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Does anybody have a counter argument for just using macOS notes if you exclusively use Apple products? They sync nicely with my devices and make note taking pre

Does anybody have a counter argument for just using macOS notes if you exclusively use Apple products? They sync nicely with my devices and make note taking pretty simple for me.

jxy 6y ago
Proprietary format. Difficult to link (or backlink) to other notes. Difficult to export, index, or analyze with other tools.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  They are difficult to export. I had great success with Exporter.app, it converts to markdown and even handles the images. It then imports nicely into Bear.app. https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12
- jlgaddis 6y ago
  They're accessible via IMAP. For me, at least, that makes them quite easy to export or $whatever with.
jdillaaa 6y ago
It's a proprietary note ecosystem, so if you ever try to leave (or not use iCloud, which iOS/macOS note syncing depends on), it will be very difficult to regain control of your notes. I did this and it took a lot of effort, involved parsing out some protocol buffers, and losing a lot of formatting. I now just use markdown text files, never going back to that. There are iOS shortcuts now which can let you do this programmatically, but you also lose formatting, and its a hack.
donaldihunter 6y ago
I’ve been using macOS notes for a couple of years for daily note taking, because it is just so convenient with cloud sync. I have been planning to transcribe everything I want to keep into a git repo of .md files, for exactly the lockin reasons the other replies have mentioned. I hope to settle on macOS notes for daily stuff and transcribing to a repo for long term.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  > I have been planning to transcribe everything I want to keep into a git repo of .md files Exporter.app might help you. https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12
colinhb 6y ago
I think similarly, but after giving the notes app a shot for a few days, I went back to a text doc on iCloud Drive. I never really made notes on my phone, and I like being able to stay in my text editor (acme) on macOS. For me, the presentation and structure around this workflow is what's too complicated. To adopt do something similar on macOS, I'd just: > % echo 'notes () { acme-open ~/iCloud\ Drive/notes/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md }' >> ~/.zshrc This would give me a function to create a new, dated notes doc and open with my editor anywhere from the terminal. And then I'd just use standard tools for searching, instead of using a script. (FYI: acme-open is my wrapper to acme, and I keep a link to the actual iCloud Drive directory in my home folder.)

Does anybody have a counter argument for just using macOS notes if you exclusively use Apple products? They sync nicely with my devices and make note taking pretty simple for me.

jxy 6y ago

Proprietary format. Difficult to link (or backlink) to other notes. Difficult to export, index, or analyze with other tools.

lostlogin 6y ago
They are difficult to export. I had great success with Exporter.app, it converts to markdown and even handles the images. It then imports nicely into Bear.app. https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12
jlgaddis 6y ago
They're accessible via IMAP. For me, at least, that makes them quite easy to export or $whatever with.

jdillaaa 6y ago

It's a proprietary note ecosystem, so if you ever try to leave (or not use iCloud, which iOS/macOS note syncing depends on), it will be very difficult to regain control of your notes. I did this and it took a lot of effort, involved parsing out some protocol buffers, and losing a lot of formatting. I now just use markdown text files, never going back to that. There are iOS shortcuts now which can let you do this programmatically, but you also lose formatting, and its a hack.

donaldihunter 6y ago

I’ve been using macOS notes for a couple of years for daily note taking, because it is just so convenient with cloud sync. I have been planning to transcribe everything I want to keep into a git repo of .md files, for exactly the lockin reasons the other replies have mentioned. I hope to settle on macOS notes for daily stuff and transcribing to a repo for long term.

lostlogin 6y ago
> I have been planning to transcribe everything I want to keep into a git repo of .md files Exporter.app might help you. https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/exporter/id1099120373?mt=12

colinhb 6y ago

I think similarly, but after giving the notes app a shot for a few days, I went back to a text doc on iCloud Drive. I never really made notes on my phone, and I like being able to stay in my text editor (acme) on macOS. For me, the presentation and structure around this workflow is what's too complicated. To adopt do something similar on macOS, I'd just: > % echo 'notes () { acme-open ~/iCloud\ Drive/notes/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md }' >> ~/.zshrc This would give me a function to create a new, dated notes doc and open with my editor anywhere from the terminal. And then I'd just use standard tools for searching, instead of using a script. (FYI: acme-open is my wrapper to acme, and I keep a link to the actual iCloud Drive directory in my home folder.)