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Tired of note-taking apps

akkshaya.blog

401–410 of 481 posts

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#401

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.

You can export to plain text by saving notes to the files app.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#402
post #44

I believe I shared this once before. After twenty years of trying every possible note taking app from Word 95 to Notion, this is now the entirety of my note taking app: #!/bin/bash read text _date=$(date +'%Y-%m-%d') echo -e "\n$_date: $text" >> ~/Dropbox/notes/stream.txt

So you only take notes while on your actual computer. You never take notes besides when you are on your computer.

I usually use a paper notebook when I'm away from my computer. But if I really want to take a digital note, I can do so. Notice that the text file is synced to Dropbox. I can open it using the Dropbox mobile app, scroll to the bottom and add a manual entry. But obviously, it's not as fast as a command line entry.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#403
post #239

I searched far and wide for a good note taking app a few years ago, only to find that the best solution for me was right in front of me the entire time. git init fall2020 Git lets me keep track of everything, and I have free hosting at multiple different websites, or my own server if I want to. It's simple and customizable, and depending on what type of notes, I have different scripts to automate new notes and search…

I feel like this is half a solution to me. I use Git too, but it does nothing about how notes are structured or linked, for which I lean on sublime, Obsidian and Zettelkasten.

I recently started with Obsidian which I sync up via DropBox using a text editor on my machine or Markor on Android (still haven't selected an iOS equivalent.. tips welcome). I see Zettelkasten mentioned in tandem with Obsidian frequently but I can't figure out what it does? Is it just timestamping for notes?

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#404

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…

I do this to create a papertrail of thought and action for work but it's a vey narrow use case. What about notes for creative thought, mind mapping etc?

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#406
post #291
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could still access it from web. The interface isnt bad, but it’s web, so no native UI.

Sounds like it's a stone throw away from being packaged by someone as an Electron app :)

https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier

I used this to create an Electron app for my entire iCloud account. It's the only way I can stand to use it from my Linux machines due to the aforementioned Firefox bug. I don't mind using Chromium as an Electron app for this purpose though. Combined with Alltray I got a nice little Apple logo in my system tray that I leave open.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#407
Years ago I took a tip from (the admittedly fictional) Mr. Sherlock Holmes: I never go anywhere without my small notebook and a pen. Back pocket for notebook (and yeah, the current one is 3/4 full and beat to hell) and pen in front pocket(preferably a black Pilot Precise V5, which is both cheap and high quality).

It's really impossible to express how many times a day this comes in handy. The most mundane information usually, for me, is also the most forgettable, and a quick jot fixes that.

And finally, when the thing is cashed, though most of the notations within are completely useless after a couple days, the object itself has, through wear and abuse, become a compelling and aesthetically pleasing artifact.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#408
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The secret here is about the input: a key stroke on the keyboard is always the same movement, more or less, while letters are each a different symbol/drawing. There's very little creativity to pressing keys on a keyboard, while handwritten text is unique to each person, in time.

Every keystroke isn’t the same if that’s how deep you’re going to get into it. You never use the exact amount of force, or fall from exactly the same angle when typing either. It has nothing to do with that. There’s nothing inherently creative about writing. But it adds value in that it forces you to spend more time on a single thought while writing, which is not the case while typing. On a computer, you write your n…

> You never use the exact amount of force, or fall from exactly the same angle when typing either.

None of that metadata is recorded, or could ever be revisited. But when I write with a pen, I can see the differences and sometimes it clearly relates back to the emotional experience.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#410
post #230
post #51

Nothing has been as frictionless as nvALT[1]. Plain text, full text search, and point it at iCloud/Dropbox/Drive and now you have your notes fully synced. I’ve spent far more time than I care to admit trying out new note applications... [1]: https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/

I hope they'll release nvUltra soon: https://nvultra.com I use this as well, have all my stuff in a git repo and sync it to my iOS device so I can edit it with apps like iA Writer or 1Writer easily.

Definite have been looking forward to nvultra for a while now.

I thought about putting it in git, wasn’t sure if even having to commit/push would be too cumbersome for me.

I sync my notes with iCloud and have nvALT look at the folder there - then I setup a shortcut on iOS that appends to a “daily” file - can even use Siri too. Everything stays in sync and I don’t need to think about it. At least for now

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