
Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software? - brownguy
I&#x27;ve been using Evernote but I&#x27;m tired of the 2 device limit; suggestions for alternatives? Thanks!
======
zachlatta
I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's
open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you
write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software
that isn't making that same investment.

After trying Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, wikis, org-mode, and essentially
everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system for
notes. Plain timestamped markdown files linked together. Edited with vim and a
few bash scripts, rendered with a custom deployment of Gollum. All in a git
repo.

It's... wonderful. Surprisingly easy. Fast. If there's a feature I wish it
had, I can write a quick bash script to implement it. If Gollum stops being
maintained, I can use whatever the next best markdown renderer is. Markdown
isn't going away anytime soon.

It's liberating to be in control. I find myself more eager to write things
down. I'm surprised more people don't do the same.

Edit: here's what my system looks like
[https://imgur.com/a/nGplj](https://imgur.com/a/nGplj)

X-post from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15057002](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15057002)
10 months ago. Still using & loving it.

~~~
Dolores12
What is wrong with org-mode? It is plain text file. I see no major differences
compared to markdown.

~~~
Walkman
There is a huge difference. It's _proprietary_ , what I mean by that is you
can't really edit it with anything else than Emacs. I used it with Spacemacs,
and when an upgrade broke it, I left with no notes... Very frustrating
experience, I immedieately abandoned it when it happened. Never used org-mode
since then.

~~~
b3n
It's not proprietary, it's still just plain text, and can be edited with
anything. Emacs adds a lot of nice features on top of it to manipulate that
text, but it's still just text.

See [http://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/](http://karl-
voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/).

~~~
Walkman
Yes, I have been fooled by the "oh it's just plain text" notion also and have
regretted it. Did you try to actually open an org-mode file with anything else
than Emacs? Did you try get any meaningful information out of it on a mobile
phone or with an another editor? I did...

~~~
meiraleal
I've been opening org files with Atom, VS Code and inside Github without a
problem.

~~~
dmach
Gogs renders well behaved org files also. The VS Code extension should get the
update to allow folding soon. After that the Ctrl-c Ctrl-v crowd could use it
nicely with Orgzly and Syncthing say bypassing Emacs until they need a full
development environment. You could use Pandoc importing/exporting to other
formats without Emacs. For note taking it's promising. Sharing to Orgzly on
mobile captures a lot.

------
enitihas
I have found org mode to be really useful for free form note taking. Granted,
the emacs factor may scare away some users, but I think org mode is worth it
even if you are using emacs solely because of it.

Org mode has configurable todos(todo, next, scheduled, deadline). You can
attach tags to notes, have nested todos with percentage completion tracking,
can write code snippets in any language with full syntax completion, log time
for different tasks, and this is just all I can think on the top of my head.

And to top it all, it is just plain text. You can store org documents in
dropbox and access them just like your other dropbox documents.

~~~
dmos62
As a vim user, I too only use plain-text. My general writtings are organized
in folders, within a single git repo. Project specific writtings are within
one file within that project's repo. I always call it notes.txt, and then when
I'm within a project, to open notes it's always the same operation (`:e
notes.txt` or equivalent). I also have a notes.txt in my general writtings
repo. It's by far the biggest file in the repo, where I keep information that
can be useful in the future. In most files, especially the bigger ones, I keep
to the structure of date stamping a day's entries. For that I use a vim
abbreviation. That's 1 line of code and that's the only custom code that my
"system" needs.

I have found it immensely advantageous to use monospace for writting and note
keeping, because I can structure the writting with indentation. So my
writtings are trees, I branch them similarly to how you punctuate text in
English. That's very efficient for technical writting and notes, but also for
ponderings and essays. It let's you drop many non-content words, because the
indentation provides for sentence-glue with visual punctuation and walks you
through the "thought tree". With prose it's not easy to see the structure from
a glance, you only see it's biggest features. With lists, you are constrained
to the point where the medium is not expressive enough for anything beyond a
grocery list. With loose-form trees, you get the benefit of visual structure,
text-efficiency and expressiveness. Code editors, like vim, are good for this,
because they know how to wrap indented text.

Example of such notes. They're not in English, but you can see the structure.
It's a week of entries on a project:
[https://hastebin.com/raw/gurexecubi](https://hastebin.com/raw/gurexecubi)

------
bmarquez
Standard Notes: [https://standardnotes.org/](https://standardnotes.org/) for
plain text, encrypted notes. Everything is easily importable or exportable in
.txt format.

MS OneNote is great however they have stopped updating their desktop
application (which allows offline notes) in favor of putting everything in the
cloud (which will require a subscription to yet another cloud service if you
exceed the OneDrive limits.)

~~~
msh
I like standard notes but having only plain text with no ability to attach
images makes it unsuitable for me. I often take screen shots or photos as a
note.

~~~
rovr138
This is why I use markdown. If I need an image, I can add a quick <img> tag
with a base64 encoded image.

To keep legibility, I always add the images at the bottom and reference them
from the text.

~~~
msh
I don't understand how that works. Can you give some more details?

~~~
iOsiris
All these people using markdown with images are self hosting the images.

------
giancarlostoro
I take all my notes with Sublime Text 3. After having bought it and VS Code
being more suitable for my programming needs I just use it as a snappy notes
taking application. I can close it and everything I leave will be restored as
is in a snap when I come back. Not sure if there's a way to sync this but if
there is, that would defeat any other "note taking app" for me.

Eventually I want to try using Microsoft Whiteboard but I'm waiting to buy the
Surface Pen before I try it out.

~~~
garren
I've found myself doing this as well. I really appreciate the way Sublime Text
persists unsaved files without having to give it any thought. I've kept a
"scratch.txt" doc open with various notes and hints forever.

~~~
dfl__
same, and also PlainTasks, which is the only tofo list working for me:

[https://github.com/aziz/PlainTasks](https://github.com/aziz/PlainTasks)

~~~
manish_gill
+1 for PlainTasks. I use it exclusively to maintain my TODO lists now.

------
cam_l
Workflowy is great for quick, structured, hierarchical note taking. It is
basically a text only bulleted list of lists. Navigable by keyboard or mouse
and syncs to whatever phone / desktop etc you have.

Too expensive by half, and I don't think it is client side encrypted which is
a deal breaker for anything sensitive. I really enjoy the simplicity though,
great for checklists, writing papers, and all those little rare but important
non-calendar based lists, ie. books to read, music to buy, etc.

My ideal note-app would be like workflowy, but allow de-hierarch-ising the
list mentality. I mean, workflowy is basically a database back end and I can
link tags between lists. But why not just have all the tags separate in the
first place? You could have the constructed hierarchy tree to the left (ie
bullet list), and the links tree to the right so you can see how the entries
both compose and decompose.

~~~
chrisba
That used to be me. Can I suggest you check out Dynalist? It's actually
maintained and updated (unlike Workflowy at this point), with more useful
features. I've been finding the colouring, headers and bookmarks very useful.

[https://dynalist.io/](https://dynalist.io/)

~~~
notheguyouthink
Love Dynalist for notes and todos.

Two things I dislike though, 1) as far as I can tell the dates/times can't
trigger notifications. 2) the paid plan is expensive.. they give so much away
for free, but then charge a lot for seemingly little. A $3/m tier is a good
price point imo for a todo app. Right now it costs basically the same as
Netflix..

------
paultopia
If on the Mac ecosystem, Bear is Apple notes but with fewer sync bugs and more
useful features (like a close cousin of markdown and amazing tagging). I've
switched to that for notes that might stick around for a while (from Evernote
and Apple notes, though I still forward emails into the former as a convenient
archive). For transient notes (like shopping lists etc.) I just use drafts on
iOS. Seems to work for me after years of frustration with Evernote and Apple
notes.

~~~
mamp
I'm not sure how long ago you tried Apple Notes but I've use it all the time
now after trying many apps. I don't have any sync problems and it has good
support for images, pen input, tables, styles etc.

For anything more technical I use Quiver which supports MarkDown, code with
pretty printing, LaTex and diagram markup, but it doesn't have an iPad editor
(just reader).

~~~
martin_
My biggest gripe with Apple Notes is if I throw some snippet of code in there
it mutates the quotes to "smart quotes" and thus the code produces syntax
errors if I try and use it again :(

~~~
prh8
Btw you can disable smart quotes system wide on macOS, it's in keyboard
settings.

------
asdojasdosadsa
I've tried several different, SimpleNote, KeepNote, EverNote... and so on. I
have come to a conclusion, that using the default iOS note app is enough for
me. Using paper notes while @lectures and rewriting them sometimes to Notes.

I'm also using another method of note taking, which I prefer more, but which
is not always accessible on the go. I stumbled upon a script here and modified
it a little. (changed vim to nano and added some other):

    
    
        #! /bin/bash
        fpath=$HOME/notes.md
    
        if [ "$1" == "cat" ]; then
            cat "$fpath"
            exit 0
        elif [ "$1" == "rg" ]; then
            rg "$2" "$fpath"
        elif [ "$1" == "nano" ]; then
            nano "$fpath"
        elif [ "$1" == "--help" ]; then
            printf 'Commands: \n-----------------------------------------------\n
            $ notes \n
            $ notes --help\t\t--\tdisplay this help\n
            $ notes date\t\t--\tadd date row to notes\n
            $ notes <text>\t\t--\tadd new entry \n
            $ notes cat\t\t--\tprint notes using cat\n
            $ notes rg <pattern>\t--\tripgrep notes\n
            Remember to use #tags (for easier grepping)!\n\n'
        elif [ "$1" == "date" ]; then
            {
            echo ''
            echo '# '"$(date +"%m-%d-%Y-%T")"
            echo '-'
            } >> "$fpath"
        elif [ "$1" == "" ]; then
            less +G "$fpath"
        else
            {
                echo ''
                echo "$@"
                echo ''
            } >>"$fpath"
        fi
    
    
    

In short, writing _$ notes_ prints out displays the notes and writing _$ notes
<text>_ appends a new line. This is extremely powerful because of it's
simplicity and easy accessibility in terminal (where I spend most of the time
anyway)

edit:: formatting edit2::

I very often keep this (with extended bash history) to keep notes about long
commands I need to use later in the future, but not often. One had to do with
imagemagick and resizing/compressing bunch of images in a directory. Added
tags #imagemagick #command and in split of second I can get the command again
whenever needed ;)

~~~
Boulth
This remind me of this microblogging for hackers script:
[https://github.com/buckket/twtxt/blob/master/README.rst](https://github.com/buckket/twtxt/blob/master/README.rst)

------
kissgyorgy
Typora! I just found it recently, but maan, I was searching for something like
this for a long time! It is basically a Markdown editor but with an unique
touch and extra features like outline, sidebar browser, built-in image viewer
and stuff. It's very beautiful.

