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A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

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Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#31
post #5

I get that Evernote seems stagnant (or even dead by many accounts) and it certainly is lacking in critical features such as e2ee, but all these (paid) alternatives are only covering a small fraction of Evernote functionally: mostly text notes. No OCR, no easy meeting notes, no templates... Luckily, where I am I've access to (really!) low cost EN subscription (maybe I've got grandfathered into it? Right now it works o…

Yes, I use Evernote as a searchable scanned documents database (I don’t need plain text notes, and I have thousands of scans lying around from the last 12 years). Every bill, receipt, signed contract, insurance claim etc. gets scanned and goes to Evernote, with tags for quick access. I pay full $80/year for it. I would really love to switch to something else, but there is no alternative. There is no other document da…

OneNote

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#32
post #11

Encryption is nice, but what I really want is local-first, multi-device, and a very short time between when I launch the app and when I start being able to type. When I want to capture an idea or want to spend my limited time journalling, I want it fast. Hyperlinking and adding photos are nice. Evernote has been focusing on collaborative features I don’t care about. Startup time to when I can start typing have been g…

Google Keep, everyday (till they kill it)

“till they kill it”

How sad, that we are dependent on third parties like this… I have seen people openly hoping and begging Twitter to add an Edit button. Really? This is why we need open source.

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#33
post #2

I'm still using joplin + dropbox

Fun fact: Joplin log files include plaintext secret keys when you enable E2EE. I moved away from Joplin after that plus a data loss incident where Joplin decided that it wanted to delete all of my notes in the repository. Too many foot guns there! I did like the software though.

If you don't mind me asking, can you share some more info on this? Did some searching around, and only found one [1] semi related issue from 2018. Is this the one you were referring to?

[1] : https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/288

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#35

I have moved on to a plaintext lifestyle that isn't tied to any tooling. If I have to protect/encrypt the content, I will look at doing that at the container -- such as a Vault. Tools such as Obsidian[1] are a good option for me, as I can use it as that -- a tool and not worry about the content being tied to any platform - open or otherwise. For your Vault protection, tools such as the Cryptomator[2] works well. I re…

What about the bizarre lack of Markdown viewers, though? It's infuriating.

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#37
post #11

Encryption is nice, but what I really want is local-first, multi-device, and a very short time between when I launch the app and when I start being able to type. When I want to capture an idea or want to spend my limited time journalling, I want it fast. Hyperlinking and adding photos are nice. Evernote has been focusing on collaborative features I don’t care about. Startup time to when I can start typing have been g…

Apple Notes is my go to. Plenty of great new features, but the core is still snappy and easy to use.

Same, ever since Apple FINALLY added categories. It took years and years for them to learn that this is essential.

Mainly I rely on Notes because they're synced through iCloud. I can add stuff to my grocery list as I think of it throughout the day while working on my computer, and it's on my phone when I roll to the grocery store.

I don't like that they're not in a standard format, however.

Oh, and the incredibly ill-conceived "share" function. In any other Apple application, "share" means (essentially): E-mail or text-message a copy of this. But if you "share" a note, the other person HAS REMOTE EDITING CAPABILITY ON YOUR NOTE. I discovered this by accident when I sent a recipe to my sister, then opened it months later to find stuff she had typed into it. The privacy failure here is just appalling. WTF, Apple?

Then there are the mysterious deletions. I've looked for notes that I knew were in there, only to find them under Deleted... fortunately before they were purged. In those cases, the iCloud syncing would've meant they were gone forever. Again, WTF Apple.

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t found anything better than Joplin, have you?

Joplin has no mobile writer. Only reading. Obsidian has that. And is more extendable. That is why I switched. For me, writing a note on multiple devices is the key feature.

Joplin's Android and iOS app can both edit note contents, by tapping the '+' or 'edit' circular button at bottom right of screen.

Re: A fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote

#40
Unless I'm missing something very obvious, the source repository https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook only includes the client apps and not the server, and the parent organization "streetwriters" doesn't seem to have any other repositories for the server. How are you supposed to run your own instance without that?

There's also a lot of marketing-speak in the repository documentation and little to no documentation on how to actually deploy it. Overall this leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Compare this for example to Bookstack, which gets right to the point for how to install and deploy, with no marketing nonsense. https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack

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