e.g. they’re slow to start up or are fussy to use or don’t work well on one platform. For deeper sketching out of ideas, diagrams etc I really like C…

I like Apple Notes and would use it if it did not have the following limitations: - You cannot link between notes like a wiki (like Evernotes evernote://$note-guid) - You cannot export all your notes in a standardised format. - You cannot store notebooks in specific offline only encrypted disk images for privacy. - Cannot change background (must use paper emulation)

Paper background is gone in iOS 14.
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