14 ms·

FSNotes: Notes manager for macOS and iOS – native, open source

298 points by codetrotter 5y ago

upbeat_general 5y ago
Switched to FSNotes after trying several alternatives including just Apple Notes. I wanted to use Typora since I love the writing interface but it doesn’t have many of the organizational conveniences of a dedicated note-taking app. All in all I’ve been really happy with it and paid for the iOS/macOS versions. I love that it’s not subscription based (and actually open source in that the AppStore/dmg versions are basically identical). Most importantly for me, it’s super fast and everything is saved in a TextBundle (or markdown) format so I’m not locked in.
codetrotter 5y ago
Via https://old.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/p98454/fsnotes_v5_pro_notes_manager_for_macos/ https://old.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/p98454/fsnotes_v5_... where it was posted by its author. Be sure to check out that thread for more info about the application and for some answers to any questions that people may have.
coldtea 5y ago
FSNotes is amazing. It's what I've settled on, not liking the lock-in (bad export options) of Notes.app, paying for increasingly crappier Evernote (I used in the past), cloud-sync-based note apps, very barebones FOSS apps, half-arsed stuff like Agenda, and Electron crap.
- blondin 5y ago
  long time google keep user. i am seriously considering migrating my hundreds of notes and recipes to notes.app because i have been having a bad feeling about keep. you are saying the grass isn't greener on that side either? what's bad about notes.app besides lock-in and export?
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    If you enjoy using the Notes app, it should be fine. I don’t like it because I find it clunky and restrictive. However I wouldn’t tell someone to not try it if it seems fine to them.
  - technological 5y ago
    I am in same boat (long time keep user) h. How do you plan to migrate from google keep
    - ydant 5y ago
      If you want to export your Keep notes (and almost all of the metadata and media) into Markdown format, I helped write keep-exporter, a tool to accomplish just that. It downloads the text content of the notes and the majority of media (some of the annotation stuff doesn't work quite right). So assuming another app supports markdown import, this would work. https://github.com/ndbeals/keep-exporter/ https://github.com/ndbeals/keep-exporter/ (note, the version in PyPI is behind and I don't have access to update it, so pull from the repository instead) It uses gkeepapi (https://github.com/kiwiz/gkeepapi https://github.com/kiwiz/gkeepapi), but it looks like there's an official API now (https://developers.google.com/keep/api https://developers.google.com/keep/api), so maybe Keep isn't going away anytime soon.
  - jlundberg 5y ago
    My experience with Notes is positive. What I especially like is the simplicity overall and good sync between mac/iphone/ipad. And that it works great offline.
  - Matthias1 5y ago
    I’ve been using the native Apple notes for years now. At first it was convenience, but at some point I thought about it and decided there was no reason to switch. It has shockingly reliable sync (for Apple), and the right number of formatting options for me. I wish it could syntax-highlight code blocks, but that’s not a universal use case. Export is fine if you’re only moving a single note—it just strips formatting and shares it as plain text. Similarly, I don’t know if there’s a bulk import option. If you have a text file, you might need to copy-paste it into notes.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  You didn’t bring up a lot of apps that are similar. Is it because open source is a requirement? Not sure because you bring up obviously non open source app issues. For a quick look at quite a few apps would be all the Zettelkasten notes apps. Taio is recently out for iOS and Mac too. I also don’t look at any of the options you listed. There’s still a handful of apps left over.
- gingerlime 5y ago
  what I like about the notes app is that it can use imap to store notes. So they’re in-sync without iCloud and accessible from any imap client. The app itself is a bit annoying though with forced auto-spelling and a clunky feeling. Would love to find another app that relies on imap, but haven’t found any (admit to not looking too much)
  - walteweiss 5y ago
    What do you mean by IMAP? Isn’t it a mail sync thing? Or can you use it some other way?
    - dunham 5y ago
      IMAP is read/write and holds the mail on the server (unlike POP). If you go into your internet accounts settings and tick "notes". Notes will surface it and stores notes in folders on the mail server. (Not all of notes functionality is available in the notes stored in those folders.)
      - butokai 5y ago
        That's a big proviso in parenthesis. I would go as far as saying that most functionality is not available, unfortunately.
    - wpearse 5y ago
      Apple’s visual voicemail on the iPhone also syncs using IMAP hosted by your carrier.
      - lxgr 5y ago
