I am currently using Trilium for my notes. But I am constantly annoyed by the mobile experience. What I want:
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sync across devices from a central server (this is why I went with Trilium, as having a web client means there’s always the same notes everywhere)
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native Android app with local storage so that I don’t have to log in just for looking up a single note (this is what annoys me most about Trilium, plus the UX on mobile)
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web version (for use on PC)
I only need very basic markup, markdown support is enough. I don’t worry about security, as I run everything inside my own VPN.
Is there something like this out there? I always see people raving about Obsidian, but sync seems to really suck there. Using some folder sync is a no go for me.
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For this scenario, I can recommend Standard Notes and/or Notesnook. I’ve tried Joplin and Logseq and didn’t like either.
I know this is said a lot, but nextcloud does all that.
As an added benefit the files are just in a directory that you could edit if needed
I have a Nextcloud instance, which I don’t use much because the native apps are janky as fuck. I tried the notes app just now and it just won’t even let me connect to my account. That’s a level of bullshit I don’t have the energy to deal with. Which is sad, because it would be nice to use something I already have.
Oh, that’s a shame. Maybe need to see why?
I have the notes, files and news apps all connected just fine.
If it’s over your VPN, does your phone now how to find nextcloud?
In general, yes. The main app works fine. But when I try to connect the notes app to my account, it just crashes and loops back.
Edit: Nevermind, I fixed it. Works fine now and looks to be exactly what I need. It was also trivial to import all my Trilium notes.
Oh, iOS or Android?
Quillpad forever ❤️
Man, I like Quillpad but I can’t use the sync. If I enable that, I have to go to NC to delete notes, if I delete them locally they just come back. I guess that’s fine, I only use it for temporary notes anyway, stuff I want to save and organize goes into Joplin.
It happens to me the same, but since last update in.able to sync :p
Joplin for sure. But I personally use Obsidian because of the UI. I sync it with my server using Syncthing. All devices are synced to the server and not with each other so I have one source of Truth.
Joplin will do this for you. It comes ready to sync with all sorts of cloud options, as well as “local folder” which works well with Syncthing. It’s offline-first, cross-platform, and FOSS.
Plus the FF extension is really full-featured. I can clip in different formats or even take a screenshot if the webpage makes clipping hard.
Plus the FF extension is really full-featured. I can clip in different formats or even take a screenshot if the webpage makes clipping hard.
I didn’t even know there was a Firefox extension! I might give it a look.
Can confirm. This app is great! I particularly like that it works across all OSs.
Org-mode and git push works for me.
I’m not mentally ill enough for that. 😛
I have Joplin with Nextcloud sync. It works fine for me! It’s got a desktop app and a mobile app with, in my opinion, pretty good UI. Markdown support, syncing between devices, etc. are all there. You don’t need to connect to the network to view notes, a local copy is saved.
I am using SiYuan and I use the web app as a short cut, so that I can easily create notes on my phone.
Obsidian aldo has (paid, subscription) native sync that is supposed to work better than file sync. Another alternative is git sync. That’s basically file sync through git but great if you want to track your changes.
There’s a community plugin for self hosted live sync.
Obsidian with Syncthing
I use the Quillpad app and sync it with Nextcloud notes. Been pretty flawless so far.
I have joplin but personally found myself using Nextcloud Notes 100% of the time. I just need very basic, quick markdown notes
Ticks all your boxes
This along with a home VPN and you can hit it from anywhere.
I’ve been happily using SilverBullet lately too. Can recommend
Can recommend, works offline and online with PWA support and stores everything in Markdown files for easy migration if you want to change your frontend.
How are you doing offline PWA?
It just works™?
Silverbullet supports working offline as a pwa, just click install on the website and you get a shortcut to the web app that you can use online and offline, open it when your online again to sync your changes to the other devices.
I’m running iOS and Tailscale to access it. Doesn’t work offline for me. How does that compare with your setup?
I run wireguard and Android with chrome cause firefox doesn’t support pwa. Did you add it to your home screen?
Edit: Also I run release V2
Ok might be an iOS thing compared with android. I’ve tested with safari and Firefox. And yes added PWA of the website to the Home Screen
If privacy is important for you, https://anytype.io/ has E2EE (End-to-End Encryption). You can run your sync nodes also. Personally, I’ve used Roam Research, Doom Emacs, moved to Logseq, then Obsidian, back to Logseq and now I’m using Anytype for two years.
Edit (hit post by mistake): The encryption part was not a must for me also, but then I started using my notes in my work laptop also and I didn’t want my notes stored in plain text on a computer which is not fully controlled by me. I’m mentioning it because over time you’ll have many, many notes and the transition from one tool to the other is very time consuming.
Take a look at Affine. I am using Joplin currently, however I am leaning more and more towards Affine due to OIDC support
