7 ms·

I really like org-mode and used it heavily for about a year. But I found having my todo list on a single computer pretty limiting. Thankfully, there's a new gen

by colah3 11y ago

I really like org-mode and used it heavily for about a year. But I found having my todo list on a single computer pretty limiting. Thankfully, there's a new generation of org-mode inspired cloud apps: * https://workflowy.com/ https://workflowy.com/ -- the most mature app * https://www.moo.do https://www.moo.do -- really nice Google Apps integration * https://checkvist.com/ https://checkvist.com/ -- extremely feature rich I'm really excited by these tools. I feel like org-mode has some really nice insights, but there's a lot of potential to improve.

mmel 11y ago
I used orgmode for a while before importing them all into Microsoft OneNote, haven't looked back
- Tomte 11y ago
  OneNote is a bit idiosyncratic and I've had problems using it "right" whenever I tried it. But then I finally read some blog posts and documentation and it clicked. I'm not looking back, either. Even though I'm Emacs-inclined (though not living in Emacs), orgmode is too unwieldy and complicated for me, and the "killer missing feature" is quick entry and editing on my mobile phone. OneNote does that very, very well.
  - MandieD 11y ago
    Mind sharing the links or names of what posts or docs helped you the most with OneNote?
    - Tomte 11y ago
      https://www.eng.vt.edu/sites/default/files/pageattachments/msonenote13.pdf https://www.eng.vt.edu/sites/default/files/pageattachments/m... was pretty helpful. I don't remember the others.
  - 392c91e8165b 11y ago
    >Even though I'm Emacs-inclined (though not living in Emacs), orgmode is too unwieldy and complicated for me I do live in Emacs, but I prefer the mouse to the keyboard for tasks that can be done both ways, and balked at learning the many dozens of keyboard shortcuts ("keys", in Emacs terminology) org mode wanted me to learn.
- walkingolof 11y ago
  I took my OneNote stuff into OrgMode because I think there is a higher risk of OneNote being an unreadable format in the future and/or the service being turned off.
  - preek 11y ago
    This is exactly why I moved from Evernote to org-mode. I've been a paying user for years with thousands of notes - also important legal documents. Right now, the experience was pretty good, but how will it be in 10-40 years? I'm not going to store everything on paper, as well, just to make sure. The org-mode experience is better, yet totally future proof, because it's just flat text files.
    - rys 11y ago
      How did you handle importing binary data you had in Evernote into org-mode? I've got a bunch of PDFs, images and other non-text data in my Evernote workbooks that I'd need to take care of.
      - preek 11y ago
        This is a very good question! When you come up with a great answer, shoot me a mail! I actually moved everything that is important for the very long time by hand and started creating everything that's new in org-mode. So, yeah, there's still thousands of notes in Evernote and sometime I get back to them, but those times will become fewer and fewer in time. I'd pay for a tool that converts the EN XML to a proper org-mode file. Even better if I could do that on a regular basis, because EN still rocks most for capturing paper into an OCR'ed PDF.
      - MarcScott 11y ago
        I used to keep lots of stuff in Evernote, and when I switched to org-mode, I did an HTML export from Evernote and then wrote an awful Python script to convert the HTML to org-mode. I'm pretty sure all the binary data appears as links in the exported html.
devishard 11y ago
There are like 5 different good file syncing utilities, and you're giving up a ton of capabilities for that one feature when you use any of the tools you mention. I'm not critiquing your choice necessarily, just your justification for your choice. It seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
dunderdash 11y ago
I found syncing across devices through local git repo to be pretty effective
TeMPOraL 11y ago
I'd say there's one primary "potential to improve" - a mobile app. The situation is better than it used to be, but frankly still not good enough IMO. Otherwise, an org-mode + Dropbox combo works perfectly for me; every computer I own or work on has Emacs installed anyway. And it's hard to note down so much content on mobile that you won't be able to retype it back on a proper computer under 5 minutes.
- mbrock 11y ago
  I googled and couldn't immediately find a thing that eats notes from IMAP into org-mode. That could be pretty useful for capturing on the go, since e.g. iOS Notes does good IMAP sync.
  - bloat 11y ago
    If you're using GNUS to read your IMAP mail, you can link from org into GNUS. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15736590/how-to-automatically-track-links-in-org-mode-to-gnus-messages http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15736590/how-to-automatic... Org can also store arbitrary links, with custom protocols - for instance I link from org to our jira project using links like [jira:3456].
- Willyfrog 11y ago
  if you use android you can use: http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/
- jxy 11y ago
  I've used org-mode for todo/gtd/planner for years before I had my first smartphone. Then I suddenly realized a user friendly mobile app is so much important. I started to add some of my todos to my phone's builtin reminder, and as you would expect, my todo system quickly fell apart. I'm using omnifocus now on both my laptop and phone, and I would pay more for an equally good interface on the mobile for org-mode. I still use org-mode for writing everything else. Nothing competes with that.
Fice 11y ago
Emacs can transparently edit remote files: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode All you need is a machine accessible via ssh, and you won't have to trust centralized proprietary services.
- brianclements 11y ago
  Speaking as a Workflowy user to your concerns, it's the best of all worlds for me: - nightly export to dropbox as plaintext and a backup as a type of json format with more metadata. If Workflowy goes away tomorrow, I have everything and can continue in an editor if I like. But until then, I use the pretty web interface. - multiple device support. I am not going to mess with ssh on my mobile devices. I use Workflowy for everything from extended note-taking and long-form writing to quick pre-set searches on the go for reference; and that's on all my various interfaces (and sometimes other peoples too). - Workflowy is easy enough for laypersons to view and/or collaborate in seconds. No setup necessary on their end. I am a happy paying customer of theirs.
Vekz 11y ago
Save your org-mode files to a dropbox directory or commit to a git repo to sync across multpile computers
- _asummers 11y ago
  Not to hijack this thread, but if you go the git route make sure to try magit. Best git experience I've ever had.
  - npsimons 11y ago
    Egg is pretty slick IME. Course for org-mode, 90% of my use of git as applied to my org files is as a glorified rsync.
blaedj 11y ago
Ymmv but I sync my notes files via Dropbox across several computers. I wrote a simple elisp function that runs on startup and opens my "todo.org" file. The only unsolved piece of the puzzle here for me is mobile: I haven't found a good way to view/edit org files on iOS.