        So does the Notes app, at least for Google accounts.
    - dvdkon 5y ago
      IMAP is basically a file access protocol (think FTP), but the "files" are emails. You don't have to just pull from an INBOX and save emails in Sent (that's done over IMAP, not SMTP), you can read/create/modify anything anywhere, so some apps save notes to IMAP for some reason (to replace "self-emails" I guess).
- rado 5y ago
  I love Notes, but the lack of Watch support is inexplicable.
jmnicolas 5y ago
I only ever had a Windows then a Linux machine, but it seems to me that all the cool apps are on Apple.
- inportb 5y ago
  You could install Joplin and be cool too.
- rmorey 5y ago
  this was me, about 4 years ago, when I started using the Mac - and honestly you're totally right.
LVB 5y ago
I’ve tried a number of notes apps backed with “Sync with iCloud Drive” and often find it problematic. Usually the problems are on the Mac side, wherein my laptop does a bad job of pushing up small edits to existing files. I can force it with hacky things like viewing the folder in Finder, but that is a nuisance and easy to forget. The result is that I’ll open up Beorg/Obsidian/etc. on my iOS device and see a quite out-of-date version of the docs. FWIW the non-drive iCloud Sync (core data?) works extremely well for things like Bear.
- chrisweekly 5y ago
  FWIW, Obsidian's native apps (macOS and iOS) work great, with the Obsidian.md Sync feature.
  - LVB 5y ago
    That's what I've heard. I passed on Obsidian for some other reasons, but during my eval I was pretty sure if I was to stick with it I'd pay for their sync service.
- dunham 5y ago
  I think CloudKit is the name of the one that bear is using. It’s part of “iCloud”, but a different service (not the iCloud Drive). It seems to work well. Obsidian has a few options, but can use iCloud Drive. As you note, it’s a bit hit or miss. Files take a while to sync. Sometimes the desktop won’t bother downloading a file. Hard linked files don’t seem to sync at all. (Obsidian’s paid sync service works well in my experience.)
ghostpepper 5y ago
Coincidentally I discovered another iOS app for note-taking this week called Beorg, which leverages the emacs + org mode format so I can easily sync between iOS and Linux. This one looks nice too though; always good to see open source apps for Mac and iOS. I wonder how similar the markdown formats are.
- ydant 5y ago
  And on the Android side, Orgzly http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/ I'm finding that syncing between Emacs/org-mode and my phone has been nothing but problems, though. Sync conflicts abound. I'm not sure how much of that is my Emacs config, Syncthing on Android, or Orgzly. Any ideas on avoiding that? How are you syncing with Beorg?
- daliz 5y ago
  I find the beorg UI ugly. I would really love an Orgzly for iPad.
  - xenodium 5y ago
    I’m working on bringing my org tasks to iOS (iPad included). https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg Available on TestFlight now. Edit: Email me for invites "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com"
- xenodium 5y ago
  I’m working on bringing my org tasks to iOS. It’s early days but can be seen here https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg and here https://xenodium.com/org-habits-on-ios-check-tasks-youre-next https://xenodium.com/org-habits-on-ios-check-tasks-youre-nex... I have TestFlight invites available for anyone interested. Edit: Email me for invites "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com"
  - voltaireodactyl 5y ago
    Just wanted to say I'm currently using it and it's fantastic (and rapidly developed). Can't thank you enough for spending so much effort supporting org on iOS, it's really filling a huge gap for me!
CapriciousCptl 5y ago
This is nice! Quiver was my previous go-to, but it's all but abandonware in 2021.
Keverw 5y ago
So funny this pops up. Last few days I've been wanting a new notes app that wasn't using some database and was files based, plus I feel like other notes app rich text copying and pasting notes can be a mess. Plus a bit unorganized so wanted a new notes app and just copy things over as I need. This one looks pretty prefect for my wants. I also like how it has both folders and hash tags too instead of being forced to pick one over the other.
- utunbu 5y ago
  Just curious if you had tried Obsidian (https://obsidian.md https://obsidian.md)?
  - ydant 5y ago
    Obsidian really is a great choice if you are looking for Markdown. Windows, Linux, Mac, Android/iOS mobile apps soon. It's polished, fast, and all around a great experience. Flexible inter-note linking (wiki style), visualization, backlink discovery, handles images and embedded documents well. All around a good product. I'm still looking for something with a cross-platform GUI that I like as much as I liked Obsidian.md - but with the same sort of arbitrarily nested hierarchy (with TODOs and the like at any level) and the ability to adhoc rearrange my notes like org-mode provides. The Emacs/org-mode level of customization would be nice, too. Trilium Notes ( https://github.com/zadam/trilium https://github.com/zadam/trilium ) was also a good contendor, but not having a text-content-first focus made for some frustrating experiences of data corruption, and testing data export of my initial trial run was messy as a consequence as well.
