Just curious as to everyones chiice of note taking app?
I’ve only use note takers haphazardly, but recently decided to take a proper look. I wanted something that I could use for both work (on Windows) and personal (my Linux laptop and android mobile) so it needs to be cross platform.
My thoughts on the few I’ve tried so far are:
Evernote is good, but it really gets on my nerves that I can’t have as many sub folders as I want.
Same thing for onenote. I actually prefer the onenote UI over Evernote, but I had syncing issues pretty bad with onenote.
Notion I tried briefly but is just too “busy” for me, seems like it’s trying to do everything and also felt like I’d spend way too much time getting distracted with style over substance.
I then looked at standard note and that looked pretty good. And that led me to Joplin
Weirdly I had always thought joplin was linux only, but when I actually looked it is cross platform!
And upon looking further I realised Joplin meets my needs in terms of folders and sub folders. Plus it’s cross platform. Plus it has markdown which I want to get into using. Plus it has a Web clipper. Plus it’s free and open source. So on the face of it it ticks all my boxes.
Yes, Joplin is by far my preferred note taking application on so many levels. If anyone is interested in Joplin, check it out here.
On Linux, it is recommended to use the script on their site for download, as it only comes as an AppImage. The script will take care of the icon so you can launch it from your favorite launcher. It is also available in the AUR, but I haven’t tested it out since I always have the script handy and always completely forget.
Hope some people can find this useful, Joplin has definitely been a lifesaver when coming to organizing my life in so many ways.
I have to agree that I mostly use paper but if I am on the go and with my phone then I use Google Keep, I know. My notes are pretty unimportant though the once that are, are on paper or in the default notes taking app on the desktop.
I’ve been using joplin for some years as well, and it is really good. Had to learn some markup at first, but it’s good to know anyway and not complex at all.
Recently, I’ve looked into qownnotes as I’d like to have the notes readable by any software, but haven’t had time to really understand how to use it to replicate my Joplin workflow.
I use Standard Notes. I paid the 5 year support price because I use the application all day every day. I wanted to support the developer in their continued work on the application.
I have used all manner of applications in the past, this is the one I have stuck with the longest since I used Tomboy about 10 years ago.
I did seriously consider standard notes and jumping in with the 5 year subscription, and may actually still do that. Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be an option to try it out with full functionality without purchasing one of the subscriptions first. And I could only find one you tube video to see it in action, so ended up going with joplin.
I’ve also used Standard Notes for a while now and I have no issues. I’m still a free user because my use case is very simple, but I’ve considered paying just to support it.
Paper - Small pocket notebook or larger 8 1/2x11 spiral bound or composition notebook for:
Grocery/Shopping lists that will be tossed after trip and gives the joy of crossing things off
Mileage record, that eventually gets transferred to spreadsheet for reporting work mileage
Organize my day (e.g. Bullet Journal style)
Combination Syncthing and Text Editors like VIM (in Linux or WSL) or Kate on Windows when on the work computer (if not in Ubuntu in WSL) using Asciidoc for formatting for:
Cross platform notes with information that I want to reuse
Tips and tricks I learn for my Linux Apps or Distros of Choice
Links to blogs and information that I want to reuse or remember
Research notes that I want to refer to on some topic that I’m learning
Basically my “Personal Wiki”
Advantages of Above Tools:
I spend more time in my favorite text editor, VIM, which is fun for me.
I’m free to use Asciidoc for formatting my notes which I prefer over Markdown, mostly because I’ve been using it longer and I have other uses for Asciidoc besides notes.
My son wrote a cool Python web-server that searches all our Asciidoc notes and displays them in any web browser (phone or computer) which works well when I need to reference personal documentation on my phone or computer. This has become our “personal wiki.”
I can edit files on my phone with a text editor and Syncthing, but this is rare, usually on the phone I just want to reference them.
Wow, thank you for this! I was using Standard Notes and a really bad system inside of Kate, but Joplin let’s me organize my notes and to-do, allows for Markdown editing, and has dark mode. I moved all my SN over to it today, and was able to add to-do, etc. I do not know how this never came across my radar before, so thanks!
I’ve hopped on here since I was having a discussion following from one of @MichaelTunnell’s recent episodes of TWinL and Joplin came up in the context of possible integration with development of a todo app for UBPorts. I’ve been using Freeplane for almost ten years now, for notetaking and it serves me well; prior to that I was using Freemind for several years (of which Freeplane is a fork). I do find the mindmapping technique for note-taking very intuitive so I’m not sure how useful Joplin will be to me, but I’m thinking of giving it a try some time soon.
Never heard of Freeplane, but I never like the mindmapping technique. Then I clicked on the the picture on Freeplane’s site and that’s sort of how I nest my notes in Joplin anyhow. So maybe I should look into a mindmap software.
I mostly use TiddlyWiki and have been since about 2012 but I am not as satisfied with it as I had been. I also use SimpleNote and very often, maybe most often, just a plain old text file that I sync with Syncthing. It depends on what I am doing as to which one I am using.
I’ve ended up moving away from Joplin in the end. It’s great, but I just didn’t enjoy using the two pane editor. I’ve been jumping around a bit and currently am now on Notion. It’s not open source, but I actually enjoy writing notes in it, I really like that “live” markdown conversion style.
I did try using joplin with Marktext (similar to typora) as an external editor, but unfortunately I had issues with images. I paste a lot of screenshots into my notes and when I use an external editor, the images don’t carry into Joplin which makes a lot of notes useless.
Obsidian. Not open source – but it allows you to keep notes in markdown, plain text files and all of my data is on my device. It has a great system to create links between files and it will display backlinks in a separate pane. It’s new and is rolling out new developments all of the time.
Here is list of more 10+ note taking apps: Top 14 Best Note Taking Apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iPad: Free and Paid | XPPen
Different people use/need different features so it depends.
I love OneNote because I use it for my handwritten notes. The other thing I like in OneNote is the fact that it is way easier to share your notebooks with people. That is really helpful in work setting.
My notes are pretty unimportant though the once that are, are on paper or in the default notes taking app on the desktop.