What are /r/NoteTaking's favorite Products & Services?

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Joplin is a great alternative to Evernote. It's a markdown based application, which can be limiting but it is open source, and you can sync your notes to your own cloud, even enabling encryption on it. It also has a good web clipping feature, which I use a lot.

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https://joplinapp.org/

Try this out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xodo.pdf.reader&hl=en_US&gl=US

Best experience for pdf editors.

I’m using Visual Studio Code with some Markdown extensions for Zettelkasten. After trying various other specialized solutions I found this solution the most flexible and adaptable. https://code.visualstudio.com/

There are some real good extensions for creating a Zettelkasten with Markdown and there are also extensions for inline and isolated todos. Personally I keep my todos separated in an app called 2Doapp and only use the todo features of the editor for ideation etc. But depending on your use case I’m pretty sure Visual Code will be a good choice as well.

Only disadvantage: I the end it’s an app for developers and looks like that. So it might look and feel a bit “nerdy” ;-)

obsidian.md allows you to do hyperlinked notes. It also has a mindmap plugin.

This allows you to make a (not-hand-drawn) mindmap with recursive mouseover capability that can show any number of details, as much as you are willing to enter.

Multiply devices is no issues. There are two ways to manage it.

Obsidian offers a sync feature for $4 a month. Or you can do what most people do and use Dropbox, Onedrive, Google Drive etc to store the notes. Just choose your cloud storage folder when making your vault.

I highly suggest looking at the Obsidian Forums as there is a lot of information there and people are happy to help.

I would suggest you download it and try it. It’s free, there is not sign up or commitment. If you change your mind you can just copy anything you’ve done into Notion.

Joplin is another great solution.

It uses 100% Markdown and lets you sync your notes across all devices, desktop, mobile etc.

It also lets you use whatever back-end service you want to sync including your own WebDAV server, Dropbox, and many others.

As a left handed person, this is a deeply personal choice of critical importance. 😂

Get your wrist and elbow movement down. Move the fingers for finer details (tiny loops, dots, slashes) and enhancing speed. But most of your speed should be from the wrist/elbow.

That will help immensely with cramping.

Here are the pens I like. They are based on smoothness to the paper, reliability, line smoothness, precision (a huge need for left handed writing and the act of pushing the pen into the paper creates a line thicker than what is actually sized), and comfort.

The pen I have finally landed on after a life of searching is The Jetstream .38, 4 in 1.

I like the pens by Muji too. Many East Asian countries use Chinese characters so the pens need to be more precise. And we, being a rather impatient people, demand that those pens don’t fail.

Replacement cartridges are cheap, the ink lasts a long time, and the body of the pen comes in different styles.

Nope, 0.28. I import them from Japan or get them on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Signo-Knock-Ballpoint-0-28mm-UMN15528-24/dp/B00B57LNP8/ref=pd_sbs_229_img_2/258-4076294-6951247?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00B57LNP8&pd_rd_r=aedf085c-588d-41ba-8842-37200c35c7e7&pd_rd_w=yFg90&pd_rd_wg=oK6au&pf_rd_p=e44592b5-e56d-44c2-a4f9-dbdc09b29395&pf_rd_r=YF2SBBY7T8PFMNG0BDD5&psc=1&refRID=YF2SBBY7T8PFMNG0BDD5

The best multiple multiplatform Notational Velocity/Nvalt look alike with ongoing developer care and love is QOwnNotes https://www.qownnotes.org/. A mature and very stable app. Very configurable. I use the Linux version in Single Column layout. By disabling un-needed panels you can get a very Notational Velocity UX as it uses similar keyboard shortcuts and it's very fast. A Windows version is supported but I haven't used it yet.

Maybe look into notion? It has one that you can download on your phone, computer, and I think you can access it through the web?

here's the website's link: https://www.notion.so/personal?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=2075789710&utm_medium=80211061601&utm_content=555234102421&utm_term=notion&targetid=kwd-312974742&gclid=CjwKCAjwpKyYBhB7EiwAU2Hn2UxcvzKynTmAGIu_htgyVPwek5rrrvLSv...

> BOOX

I had never heard about it. Seems very expensive. I once had Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Of course, I did not draw with a pen on it, but it had a touch screen, so I kind of remember the feeling of the surface. Is BOOX's surface like that?

Have you ever used that cheap "LCD writing tablet" that you can easily find on Amazon? I kind of imagine that writing on it would feel just like that, is that true? Before buying it, I had expected that writing on it would feel close to paper, but it was not.

