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Tired of note-taking apps

akkshaya.blog

261–270 of 481 posts

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#261

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…

Yes, same here. I found out, that oftentimes I just need to vent something in a slightly structured way without any distraction. Apple Notes opens in an instant in an expected way, syncs and works across devices.

It is not so much a great workflow I need, it is simply frictionless noting down immediately.

After that I can go to further elaborate on the idea with a mightier tool. In my case it is GoodNotes.

After lots of attempts and frustration (Which features should I use now to get this idea out?) I now use only Apple Notes and GoodNotes.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#262

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…

Other than a combination of fiddling inside ~/Library and some more SQLite circus there's really no way to make Apple Notes notes portable (across platforms) and even such circuitous hacks might break in any update or upgrade. That's a big enough no for me. This is one of those instances when the perceived Apple's walled garden convenience just falls flat. I personally prefer FSNotes (it has a long way to go but it's…

there's really no way to make Apple Notes notes portable (across platforms)

Apple Notes works fine on any platform that supports a modern web browser at icloud.com.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#263

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…

> loads instantly

This is a key feature for note-taking apps — quick to load wherever you are — and is one reason why I also gravitate toward Apple Notes for jotting down ideas. I can then reorganize into documents or spreadsheets as needed when I’m back at a desk.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#264

Same - shifted to one note and then that made me start writing notes on paper. Unless the writing experience on the tablet improves to match the real world, it’s just not going to be good enough. Procreate on the iPad has some of the best redo/undo gestures and some excellent inking. If they used that engine to run a note program, and allow a way to sync across ecosystems - it would be the best written note taking ap…

> Procreate on the iPad has some of the best redo/undo gestures and some excellent inking. Yes, same with Concepts ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/concepts/id560586497)—(initial... it feels a tad less user-friendly than procreate, but stores drawings as vectors and you can work with an infinite canvas. Check it out if you like Procreate:) It's great for im promptu diagrams and hand written notes. Now, the three finge…

I have concepts ! It’s pretty nice. But procreate has pretty much demolished every other app.

I’ve been doodling on the iPad since the day they came out, and procreate simply nailed the gestures.

Apple has a moat around them, so I don’t see why they don’t take the gestures either.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#265
To add mine into the mix, I went through all the apps imaginable before settling on Inkdrop. The electron-ness of it all annoys me a bit, but aside from that it does everything I’ve ever wanted (aside from inking) very very well.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#266
post #158
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's amazing that people can witness POTUS 44→45 and still make "well I have nothing to hide" arguments :/

It's amazing that people can witness POTUS 44→45 and still make "well I have nothing to hide" arguments :/

Unless you have a really short memory, I think you mean POTUS 39→45.

And while by a lot of measures POTUS 45 has been a disaster, POTUS 44 did far more damage to privacy than 45 has (yet).

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#267
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Android ship with a note taking app?

Kind of, either you have Google's or some other one provided by the device manufacter. For me that use them as digital paper replacement, more than enough, just like on the Symbian days. Before J2ME and Symbian, I would just use SMS drafts as quick notes. So I am not the target market, whatever it might be.

I don't believe Keep comes pre-installed on Android. AFAIK, there's no default notes app other than email (and a lot of people use their email client as a notes app).

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#268
post #12

My theory about handwritten note-taking is that the bandwidth difference between thinking (fast) and writing (slow) is somehow extremely beneficial to the process of generating creative and evocative output. There have been so many journaling sessions which I started with the absolute conviction that I had nothing new to say, and after 4 pages of extremely creative and detailed ideas, surprising even to me , I had no…

I almost feel the opposite. I've had tons of ideas and when I started writing them out they flowed out of my mind faster than I could write. But I don't have the best retention either. So I would have tons and tons of ideas and by the time I got it to paper I could remember maybe 3 things and couldn't recall the rest.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#269
post #240

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 would argue that in a number of ways Apple Notes is one of the most advanced in terms of features. Yes, it doesn’t bombard you with its functionality and at first glance is a simple place to jot notes (perhaps its greatest strength). But dig into the feature list, and perhaps help me find a similar application that: 1) can combine tables, rich text formatting, and in-line sketches 2) can store any file type in-line…

Totally agree.

I get the markdown thing but it just seems to add a layer of complexity to a market crowded with productivity porn.

Re: Tired of note-taking apps

#270

To add mine into the mix, I went through all the apps imaginable before settling on Inkdrop. The electron-ness of it all annoys me a bit, but aside from that it does everything I’ve ever wanted (aside from inking) very very well.

Looks good. Do you use Inkdrop with cloud or can you store save it locally?
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