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Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

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81–90 of 220 posts

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#81

I really want to like Joplin, and I've tried to switch a number of times. But the mobile experience just isn't there for me. The iOS app is simple and reliable, which is good, but it's missing some of the touches that make mobile computing feel like it's made for mobile. Specifically, things like swipes for navigation and for selecting or deleting notes. Also, many of the buttons are just too damn small for my sausag…

> Specifically, things like swipes for navigation and for selecting or deleting notes.

Gestures / swipe-navigation gets me every time too. There’s also a new enhanced editor on iOS but it’s a little clunky so I switched back to the plain textbox one. I still use and love Joplin, but tolerate some rough edges on mobile because it’s truly open source.

Joplin on desktop with the MacOS theme-plugin is great. The markdown editor on an actual Macbook outshines whatever is packaged with Linux, but both are very usable. Several other nice plugins on desktop that I rely on are inline-tags, simple backup, templates and the outline sidebar.

Overall, love Joplin and can’t wait to see more improvements as time goes on.

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#82

I am pretty happy with Obsidian.

Same here. I only use note taking apps on my Mac, so syncing isn’t something I am interested in. For me the interface of Obsidian is really top notch. Typing headers and code block quotes doesn’t feel like it gets in your way.

My only complaint is that embedded images are saved at the root level by default. Would be nice if I could hide those or move them to an /Images folder,

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#83

I really want to like Joplin, and I've tried to switch a number of times. But the mobile experience just isn't there for me. The iOS app is simple and reliable, which is good, but it's missing some of the touches that make mobile computing feel like it's made for mobile. Specifically, things like swipes for navigation and for selecting or deleting notes. Also, many of the buttons are just too damn small for my sausag…

What app do you use instead of Joplin for notes?

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#84
post #51

Big no-no to Joplin for me is that it is using some custom data format (sqlite I think). Why bother? Just give me an app that can handle nicely markdown files, syncing I can do myself e.g. (Synology, rsync) or use some file syncing service (Dropbox, OneDrive, whatever). Zettlr does the trick for me without interfering with what I write.

> Just give me an app that can handle nicely markdown files

You know what does that well? The filesystem.

I've tested pretty much all note-taking software out there. What ended up working for me is a bunch of markdown files inside folders, synced using Github.

I have search, formatting and preview thanks to VSCode, and I can access my notes on any machine that syncs with Github.

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#86
post #27

I tried many note-taking apps and finally settled on Notable[0]. It's simple and you can point it to a folder with markdown files and attachments. Plus, you can just sync the folder using any syncing service, and use Noteless[1] on Android. The tagging support is superb, you can cross-link notes, render math using katex, and export to pdf. Because of the simple folder structure, you can also use vim+fzf to search/nav…

Do you know how Noteless compares to GitJournal on Android? Thank you.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.gitjournal....

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#87
The ideal “knowledge base” app I’ve been searching for is as follows:

  - Self-hosted
  - Attractive web client that loads very quickly and works well on mobile
  - Can point it at a nested directory of text/markdown and image/pdf files (no sql database)
  - Text files are editable in place (no “edit” button, etc.)
  - Markdown displays in a plain-text view (no hidden formatting characters, no “rich text” editor)
Every app I’ve tried misses at least of these. The closest I’ve found, strangely, is vscode-server, which is just too bloated and mobile-unfriendly to work for me. I’m perpetually a millimeter away from writing my own, but I feel like I need to stop doing that.

Does this app exist?

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#88
Joplin is a gem of open source, and I use it daily on all of my machines. I'm so grateful to have a good FOSS notes app that syncs cross platform. I've been a patron for years and recommended it to lots of people.

If anyone has questions about how I use it or my workflow I'm happy to shill this app more, lol.

I know Obsidian is the cool kid right now but I just absolutely can't imagine using a closed source app for something as personal and important as my notes.

Since the dev is hanging out in this thread, I will say that I'd absolutely love me some vim keybindings though.

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#89
post #65

For those that want to crosslink anything and everything I suggest Logseq[1]. Its journal and graph view are fantastic. And it has many useful plugins. I use it along with git-sync [2] and syncthing [3] now I can sync the notes across my work, personal desktops and my mobile. [1] http://logseq.com/ [2] https://github.com/simonthum/git-sync [3] https://syncthing.net/

I looked at logseq as an alternative to joplin but there were too many little flags that suggested to me that privacy and being free might not be forever. I don't have a problem with paying for software, but I don't like getting embedded in it when I don't know what the cost will be. Privacy wise, statements like "The aim of Logseq is to establish a better environment for both learning and collaboration, enabling us…

Just try it out before interpreting their vision (which I totally ignored up until now). It is simply a nice system based on your local markdown files, allowing to easily cross-link notes. It is opinionated but I like that. It follows the bullet journaling approach and has a rudimentary integrated todo system.

I have personally tried many alternatives (obsidian among them) but nothing comes close to what logseq offers _to me_, despite its few shortcomings (it's not a lightning fast implementation, it bugs sometimes).

Hope it helps.

Re: Joplin – An open-source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation

#90

I really want to like Joplin, and I've tried to switch a number of times. But the mobile experience just isn't there for me. The iOS app is simple and reliable, which is good, but it's missing some of the touches that make mobile computing feel like it's made for mobile. Specifically, things like swipes for navigation and for selecting or deleting notes. Also, many of the buttons are just too damn small for my sausag…

What app do you use instead of Joplin for notes?

Obsidian. It's not perfect but I like a lot of what it brings. Particularly, I like that the notes remain in an accessible format (though as long as the format is not proprietary I'd be fine) and the mass of third party plugins supports basically any workflow. The main issue for me is the fact that the main app is not open source (not for any particular reason other than that I like supporting open source initiatives). I pay for their sync option which works well, though on iOS your kinda forced into it as iCloud sync does not work well. Otherwise, though their mobile experience improved greatly in recently releases.
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