I think you’d be really happy using Obsidian. Very active community on Discord (and their own forum) with a lot of programmers and CS people. The basic app is very easy to use (plenty of non programmers use it) but you can pretty much make it as sophisticated as you want with plugins, themes, JS, and CSS. If you’re interested, here’s the link to join the Discord.

Obsidian uses plaintext markdown files stored in local folders, so you can still use Notepad for quick notes and save them in a folder you’ve designated as your Obsidian vault (or just make the folder you’re already using your vault—vaults are just ordinary folders). You can either add a .md extension to your notes or use the TXT to MD Obsidian extension to make files with the .txt extension useable as markdown files.

Then you also have the considerable power of Obsidian to make make the most of the notes you collect.

For what it's worth - I use Joplin at work. It is reasonably fast (if pre-loaded every morning) and works on all devices. It has auto backup plugins (if you need it outside of cloud sync) and tags. As an added plus, the data can be encrypted, can sync using our corp private cloud and mobile is very fast. For audio with Joplin I just use the Apple or Google voice to text on my phone. It's certainly not as pretty as Notion but does the job. See -> https://joplinapp.org/

But, like u/ResoluteGreen noted, why not just use OneNote for everything?

Hi- I actually think the Zenkit suite may suite your needs. Checkout:
- hypernotes (For personal use)
- Zenkit base, projects, or to do. I think the task app is free.
I remember trying out hypernotes and noticing that I could also include tasks from my task list.

Good luck with your search.

Might as well include the platform and feature request in your links

https://alternativeto.net/software/goodnotes/?feature=handwritten-notes&platform=windows

https://alternativeto.net/software/notability/?feature=handwritten-notes&platform=windows

I use the following

Atom editor with

https://atom.io/packages/markdown-preview-enhanced

Which handles ```mermaid syntax.

To publish, I use the following to convert to rendered html - A Markdown CLI to easily generate HTML documents from Markdown files - GaelGirodon/markdown-to-document

You can use SilentNotes completely offline, but it also allows for self hosted notes with your own WebDav, Ftp or OneDrive directory. Using the internet to synchronize between devices (Windows & Android) is optional.

I don't know what your requirements are, but I synchronise my notes (which are just text files) between many computers using Syncthing. I have a python script which names the files appropriately and deals with searching etc.

A bit DIY, I know, but I don't like putting my data on other people's computers if I can help it.

Stackedit.io lets you take free web notes that can sync to your cloud e.g. Google drive. It can support notes, equations and UML diagrams in markdown. Stackedit is also accessible offline after first loading. Good luck.

I used to use Google Docs for everything, including general notes, to-do, saving parts of articles I liked, etc. and they were all organized through Google Drive via appropriate folders. I think it's decent for note-taking, but for me Google Docs is too sluggish because I want a much quicker experience than opening up a whole "Document" editor each time. It's not as quick as Google Keep, for example. But that's just for my use-case.

I use Clipto notes. I know it's not what you were looking for, but it works for me because it's similar to Keep and is quick with additional features.

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Consider checking out the following YouTube video:

• How To Use Keep Notes + Google Calendar.

Did you know that Notability has a recording feature that syncs your audio recordings to your handwriting?

Check out Otter.ai, which you can use on top of Notability. Put Otter in your taskbar so you can drag it on top of other apps when needed.

Have you tried note taking apps with markdown made for collaboration/teams? I haven’t used any, so I’m not sure if they are a solution to your problem, but apps for teams are made so that a document can be worked on at the same time by multiple users.

A quick google search gives me Boost Note and Notejoy. Notejoy looks pretty simple. Might be worth a try?

I use SimpleMind which is both a mind mapper and outliner. I start with the mind map to get the organization right visually then it can output it as a hierarchical outline. You can add as much detail as you want in the map to create a comprehensive outline.

have you tried the zettlekasten method?

a few options worth trying that has zettle in mind and is simpler

• /r/RoamResearch web only
• /r/Taskade free
• /r/remNote

Xodohttps://www.xodo.com/

I love this program, available as a desk top program, online service and as a mobile app.Edit PDF docs with touch screen capabilities (a stylist is handy), add photos from devices to the pages, add pages to the pdf from other pdfs, includes ink, comment, draw, add text boxes, and highlight features. It will also convert word doc to pdf.I have a Rocketbook that I upload hand written notes as pdfs into this program. i can digitize my notes, edit them in the program and print them out for class.
It will also handle large files, ie 900 page books. This app is the reason I prefer pdf textbooks. I can take a screen capture of a diagram in the book, then paste it into my pdf doc notes and have the diagram right there when studying.