[https://typora.io/](https://typora.io/)

~~~
Dolores12
windows installation is 42mb. i better stick to notepad.exe(245kb)

~~~
fizwhiz
Are you memory conscious because you're downloading this to some embedded
device? Serious question.

~~~
Dolores12
The idea that i am using inefficient software boggles my mind. My laptop SSD
is 128gb. Unpacked version of this software would be 100MB+ installation. It
will also take a lot of my RAM during usage. So for a "truly minimal markdown
editor" i get such a monster in my system.

Lets take another monster, Visual Studio Code. Its installation is 72mb, but i
get so much more installing it including markdown editor.

~~~
swebs
>The idea that i am using inefficient software boggles my mind.

Then why are you using Windows (dozens of Gb) and not Ubuntu (<5 Gb) or Debian
(<1 Gb)?

~~~
Dolores12
For my use case (.net development, visual studio) windows used to be superior,
more efficient choice. Now, after the release of .NET Core and Visual Studio
Code i might re-evaluate it.

~~~
jdmichal
And yet it's apparently completely foreign to you that others may make that
_exact_ same choice regarding other software?

(And this is coming from a guy that used to program entirely on text editors,
because I didn't like how bloaty Eclipse was... I'm not deaf to your plight.
I'm just curious that the idea of others making trade offs is so foreign to
you.)

------
amorphous
It's been mentioned already but allow me to repeat it: plain text is your
friend. Use some markdown if you like. Store everything in folders, using a
complex or simple hierarchy, depending on your style. Backup and sync your
files using one of the many providers, have it all encrypted (or not if you
don't care).

This is your core note-taking system that will last longer than you.

On top of that use any app or editor you fancy. I'm on a Mac, I use iaWriter
as my markdown editor (I love that you can drag and drop images into the
files), houdahspot to search, Monosnap to take screenshots. And a few OSX
tags. But I expect all this to change anytime.

I have around 15 years worth of notes and journalling entries and this setup
has emerged as the clear winner. If you care at all about long-levity, I
highly advise against proprietary data formats.

------
andreareina
I've found that actual paper works best for me -- I tend to jump around a lot,
use special symbols, occasionally draw diagram fragments. Then when I'm done
dumping core it gets transferred into emacs/org-mode, where it may get an
editing pass to make it more coherent to future-me.

------
minikomi
Termux on Android with emacs/org mode and a ton of custom capture templates is
awesome. Capturing eg. workouts and expenses to org tables and then processing
them with python to get summaries.. quick restaurant or sento reviews in my
journal .. whatever you want to capture quickly, you can tailor it to serve
you. And, at the end of the day, it's all plain text synced by git.

------
slaymaker1907
I’ve recently started using TiddlyWiki for my work and personal notes. It
really excels at modeling complex, real world data through its tagging system.
Also, it is open source and locally hosted so it is safe for work or other
sensitive information.

~~~
aryamaan
I tried to give TiddlyWiki a serious try but eventually had to leave the boat.
On multiple occasions, I lost drafted notes-- I had a couple of notes opened
in the unsaved state, I was thinking I would save all of them together but
lost them because of some reason.

I understand when it started but why now it has to be a single page JS powered
app which comes with so many restrictions.

------
crazygringo
Google Docs for long-form notes (meetings, classes), Google Keep for short-
form (grocery list, to-do, etc.).

Nothing beats the fact I can use it instantly across all devices (not Apple-
only) and it's free.

~~~
throwaway413
Can access iOS Notes from iCloud on any device. I’d argue the web UI is just
as easy to use as the native Keep UI.

My issue with Keep is that in my experience, if you aren’t religious with
organization, it gets out of hand and unuseable fast.

~~~
otterlicious
_Can access iOS Notes from iCloud on any device._

iCloud's website does not work on Android devices. You can't even use "Find My
iPhone" on a friend's device if you lose yours.

------
arbie
I have been using Notion.so for a few months now.

I especially like being able to add any type of element (code, image, video,
todo) to any page, the drag-and-drop reordering, and that I can export
everything to Markdown if they ever go under because they (inexplicably)
decided to remove limits on mobile users.

~~~
mrks_
I also use Notion and find it great so far! What do you mean by "they
(inexplicably) decided to remove limits on mobile users"?

------
zie
plain text files and your favorite editor, whatever that is.

things that should be encrypted are either gpg encrytped or put in my password
manager.

Bonus if you format your plain text with markdown or asciidoc or whatever your
fav. plain text markup language is.

Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Put it in a VCS for super double bonus points :)

me personally: Vim, asciidoc and in a fossil repo.

~~~
ximm
Actually, I don't even understand why anyone would think that you need a
dedicated app for note taking.

\- Markdown rendering can be done with pandoc

\- Structure and search can be done with a solid file structure and grep

\- Sync can be done with git or any other syncing solution out there.

\- Encryption can be done with gpg (vim-gnupg)

Serious question: What feature is missing from this workflow (assuming the
audience are developers)?

~~~
tomjen3
The ability to take notes from a phone, render math, search by tags and in
line images.

Oh and forwarding emails, adding todos and have them show up as due today,
sorted, etc.

The last part could be scripted somewhat easily.

------
carusooneliner
Heavy note taker here. If I'm on my Mac, I use the Notes app. My favorite
things about the app are real time sync between the desktop and phone app,
easy checklists, text format options and the ability to inline embed images.

When I'm on my phone I use Google Keep. What I love about it are the colored
background, tile view and checklists. I wish Keep allowed inline embedding of
images.

~~~
Fnoord
We use Google Keep for syncing our grocery shopping. It works very well, even
offline (sometimes stores don't have strength for mobile data and allow you to
use their WiFi but I prefer not). However, Google Keep has no API. You're
forced to use the Google apps or use a browser. I also cannot get it work on
my smartwatch.

------
jstrebel
MS OneNote as it features a nice integration with MS Outlook. You can create
tasks directly in OneNote and have them automatically show up in Outlook. As
my employer uses the enterprise version, I am not worried about the Cloud.

------
calvinbhai
Google Docs for long form stuff.

Apple Notes for the rest.

I honestly didn't realize how much I was using Apple Notes on iOS and Mac,
until recently. The ability to create folders, and iCloud sync (after it
became useful enough) are amazing.

I only wish Apple Notes would get a lot more features similar to Google Doc,
but at that point it'd be an another replacement for Apple Pages.

I was never hooked to Evernote, despite the amount of traction it got. So I'm
not sure if Notes on iOS and mac will be a good replacement for Evernote users
though.

~~~
biztos
I also find myself using Apple Notes for a lot of short list-type stuff, from
to-do lists to my daily cardio log. Somehow the simplicity and prevalence --
all my local machines are the spawn of Cupertino -- make the default just good
enough I don't want to invest mental energy in a more featureful alternative.

Unless I write it myself, but I'm trying hard to avoid that temptation, as are
probably half the people commenting here.

For longer-form stuff (brainstorms mostly) I switch to Markdown in whichever
text editor I'm using that day, and... ooh I'm setting myself up here...
Dropbox.

------
yigitdemirag
It really depends on how you do note-taking. In my case, I take notes related
to my research projects, meetings and things I find useful, which require me
to find a software with Latex, MathJax support. I don't like latex code inside
my note, I like the rendered view. Second requirement is that this software
should be mobile support. On the bus, on waiting line etc, I should be able to
edit/add notes.

Outliners are good for noting ideas. It makes you think more structural and
organized. The less bullet you spend, the simple the idea becomes, that way
reading it requires less energy.

I use Dynalist because of the reasons above and its mobile app is 10/10.

~~~
nik61
Uniquely, AFAIK, the Dynalist team make their Trello kanban available for us
all to see. We can also subscribe to and vote for our wished-for developments.

------
stanislavb
Here it is the compiled list with all apps mentioned on this thread
[https://www.saashub.com/reviews/post-news-
ycombinator-2018-0...](https://www.saashub.com/reviews/post-news-
ycombinator-2018-07-15-ask-hn-favorite-note-taking-software)

------
orcs
I like tree sheets:
[http://strlen.com/treesheets/](http://strlen.com/treesheets/)

~~~
kup0
Had not heard of this but it looks interesting. Thanks for mentioning it!

Though, I guess I'll run into an issue if I need to edit this on mobile at
some point.

It's been tough to find the exact right note tool for myself. Might end up
going with synced .txt files instead, who knows.

Still like the look of this for more detailed "overview" type of notes or
brainstorming

~~~
orcs
Personally I've not found a suitable mobile note taking app. I tend to use old
paper and pencil for that, with a cross between bullet journal and a Japanese
method of organisation (visual index) for them. If I feel I need to keep the
notes as they might change, etc, I'll type them up.

I'm in the process of teaching myself Emacs because I like the idea of simple
txt notes (org-mode) but I'm visual in my learning so treesheets works for me.

------
monch1962
I use a combination of iThoughtsX and Evernote.

I find myself in a lot of situations where information isn't coming to me in a
particularly organised fashion - interviews, presentations with several
presenters, being on the receiving end of braindumps, etc. For those
situations, I really need a mindmap app to be able to reorganise information
with minimal effort into a structure that makes sense to me. It's a not-cheap,
Apple-only app, but it can output into a variety of formats if I want to
consume it on some other platform.

It also works well as a presentation tool if I don't know the audience's
knowledge level. Rather than be tied into e.g a sequence of slides, using a
mindmap tool I can skip over stuff the audience already knows, while still
having the content there (just not visible) if I need to drill down deeply. I
can go from receiving an unstructured braindump to presenting that same info
in an organised fashion within a few minutes

I used to use Freemind and Freeplane, but the lack of an iOS option was a
killer.

For most other situations, I find Evernote is great

~~~
domakidis
I also find myself much more productive when I use mind mapping software, e.g.
XMind, on large/complicated projects.

------
evertheylen
I see lots of people's answers include markdown or another plain text format.
I have long held the opinion that note taking is the single most applicable
situation for a WYSIWYG experience. On top of that, I find the ability to draw
in my notes essential. For these reasons, my favorite software would be MS
OneNote. However I run Linux and don't always have pen input available so I go
with pen and paper instead.

So, how do you all deal with plain text notes? If you had a good WYSIWYG
editor that fits in your workflow, would you switch?

~~~
TeMPOraL
Give me Emacs that handles inline images in buffers better, and I'll switch
:).

Before going full Org Mode, I used MS OneNote, and liked it very much. My
notes from that period has tons of images and annotated screenshots dumped
into them. I miss that in my Emacs workflow nowadays. My dream software would
be pieces of Org Mode on a OneNote-like canvas, with support for easily
pasting images and drawing on them (especially using a graphics tablet, or at
least a touchscreen). And of course with plaintext format (though the
attachments could go into directories, automatically managed by the notetaking
software).

------
drgoodvibe
I feel like I've used them all. OneNote, Notion.so, NotePlan, Outliner, Mac
Notes, Scrivner, Evernote.

I personally seem to gravitate towards OneNote for pure note taking. I
personally like Notion.so more for notes that refer to tasks, using Notionas
more of a task management and organization app vs pure note taking.

Outliner is a great app for quick note taking in nested format.

