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I was in search of a good cross-platform notes app. Like Evernote, but preferably free with the open data format. I concluded that for me, personally, emacs org

I was in search of a good cross-platform notes app. Like Evernote, but preferably free with the open data format. I concluded that for me, personally, emacs org-mode with notes files stored in the Dropbox folder turns out to be an optimal solution. YMMV.

jayaram 7y ago
After spending a lot of time testing out different apps, I ended up doing the same. Also orgzly for android works pretty well with org files stored on dropbox!
hsjkfhskjfd 7y ago
Same problem here. Resorted to keeping everything plain text after trying so many half-baked and sticky note taking apps that prevent your notes from being ported. Currently using this Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marcador/nneoamjiblbbinjjnbajbeaeohmnmkdl https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marcador/nneoamjib... Started as just adding bookmarks to your Dropbox, but now it lets you add plain text notes. And it only has access to its own app directory--not your whole Dropbox!
c-smile 7y ago
I think that my Sciter.Notes (https://notes.sciter.com https://notes.sciter.com) will qualify that. Notes are stored in local db yet notebooks in the db can be mapped on file folders (e.g. folder on DropBox containing html files - each note is a single HTML file). The note db file can be protected/encrypted by OS means. Windows/Mac/Linux.
- urlwolf 7y ago
  Agreed. Sciter notes is a gem. It's fantastically fast. C-smile, congrats on writing this masterpiece. I wish you best of luck. If you found a biz model to support it and add features, it'd be great. So much low hunging fruit in a world of electron apps and a crowd (HN) that mostly hates them.
tobib 7y ago
I've been using https://notable.md/ https://notable.md/ for a while, works well for simple workflows.
c0ffe 7y ago
I agree: plain text is after all, easier to manage. Personally, I've used Joplin [0] some months ago, and Im using QOwnNotes [1] now. Both are open source, cross platform, and can synchronize with Nextcloud. QOwnNotes may feel a bit faster since its written in Qt/C++ (Joplin is an Electron app). However, I still find hard to write tables in Markdown manually. [0]: https://joplinapp.org https://joplinapp.org [1]: https://www.qownnotes.org https://www.qownnotes.org
kixiQu 7y ago
Joplin's (https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/) whole shtick is basically being "open source evernote" in case anyone's wondering (can import from them and all). Personally I'm having a good time with Tiddlywiki with a markdown plugin and nice context-of-backlinks setup (inspired by roamresearch.com )

jayaram 7y ago

After spending a lot of time testing out different apps, I ended up doing the same. Also orgzly for android works pretty well with org files stored on dropbox!

hsjkfhskjfd 7y ago

Same problem here. Resorted to keeping everything plain text after trying so many half-baked and sticky note taking apps that prevent your notes from being ported. Currently using this Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marcador/nneoamjiblbbinjjnbajbeaeohmnmkdl https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marcador/nneoamjib... Started as just adding bookmarks to your Dropbox, but now it lets you add plain text notes. And it only has access to its own app directory--not your whole Dropbox!

c-smile 7y ago

I think that my Sciter.Notes (https://notes.sciter.com https://notes.sciter.com) will qualify that. Notes are stored in local db yet notebooks in the db can be mapped on file folders (e.g. folder on DropBox containing html files - each note is a single HTML file). The note db file can be protected/encrypted by OS means. Windows/Mac/Linux.

urlwolf 7y ago
Agreed. Sciter notes is a gem. It's fantastically fast. C-smile, congrats on writing this masterpiece. I wish you best of luck. If you found a biz model to support it and add features, it'd be great. So much low hunging fruit in a world of electron apps and a crowd (HN) that mostly hates them.

tobib 7y ago

I've been using https://notable.md/ https://notable.md/ for a while, works well for simple workflows.

c0ffe 7y ago

I agree: plain text is after all, easier to manage. Personally, I've used Joplin [0] some months ago, and Im using QOwnNotes [1] now. Both are open source, cross platform, and can synchronize with Nextcloud. QOwnNotes may feel a bit faster since its written in Qt/C++ (Joplin is an Electron app). However, I still find hard to write tables in Markdown manually. [0]: https://joplinapp.org https://joplinapp.org [1]: https://www.qownnotes.org https://www.qownnotes.org

kixiQu 7y ago

Joplin's (https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/) whole shtick is basically being "open source evernote" in case anyone's wondering (can import from them and all). Personally I'm having a good time with Tiddlywiki with a markdown plugin and nice context-of-backlinks setup (inspired by roamresearch.com )