6 ms·

I tried to like Evernote.. I really did. I live and breath in PDFs and read constantly. I actually had to give up and build my own platform. https://getpolar

I tried to like Evernote.. I really did. I live and breath in PDFs and read constantly. I actually had to give up and build my own platform. https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/ I've basically been coding mad and heads down for 2 months building it. I think we will have a release candidate in another week or so... My hope / goal is to make a BETTER Evernote that's open source and lasts 20-30 years. We have some AMAZING Open Source apps like VLC that just seem to last the test of time. I think we deserve better! One of the other things I wanted was something that was inherently hackable with a plugin API. The data is stored on disk and persisted via JSON so it's easy for write 3rd party apps that use the data. It also works with git, dropbox, etc if you want cloud sync. I'm probably going to build in native cloud sync though and probably use Amazon Appsync since it supports offline sync easily.

mellamoyo 8y ago
I have been looking for something exactly like this. I've tried some other apps as a place to collate and organize PDFs but haven't found anything. This looks really promising.
- burtonator 8y ago
  Thanks.. please jump on the Discord or join the reddit group. We're making FAST progress so if it's not 100% there yet just give us a few more weeks. Or even better send a PR or submit a feature request. The guys on the Discord list were really really wanting tags in the repo view so I just banged them out on Monday.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
craftyguy 8y ago
You should really choose a license for the source code. You get bonus points if it is copyleft.
- miguelrochefort 8y ago
  Copyleft is cancer. The license are the best: - Free Public License 1.0 - Zero-clause BSD
  - burtonator 8y ago
    I might pick a more liberal license in the future but for now we're not a library and I think GPL is good. I'm actually more concerned about app bundlers stealing it and putting it on the App store or something and not contributing any changes back.
    - ummonk 8y ago
      The GPL doesn’t really stop bundlers from stealing it. It just requires them to provide the (potentially modified) source code to their customers upon request.
      - StudentStuff 8y ago
        Code isn't protected from becoming proprietary SaaS with the GPL though, AGPLv3 is the only way to ensure those that take your code, modify it and offer it as SaaS publish the altered code.
        ummonk 8y ago
        Yes, and that's also an increasingly important point, given e.g. AWS's use of Redis.
      - mikekchar 8y ago
        Yeah, it's also really important to understand that they only have to give source code to their customers. They don't have to provide source code upstream. So it's completely legitimate to take a GPL piece of software, make modifications, sell it anywhere you want, put a conspicuous note that you will supply source code on demand to your customers, and then never, ever supply source code because none of the users are technical enough to want the source code. This is part of software freedom. Your end users do not have to distribute binaries or code to anyone that they don't want to. It's just that if they distribute a binary or code to someone, they have to grant the same freedoms they received. Sometimes it's a bit hard to grasp these nuances (especially the, "Hey they can sell my software" bit). It's important to understand that before you choose a license.
shawn 8y ago
This looks like an ideal product. I was asking the other day “why can’t we write in the margins of PDF’s we read?” Cool to see this pop up. Good luck!
thanatos_dem 8y ago
Looks awesome! I rarely use PDFs and even more rarely create or edit them, but I hope you do well. I’ve long thought that dealing effectively with PDF or other complex, crufty formats is a good candidate for a “shlep blindness”[1] style startup, and I hope it works out for you. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html
- burtonator 8y ago
  It supports web content too.. you can capture web documents and the viewer works with them just like books. I need to update the screenshots though. One day at a time.
mm_aa 8y ago
Is there a web endpoint? I’m looking for something exactly like polar. IPad support is a must for me though. Browser based access could work. Meanwhile stuck with mendeley...
- burtonator 8y ago
  It's a good alternative to Mendeley I think. No iPad support but maybe in the future when we get a web version working. No Electron on iPad... :-/
burtonator 8y ago
Oh.. also, give us some more github stars so other people find us :) https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf and if you have a blog or a twitter account please give us a shout out. Polar is a brand new baby , only 60 days old, so not many people know about it yet. The quicker we grow the more contributors we get which means the quicker we grow :)
- engi_nerd 8y ago
  Why do you want to grow?
  - elcomet 8y ago
    To get more contributors
  - reitanqild 8y ago
    Reasons I can think of: - More contributors. - Help more people.
arkades 8y ago
That looks fantastic for my needs. Really. If it does what I hope, I look forward to donating towards future development.
anikdas 8y ago
Hey, you are missing an title for your website. it looks really promising to me, specially when all of the other knowledge maps are going for the SaaS model.
- burtonator 8y ago
  There might be some SaaSy model here but I also want to keep the local model too and also possibly support IPFS and other systems.
pbreit 8y ago
The most important feature of Evernote for me by far is OCR which I did not see listed at Polarized. Is it there or planned?
shalabhc 8y ago
This looks great! Is it possible to integrate with hypothes.is (e.g. import all hypothes.is annotations)?
distortednet 8y ago
I think a note app should be designed around the idea that the first action you take by default is always taking a note, and that actions should be made available where appropriate as a reaction. Shockingly, not many apps do this that I am aware of. Taking notes in an expeditious manner isn't always a design priority, and I don't think that's a needed sacrifice to make in a note taking app. That's why I never used evernote, anyways.
- finaliteration 8y ago
  I feel like Bear[0] comes pretty close. I’ve been using it for the last few months and it’s one of the few apps I’ve found that actually allows me to just go in and take a note/jot down a quick blurb as needed. I tried to use Evernote and it just never stuck with me. It felt like it was too much overhead just for capturing quick ideas. [0]https://bear.app/ https://bear.app/
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    +1 for Bear. I used Evernote for years but it finally became too slow and bloated with several thousand notes and tons of features I never use. I need a lightweight note app, if it takes more than a second or two to fire up the app and jot down a note then that’s a fail. Bear is working well for me. The only thing I don’t like is no audio notes and weird formatting which makes copy pasting bulleted notes into other editors somewhat painful. Still my default note app and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future (or until I have thousands of notes again causing performance to degrade...)
  - sbr464 8y ago
    I like bear, it’s my current note app besides .git. I wish they’d improve their code formatting.
  - danieldk 8y ago
    I liked and used bear when it just came out, but it is moving at a glacial pace when it comes to adding certain important features, such as adding support for tables and equations. Bear has a very good story when it comes to sync with the iPhone. But if you need cross-platform support, tables, equations, and such features org-mode, Typora, etc. are much better options.
farhang 8y ago
Living in PDFs? You just described my life. Also have been looking for Evernote replacement for years. I will actively keep an eye on this. Thank you
delbel 8y ago
Does it support writing notes in markdown with live preview?
ubermonkey 8y ago
I've fought with/used a whole shitton of note tools, including Evernote and OneNote, and what I've finally settled back on is plaintext synced via Dropbox. I don't even use Notational Velo anymore, since OrgMode converted me to an emacs zealot. Turns out, there's a workalike mode called deft that gets me all the same awesome search behavior. On iOS, I use a mix of Drafts and Editorial (well, and BeOrg, for the orgmode files). By going this way, I'm no longer dependent on someone else's product map for my notes. Sure, I guess Dropbox could become problematic or something, but there are other options there -- in this context, it's just plumbing.
capedape 8y ago
Looks interesting! My use case revolves a lot around PDF and trying to remember the best bits, I'll be trying this out. For the general public to catch on to whatever the next Evernote is, I think it will have to have; inviting visual elements like Notion, collapsible text like workflowy, better reminder/project management. So many of the top feature requests of Evernote that have been neglected, some since nearly the beginning.