~~~
hazz99
I'm a huge fan of Notion.so. They offer personal plans, and a free plan to
students.

They've helped me organise my life - I've built a small personal "wiki" of
study notes, WIP writing, calendar plans & email drafts.

I recently persuaded a friend to get it (so we can collaboratively work on a
startup idea) and it's worked really smoothly. We both love it. Can't
recommend enough.

~~~
yewenjie
I can't find a free plan for students option anywhere. Can you please explain
how that works?

~~~
hazz99
I messaged them one day asking about their price, and they put me on a
"student plan". Not sure how it works outside of that, sorry.

They have fantastic customer support -- try emailing them?

------
haasted
I’m currently working on adopting The Archive
([https://www.cultofmac.com/535825/the-archive-is-the-best-
pla...](https://www.cultofmac.com/535825/the-archive-is-the-best-plain-text-
notes-app-on-the-mac/)) into my workflow.

It ticks a lot of the boxes other people mention in this thread: markdown for
interoperability, filebased and quick searches.

~~~
wool_gather
I looked at the screenshot and said "wow that's ugly". Then I saw the caption:
"Don’t worry: The icons on the left can be made much less ugly." Nicely done.

Good to see the best features of Notational Velocity being carried forward. I
like the sound of iCloud syncing, too.

~~~
haasted
The location of the md files is configurable, so it can be synced with any
platform. Personally, I’m using Dropbox.

------
mosselman
Apple Notes is great. The only feature I wish it had is markdown or an easy
way to make code blocks, but all of its other features make up for missing it.

I have used many other options, but Notes works best.

~~~
perilunar
I like Apple Notes too. I wish table editing was a bit better, but the only
thing that really annoys me is that the color scheme is not editable. Orange
for hyperlinks sucks.

------
tomduncalf
I used to use OneNote and quite enjoyed it but always felt it was slightly
heavy weight.

As I’m fully in the Apple ecosystem I now just use Apple Notes and in all
honesty am totally happy with it. It’s fairly simple but does everything I
need for free.

I also use Notability on the iPad for when I want to scribble something with
the Apple Pencil and am also quite happy with that!

------
ams6110
Emacs org-mode

~~~
Arkanosis
This, plus Orgzly on my phone, because I don't always have a computer on me.

~~~
golem14
Is there a way to sync orgzly to Google drive? Not natively, sadly, only
Dropbox supported.

Too invested in the Google ecosystem to also depend on Dropbox.

I have tried some folder sync apps, but I prefer not to depend on those
either.

~~~
mickael-kerjean
No but you can have all your org notes sync with whatever devices and whatever
cloud thingy with nuage ([https://github.com/mickael-
kerjean/nuage/wiki/Release-0.1:-O...](https://github.com/mickael-
kerjean/nuage/wiki/Release-0.1:-Org-Mode-everywhere)) disclaimer: Im the main
contributor

------
convivialdingo
I’m paper and pen - so recently was introduced to Goodnotes on iPad with a
pencil. I found a used eBay iPad and can rapidly take notes, draw diagrams and
flowcharts. Full search with online recognition, too.

Honestly it’s pretty good. I am much more productive than on paper.

On laptop or desktop I stick with vim and copy to Word if required. I use
Inkscape for diagrams.

~~~
andrem
Second the notion of goodnotes and the pen. The one feature that really is
quite significant is being able to move hand written text around using the
lasso tool.

So you write something, circle it and move it to the right spot.

If your brain works in chaotic ways at times it is such a cool feature to just
write/dump everything and then order it later.

Also excellent for drawing diagrams and mockups and all kinds of other flows
that require expansion or significant change later on.

Using the pen/ipad combo feels quite natural to write so this has been my
solution for a while and has stuck more than any solution I have tried over
the past 20 years aside from regular pen/paper.

~~~
svat
Does this need a special pen/pencil/stylus? Apple Pencil?

~~~
convivialdingo
Lots of support for non-apple styluses on Goodnotes. I can only vouch for the
Apple Pencil which works well.

[https://medium.goodnotes.com/the-6-best-styluses-for-note-
ta...](https://medium.goodnotes.com/the-6-best-styluses-for-note-taking-on-
the-ipad-fba390c2b8dd)

------
skorbenko
I’ve given up on absolutely everything; As of now, I just keep .txt files in
my Dropbox, accessed via any app on the market.

~~~
jopsen
Me too, but I'm still missing a good markdown editor on Android, since Draft
went out of action..

It would also be nice with a good editor that was somewhat Dropbox aware, so I
had fewer edit conflicts between my laptop and phone..

~~~
marchenko
I use Jotterpad on Android to edit markdown and text files. It syncs well with
Dropbox (it feels just like a frontend for a dropbox folder) and supports
.txt, .md, .markdown, and .fountain files.

I use Brackets and Typora to edit .md files on pc/mac/linux. I find image
handling in .md files fairly simple as long as you maintain an appropriate
folder structure on the backend. Typora makes this especially easy.

I would like to build a better self-hosted tagging/viewing program for my huge
cache of notes - something like Google Keep without being, well, Google. Turtl
comes closest to my needs, but the lack of import/export at this point is a
problem. I do not wish to be tied to a particular format or storage space.

~~~
orthecreedence
Hey, Turtl creator here. Import/export is launching with v0.7.0 very soon.
I've been working really hard on the upcoming release, and self hosting should
be easier since we're moving to Nodejs for the server (saying goodbye to
lisp).

~~~
marchenko
This is excellent news for anyone nervous about vendor lock-in, which is a big
problem in the notes space.

------
lastofus
I dropped a few bucks on Quiver for a more developer friendly Evernote, and
I've been relatively happy with it.

~~~
apocalyptic0n3
I second Quiver. Great little note app with fairly good markup support.
Biggest problem is it is Mac only last I looked

~~~
rkho
There's a bare bones, read-only client for iOS :(

------
codeCatalyst
zimwiki

pros:

* open source

* stored as a bunch of linked text files

* can version control with git

* wysiwyg markdown(media-wiki syntax) editor

[http://zim-wiki.org/](http://zim-wiki.org/)

~~~
smolsky
Yeah, mini-wiki in your file system is cool. Just started using it and have
mixed feelings:

* The files can live anywhere (say, the Dropbox folder)

* The files are plain text

* The markup is minimal and there is UI for it

* The app is a bit old-school - none of the flat ui, panes, online-email-style stuff. No Electron.

All good so far. Yet the app forces the user to organize stuff into linked
pages. Let's see whether I have the patience to stick with it.

~~~
themodelplumber
I used it for about 5 years, and in the end I'm just more comfortable working
directly with text files in my text editor. I do like that it has a nice
export capability for e.g. quickly organizing and setting up an informational
website.

------
semi-nontechncl
Simple Note [https://simplenote.com/](https://simplenote.com/) and MS OneNote.

~~~
sshanky
I also like the simplicity of SimpleNote, but I'd like something more secure.

------
jimbosis
I really like Federated Wiki, which was created by Ward Cunningham. I run it
both locally (for private notes) and on a VPS.

I find it is a computer tool that actually helps and encourages me to write
and organize information and does not impede me in this activity. ("Clippings"
together with a program called FinderNote on Mac OS Classic are another.)

Github repo with set-up instructions:
[https://github.com/fedwiki](https://github.com/fedwiki)

Site with introductory information: [http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-
visitors](http://fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors)

"Sandbox" to get a feel for how it works:
[http://sandbox.fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-
visitors](http://sandbox.fed.wiki.org/view/welcome-visitors) (NB: This is an
older version of the software, but the core features are still pretty much the
same.)

FinderNote for Mac OS Classic downloads:

[https://www.macintoshrepository.org/1795-findernote-2-0](https://www.macintoshrepository.org/1795-findernote-2-0)

[http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/findernote-20](http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/findernote-20)

Edit: Add FinderNote links.

------
achow
Two favorites:

1\. Google Keep: For light weight temporary note taking - grocery items,
during travel - hotel addresses, rental details etc. Where lighting quick sync
is needed between web and mobile interface, for transferring data between my
laptop and mobile.

2\. Microsoft OneNote: For heavy duty archival note taking, where font
formatting, picture and document embedding is a necessity. Which should be
also available on mobile, but quick sync is not necessary.

------
wcoenen
I started using onenote, and it still pleasantly surprises me from time to
time. The last feature I stumbled upon was that it autocompletes simple
calculations[1].

[1] [https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/insert-and-
calculat...](https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/insert-and-calculate-
simple-math-equations-in-onenote-6d8346d3-2c1e-490b-bcbb-f739d9323e1b)

------
xkfm
Supermemo, but it's not really a note taking program perse. Most people use it
to learn languages or skill specific vocabulary. But, I throw my notes in
there too.

Edit:

Specifically, the incremental reading feature and annotated notes. Essentially
you can add an article like it's a flashcard, and then it'll schedule it for
reviews, and you can even review your notes. If you need something specific,
you can search for the note itself.

------
fernandokokocha
I tried (in order): Evernote, OneNote, Simplenote

Although not ideal, I ended up with OneNote. Also for temporary notes, I use
Trello (easily accessible from my mobile), but the notes don't live there for
more than a week.

I like how many people advice to build your own system with git and markdown.
Ideally, I want such a system to work quickly on non-cutting edge mobile and
sync on the fly, so maybe that's an idea for a side project.

~~~
jschulenklopper
To all the lovers of OneNote: doesn't it bother you that printing the notes /
pages (physically, or to PDF file) provides a sub-par experience? Writing
notes in OneNote is great, including managing them... unless you want to print
a page to share the notes to someone via another medium. Than it just annoys
me, and I wished that I'd started in Dropbox Paper or Google Docs.

------
picklesman
Notational Velocity (Mac only, open source)
[http://notational.net](http://notational.net)

It allows you to very quickly do a full text search, it saves the files as
plain text, it supports external editors (I use MacVim) and it syncs with
simplenote.com so I can see my notes on NV on my various macs and the
simplenote app on my phone. It's very minimal and I like it a lot.

~~~
wskinner
I love Notational Velocity, but didn't know that it supports external editors!

For linux users, there is nvPy:
[https://github.com/cpbotha/nvpy](https://github.com/cpbotha/nvpy) It's a
pretty ugly skin, but it works.