by colah3 11y ago

mmel 11y ago

I used orgmode for a while before importing them all into Microsoft OneNote, haven't looked back

Tomte 11y ago
OneNote is a bit idiosyncratic and I've had problems using it "right" whenever I tried it. But then I finally read some blog posts and documentation and it clicked. I'm not looking back, either. Even though I'm Emacs-inclined (though not living in Emacs), orgmode is too unwieldy and complicated for me, and the "killer missing feature" is quick entry and editing on my mobile phone. OneNote does that very, very well.
- MandieD 11y ago
  Mind sharing the links or names of what posts or docs helped you the most with OneNote?
  - Tomte 11y ago
    https://www.eng.vt.edu/sites/default/files/pageattachments/msonenote13.pdf https://www.eng.vt.edu/sites/default/files/pageattachments/m... was pretty helpful. I don't remember the others.
- 392c91e8165b 11y ago
  >Even though I'm Emacs-inclined (though not living in Emacs), orgmode is too unwieldy and complicated for me I do live in Emacs, but I prefer the mouse to the keyboard for tasks that can be done both ways, and balked at learning the many dozens of keyboard shortcuts ("keys", in Emacs terminology) org mode wanted me to learn.
walkingolof 11y ago
I took my OneNote stuff into OrgMode because I think there is a higher risk of OneNote being an unreadable format in the future and/or the service being turned off.
- preek 11y ago
  This is exactly why I moved from Evernote to org-mode. I've been a paying user for years with thousands of notes - also important legal documents. Right now, the experience was pretty good, but how will it be in 10-40 years? I'm not going to store everything on paper, as well, just to make sure. The org-mode experience is better, yet totally future proof, because it's just flat text files.
  - rys 11y ago
    How did you handle importing binary data you had in Evernote into org-mode? I've got a bunch of PDFs, images and other non-text data in my Evernote workbooks that I'd need to take care of.
    - preek 11y ago
      This is a very good question! When you come up with a great answer, shoot me a mail! I actually moved everything that is important for the very long time by hand and started creating everything that's new in org-mode. So, yeah, there's still thousands of notes in Evernote and sometime I get back to them, but those times will become fewer and fewer in time. I'd pay for a tool that converts the EN XML to a proper org-mode file. Even better if I could do that on a regular basis, because EN still rocks most for capturing paper into an OCR'ed PDF.
    - MarcScott 11y ago
      I used to keep lots of stuff in Evernote, and when I switched to org-mode, I did an HTML export from Evernote and then wrote an awful Python script to convert the HTML to org-mode. I'm pretty sure all the binary data appears as links in the exported html.