mellamoyo 8y ago

I have been looking for something exactly like this. I've tried some other apps as a place to collate and organize PDFs but haven't found anything. This looks really promising.

burtonator 8y ago
Thanks.. please jump on the Discord or join the reddit group. We're making FAST progress so if it's not 100% there yet just give us a few more weeks. Or even better send a PR or submit a feature request. The guys on the Discord list were really really wanting tags in the repo view so I just banged them out on Monday.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

craftyguy 8y ago

You should really choose a license for the source code. You get bonus points if it is copyleft.

miguelrochefort 8y ago
Copyleft is cancer. The license are the best: - Free Public License 1.0 - Zero-clause BSD
- burtonator 8y ago
  I might pick a more liberal license in the future but for now we're not a library and I think GPL is good. I'm actually more concerned about app bundlers stealing it and putting it on the App store or something and not contributing any changes back.
  - ummonk 8y ago
    The GPL doesn’t really stop bundlers from stealing it. It just requires them to provide the (potentially modified) source code to their customers upon request.
    - StudentStuff 8y ago
      Code isn't protected from becoming proprietary SaaS with the GPL though, AGPLv3 is the only way to ensure those that take your code, modify it and offer it as SaaS publish the altered code.
      - ummonk 8y ago
        Yes, and that's also an increasingly important point, given e.g. AWS's use of Redis.
    - mikekchar 8y ago
      Yeah, it's also really important to understand that they only have to give source code to their customers. They don't have to provide source code upstream. So it's completely legitimate to take a GPL piece of software, make modifications, sell it anywhere you want, put a conspicuous note that you will supply source code on demand to your customers, and then never, ever supply source code because none of the users are technical enough to want the source code. This is part of software freedom. Your end users do not have to distribute binaries or code to anyone that they don't want to. It's just that if they distribute a binary or code to someone, they have to grant the same freedoms they received. Sometimes it's a bit hard to grasp these nuances (especially the, "Hey they can sell my software" bit). It's important to understand that before you choose a license.

