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Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

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Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#51

Post by GivinStatic »

deelly wrote: post #27
noisy_boy wrote: post #17

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

Is it ok for you to pay 8$ monthly for sync between devices? Or did you use another way of sync or don't use it at all?

I use Resilio sync to sync the Obsidian vault on all my devices and NAS.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#52

Post by noisy_boy »

smcleod wrote: post #45
noisy_boy wrote: post #17

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

I found the Obsidian mobile app to be really flaky. Unreliable sync and it didn’t feel at all like a native app (on iOS at least).

I use synchthing so syncing is quite prompt. The android version works well.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#53

Post by cfiggers »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #40

This seems like the best place to ask, does anyone have any recommendations for a very simple notes tool that can be easily shared amongst a family or team? Preferably mobile friendly, Even if just in browser.

Assuming you're well aware of something like a shared Google Doc and you need something a little more fully featured...

For "easily shared" it's hard to beat Notion. They have a really good mobile experience and the ability to control permissions and sharing at a detailed level.

The only drawback with that recommendation is you also asked for "very simple," which Notion is definitely not. But, you don't have to use all the features available--you can use the complicated tool in a simple way if you like.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#54

Post by ar-jan »

Galicarnax wrote: post #9

Zotero is awful. It's heavyweight - in fact, a whole separate browser only to manage my bibligraphy (ever tried to use it with ~10k items?). Provides no CLI interface (to automate workflows with scripts). It's data model is weird - e.g., item types include such thing as "instant message", but more academia-relevant types (e.g., "dataset") are absent ("preprint" was incorporated only recently); ISSNs are treated as pr…

> ever tried to use it with ~10k items?

Yes, around 13k currently. Startup is slow, but I keep it open so that doesn't matter much. With Zotero 6, speed isn't great for general usage, but workable. Zotero 7 (beta) however feels very fast. I've switched to it already -- most plugins haven't been upgraded yet, but (at least currently) you can switch between v6 and 7 since there's no database updates involved.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#55

Post by post-it »

geedzmo wrote: post #34
deelly wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it ok for you to pay 8$ monthly for sync between devices? Or did you use another way of sync or don't use it at all?

I just store my vault in a backed up iCloud folder. Syncs to Apple devices automatically for free.

Does it work on iOS devices?

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#56

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

Helmut10001 wrote: post #13

Zotero is great, but only if enhanced with plugins and a few settings. I don't use Zotero Better Notes so far, but here's my list: - [Opinionated decision] disable sync - [Opinionated decision] set “Base directory” (Preferences > Advanced > Files and Folders) to local literature folder - every time you download literature PDFs, create a new subfolder with the motivation for search, - prepend folder names by date-stri…

Thanks for sharing these. I already use a number of these on your list. Though I don't use copy-by-link for files. For me one of the key purposes of zotero is that its the place where I keep these files so I don't have to keep them elsewhere where they aren't as easily searchable.

I'm excited to try the duplicates merger tool, I've been forever putting off this because the normal way is such a slog. The Tag one also looks good.

To add to the list, my key add-ons are:

- better bibtex, this one is essential for me as a latex user

- zotfile. This one is cool because if you add annotations to a pdf, like highlighting or comments while you read it, then zotfile will pull those out into notes in the zotero entry. This makes it really easy to see both that I've read this document, and what parts I thought were important.

[1] https://retorque.re/zotero-better-bibtex/) [2] http://zotfile.com/

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#57

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

noisy_boy wrote: post #17

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

This is first I've heard of Obsidian, and looking at the web page I sort of maybe get what it does. But to help me out, can you describe what you use it does for you. I didn't see any references to citations or the like that zotero is mainly for. Is it just a note app? If so, what makes it so good?

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#58

Post by noisy_boy »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #57
noisy_boy wrote: post #17

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

This is first I've heard of Obsidian, and looking at the web page I sort of maybe get what it does. But to help me out, can you describe what you use it does for you. I didn't see any references to citations or the like that zotero is mainly for. Is it just a note app? If so, what makes it so good?

What it does for me:

- everything is markdown which I'm comfortable in

- I can use conventional structure of folders and notes within folders (not for everyone but it works for me)

- extensive support for cross-linking/embedding/bookmarks along with connection graphs/search (out of these, I had use cases for cross-linking and embedding which worked very well)

- nice responsive UI with support for themes/customizations (I particularly like the Nord theme). Allows lots of control like custom CSS etc for more fine-tuning

- allows customizing keyboard shortcut for practically any action

- quality of desktop and mobile (Android) application is pretty good and the look and feel is consistent

- extensive plugin system: I mainly use plugins out of the box but with stuff like Data tables plugins, you can automate/implement your own workflow (I am too lazy to use all that). Even with out-of-box stuff, things like the git plugin allows version control with minimal effort, smart links allows regex based rules to convert strings to URLs (like entering JIRA ticket no. which converts to clickable URL), MathJax support for entering formulas which render beautifully etc; there are lots of such quality of life benefits via the plugins which adds up.

- allows easy syncing either using their paid service or using syncthing (which is what I use)

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#59

Post by ykonstant »

I just updated Zotero from the AUR and, during the build process, the pdf.js dependency reported 25 vulnerabilities, of which 5 being critical. Given that we sometimes pull pdf from questionable sources/websites, should that not be a priority to fix? Or is there a standard mitigation process that I am not aware of?

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#60

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

noisy_boy wrote: post #58
Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is first I've heard of Obsidian, and looking at the web page I sort of maybe get what it does. But to help me out, can you describe what you use it does for you. I didn't see any references to citations or the like that zotero is mainly for. Is it just a note app? If so, what makes it so good?

What it does for me: - everything is markdown which I'm comfortable in - I can use conventional structure of folders and notes within folders (not for everyone but it works for me) - extensive support for cross-linking/embedding/bookmarks along with connection graphs/search (out of these, I had use cases for cross-linking and embedding which worked very well) - nice responsive UI with support for themes/customization…

Thanks for this. Would you recommend this to someone who is not already a markdown user or that a key prerequisite for this to be useful?
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