------
rla3rd
I tried Evernote, One note and simple note, then settled on zim [http://zim-
wiki.org/](http://zim-wiki.org/) It even works on OSX but i had to build it
via brew

~~~
codeCatalyst
Can you share the steps you took to build with brew?

------
hwj6etsd90lb
Turtl: [https://turtlapp.com/](https://turtlapp.com/) Largely because it's
open source and privacy oriented, encrypted client-side. It's not as
convenient and feature-rich as OneNote, but entrusting Microsoft with all my
notes seems crazy.

~~~
marchenko
I love Turtl's interface, tagging system, hosting options, multi-OS setup, and
privacy stance. Turtl would be my go-to solution if they supported .md
import/export. I think they have .json export planned for the next release,
which might be tractable with a bit of pandoc manipulation, but not ideal.

~~~
orthecreedence
Yes, json export is planned, and should be launching in a few weeks
(hopefully...I'm building on nights and weekends and I have a busy summer!)

Out of curiousity, is there a more ideal format for import/export?

~~~
marchenko
I appreciate your excellent work. Google Keep, for example, exports both a
.json and a folder of individual html files. I ended up piping the individual
.html files through pandoc to .md files for idiosyncratic reasons. To be fair,
I think turtl is so many leagues ahead of other solutions on the rest of its
feature set that a .json export - which appears to be standard - is enough.

I suspect that turtl appeals to a lot of users with a large directory of
plaintext notes who would be enticed to adopt the service if bulk textfile
import were also streamlined. I hope the next release is a success!

~~~
orthecreedence
Great input, I'll keep this in mind for future versions. And thanks for the
kind words!

------
rasengan0
VimWiki, old version
[https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki/releases](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki/releases)

mobile: termux + vim windows: cygwin vim chromeOS: crouton vim

Tried evil with OrgMode and deft but always come back to VimWiki

TiddlyWiki if only non-mobile

~~~
benoliver999
Yeah I use vimwiki too, it has a nice diary mode as well as working as a
classic wiki.

I have it convert all to HTML into syncthing folder, so I can access it read-
only on mobile.

------
Timothycquinn
I find a single pane outliner the best for me. You can nest, group and move
ideas around quickly. For windows, the best still is Ecco Pro. It's a free
software written back in the 90's that has an awesome outliner. I know there
are many other windows based single pane outlines but I have not used windows
for my desktop for several years.

On Linux, which is my primary desktop, I use Ecco Pro on Wine.

If using OSX / IOS, I would recommend Omni Outliner.

Regarding two pane outliners vs singleness pane, I simply don't find the
fragmentation of information across two panes intuitive. This may be
subjective though. To me, having all information in a single tree, flows much
better when brainstorming.

For Android, I don't have many good options for Outlining and therefore a
regular note taker for now that's Evernote.

------
kungtotte
I'm currently evaluating several different options, and I'm beginning to lean
towards "One tool is probably not enough". Bigger tools such as Notion.so or a
personal wiki are great as a repository of knowledge, you can easily browse
and organize information. But writing a one-off quick note is not their forte.
Lighter tools like markdown files in a text editor or a pure note app all
handle the jot-down-a-note aspect very well, but they lack in organization and
structure.

I prefer not having to use a bunch of tools for the same task, but here it
seems like that's probably the best idea. Use a light note-taking app (or a
physical notebook) to scribble things down, then enter it into a more
repository-like software when I'm back at my computer.

~~~
sparkspree
(All of the following are macos only). I've used OmniOutliner, NoteBook
(Circus Ponies, now defunct) and Growly Notes (www.growlybird.com). I've
enjoyed using Growly Notes for many years, first as a free app and now as a
nominal $4.99 on the App Store. It is closed source, but it's very versatile,
flexible, and has a good scalable organization heirarchy
(notebooks/sections/pages). It can import and export many different formats.
It's also currently maintained and the support is good.

------
galeforcewinds
On Mac: vi

On Windows: Ubuntu environment and vi

On Linux and BSD: vi

On phones and tablets: email client

Alternate for all platforms: email client

~~~
roboyoshi
E-Mail is actually a nice alternative of note-taking that I never really
thought of.

Good: Endless Clients, Rich Text/HTML, Images, Open Format, Searchable,
Selfhosted, Sync with Mobile, Tags ..

Not Good: Only partially editable (drafts), ..?

------
aembleton
I write markdown in Visual Studio Code and just save it in a notes directory.

I can then grep across the directory, or use VSC in built search in folder
tool. I also get the formatting of markdown. It is already on my machine and
usually already open and running.

------
dvcrn
Sounds odd but: mindnode, devonthink and paper

No matter what I tried, a mind map app felt extremely natural. I just dump
random bits of stuff into the map and it works.

If I’m not in my pc, always paper

Then bigger notes in devonthink because of its superb search and
classification

------
cpach
I use Evernote Premium and I’m mostly content with it. It’s worth $95/year to
me. There’s no device limit in the Premium edition. You also get full-text
search in PDFs and other nice features.

So far I haven’t found any alternative that suits me better. I really like
being able to use different notebooks for different purposes and being able to
tag individual notes. (This is something that e.g. Apple’s Notes is missing.)

I won’t trust Evernote to stay around forever so my plan is to research
alternatives in two years or so just to see if any good alternatives are
available. (NTS: I should also make backups of my Evernote data...)

~~~
m3tr0s
If you are using Apple devices, consider switching to Bear, it is $15
annually. Tagging is the main organizing method in the app, also much faster
then Evernote.

~~~
cpach
Thank you for the recommendation. Does Bear have a web version? For me, that’s
one of Evernote’s killer features. It’s very convenient not having to install
Evernote on my Windows computer at work.

~~~
prh8
They don't, since they use iCloud for data storage (so they do get privacy
points!) That's why it's Apple only. I know they are working on some stuff for
web/Android, but I have no idea how it will work. Maybe users will either be
Apple hosted or Bear hosted.

------
sachin
Sachin Rekhi here, YC alum from 2007. Wanted to throw a plug out for our app
Notejoy: [https://notejoy.com](https://notejoy.com)

We've built Notejoy as a collaborative notes app. So it's not only great for
personal notes, but also great for easily sharing notes with your team with
real-time editing, @mentions, threaded comments, and more.

But also built with a lot of the productivity features you expect from a note-
taking app, including Mac, Windows, iOS apps, keyboard shortcuts / markdown
accelerators, syntax highlighting, clean distraction-free interface, and more.

------
rajuvegesna
How about Notebook?

[https://zoho.com/notebook/](https://zoho.com/notebook/)

------
deepakg
For short notes I've been using deft[1] on emacs. It gives a Notational
Velocity like interface for searching/viewing within emacs. The actual note-
taking is via org-mode.

For notes from online courses, I recently started using the stock Notes app on
macOS/iOS because of the Pencil support on the iPad.

Not sure if this helps as I don't know what platform/editor you use and I
wouldn't expect you to switch either for note taking :)

1\. [https://jblevins.org/projects/deft/](https://jblevins.org/projects/deft/)

------
numbol
Warning: Early stage of development

Thinking Notebook & Markdown IDE

MindForger is human mind inspired knowledge management tool which aims to
connect the tradition of outline editors with emerging technologies. Its
mission is to help you in organization of your knowledge and associated local,
web and real world resources in a way that enables quick navigation, concise
representation, automatic interconnections, associative completion and
inferencing.

[https://github.com/dvorka/mindforger](https://github.com/dvorka/mindforger)

~~~
stevage
Warning: buzzwords

------
PeOe
As many others, we build our own tool and by now we are named as a "Trello-
killer" by Make use of. [https://zenkit.com](https://zenkit.com) can be used
to organize anything in the way you want it. You can choose between several
data views and switch whenever you want. Use a lot of customization features
to show your data as you need it. From a simple list view through kanban and
databases, everything is possible.

It´s available for every device, without limitation. There is also a Snap for
Linux.

------
a_d
Products from www.literatureandlatte.com deserve a mention on this list - they
are called Scrivener and Scapple. I realize they might not be for everyone
(both are paid), but I find them delightful.

------
hit8run
As I’m exclusively using iOS and macOS I simply use Apple Notes.app. It syncs
and you can even collaborate with other apple notes users. EDIT: not to forget
the Apple Pencil support it brings.

------
boling11
I've really been enjoying Taskade.

A lot of the stuff out there suffers from feature bloat and too much
complexity.

I like Taskade because it's light weight and fast, and it's great for teams.

------
tyurok
I use boostnote[0] for my personall stuff and slab[1] at work.

Boostnote can sync my notes with dropbox and supports markdown and code
snippets with a nice desktop app and is free.

Slab has a collaboration functionality similar to google docs and it's easy to
share notes with my team, with ok pricing.

[0] [https://boostnote.io/](https://boostnote.io/) [1]
[https://slab.com/](https://slab.com/)

------
garyrob
On the Mac, I highly recommend OmniOutliner. I have outlines that have evolved
over, literally, decades. Before using OmniOutliner, I used More, an early Mac
outliner that ran on a Mac Plus. OmniOutliner could import More files[1], so,
when More was discontinued, I could keep using my outlines without a hitch. I
am still actively evolving and growing outlines today that I may been working
with, literally, for 40 years or even a bit longer!

I love the process of working with outlines. They're the perfect way to store
information in an organized way.

There's a common outline storage format, OPML (Outline Processor Martup
Language), which OmniOutliner exports to. So, if the Mac ever entirely
disappears, or OmniOutliner's publisher (OmniGroup) goes out of business, you
should be able to keep using your OO outlines on whatever platform you move to
next. Also, OmniOutliner does run on the iPad today.

One tip which is key to my own use: use hashtags so that you can
instantaneously find the outline heading for whatever notes you're looking
for.