10/10 on this app for me, its become an integral part of my course work

The answer is in your question: pick one and stick with it

I went thru the same thing jumping from one tool to the next. So I created a table, with all the apps I liked listed across the top and all the features I found essential listed down the left. Bear hit most of the points, particularly when I considered their upcoming changes to the editor (tables, better code blocks, etc)

So I've been migrating notes I think I still need from the scattered suite of apps I'm retiring, and it's been going pretty well. This has the added benefit of being able to discard a bunch of older notes that no longer have any value. Good luck!

I personally am a huge fan of Obsidian and use it regularly now. Depending on your note-taking system/style, you might prefer something like Workflowy or Dynalist or Notion?

have you tried CherryTree, (it just doesn't get a lot of new updates) but it is no login , has a page system just like notion and is customizable with Rich Text formatting (bold , italics, lists, tables , etc)

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https://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree/

You didn't explicitly tell whether you're looking for a local or a web based solution but since you mentioned a basic text editor I guess local solutions like Zim Wiki or CherryTree might be worth a try. Both allow managing a hierarchy of notes in a tree structure.

Due to it's way of storing notes in folders and plain text files I personally favor Zim and have been using it on both Linux and Windows for quite some time.

obsidian.md

It is highly customisable with mostly free add ons. The paid version offers cloud syncing, I believe. It is open source.

Notes are linked through tags and it runs on LaTeX (markdown), thus is code friendly. There is likely a handwriting app, or you can use OneNote to convert handwriting and add it later.

You could take a look at dendron or obsidian. they are store the notes as plaintext/markdown files and don't leave you PC. But encryption would need to be handled by yourself.

1. Usual desktop or notebook.
2. Obsidian (obsidian.md)
3. Zettelkasten method

If you desperately want to use stylus, then either a) iPad pro + LiquidText or b) Surface (or any other good Windows tablet with stylus) + LiquidText (they just made Win app)

I use Joplin and I just have a notebook called "Journal" that I create a new entry in each day. I title the entry with a date/time stamp. Joplin will insert that for me with a keystroke.

Consider Joplin - https://joplinapp.org/

Sure, you can sync to various clouds with it but it also works great for local storage.

It's Markdown everything, which is just plain text, so if you want you can simply ignore the Markdown markup - although personally I find emphasis - list item etc are pretty natural plain text markers anyway :)

The Smart Recorder Android app is my favorite as it can skip silence.

I can set its sensitivity depending on surroundings.

So this can be always on but only records when you voice activate by beginning to speak.

Perhaps something like the Cornell note taking method would be suitable. You can buy notebooks with this page layout. I suggest getting one with grid lines makes it easier when drawing chemical structures or any figures for that matter.

I always loved the engineering paper. It has grids on the front and back with darker lines on the back. Something like this: Engineering Pad with Pilot G2 pens.

If you want something a little different, you might consider a Rocketbook Matrix. These are reusable notebooks where you scan the pages before erasing them.

I would suggest a case. Basically any of these slim cases work fine.

For screen protector, I never used one. It really depends on you. The paper like ones do reduce the screen quality so in my opinion I would try and get use to writing on the bare glass, which does take a while but I think it is over all worth it.

On Windows I use Tyora and give it access to a google drive folder so that it syncs. It has bear like themes made by it's community and it also is a hybrid markdown editor just like bear (It's also free right now). On my phone I use iA Writer to access the markdown notes from that google drive folder.

If you're on android, a bear alternative i'd suggest is One Jotter. The developer has really worked to make the app feel polished and smooth and work almost like bear does on ios

I'm a huge fan of Clipto (Android link). Website link is this one.

It's like Google Keep, but with support for attaching any sort of file you want, plush rich-text achieved through Markdown. :)

I really like Notion, and I've tried so many apps but keep coming back to Clipto because it's simple but also really effective. Give it a try, it's the least distracting for me.

My favorite quote for choosing a system: "If the product works, it works. Productivity apps are supposed to help us do a job, not get us hyped, as much as we'd like the latter to be true too. Sometimes being too fiddly just leads to procrastination by endless optimization attempts rather than actually using the tool for what you got it for."

Clipto serves all of my functions.

I see Cherry tree for for Windows or Linux, nothing for low end smartphones without Windows.

From reviews for OneNote for Android, it have to be connected to wi-fi even if it set to work in off-line mode.