    - whimsicalism 5y ago
      > Windows, Linux, Mac, Android/iOS mobile apps soon. I think they are actually available now. > arbitrarily nested hierarchy What do you mean arbitrarily nested hierarchy?
      - ydant 5y ago
        Emacs org-mode, the org format, and the general ecosystem (agenda view, org-roam, and lots of other things) don't really care how you structure your data, so you can choose between: * a bunch of very focused small files * a single large file * some combination of the two So, for example, I might start off with my "todo.work.org" file and having something like: * Partner Integration ** <Partner name> *** APIs **** Query API ***** Quirks ****** TODO Confirm API only works on Tuesdays **** Purchase API *** Tasks **** TODO Read the documentation **** STRT Email about feature **** DONE Complain about horrible APIs in Slack The built in "folding" support (collapsing/expanding) is pretty good, so you can easily toggle between seeing the whole hierarchy of the headings, the content, arbitrary levels of nesting (i.e., show only headings 1 & 2 levels deep and hide everything else). The TODO/STRT/DONE entries can be placed anywhere in this hierarchy, and org-mode will take note of them and allow you to build up Agenda views of some/all of your TODOs. So you can ask org to give you a list of tasks filtered by some criteria (e.g. scheduled for this week) - but across many different files. You can "quickly" jump to arbitrary headings and start building onto the hierarchy. You can "narrow" your view on a sub-heading and the entire edit view becomes only about that sub-heading (so I could narrow my view to just "APIs" and everything below it). If you want to edit the hierarchy, it's basically a matter of going up and adding some headings ("** HEADING") and using shortcut keys to indent/un-indent (promote/demote) headings. I find this works really well for me. Allows for brainstorming, keeping notes without pre-organizing them, collapsing irrelevant details when not needed, etc. Also key for this, you can add UUIDs to individual "nodes" (headings) and those IDs persist with that heading, even if you move the heading to a different spot in the hierarchy (a different heading in the same file, or a different file). So your links (to the UUID, instead of the heading text or file) can be resilient to the restructuring of your data over-time. There's really a whole lot to org-mode, and it didn't click for me until I watched some YouTube videos, but now I really hate that it offer so much great functionality - but it's tied to Emacs and ultimately feels clunky and slow as a consequence.
franczesko 5y ago
Unfortunately, the platform lock is a deal breaker for me. After testing a lot of different note apps, I'm currently using Joplin. It does 95% of the things I need quite right. I'm not sure, if it's only my problem, but I really struggled to find a good app for note taking, although there's a plethora of solutions out there.
- sharikone 5y ago
  I agree perfectly. It seems there are zillions of apps (just look at this thread), but the moment I look for my requirements (markdown, good math rendering, no format lockdown, decent GUI, basic backup options) it seems that no matter how I look the only options are Obsidian and Joplin. Joplin being open source, albeit not perfect, it is my choice. It always surprises me how many apps there and how I don't get a feeling with 95% of them.
  - msephton 5y ago
    These requirements are met by FSNotes. Or does it lack in some way you've not mentioned?
- daniel_iversen 5y ago
  By platform lock you mean OS vendor-lock (i.e. apple)? Because FS Notes stores all your notes in plain text files (which is why I use it - pointed to a Dropbox folder). Admittedly it has a weird way of naming the files (presumably so it can have the filesystem act as a more robust database that is then loaded and cached) but it's still the easiest and most "free feeling" workflow that I've been able to stick with for my workflow (what appeals to me about FSNotes is: Plain text files, Syncs with Dropbox, Fast and simple keyboard shortcuts, Works on mobile and desktop, Quick and simple to organise stuff in folders but no tags or complex structures, Very cheap)
  - possibleworlds 5y ago
    > Admittedly it has a weird way of naming the files You can change the file naming default to be based on note title BTW, it's in the first Preference pane window "General".
utunbu 5y ago
I've jumped between note-taking Apps, Evernote, Bear, Typora, Notion, Obsidian, ..., you name it. Finally settled down with Obsidian as I can manage note files directly such as using Syncthing for backing up and syncing. This one does seem interesting and possible to integrate into my workflow, gotta give it a try.
- dinkleberg 5y ago