[1] [https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/does-omnioutliner-
import-m...](https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/does-omnioutliner-import-more-
files/24833/2)

------
tvural
Dropbox Paper has worked quite well for me.

~~~
kmisiunas
I have been using Dropbox Paper for about two years now. I highly recommend it
for cloud note taking app, because:

(1) Can easily collaborate and share (2) Markdown syntax with LaTeX support
(3) Embed images, youtube, PDF and lots of other stuff straight into the note.
(4) Visually clean and elegant

The downsides are:

(a) No offline editing (only limited support on mobile) (b) Dependent on
Dropbox Inc

~~~
wrcwill
+1 for Paper, but how are you embedding PDF? I can only add it if it's already
in my Dropbox, and it is not editable (notes, highlighting, etc..) Only thing
missing for me to make it go from good to great.

~~~
kmisiunas
PDF has to in the dropbox folder somewhere before you can add it. Then it
appears as a single page preview. Clicking on it allows to view the full doc
within Paper, but there is no annotation feature as of now. Example:

[https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Demo-of-Paper--
AHs_Q3BsPSNjYAO...](https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Demo-of-Paper--
AHs_Q3BsPSNjYAOH~F1AgQrRAQ-mlcCjrbBTZSdnp30IaHWt)

------
unixhero
I hate to admit it. I tried everything, maybe except for org-mode. My favorite
- which I do a bunch of stuff in real time and which generates money for me
is: Microsoft OneNote thick client. Supreme user experience. Second best:
tables in Microsoft Excel.

 _sigh_ I am supposed to be a die hard open source guy. Well well maybe npt so
much at the end of the day. Corporate life is all proprietery high end Oracle,
SAS, IBM and Microsoft.

------
plasma
Trello for some notes, often TODOs, since you can archive cards and tick off
task lists.

------
caglaroktay
notion [https://www.notion.so/](https://www.notion.so/)

~~~
hadsed
Seconded. It's the first notes app I've stuck with for a while. It's a really
cool take on notes that's makes it all feel very modular and you can build
little notes pages with widgets the way you want.

------
rexysmexy
Over my last two terms I've invested in using markdown with Pandoc to write
any notes in class. I needed a way to be able to take math notes, and be
simple to use. After migrating to Linux, OneNote was no longer an option. It's
simple to use, as it uses markdown syntax for anything text based, and LaTeX
syntax for inlined math formulas.

I as of recently also found out that VimWiki exists. I've started to use it
because of the note linking capabilities. I'm starting to keep notes on
events, certain tools, languages, and all other information I need in the
wiki. It's also in Markdown which is nice.

Find tools that are close to what you want, and try to make your own suite. It
may seem like a lot of work, but knowing your note taking solution inside and
out can be very handy. When you're presented with something new that you don't
know how to take down, you can evolve the system into being capable of
handling it. Which you can do if you've make your own system, but using ready
made solutions won't allow this.

~~~
sus_007
+1 for VimWiki, it's just simple enough for decent note-taking although it's
not as highly customizable as org-mode. Btw, I think the internal linking
features and others do not work with Markdown syntax of VimWiki after the
export, or have you figured out something ?

~~~
rexysmexy
I haven't had a chance to integrated vimwiki into my school notes just yet. I
havent used the export function in vimwiki yet, as I stick with viewing my
notes in vim.

I'm not sure if HTML outputs the paths the same way that the vimwiki does,
could you possibly use relative links or something? I can't get HTML
conversion to work for me right now for some reason. You could also possibly
compile all the notes at once, and use sections to refer to certain files.
Similar to how LaTeX outputs sections.

------
fotbr
Used to use MS OneNote, switched to using Outline (Mac) when I moved away from
Windows. I'm still pretty happy with it, but I'm a one-device-at-a-time,
laptops-are-as-mobile-as-I-go kind of guy who doesn't care about syncing, etc.

However, most of the time I just use paper. I generally use 200-ish page
hardbound books with a narrow rule, and go through around 2 a year with work;
entries are dated, volumes are dated when filled and filed away. I don't treat
them with the full rigor that you would a real "lab notebook", but it's the
same general idea.

For hobby use, I use similar books, but usually blank or graph lined.

For day-to-day reminders and such, I'm almost always carrying a little 50-cent
spiral-bound notebook. When used up, remove the spring, toss the pages and
cover into the recycle bin.

My use of software for note taking at this point is pretty much confined to
initial research where I'm more interested in saving images and URLs than any
actual details that might end up on paper later.

------
acutesoftware
I use [https://www.lifepim.com](https://www.lifepim.com) (disclaimer, I wrote
it - it is free for all to use though).

The notes side of it works well, and has enough markdown features to allow me
to transfer all my GDrive notes to it.

Like others have mentioned, I get tired when apps and sites go unsupported or
have shitty (if any) export features.

------
cavalheiro
I went through the very same kind of issues with note taking. I was looking
for a portable format, not depending on any 3rd party service that stores my
data on some unknown format in a server somewhere, simple to use and
customize.

After trying almost every application out there, and being a developer myself,
I ended up writing a minimalist package for the Atom editor that I called
"second memory". Base text format is markdown, it includes grammar / syntax
highlight, and some "nice" and simple features like TODO items, stars, and
some text widgets. I use it together with markdown-preview package and
syncthing for keeping notes in sync across all my devices. If you like the
Atom editor, you can take a look at it on
[https://atom.io/packages/secondmemory](https://atom.io/packages/secondmemory)

------
fabiospampinato
This has been bothering me for a while too, I take 3 kinds of notes:

1\. Project-related notes: I write those close to the source in a special
`.todo` file highlighted with an extension I wrote [1].

2\. Short-lived notes: I write those in my sticky notes app [2], which allows
me to have different "categories" of notes while still requiring only a single
window.

3\. Long-lived notes: I write those in Evernote as well, and like many others
here I've long searched for a replacement. I guess I'll have to code my own, I
don't really need anything fancy, just an interface for searching and tagging
markdown files.

[1] [https://github.com/fabiospampinato/vscode-todo-
plus](https://github.com/fabiospampinato/vscode-todo-plus) [2]
[https://github.com/fabiospampinato/noty](https://github.com/fabiospampinato/noty)

------
usermac
Daily I use a FileMaker default template as it allows me to attach docs and
media along with text. And by-the-way, it has kept almost 5 years of daily
pics of me! For meetings I use an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil using
GoodNotes4—works great. I take a pic of the handouts and mark them up. Easy,
orderly.

~~~
cpach
Cool! If anybody else would like to chip in I would love to hear more examples
of how people use Filemaker these days.

~~~
usermac
[https://imgur.com/a/jEXKNaI](https://imgur.com/a/jEXKNaI) A screenshot of my
up-to-date notes. Over 1,000 daily notes so far.

~~~
cpach
Neat! Makes me want to try out Filemaker :)

------
egypturnash
Evernote + a subscription works for me.

~~~
navneet4735
+1

------
dilippkumar
I have been using the Day One[0] and it has been fantastic. It is marketed as
a journaling app but it works really well for general note taking.

Pros: \- The developers offer a service where they will publish all notes as a
book for a small fee. Exporting notes into physical media is a great way to
ensure notes stay preserved into the future.

\- They are available on most apple platforms (ipads, macOS, iphones) and the
notes sync up between all of them. There is also an android app.

\- The subscription isn’t expensive

Cons:

\- Doesn’t support Windows

\- The service to publish a book from notes is still in beta, has not worked
well for me so far.

I have been using this app for making notes for about 8 months now and it’s
been working great.

[0] [http://dayoneapp.com](http://dayoneapp.com)

------
kupo
Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet but WizNote is a pretty decent Evernote
clone with clients for all platforms. Use Google translate on the site:
[https://wiz.cn/](https://wiz.cn/)

------
osrec
I used Keep for a while, but now just have a folder with some markdown files
(roughly one per note). I use git to push it to a server and download onto my
phone and tablet. Works well, but obviously does not sync across all devices
in real time.

------
arikrak
Simplenote is decent for just quick note taking on a phone or computer browser
with a sync that usually works.

Onenote is good if you like organizing your notes hierarchically into
notebooks, tabs, etc. They have apps for the different OS's.

------
rahimnathwani
For quick notes about things I might want to search for later (e.g. books to
consider buying): Notational Acceleration (Android clone of Notational
Velocity), and nvpy (python GUI app, cross platform), synced to Simplenote.

Notes I'm going to share with others (e.g. interview notes, or important
things to consider when we do X): Google Docs or Word (stored in corporate
OneDrive), so that they're editable and people always have the latest version.

I tried Dynalist (workflowy clone) and like it, but somehow I stopped using it
after using it regularly for a month or so. Not sure it's the product's fault,
though.

------
3stripe
149 comments and no mention of
[http://www.ulyssesapp.com/](http://www.ulyssesapp.com/) yet. Although the
recent change to a subscription pricing model was off-putting at first, it is
reassuring in some ways because it underlines the developer's longterm
commitment.

That said, I've recently been using Notion for EVERYTHING at work, and now
considering if I could do likewise for my personal notes/essays.

PS. It's funny how the intense competition between 'distraction-free' writing
tools has almost become distracting in its own right.

~~~
AndrewHart
I tried every note-taking and distraction-free writing tool there was -
Evernote, iA Writer, ByWord etc.. never stuck with one for more than a few
months.

Then I found Ulysses. I love the indexing of all the notes within folders, and
the simplicity of the app.

I'm not a huge fan of the painfully slow pace of updates, especially when
they're charging a subscription fee. The app is great though.

The problem with Notion is that on iOS it's a web-app, so it feels terrible to
use. It white-screens while it reloads whenever you do any navigation, and
doesn't support multi-tasking on iPad.

------
mb2100
I love the typography of iA Writer:
[https://ia.net/writer](https://ia.net/writer) It saves to plain text markdown
files, but supports directory-based search etc.

------
a-saleh
Now-days I stick with google-docs. I suppose this is largely due to the reason
I am mostly taking notes on meetings:

* having one document per recurring meeting kinda makes sense

* vaguely structured per meeting log kinda makes sense

* it is easy to share around/collaborate, as company has google-suite

* ability to make comments/edits is awesome when you collaborate remotely

* ability to assign tasks to people is nice, because it allowed us to track things that would be too light-weight for i.e. jira

For quick-notes, I usually use trello.

I thought I would be using org-mode and git more, but I haven't figured out a
good sharing mechanism and I always forgot to push/sync my notes there.

------
greyman
OP, I am like you, but so far I wasn't able to find anything better than
Evernote, so I learned to live with the 2 device limit...I just use the web
version on the 3rd device.

In evernote, I can add new note very quickly via shortcut, search very quickly
by tags or keywords, and also a lot of information fits on one screen. It's a
unique mix of those conveniences which keeps me using Evernote.

Also, on Windows, what a lot of other apps lacks is that there isn't a native
windows app. Then some things like hiding to system tray don't work, or the
whole application looks just like a webpage.

------
fyfy18
Kind of related, but does anyone have good software for dealing with PDFs?

Any important letters (or something I may want to refer back to later) I scan
and email to myself. I used Evernote previously, the nice part is it OCRs the
PDF so I can search text within them, but the workflow isn't that nice (and
I'd prefer something self-hosted).

When I've asked before I've received recommendations for full blown enterprise
document management systems, but all I want is something with an interface
like Gmail for PDFs (I'm suprised Google themselves don't do this within
Gmail).

~~~
msh
Google drive gives you ocr for pdf files so you can search for them.

------
tom_usher
I've never been able to find the one note-taking system to rule them all, but
that seems to be because the contexts in which I need to write/access notes
are quite different.