devishard 11y ago

There are like 5 different good file syncing utilities, and you're giving up a ton of capabilities for that one feature when you use any of the tools you mention. I'm not critiquing your choice necessarily, just your justification for your choice. It seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

dunderdash 11y ago

I found syncing across devices through local git repo to be pretty effective

TeMPOraL 11y ago

I'd say there's one primary "potential to improve" - a mobile app. The situation is better than it used to be, but frankly still not good enough IMO. Otherwise, an org-mode + Dropbox combo works perfectly for me; every computer I own or work on has Emacs installed anyway. And it's hard to note down so much content on mobile that you won't be able to retype it back on a proper computer under 5 minutes.

mbrock 11y ago
I googled and couldn't immediately find a thing that eats notes from IMAP into org-mode. That could be pretty useful for capturing on the go, since e.g. iOS Notes does good IMAP sync.
- bloat 11y ago
  If you're using GNUS to read your IMAP mail, you can link from org into GNUS. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15736590/how-to-automatically-track-links-in-org-mode-to-gnus-messages http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15736590/how-to-automatic... Org can also store arbitrary links, with custom protocols - for instance I link from org to our jira project using links like [jira:3456].
Willyfrog 11y ago
if you use android you can use: http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/
jxy 11y ago
I've used org-mode for todo/gtd/planner for years before I had my first smartphone. Then I suddenly realized a user friendly mobile app is so much important. I started to add some of my todos to my phone's builtin reminder, and as you would expect, my todo system quickly fell apart. I'm using omnifocus now on both my laptop and phone, and I would pay more for an equally good interface on the mobile for org-mode. I still use org-mode for writing everything else. Nothing competes with that.

Fice 11y ago

Emacs can transparently edit remote files: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode All you need is a machine accessible via ssh, and you won't have to trust centralized proprietary services.

brianclements 11y ago
Speaking as a Workflowy user to your concerns, it's the best of all worlds for me: - nightly export to dropbox as plaintext and a backup as a type of json format with more metadata. If Workflowy goes away tomorrow, I have everything and can continue in an editor if I like. But until then, I use the pretty web interface. - multiple device support. I am not going to mess with ssh on my mobile devices. I use Workflowy for everything from extended note-taking and long-form writing to quick pre-set searches on the go for reference; and that's on all my various interfaces (and sometimes other peoples too). - Workflowy is easy enough for laypersons to view and/or collaborate in seconds. No setup necessary on their end. I am a happy paying customer of theirs.

Vekz 11y ago

Save your org-mode files to a dropbox directory or commit to a git repo to sync across multpile computers

_asummers 11y ago
Not to hijack this thread, but if you go the git route make sure to try magit. Best git experience I've ever had.
- npsimons 11y ago
  Egg is pretty slick IME. Course for org-mode, 90% of my use of git as applied to my org files is as a glorified rsync.

blaedj 11y ago

Ymmv but I sync my notes files via Dropbox across several computers. I wrote a simple elisp function that runs on startup and opens my "todo.org" file. The only unsolved piece of the puzzle here for me is mobile: I haven't found a good way to view/edit org files on iOS.