  I'm in a similar spot, recently started using Obsidian and am enjoying it. It's far from perfect, but it is better than the others imo. And the fact that it is all markdown based means no lock-in which is fantastic.
- Void_ 5y ago
  If you're looking for Obsidian, but with a nicer UI, Reflect is definitely worth trying. (https://reflect.app https://reflect.app)
  - smoldesu 5y ago
    Is it open-source and cross-platform, like Obsidian?
    - filchermcurr 5y ago
      I don't know if this was rhetorical or not, but I read through the blog and found no indication that it's open-source. The only platforms I saw mentioned were macOS and iOS (Android was mentioned once but I think it was more of a future thing) and it appears the final price will be $160 per year. From what I saw of the website and the blog posts, I'm not sure how this is better than Obsidian. The original comment mentions a nicer UI but the UI doesn't seem that much different. One of the things I love about Obsidian is how customizable the UI actually is.
    - tailspin2019 5y ago
      Obsidian isn’t open source.
- 5y ago
for_i_in_range 5y ago
I prefer the same notetaking app Feynman used… paper, something to write with, and your brain. Or you can go digital and develop someone else’s brain (or something else’s).
- istingray 5y ago
  The only thing better than Feynman paper is encrypted paper
simonw 5y ago
The thing I want most from a notes app is a web API that lets me programmatically fetch my notes data. Evernote's public API uses Thrift, which is really weird. Usually it takes me a couple of minutes to start getting data out of a web API - in Evernote's case I gave up after an hour.
wtf77 5y ago
forget everything...there is only one editor and knowledge manager: obsidian.
hamzakc 5y ago
I have recently started using logseq: https://logseq.com/blog/about https://logseq.com/blog/about I have to say I am really loving it so far. All based on Markdown or org mode format. I have a folder stored on OneDrive and it is synced across all my devices.
- ydant 5y ago
  Thanks for mentioning this. This looks like a nice companion to Obsidian and org-mode. It seems to mix a lot of the great qualities of each.
wdb 5y ago
I am really enjoy Noteplan for macOS and iOS. Works really well and it comes with Setapp :)
- n1000 5y ago
  Loved it until they introduced a subscription, which was a considerable price increase.
yayr 5y ago
Nice Tool. But why is it not possible to edit markdown files in arbitrary folders? why do I have to have a separate folder for notes and another one for all other documents?
- msephton 5y ago
  Just pick your top level folder and then you're set.
jereees 5y ago
Haven’t seen Craft mentioned here but amongst almost all of the other already mentioned apps, Craft feels to me like it’s got the whole pack. Native apps, cloud sync that works, option for iCloud sync or offline storage, blocks that turn into pages, multi platform, Markdown, etc.
- AdamGibbins 5y ago
  https://www.craft.do/ https://www.craft.do/ I assume you're referring to this, took a bit of googling.
  - jereees 5y ago
    That one.
- NmAmDa 5y ago
  Also for people with student status they are offering free education license now until before October.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lostintangent 5y ago
After GitHub.dev was released (hit “.” on any GitHub repo, to open it in browser-based VS Code), I immediately saw the notetaking workflow that I wanted: a GitHub repo, storing markdown that I can own/control, but editable in the browser, using my existing VS Code preferences (theme, keybindings, etc.). Unfortunately, VS Code doesn’t natively support wiki links, so I created an extension that simply adds that feature on top of the core VS Code markdown editor: https://GitHub.com/lostintangent/wikilens https://GitHub.com/lostintangent/wikilens. Over the last week, this experience has really transformed my writing workflow. I can simply open https://GitHub.dev/lostintangent/wiki https://GitHub.dev/lostintangent/wiki (my personal notes repo) and begin editing and navigating, without too much ceremony. As the extension ecosystem begins creating more extensions for GitHub.dev, this experience will only get better.
- pjot 5y ago
  This is spot on to what I was wanting as well - thank you for pointing out the “.” workflow!
  - lostintangent 5y ago
    Absolutely! If you end up checking out WikiLens w/GitHub.dev, don’t hesitate to let me know any feedback you might have. I’ll be iterating on the experience based on my own usage, but I’m keen to ensure this works well for others as well!
- revicon 5y ago
  How does this work for you if you’re on a mobile device?
  - tbojanin 5y ago
    theres a github app you can download. I imagine the note editing experience on the mobile app is a bit subpar.
    - oreilles 5y ago
mahgnous 5y ago
Why is there no linux version? I didn't think people were still using macs.
DavideNL 5y ago