At the moment I've settled on a three-tier system:

NVAlt - as a scratchpad, clipboard buffer and other transient notes.

Moo.do - for structured notes, Todo lists, reminders and agenda/scheduling

Dokuwiki - for long term knowledge base stuff and for documenting personal and
home projects. Love this because my family can easily read and use it too.

I've tried loads of tools but I've stuck with this set longer than any other
so far.

------
csdreamer7
Gmail drafts, when I finish something, I put an X infront of it and feel
accomplished. Every Sunday I review my tasks, add what I think I need, remove
any completed items, or items I will never complete.

------
xref
For the crowd that happens to have a Synology I switched to DS Note when
Evernote went 2 device only, it even imported all my notes. Has desktop and
mobile apps, best Evernote clone I've found.

------
zaargy
I have an Alfred workflow that lets me copy any text, press CMD + Shift + X,
and emails me the snippet. I then have a simple app that connects to my email
account (Gmail) and lets me add tags (labels) to notes. This allows me to take
notes quickly (I'll just write something in Sublime) and easily
review/categorise them later. This has been really wonderful and I am
constantly tweaking the workflow to suit me. It's also really simple and only
relies on Alfred (which is a great tool anyway).

------
nurettin
I use zim-wiki and slickrun/jot [1] on windows for quick notes. slickrun has a
WIN-J shortcut which can be used to pop up and focus the quick note buffer,
copy something from inside and close the buffer window without leaving the
keyboard. Pretty happy with anything from bayden.com

[1]
[https://www.bayden.com/slickrun/1033/SlickRunHelp.aspx](https://www.bayden.com/slickrun/1033/SlickRunHelp.aspx)

------
philip1209
I use IA Writer in a Git repository inside of Dropbox. I have a shell command
that creates a new Markdown note for today's date in the right folder.

Dropbox lets me access files across devices. I got commit every day or so
using another shell shortcut, which makes all of the markdown files readable
on the GitHub UI.

I was getting tired of proprietary software solutions. This just works. If I
wanted more advanced tooling, I would probably add a build system like
Softcover.io.

------
dbcurtis
Mindnode, which is infortunately Mac-only. But it is really a mind-map tool. I
just like to take notes in mind mapping tools.

I wish I could find a polished open source mind map tool.

~~~
themodelplumber
I used Inkscape for mind mapping for a while. It was pretty fun and easier
than I thought.

------
maxkir
Hi, you can use [https://checkvist.com](https://checkvist.com) both for note
taking and for any kind of planning. This is a hierarchical outliner with tons
of features focused on work from keyboard (tags, notes, due dates and
repeating tasks, Markdown with code support, file attachments, public lists,
collaboration). Dark scheme if you dare :)

I'm one of the devs, so ping me if you have questions.

------
diimdeep
Markdown in Sublime Text . Cool feature is index of all headings in folder
with Cmd + Shift + R

\- [https://github.com/SublimeText-
Markdown/MarkdownEditing](https://github.com/SublimeText-
Markdown/MarkdownEditing)

\-
[https://github.com/vkocubinsky/SublimeTableEditor](https://github.com/vkocubinsky/SublimeTableEditor)

------
steveeq1
You can get around the 2 device limit by getting a subscription to evernote.

I like DevonThink because it has good fuzzy searching. Good for finding
articles that kept that kinda sorta has to do with the article you are
currently writing.

[https://www.devontechnologies.com/products/devonthink/overvi...](https://www.devontechnologies.com/products/devonthink/overview.html)

------
fsloth
For general notes not directly linked to some project with it's own document
hierarchy and so on I use a paper notebook with hard covers. Seriously - it's
so much more convenient than any digital alternative. The only discipline I
need is to write the date before any new entry so I can backtrack on what I
wrote.

For projects I use plain txt files unless I really, really, really need
something more complex

------
motiw
I separate notes into two categories "Actionable" and "Reference I may need in
the future" For Actionable I use "OK Google, note to self" to send to my email
and then use a tool I developed to manage Actionable email/todo/links/files
etc. For "Reference I may need in the future" I use Evernote and add keywords
I may use for searching

------
spraak
It's very different than Evernote, but my favorite note taking app is
Dynalist. I have all my todos, goals, plans, and sundry ideas there.

------
wes-k
Currently a combination of apple notes and a personal wiki. I was unhappy with
the existing wiki software (both paid and open source) and so my partner and I
built [https://www.wikiful.com/](https://www.wikiful.com/).

We're currently in a sort of soft launch phase. Working on a few more things
before really doing a Show HN or product hunt.

------
hawth
I've started creating my own command-line flat-file note software [1]. It's
very basic, brittle and still in alpha (committed version 0.4.0a2 last night),
but even now I vastly prefer it to any kind of corporate app. Plaintext files
in a directory beats almost anything else.

[1]: [https://hawth.bitbucket.io](https://hawth.bitbucket.io)

------
jpwgarrison
I like the directory full of .md and txt files. Similar to Notational Velocity
and nvAlt - but cross-platform is terminal_velocity.
[https://github.com/terminal-velocity-
notes/terminal_velocity](https://github.com/terminal-velocity-
notes/terminal_velocity) \- it lost the maintainer recently, but it works
fine!

------
jhabdas
For privacy and portability the text editor in Tails Live OS is no frills.
Notes are basic text files, persisted to a password protected and encrypted
disk partition, with the option to additionally encrypt and password protect
individual files.

Notes are saved in a standard format and can locked down in an instant simply
by pulling the Tails USB from whatever device you happen to be using.

------
cube2222
I've been using OneNote (Windows 10 app) so far with a surface pro device. It
really is great, though I'll have to research how exportable the notes are
(print to PDF is... Difficult)

I for one trust Microsoft to provide me software to access my notes and cut me
off, but nothing is too big to fall, so I'm thinking about switching to
markdown + images scribbled with my pen.

------
LocalMan
Google Keep is free, has multiple subsections, and automatically syncs between
my smartphone and my PC with no intervention on my part.

~~~
wj
I would switch to Google Keep in an instant if it has a web clipper. I can't
quite wrap my head around changing my workflow to do without one at this
point. Probably should start paying Evernote to support them but still fall
within their free tier (as much as they keep scaling that back).

------
stevewillows
I've tried a lot of applications for notes, and I always end up back in a
plaintext editor like Atom. This is for common, work-related notes, etc. For
everything else, its all about pen and paper.

For me, one reason I used Evernote for the longest time was so I could load my
notes on my Pebble. This worked, but not consistently. Next best thing? Pen
and paper.

~~~
benoliver999
Yeah I've been trying out just pen and paper this year and it's been great.
Stole some ideas from [http://bulletjournal.com](http://bulletjournal.com)

------
wenbin
iOS notes app is very good.

------
Topgamer7
I use Google keep, simple notes, never used Evernote and it likely won't cover
all the features, but its fine for my usage.

------
vfc1
Evernote works awesome, worth every penny. I use the checkbox lists fot todos,
share notes with contractors with task instructions easily, the notes can have
embedded images and files. I access it on phone, tablet and desktop works
perfectly, i highly recommend it.

Edit: forgot to mention it includes a buil-in chat that i use all the time
with contractors

~~~
philip1209
The main reason that I stopped using it was that it didn't support code well.

------
rocky1138
Gmail. Create a new email as a draft, you can access it on any computer or any
phone and the search function is all-powerful.

~~~
jhabdas
I've found the Search function in Gmail to be lackluster. Not only does it
require an Internet connection, it's not as fast as I'd expect and oftentimes
wouldn't surface information I knew was still there.

------
yashevde
I love iA Writer -- I keep it open in a fullscreen window on my mac that I can
just swipe over to. It's perfect for potentially converting short notes into
long form. Also, once I start typing out a note, it is completely immersive
and I don't see windows elsewhere on the screen vying for my attention to get
back to them.

------
Jaruzel
I tend to use several machines/devices during my working week, so anything
installed locally is a no-no.

My solution was to knock up a web app in php (you can use the backend of your
choice) that lets me create notes using markdown, these are auto saved to the
server and browse-able via another php page.

Like a poor-mans markdown notepad, but online.

~~~
greyman
I tried these solutions as well, but I found it too slow to add note. With
evernote, I can click ctrl-alt-N from any app I am in, and a New note window
pops up. I still didn't find how to achieve this with web version.

------
lowleveldesign
I use a private wordpress.com account and write notes in markdown. It supports
full-text searching and has a nice markdown renderer. I publish quick
notes/bookmarks as blog posts and important notes that I plan to constantly
update as static pages. Categories and tags help me arrange things in the side
menus.

------
Roofduck
I think Microsoft's OneNote is probably the best one I've used personally. The
only thing that is a little labourious is setting up your notebooks/sections
but once you have that set up, its actually pretty good.

I just wished it had markdown support built in and also Syntax highlighting
for code examples.

------
jgrpf
Though rather focused on todos, I use Taskwarrior with taskd deployed to a
VPS. On mobile I use it inside Termux. For code snippets I wrote an
interactive CLI that supports shell hooks which pushes changes into a Git
repository automatically. Quite a nice combination for my shell-centric
workflow.

------
arthurz
I am a happy user since early beta of MedleyText
[https://medleytext.net](https://medleytext.net) Please be aware that this
note taking solution is potentially geared to cater to the software user
community or alike mostly.

------
GuB-42
This is a bit of a special case but my note taking app of choice is
squid/papyrus.

Unlike all the other text based alternatives this is virtual paper. It is best
used with a device with a stylus (ex: Galaxy Note). The advantage is an
infinite size canevas, and a high level of zoom.

------
fullofsid
Asana. The ease of use and organisation is just enough for my needs. I am a
extensive note taker.

------
OS1UX
A simple command line journal application that stores your journal in a plain
text file, developed in bash and inspired in jrnl.sh

[https://gitlab.com/osiux/txt-bash-jrnl](https://gitlab.com/osiux/txt-bash-
jrnl)

------
booleandilemma
I used Evernote for awhile but they did stupid things like putting the upgrade
button back on the toolbar after I had removed it.

When I finally did upgrade to their basic tier they kept spamming me to
upgrade to their mid-level tier.

Uninstalled it shortly after that.

Please don’t pester your paying users.

------
bane
OneNote, it syncs automatically, you can open it on the web, and the dedicated
apps are pretty great. I went from not using it at all and eyeing it with
suspicion to using it daily about a year ago and haven't looked back.

------
codechoir
I'm using OneNote for sketches and handwritten notes (Tablet). For everything
else, I use a private DokuWiki instance. I like having a web-based, but
private, note-taking solution that supports media files and hyperlinks.

------
pixelmonkey
For jotting down quick markdown notes with your keyboard that auto sync to
every device, Simplenote is hard to beat.