shawn 8y ago

This looks like an ideal product. I was asking the other day “why can’t we write in the margins of PDF’s we read?” Cool to see this pop up. Good luck!

thanatos_dem 8y ago

Looks awesome! I rarely use PDFs and even more rarely create or edit them, but I hope you do well. I’ve long thought that dealing effectively with PDF or other complex, crufty formats is a good candidate for a “shlep blindness”[1] style startup, and I hope it works out for you. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html

burtonator 8y ago
It supports web content too.. you can capture web documents and the viewer works with them just like books. I need to update the screenshots though. One day at a time.

mm_aa 8y ago

Is there a web endpoint? I’m looking for something exactly like polar. IPad support is a must for me though. Browser based access could work. Meanwhile stuck with mendeley...

burtonator 8y ago
It's a good alternative to Mendeley I think. No iPad support but maybe in the future when we get a web version working. No Electron on iPad... :-/

burtonator 8y ago

Oh.. also, give us some more github stars so other people find us :) https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf and if you have a blog or a twitter account please give us a shout out. Polar is a brand new baby , only 60 days old, so not many people know about it yet. The quicker we grow the more contributors we get which means the quicker we grow :)

engi_nerd 8y ago
Why do you want to grow?
- elcomet 8y ago
  To get more contributors
- reitanqild 8y ago
  Reasons I can think of: - More contributors. - Help more people.

arkades 8y ago

That looks fantastic for my needs. Really. If it does what I hope, I look forward to donating towards future development.

anikdas 8y ago

Hey, you are missing an title for your website. it looks really promising to me, specially when all of the other knowledge maps are going for the SaaS model.

burtonator 8y ago
There might be some SaaSy model here but I also want to keep the local model too and also possibly support IPFS and other systems.

pbreit 8y ago

The most important feature of Evernote for me by far is OCR which I did not see listed at Polarized. Is it there or planned?

shalabhc 8y ago

This looks great! Is it possible to integrate with hypothes.is (e.g. import all hypothes.is annotations)?

distortednet 8y ago

I think a note app should be designed around the idea that the first action you take by default is always taking a note, and that actions should be made available where appropriate as a reaction. Shockingly, not many apps do this that I am aware of. Taking notes in an expeditious manner isn't always a design priority, and I don't think that's a needed sacrifice to make in a note taking app. That's why I never used evernote, anyways.

finaliteration 8y ago
I feel like Bear[0] comes pretty close. I’ve been using it for the last few months and it’s one of the few apps I’ve found that actually allows me to just go in and take a note/jot down a quick blurb as needed. I tried to use Evernote and it just never stuck with me. It felt like it was too much overhead just for capturing quick ideas. [0]https://bear.app/ https://bear.app/
- mindgam3 8y ago
  +1 for Bear. I used Evernote for years but it finally became too slow and bloated with several thousand notes and tons of features I never use. I need a lightweight note app, if it takes more than a second or two to fire up the app and jot down a note then that’s a fail. Bear is working well for me. The only thing I don’t like is no audio notes and weird formatting which makes copy pasting bulleted notes into other editors somewhat painful. Still my default note app and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future (or until I have thousands of notes again causing performance to degrade...)
- sbr464 8y ago
  I like bear, it’s my current note app besides .git. I wish they’d improve their code formatting.
- danieldk 8y ago
  I liked and used bear when it just came out, but it is moving at a glacial pace when it comes to adding certain important features, such as adding support for tables and equations. Bear has a very good story when it comes to sync with the iPhone. But if you need cross-platform support, tables, equations, and such features org-mode, Typora, etc. are much better options.

farhang 8y ago

Living in PDFs? You just described my life. Also have been looking for Evernote replacement for years. I will actively keep an eye on this. Thank you

delbel 8y ago

Does it support writing notes in markdown with live preview?

ubermonkey 8y ago

I've fought with/used a whole shitton of note tools, including Evernote and OneNote, and what I've finally settled back on is plaintext synced via Dropbox. I don't even use Notational Velo anymore, since OrgMode converted me to an emacs zealot. Turns out, there's a workalike mode called deft that gets me all the same awesome search behavior. On iOS, I use a mix of Drafts and Editorial (well, and BeOrg, for the orgmode files). By going this way, I'm no longer dependent on someone else's product map for my notes. Sure, I guess Dropbox could become problematic or something, but there are other options there -- in this context, it's just plumbing.

capedape 8y ago

Looks interesting! My use case revolves a lot around PDF and trying to remember the best bits, I'll be trying this out. For the general public to catch on to whatever the next Evernote is, I think it will have to have; inviting visual elements like Notion, collapsible text like workflowy, better reminder/project management. So many of the top feature requests of Evernote that have been neglected, some since nearly the beginning.