Apple’s “Quicknote” feature in iOS 15 is great, being able to highlight and link to specific text on any webpage in Safari, and other apps as well. I guess a lot of people will stick to the stock Notes app just because of this feature [1] Unfortunately no 3th-party Notes app can implement such a feature due to Apple’s walled garden :’( [1] https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/22/quick-note-may-be-the-best-new-feature-in-ipados-15 https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/22/quick-note-may-be...
- nimvlaj30 5y ago
  That's such a dumb limitation imo. Wish there was a system API apps could use to allow it.
- smartbit 5y ago
  Anyway to change the storage backend from iCloud to something self-hosted that has all the Apple Notes features? In my experience syncing works fine with IMAP as backend storage, regretfully without most of the rich-text features.
brailsafe 5y ago
Looks like a bit of a spiritual successor to Quiver, with some inspiration from Bear. Cool
atombender 5y ago
I keep seeing apps like these, and what they almost never have is sharing notes between multiple people. I use Apple Notes, and I constantly share notes with my wife — and entire folder structures, too. We use it for grocery lists, dinner planning, travel planning, and many other things. It's not quite as elegantly real-time as Google Docs, but we don't need that as much, since we tend to edit at different times. I also like that Notes is rich text all the way. My heart sinks when a new note-taking app boasts of Markdown support, as if that's a good thing. I think Markdown is fine for technical docs, where no good standard for rich text editing exists. But Markdown is a compromise — things like asterisks and underlines are less legible than the bold and italics they represent (especially across more than one word), and links become nigh unreadable, not to mention things like inline images and tables. I previously used Evernote, and I've tried Notion (slow, awful for organizing, "block model" gets in the way of writing). I've yet to find anything that matches Apple Notes.
- istingray 5y ago
  Here here. I love Apple Notes. I don't even need a title for notes - iOS just takes the top line of the note. Is it that hard to create an open source hosted version? Just get out of the way and let me take a note! As I posted in this thread, I will pay $100/year for this solution. The closest I've found is Standard Notes, but it's missing a few things.
  - setpatchaddress 5y ago
    Out of curiosity, why not just use Notes? (I’m aware there are legit reasons, but I’m curious about your scenario.)
    - istingray 5y ago
      Moving off Apple's ecosystem. Their definition of privacy/surveillance falls short of "human rights" level privacy and only protects against advertisers and hackers.
      - 5y ago
istingray 5y ago
I will pay $100 a year for an iOS-like Notes replacement, de-Appled with these criteria: 1. Secure - E2E encrypted on cloud storage, vendor cannot read it 2. Accessible - standalone native app on desktop and mobile on all platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac/iOS, Android) 3. Simple - love how Apple doesn't even make you "title" notes, it just takes the first line 4. Shareable - with others with editing privs eg a grocery list for family 5. Paid - that way I know it's sustainable and not some data scam 6. Plain - Base version has no ability to publish to a blog or any junk like that. 7. Open source I just subscribed to Standard Notes:https://standardnotes.com/ https://standardnotes.com/ Standard Notes has #1, #2, #5, and#7. But UI is more cluttered than iOS. And not shareable with editing privs.
- mithusingh32 5y ago
  Have you looked into Joplin?
  - istingray 5y ago
    I appreciate the suggestion. I checked it out at the same time as Standard Notes. It seems to break the Simple + Plain criteria. For example on the main nav, pressing "+" prompts to either New Note or New To Do. And all the references to "notebooks". Too much for me.
    - mithusingh32 5y ago
      That's fair. The syncing is bit janky if you're careful. But having a self-hosted option is what attracted me. I don't trust anyone with my data anymore.
      - istingray 5y ago
        Apparently you can self host Standard Notes -- From Standard Notes: Standard Notes is free and open-source software, which means self-hosting both ends (the app and server) is both totally possible and very easy." https://standardnotes.com/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.com/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n...
ezconnect 5y ago
You should have a OneDrive sync, lots of people uses it.
possibleworlds 5y ago
Lot's of discussion about other apps but none cover the main selling point for me. FSNotes was created initially as an open source Notational Velocity / NVAlt replacement when NVAlt broke on one of the MacOS version upgrades. It can be configured to replicate the amazing modal search / create interface from those apps. There is also NVUltra [0] from Brett Terpstra, his successor to NVAlt. It is still in beta after quite a while. From memory it seemed more powerful and a bit slicker overall, but right now I don't need to do anything too complicated and prefer the cleaner native look of FSNotes. FSNotes has no dropbox integration for the iOS app, but you can still use dropbox as a store and use any other plain text / markdown iOS note app. I use 1Writer. [0] https://nvultra.com https://nvultra.com [1] https://1writerapp.com https://1writerapp.com