For pen-and-paper notes, Apple Pencil, iPad Pro, and GoodNotes with iCloud
sync & Dropbox backup is a great choice.

------
jhabdas
Notepad for Android – A simple, bare-bones, no-frills note taking app.

Lots of features. No ads. Apache Licensed.

[https://github.com/farmerbb/Notepad](https://github.com/farmerbb/Notepad)

------
jani-boy
Simplenote works for me. I was always in awe of the Apple ecosystem and at
least when it comes to note taking, I use Simplenote to sync between Ubuntu
and a smartphone running Android keeping things plain and simple.

------
donpark
nvALT on Mac. Open source but brittle and needs a rewrite. Crashes
occasionally.

------
nso95
I’ve (mostly) settled on using Google Docs for text-heavy notes, and just
regular old paper for notes that will contain a lot of symbols and math. I
also rely on paper for super short-lived notes and brainstorming.

------
vogre
I use Telegram and write messages to myself. It's extremely convenient,
because it's my main communication tool and it's always open so I don't need
to take any special action to make a note.

------
RemieNotRayme
Full disclosure, I am the creator of this application. It's sort of like
Notational Velocity on steroids.
[https://recollectr.io](https://recollectr.io)

------
johnchristopher
I litter my folders with notes.md files. I use google keep for quick check-
list. I have a rotting todoist account.

It's a mess. And I have a standard paper logbook, its primary purpose is to
organize thoughts in reunions.

------
walterbell
Markdown-oriented app for iOS, Mac & Windows, with WebDAV support for self-
hosted or direct device sync,
[http://notebooksapp.com](http://notebooksapp.com)

------
theptrk
I’ve settled on a plaintext file in my home directory called “did.txt”.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17538697](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17538697)

------
brassattax
I like MediaWiki for note taking. My Dreamhost account features a one-click
install for that. I added https (DreamHost supports automated LetsEncrypt
renewal), added a responsive theme and basic auth.

------
iLemming
I've been looking for perfect solution for over 15 years. Finally found it.
Emacs's Org-mode. Nothing else truly beats its simplicity, versatility and
robustness for note taking.

------
pwelch
Microsoft OneNote for some stuff.

Mostly Quiver (or Boostnote) with the files backed up to a remote git repo.
Added benefit of being a format that is not locked in and can be parsed out
later if required.

------
submeta
Been using way too many apps in the past twenty years. AskSam on Windows in
the 90s until early 2000s. Then they stopped developing it. Exported my notes
in HTML format, waiting to be migrated into my latest tool. - Then when the
iPhone arrived tried to do note taking on it. Used Momonote app (still exists,
but practically abandonware), created a couple of thousand notes. Exported
them as csv, waiting to be migrated... Then Evernote. Excellent tool. I have
12k notes in it. Love it. Still use it. Paying member. In between tried to
migrate from Windows to Ubuntu. Started using Emacs+Org (several hundred notes
in there, waiting to be migrated). But also ZimWiki. Then moved to Mac/OS.
Went back to Evernote. Currently using a combo of Evernote and Bear Writer
app. Love Bear. Has a phantastic UI, markdown, super fast interface, syncs
with all my iDevices.

But I am aware that in twenty years from now none of these tools might be
alive anymore. I keep exporting and backing up my data because of this. And my
backlog of "to be migrated" grows longer and longer.

For now I find it more convenient to use a tool with a sleak interface that
offer all the features I need in a "personal wiki" / note taking app:
inserting screenshots into notes (this is a killer feature for me), beutifully
rendering my markdown text, fulltext search, nested folders (or tags in Bear
lingo), syncing across all my devices. The alternative is too cumbersome: For
instance Emacs/Org + rgrep + Dropbox for syncing + git + a bunch of .emacs
entries that allow me to insert screenshots.

Edit: Forgot to mention IdeaNote. Used it when I tried to replace my iPhone
with a BlackBerry device. Excellent app. I could create super long and time
stamped journal entries / logs / notes on the superb keyboard of the BB device
in seconds (never got used to typing on a touchscreen). But eventually the BB
got abandonware itself. And so the app. Luckily I could pay 50$ to export my
3k notes. Migrated them successfully to Evernote with a bit of Ruby script.

Edit 2: Lesson learned for me: No tool is going to be there forever. Need to
have a clear concept for how I will keep my data independent from tools du
jour.

~~~
explainplease
I recommend looking at helm-org-rifle and org-board.

------
potta_coffee
I use the plain notes plugin for Sublime for notes that I need to keep around
for a while, and pen and paper for more ephemeral notes that I go through and
toss once a week.

------
itomato
Macdown - an Open source Markdown editor for macOS.
[https://macdown.uranusjr.com/](https://macdown.uranusjr.com/)

------
karmelapple
Things for Mac & iOS -
[https://culturedcode.com/things/](https://culturedcode.com/things/)

~~~
perilunar
Well it's not really intended for notes, but I use it for that myself
sometimes.

It's pretty pricey though: $80 if you get it for all your devices.

------
eu22
I'm trying to keep it simple stupid and using Bear Writer. The only caveat is
you can't share the note with other people unless you export it

------
joeflack4
Workflowy. I can't say enough how amazing it is. Would just be nice if it had
some integrations.

It seems to be undergoing a lot of development right now as well.

------
pablof
[https://jenyay.net/Soft/Outwiker](https://jenyay.net/Soft/Outwiker) \- the
best one

------
clamport
I love StackEdit, syncs to your google drive and supports Markdown, multiple
folders, and folders within folders.

Works on Android, IOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, etc

------
aantix
TaskPaper. The tab key indents the entire line, regardless of cursor position
on the line, making outlining very easy.

Is there another editor that does this?

~~~
rexysmexy
Doesn't vim do this by default? Typing >> will indent the entire line. This
can be used in tandem with select to indent multiple lines at once!

------
writepub
Please take [http://write.pub](http://write.pub) for a spin. It has built in
Versioning

------
alexruf
Currently trying [http://www.bear-writer.com/](http://www.bear-writer.com/)

------
catacombs
Org-mode in Emacs, with a todo.org synced in Dropbox. I've been using it for a
while now, and it's life changing.

------
minieggs
Paper, vim scratch.txt — personal favorites.

------
doganaydin
Im using firefox notes, and its really good.

------
musiccog
+1 for freemind have been using it for years as a daily work sheet to allow me
to switch between tasks quickly

------
brandonmenc
macOS and iOS notes - easy, free, no one is mining my data, and it
automatically syncs across devices.

------
christophilus
I keep an instance of VS Code open that points to ~/notes, which is a folder
containing markdown files. I've tried lots of other more branded note taking
apps, but markdown is how I think, and VS Code has good markdown support out
of the box. Plus, I don't have to context switch to a different set of key
commands, since VS Code is also my primary code editor.

------
chuckus
I've been using Evernote for 6 years, and still continue to use it for the
following reasons:

* Everyday I use [https://marxi.co](https://marxi.co) to write my technical work journals in Markdown (with nice extensions like flowcharts) that gets rendered into rich text format within Evernote

* I archive and tag each article I read with the Evernote Web Clipper, because URLs always go stale so you want your own copy.

* Evernote works with [https://ifttt.com](https://ifttt.com) so it integrates seamlessly with my other applications and workflows

* Evernote is also capable of OCR within PDFs if you use the paid pro version.

* This means that all sorts of note taking is in a single place, making it a breeze to quickly search.

I pay for Evernote to get around the device limit, offline usage etc, as the
free version is pretty crippled. I know there are definitely cheaper
alternatives in terms of price, but I feel it's worth it for all the features
available because I value my precious time, which I don't want to consume more
of to maintain the same set of features using FOSS alternatives. Good thing is
that Evernote allows export to a human readable archive format which I use to
ensure that I have a personal copy of the notes to prevent vendor lock-in.

EDIT: Just formatting

------
maged
workflowy for quick organized notes.

------
jcelerier
Zim ([http://zim-wiki.org](http://zim-wiki.org))

------
kirankn
Joplin is a good Evernote replacement and has been getting updates quite
frequently. Love it.

------
capitalletterG
Can realy recommend [https://joplin.cozic.net/](https://joplin.cozic.net/). It
speaks md. Can do usefull syncing with many different services. has a firefox
and chrome website importer and seems open-source on first sight. I use it now
after a lot of other trys. i like it

~~~
albumdropped
+1 for Joplin. The UI isn’t as polished as evernote, but it’s open source,
unlimited devices, and no vendor lock-in.

------
anonu
1\. email

2\. docs.google.com

3\. github.com/<username>/<repo name>/wiki

all cloud solutions, latter 2 have versioning

------
pjmorris
After much experimentation (e.g. Freemind), I wound up using a text editor and
Dropbox.

------
iends
Bear if in the Apple ecosystem.

------
goshx
MS OneNote.

------
tarek_computer
firefox notes for quick notes, dropbox paper is not bad, and zotero for more
detailed research note taking. I frequently just open VIM with Pencil/mark
down and take notes directly onto a Dropbox folder.

------
willfiveash
I like OmniOutliner for MacOS as it makes it easy to reorganize my notes.

------
stevefan1999
I see you didn’t appreciate Evernote. Ever tried Jupyter Notebook?

------
saboot
Typora for writing markdown files which are saved in google drive.

------
peacetreefrog
vimwiki

------
mathnode
Apple Notes. I even use it for code on the go.

------
rhohit
Workflowy? Best way to organize my thoughts.

------
therealmarv
a folder in Google Drive, a bunch of markdown files and VSCode. The global
search in vscode is quite good.

------
bratao
I really like Confluence from Atlassian

------
hmate9
Pen and paper

------
riston
I love Sublime with markdown notes.

------
nobrains
Resophnotes synced to simplenote

------
jlft
\- nvALT (or Notational Velocity)

\- Google Docs

------
Kagerjay
So I probably tried a vast majority of all the major notetaking solutions out
there. And many of the different ways you can organize things (GTD, david
allen, secretweapon, inbox zero, etc) as well as my own creative variations as
well.

The solution I have is that there is no gold bullet when it comes to
notetaking. They all have problems. You just have to try many different
methods and solutions to see what works, based on how you organize things, and
the way you think.

Personally, I have found a blogpost here that encapsulates mostly everything I
do after 4 years of notetaking. [http://devonzuegel.com/post/memex-my-
personal-knowledge-base](http://devonzuegel.com/post/memex-my-personal-
knowledge-base).

