Ask HN: Is there a note taking app you're 100% happy with? Is there any app you're happy with 100%? I just can't find anything that fully satisfies my note-taking experience. 1 - Evernote is too buggy, and it feels like every editor does different things, there is no consistency to it, and it seems so old and outdated 2 - Notions web clipper sucks, doesn't pull italics correctly or numbered lists and app takes too long to load up... 3 - OneNote has no sorting capabilities and can't clip .webp |
These days I am finding that nothing beats just pulling out my Mac and putting files in folders. For notes I use TextEdit. I can save PDFs of webpages in the folder, or go into Mail and save emails into the folder. iCloud syncs them between the various Macs well.
I have used Org Mode because it combined notes and task tracking but I found this to be increasingly unwieldy so I separated note taking and task tracking.
I do use the iPhone Notes app for basic things I need while on the go but not for anything fancy.
Good luck sifting through all the various apps but I'm tired of dealing with them.
I use whatsapp for note taking. It solves a similar problem for notes as drop box did for files.
My notes are usually pointers. I don't track tasks in there. Tasks go into a separate app. I use apple mac reminders for task tracking. The way I use it is - I ask siri to set a reminder with task desc.
My tasks are reminders that I extend if they are not done by the expected time.
Joplin is very similar to Evernote, but much more pleasant. It is open source and is actively developed. You own you data and you can us ethe ap on any device. I wrote a small intro about Joplin -> https://rasulkireev.com/joplin/ .
I use Joplin as a storage for some of my thoughts on different topics. I organized my library with the PARA method. It works like a charm.
I use Obsidian as my Zettelkasten. I don't try to use it as my productivity driver. As a simple storage and connector for my thoughts it is perfect.
For example, right now I'm taking notes for customer validation process following the The Mom Test[1] book and existing note taking app is too general for my use case.
That is why I'm also in the mist of developing an app[2] that is solely focus on that particular use case.
Class notes = Vim/VSCode + Markdown + Git
To-do list = Vim + Plain text (usually 'O' and 'X' to mark done or not.
Software notes = Vim + Markdown or paper for thinking out a problem and diagrams
It's not for everyone, but I've become very comfortable with plain text and it always works wherever I go.
- Tasks/Agenda
- Meetings
- Work Sessions
[1]: https://noteplan.co/
It's the most flexible software I know. It was a pain getting used to Emacs. I used it for a decade now and it was probably the best decision I ever made. I believe it is worth some effort to find a way to organize yourself and with Emacs + org-mode I feel save that I won't ever need to adapt to something new.
Good:
- Elegant
- Fast
- Excellent sync
- Excellent export abilities
- Excellent markup and code markup support
- Good automation possibilities (iOS Shortcuts, x-callback-url, AppleScript)
Bad:
- iOS/macOS only. There's a web version in the works, but I would not count on that ever seeing the light of day.
From a business and development point of view I totally get why they opted for iCloud: It allows them to focus on their core business and delegate the supporting domain of data synchronisation to someone else.
Unfortunately, since for my own business I'm using Google Workspace and Google Drive that's not really an option for me.
Bear rightfully claim that they're GDPR-compliant. However, they're kind of just delegating that issue, too, since Apple, in contrast to Google, doesn't provide a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement to business customers. It's debatable if such an agreement is really necessary in this case but as with all things GDPR it's better to tread carefully.
I combine Obsidian with PARA and the Johnny File System. Both are methodologies to organize notes and files & folders.
Knowledge graphs are cool. :)
Edit: Oh sorry my bad, you were looking for smartphone apps, weren't you?
- Anything else i.e. shorter form notes that I want to sync across devices and which don't require fancy formatting or organisation - Apple Notes.
Perfectly happy with both of these for their respective use cases.
Nice!
IMHO: Using Obsidian with the PARA system and the Johnny File System makes a lot of things neat. :) You can use the JFS also for your files and folders.
I like it for it's well-done "90% of preview-mode inside edit-mode already" approach, and the BSP-style window separation.
Surprised nobody's mentioned Craft[0]. Pretty amazing what they've managed to do in such a short time. Doesn't replace Obsidian for me, but I think for the "need a replacement for Evernote" crowd, there isn't a finer choice.
[0]: https://www.craft.do