guessbest 5y ago
My favorite notetaking program is Keynote NF https://github.com/dpradov/keynote-nf https://github.com/dpradov/keynote-nf On the mac though I never found anything as good.
ibdf 5y ago
Ugh… I have been through so many notes apps and half of them look like this one… boostnote, quicksilver, apple notes… all offer just the basics. I’m with Notion right now because I can add files and images easily, and can create some more complex layouts that you can’t achieve with markdown, but I’m still not satisfied… Notion biggest flaw for me is trying to make every table a relationship database.
- rjzzleep 5y ago
  I haven't used notion, but isn't that what they market as their biggest selling point? It's basically a modern pretty Access in some ways. Can you explain why you dislike that part?
  - julianz 5y ago
    Because sometimes you just want a bit of tabular formatting within a note. The table feature is really, really cool when you want to use it, but if you don't it's a bit OTT - e.g. every table has a bunch of chrome at the bottom with a row count, some auto-totalling things, a new row button etc. I'm also a little unclear what happens if I export to another product, do my tables show up as tables in the new product or as a thousand small notes each with one row of one table in?
  - ibdf 5y ago
    What @julianz said... the relationship stuff is great... but not every table have to act that way. Sometimes you have some content that are tabular in nature, but don't need the whole formatting they force it on you.
- msephton 5y ago
  FSNotes is far from basic and can include images.
fattybob 5y ago
Having been a notational velocity / Simplenote user for ages, I’m very happy to be able to migrate my stash of notes into FSNotes, and bonus - it can take images/ photos (far better than standard notes manages - a neglected purchase I have) and even encryption for specific entries that works easily!! Wow all my ideals in one place. I’m a convert for sure, but have to admit, still using NV on my desktop and Simplenote on iOS, but it looks like they will be left behind slowly, as I’m only adding to FSNotes now. I hope they keep it independent and avoid the eventual buyout offers to come.
- msephton 5y ago
  FSNotes is already up to version 5, and fiercely independent, so things are looking good.
njsubedi 5y ago
If it has already integrated git, why not support syncing through the VCS instead of third party like Dropbox or iCloud? Is there any note taking app that automatically syncs changes with a remote repository, so I can simply provide credentials to a hosted git instance and it does everything out of the box?
- filchermcurr 5y ago
  There's a Git plugin for Obsidian: https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git It's not quite out of the box, but installing community plugins is very easy through the settings UI.
jessejjohnson 5y ago
I was very intrigued then you had me with mermaid support. New customer!
xx__yy 5y ago
Looks a little like SimpleNote, and also free. Difference looks like Apple tech only. It's got end-to-end encryption, which is amazing! I'm hoping SimpleNote will get end-to-end- encryption soon.
- makach 5y ago
  e2e encryption is not amazing these days, it is a basic requirement. i.e. if you communicate using https you are using e2e encryption.
  - southerntofu 5y ago
    In a c2s model, TLS is usually not considered end-to-end encryption. End-to-End refers to your server not being able to read the contents of your communications. For something like FSNotes, that would probably look like encrypting your notes with your own public key before sending them to the server.
- pacifika 5y ago
  Can you paste images from clipboard into simple note yet?
Techasura 5y ago
I'm happy with Things honestly. https://culturedcode.com/things/ https://culturedcode.com/things/
CoryAlexMartin 5y ago
I use Notational Velocity on my Mac, FSNotes on iOS, and have them both use .rtf and sync via iCloud.
unhammer 5y ago
I feel like I should wash my hands after clicking that URL, might want to consider a new domain name?
- msephton 5y ago
  Feel free to suggest one.
msephton 5y ago
I really appreciate that this is a native app on both macOS and iOS. Props to the developer.
chartpath 5y ago
My #1 wish with all of these is decent footnote support. None of that manually tinkering with superscript numbers. EDIT: looks like it got added here https://github.com/glushchenko/fsnotes/pull/704 https://github.com/glushchenko/fsnotes/pull/704 Take my money! EDIT 2: darn, the footnotes in markdown still need to be manually incremented. Why can't it work like auto-incrementing numbered lists already do?
fluder 5y ago
Founder is here. I want to thank everyone for the votes and feedback. I can't answer personally to everything here, but I read all the questions on github and answer by email. Some news about project will be tweeted soon.