\------------------------------------------------------------------

I use dynalist.io personally as my notetaking app. It supports features like
codesnippets as well with a 3rd party extension. You can find how I organize
it on my blog [http://vincentmtang.com/2017/06/24/how-i-use-dynalist-
io/](http://vincentmtang.com/2017/06/24/how-i-use-dynalist-io/)

To give you a quick gist of it this is how I organize things on dynalist

\- Journal (New items added uptop)

\- Courses (New items added at bottom)

\- Ideas if I have nothing else to do (New items added uptop)

\- Everything else (Meeting notes / Collaboration)

There was a lot of psychology and research that I did personally detailing
what goes on behind why I chose things this way. It mostly deals with a 2x2
selection matrix I made called UPIE (structured vs unstructured, internal vs
external).

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Second, I organize writing in its own form via wordpress.

\- Drafts / Ideas for writing (40+ drafts atm)

\- One time posts (write everything in an hour or two and post, regardless of
grammatical issues)

Third, I also use github for SVN control on larger repositories. Everything
goes either in the `C:\www` folder based on PHP best practices (I don't write
in php). Also, I have a folder called `C:\dropbox\github` for repos that are
small in file (e.g. no node modules) and SVN control is too burdonsome to deal
with. I use an extension called "markdown preview enhanced"(MPE) which in all
of my research of markdown, is the best markdown extension to date on VScode
and atom

Fourth, I use codepen similar to how I organize evernote. I have over 2500
notes on evernote so I know what the best practices here are. Each codepen
file = one evernote note. I tag things, and search through it via as I
normally would in evernote. I follow the "microsite" ideas heavily from chris
coyier [https://css-tricks.com/microsites-for-case-studies/](https://css-
tricks.com/microsites-for-case-studies/). I find I am able to talk hours maybe
days explaining how complex some of my private codepens are for the project
I'm working on, to get a better relay this information about my skillsets as a
frontend dev.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifth, I have several other methods of organizingi things in general. I call
it "self-data-collection" methods that I made up myself. For instance,

\- Youtube video I've watched so I can check a log of videos I've looked up
and limit search queries to just that. I have a system of bookmarking and
commenting useful things here.

\- Hackernews posts I've read for more than 30 seconds, so I can see it under
`myusername/comments`.

\- Stackoverflow posts. Upvote so I know what the best solution is to the
question, namely so I can also keep track of what I've read as well that was
helpful in obscure solutions and tech

\- Google maps. If you looked at my local area maps on my account, I have
about 200 stars and indexed / cataloged what each business is for.
Hackerspaces, startup studios, areas with freewifi for working with laptops
(coffee shops, bookstores), etc

\- Shopping / Physical goods. I have a 2500 (limit of wishlist count) and
another 1000+ ongoing list on amazon. I have different ways of searching
through this so I can cross-pollinate different ideas from different
industries. For instance, xbox controllers used in space/engineering
simulations

\- Lastpass. I manage about 200 account emails here

LASTLY I have some support systems

\- Anki for flashcard and SRS (space repetition learning) among other things

\- A list of 700+ applications I used on alternativeto.net at one point. I
wrote 200 + reviews of these so I know why I did or did not like them, so I
don't need to repeat the errors I made previously

\- 700+ stars I bookmarked on github for ideas on opensource libraries to use,
depending on project need. I fork it if its worth investing into

\- A list of bookmarking system on google bookmarks based on emojis for
quicker ways to grok what folder I want to look for. I organize it A-Z

\- Different browsers for different functionality

\- customized toolbar and spacers inbetween software apps for faster visual
grouping identification

\- Directory Opus for my file explorer. Apple Mac's have a significantly
better native file explorer system and some apps, but directoryOpus bridges
that gap for windows

\- 100 + macros managed by phrase-express. I have a blog post about it here
[http://vincentmtang.com/2018/05/31/14-useful-phrase-
express-...](http://vincentmtang.com/2018/05/31/14-useful-phrase-express-
macros-for-developers/)

\------------------------------------------------------------------

I could go on all day but I will leave it at that, to answer your question
blankly I use mostly dynalist.io and a bunch of other things I slew together.
I call it my "SOP" or standard operating procedures which ended up being
several pages long. Its constantly evolving but now I just commit things to
memory based on some industrial engineering practices I learned called LEAN
for identifying and mapping value streams based on best business practices.
This is something I do natively now and don't think very hard into, it mostly
stems from how I used to run my own virtual business starting in middle
school.

Lastly, I am writing my own notetaking software as well and I am not going to
say more than this, but its mostly based on pitfalls I found in the above
writing I wrote.

Notetaking requires a set of principlces that you need to follow as well as
rigirous daily practice to enforce principlces of accountability. I do daily
sprints here normally too in dynalist under journal section

What and how you use software vastly depends on what your field of interests
is as well. I personally don't get too invested in tooling despite everything
I stated above, there's a really good quote from one of my favorite youtubers
"MJP funfunfunction" -> e.g. "Everything has a maintenance cost. The pros of
that software needs to outweigh the cons of maintenance and debugging". This
means you won't ever probably hear me talking about org-mode/linux/vim/emacs
because I honestly like the simplicity of my GUI tools on windows.

Also, because I know what an optimized approach is to notetaking I can also
identify based on metadata which people are worth following. I use twitter to
keep a list of these people

I run backups of long posts I make here on pinboard.in using a keyboard
shortcut

The approach I take to formatting long text mostly stems from how I've seen
people use reddit to organize their public posts / notes in markdown format

------
catchmeifyoucan
Word for mac is pretty good

~~~
catchmeifyoucan
Use the notebook feature and it formats well with bullets

~~~
catchmeifyoucan
It’s not really portable though

------
ericzawo
Dynalist.

------
max_
Google Keep works for me

------
jbverschoor
I'm using noteplan

------
talonx
Dropbox + Sublime Text

------
senorsmile
checkvist.com

Unlimited hierarchical lists. Fully controllable via keyboard.

------
jbernardo95
Vim and iA Writer

------
Sunrostern
www.viewert.com - free online note-taking powerhouse. I use it every day, it's
a personal wiki that can be converted to a blog and back.

------
dredmorbius
Index cards.

------
Snuupy
Boostnote.

------
jollyjester
Zim

------
anthony_barker
* vim

* cherrytree

* syncthing

* git

------
clartaq
Changing jobs in 2005 caused me to switch from taking notes on paper to doing
it electronically.

My new employer provided a tablet PC with a stylus running Windows and
[OneNote]([https://products.office.com/en-
US/onenote](https://products.office.com/en-US/onenote)). Taking notes on that
system with excellent handwriting recognition was a revelation. The tablet was
pretty clunky by today's standards, but it worked well. It was particularly
useful for generating meeting notes in real time and projecting them during
meetings.

After moving to another employer, I no longer had access to such a tablet but
used [TiddlyWiki]([https://tiddlywiki.com](https://tiddlywiki.com)) to keep my
notes. It was great until the number of notes became large (in the thousands).

After that, I became an early adopter of
[Evernote]([https://evernote.com](https://evernote.com)). It was an adequate
note-taking app, but the killer feature for me was searching for text in
images. At that time, we put meeting notes up on a whiteboard. After the
meeting, I could take a picture of the whiteboard, insert it in Evernote, and
search it any time after that. I maintained a subscription to Evernote until
the end of 2016 until they got squirrely about their subscriptions and some
privacy issues.

After several years absence, I went back to TiddlyWiki. It was very much
improved. But after importing thousands of notes, it became too slow at
editing. The search was on for another system.

I looked at several open-source tools under active development:

* [TreeSheets]([http://strlen.com/treesheets/](http://strlen.com/treesheets/)) has been around a long time and has some unique features for organizing your information. * [CherryTree]([https://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree/](https://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree/)) it has been around for quite some time. Very long feature list. Very long wishlist too. * [BoostNote]([https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote](https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote)) bills itself as a note-taking app for programmers. It has clients for lots of platforms and can keep them all in sync. * [iA Writer]([https://ia.net/writer](https://ia.net/writer)) is very focused on writing.

I committed to [Collate]([https://collatenotes.com](https://collatenotes.com))
for awhile, even bought a license, but development seemed to stop shortly
after I paid for it. And it keeps asking me to re-enter my license key. So,
slowly moving off of it. And no more closed-source apps.

These days, my notes usually start short and then get longer and more detailed
over time. Often they include mathematics, so typesetting math is crucial to
me. Joplin fills the bill very well. It's almost perfect for me. But linking
to other notes is a bit clumsy.

I set up a self-hosted
[MediaWiki]([https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki)).
It did everything I wanted (and way more) but was more cumbersome to
administer than I wanted to deal with.

What I finally ended up doing was writing my own wiki.

* It uses a version of Markdown that can typeset math (_via_ [MathJax]([https://www.mathjax.org)](https://www.mathjax.org\))) and accepts wikilink syntax as well. * Syntax highlighting for program snippets. * It seems to be cross-platform. (I started development on Windows, now do it on macOS, and can (but shouldn't) self-host it on a Linux server. * It runs on a desktop. (I can't read long notes with math on a phone and tablets are pushing it a bit with my poor vision.) * It's written in Clojure and ClojureScript, languages I enjoy working with. * The editor I wrote has a real-time preview (but the scroll bars don't' sync yet.) * The editor is compatible with Grammarly, so I get some help with my atrocious spelling and grammar. * All data is stored locally in a SQL database but can be exported to Markdown files with one keystroke. * Pages can be exported with YAML so that they can be imported directly to my blog. * and on and on.

Another option that might be useful is a
[Jupyter]([http://jupyter.org](http://jupyter.org)) notebook. It looks
interesting, but I don't really have much experience with it. There's even a
[kernel for
Clojure]([https://github.com/clojupyter/clojupyter](https://github.com/clojupyter/clojupyter))
that I want to check out.

If you have the interest and the desire, I encourage you to look into writing
your own tool. It isn't as hard as you might imagine just to get something
working. It is incredibly hard to polish things to just the shininess you
might want, but that's part of the fun.​

------
thebiglebrewski
Textedit

------
analognoise
Wikidpad.

------
skookumchuck
Write on spiral notebook paper, then scan it.

~~~
golem14
Is there a good app that scans a camera image and appends good metadata, plus
has good handwriting recognition, and saves in interchangeable formats?

~~~
asdsa5325
Microsoft Office Lens

~~~
cholantesh
Also Adobe Scan.

~~~
golem14
Neither has an easy markdown format that doesn't require fairly proprietary
tools to convert to ascii. Plus I'm underwhelmed with the ux in general. But
thanks anyway, glad to know more about the state of the art.

------
petarvasilev
Google Keep

------
MuhammedAbiola
Emacs.

------
coldseattle
OneNote

------
tiatia123
nvpy

------
kirillzubovsky
Don’t take notes. If you can’t remember it, it’s not worth knowing. If there
is something you want to remember but you can’t, simplify it down to the
basics until you can explain it back to yourself in such concepts that you
would never forget.

~~~
numbol
I am tearing appart between these and forgoted really important things