298 points by codetrotter 5y ago

Switched to FSNotes after trying several alternatives including just Apple Notes. I wanted to use Typora since I love the writing interface but it doesn’t have many of the organizational conveniences of a dedicated note-taking app. All in all I’ve been really happy with it and paid for the iOS/macOS versions. I love that it’s not subscription based (and actually open source in that the AppStore/dmg versions are basically identical). Most importantly for me, it’s super fast and everything is saved in a TextBundle (or markdown) format so I’m not locked in.

codetrotter 5y ago

Via https://old.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/p98454/fsnotes_v5_pro_notes_manager_for_macos/ https://old.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/p98454/fsnotes_v5_... where it was posted by its author. Be sure to check out that thread for more info about the application and for some answers to any questions that people may have.

coldtea 5y ago

FSNotes is amazing. It's what I've settled on, not liking the lock-in (bad export options) of Notes.app, paying for increasingly crappier Evernote (I used in the past), cloud-sync-based note apps, very barebones FOSS apps, half-arsed stuff like Agenda, and Electron crap.

blondin 5y ago
long time google keep user. i am seriously considering migrating my hundreds of notes and recipes to notes.app because i have been having a bad feeling about keep. you are saying the grass isn't greener on that side either? what's bad about notes.app besides lock-in and export?
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  If you enjoy using the Notes app, it should be fine. I don’t like it because I find it clunky and restrictive. However I wouldn’t tell someone to not try it if it seems fine to them.
- technological 5y ago
  I am in same boat (long time keep user) h. How do you plan to migrate from google keep
  - ydant 5y ago
    If you want to export your Keep notes (and almost all of the metadata and media) into Markdown format, I helped write keep-exporter, a tool to accomplish just that. It downloads the text content of the notes and the majority of media (some of the annotation stuff doesn't work quite right). So assuming another app supports markdown import, this would work. https://github.com/ndbeals/keep-exporter/ https://github.com/ndbeals/keep-exporter/ (note, the version in PyPI is behind and I don't have access to update it, so pull from the repository instead) It uses gkeepapi (https://github.com/kiwiz/gkeepapi https://github.com/kiwiz/gkeepapi), but it looks like there's an official API now (https://developers.google.com/keep/api https://developers.google.com/keep/api), so maybe Keep isn't going away anytime soon.
- jlundberg 5y ago
  My experience with Notes is positive. What I especially like is the simplicity overall and good sync between mac/iphone/ipad. And that it works great offline.
- Matthias1 5y ago
  I’ve been using the native Apple notes for years now. At first it was convenience, but at some point I thought about it and decided there was no reason to switch. It has shockingly reliable sync (for Apple), and the right number of formatting options for me. I wish it could syntax-highlight code blocks, but that’s not a universal use case. Export is fine if you’re only moving a single note—it just strips formatting and shares it as plain text. Similarly, I don’t know if there’s a bulk import option. If you have a text file, you might need to copy-paste it into notes.
skinnymuch 5y ago
You didn’t bring up a lot of apps that are similar. Is it because open source is a requirement? Not sure because you bring up obviously non open source app issues. For a quick look at quite a few apps would be all the Zettelkasten notes apps. Taio is recently out for iOS and Mac too. I also don’t look at any of the options you listed. There’s still a handful of apps left over.
gingerlime 5y ago
what I like about the notes app is that it can use imap to store notes. So they’re in-sync without iCloud and accessible from any imap client. The app itself is a bit annoying though with forced auto-spelling and a clunky feeling. Would love to find another app that relies on imap, but haven’t found any (admit to not looking too much)
- walteweiss 5y ago
  What do you mean by IMAP? Isn’t it a mail sync thing? Or can you use it some other way?
  - dunham 5y ago
    IMAP is read/write and holds the mail on the server (unlike POP). If you go into your internet accounts settings and tick "notes". Notes will surface it and stores notes in folders on the mail server. (Not all of notes functionality is available in the notes stored in those folders.)
    - butokai 5y ago
      That's a big proviso in parenthesis. I would go as far as saying that most functionality is not available, unfortunately.
  - wpearse 5y ago
    Apple’s visual voicemail on the iPhone also syncs using IMAP hosted by your carrier.
    - lxgr 5y ago
      So does the Notes app, at least for Google accounts.
  - dvdkon 5y ago
    IMAP is basically a file access protocol (think FTP), but the "files" are emails. You don't have to just pull from an INBOX and save emails in Sent (that's done over IMAP, not SMTP), you can read/create/modify anything anywhere, so some apps save notes to IMAP for some reason (to replace "self-emails" I guess).
rado 5y ago
I love Notes, but the lack of Watch support is inexplicable.

jmnicolas 5y ago

I only ever had a Windows then a Linux machine, but it seems to me that all the cool apps are on Apple.

inportb 5y ago
You could install Joplin and be cool too.
rmorey 5y ago
this was me, about 4 years ago, when I started using the Mac - and honestly you're totally right.

LVB 5y ago

I’ve tried a number of notes apps backed with “Sync with iCloud Drive” and often find it problematic. Usually the problems are on the Mac side, wherein my laptop does a bad job of pushing up small edits to existing files. I can force it with hacky things like viewing the folder in Finder, but that is a nuisance and easy to forget. The result is that I’ll open up Beorg/Obsidian/etc. on my iOS device and see a quite out-of-date version of the docs. FWIW the non-drive iCloud Sync (core data?) works extremely well for things like Bear.

chrisweekly 5y ago
FWIW, Obsidian's native apps (macOS and iOS) work great, with the Obsidian.md Sync feature.
- LVB 5y ago
  That's what I've heard. I passed on Obsidian for some other reasons, but during my eval I was pretty sure if I was to stick with it I'd pay for their sync service.
dunham 5y ago
I think CloudKit is the name of the one that bear is using. It’s part of “iCloud”, but a different service (not the iCloud Drive). It seems to work well. Obsidian has a few options, but can use iCloud Drive. As you note, it’s a bit hit or miss. Files take a while to sync. Sometimes the desktop won’t bother downloading a file. Hard linked files don’t seem to sync at all. (Obsidian’s paid sync service works well in my experience.)

ghostpepper 5y ago

Coincidentally I discovered another iOS app for note-taking this week called Beorg, which leverages the emacs + org mode format so I can easily sync between iOS and Linux. This one looks nice too though; always good to see open source apps for Mac and iOS. I wonder how similar the markdown formats are.

ydant 5y ago
And on the Android side, Orgzly http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/ I'm finding that syncing between Emacs/org-mode and my phone has been nothing but problems, though. Sync conflicts abound. I'm not sure how much of that is my Emacs config, Syncthing on Android, or Orgzly. Any ideas on avoiding that? How are you syncing with Beorg?
daliz 5y ago
I find the beorg UI ugly. I would really love an Orgzly for iPad.
- xenodium 5y ago
  I’m working on bringing my org tasks to iOS (iPad included). https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg Available on TestFlight now. Edit: Email me for invites "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com"
xenodium 5y ago
I’m working on bringing my org tasks to iOS. It’s early days but can be seen here https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg https://www.reddit.com/r/plainorg and here https://xenodium.com/org-habits-on-ios-check-tasks-youre-next https://xenodium.com/org-habits-on-ios-check-tasks-youre-nex... I have TestFlight invites available for anyone interested. Edit: Email me for invites "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com"
- voltaireodactyl 5y ago
  Just wanted to say I'm currently using it and it's fantastic (and rapidly developed). Can't thank you enough for spending so much effort supporting org on iOS, it's really filling a huge gap for me!

CapriciousCptl 5y ago

This is nice! Quiver was my previous go-to, but it's all but abandonware in 2021.

Keverw 5y ago

So funny this pops up. Last few days I've been wanting a new notes app that wasn't using some database and was files based, plus I feel like other notes app rich text copying and pasting notes can be a mess. Plus a bit unorganized so wanted a new notes app and just copy things over as I need. This one looks pretty prefect for my wants. I also like how it has both folders and hash tags too instead of being forced to pick one over the other.

utunbu 5y ago
Just curious if you had tried Obsidian (https://obsidian.md https://obsidian.md)?
- ydant 5y ago
  Obsidian really is a great choice if you are looking for Markdown. Windows, Linux, Mac, Android/iOS mobile apps soon. It's polished, fast, and all around a great experience. Flexible inter-note linking (wiki style), visualization, backlink discovery, handles images and embedded documents well. All around a good product. I'm still looking for something with a cross-platform GUI that I like as much as I liked Obsidian.md - but with the same sort of arbitrarily nested hierarchy (with TODOs and the like at any level) and the ability to adhoc rearrange my notes like org-mode provides. The Emacs/org-mode level of customization would be nice, too. Trilium Notes ( https://github.com/zadam/trilium https://github.com/zadam/trilium ) was also a good contendor, but not having a text-content-first focus made for some frustrating experiences of data corruption, and testing data export of my initial trial run was messy as a consequence as well.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    > Windows, Linux, Mac, Android/iOS mobile apps soon. I think they are actually available now. > arbitrarily nested hierarchy What do you mean arbitrarily nested hierarchy?
    - ydant 5y ago
      Emacs org-mode, the org format, and the general ecosystem (agenda view, org-roam, and lots of other things) don't really care how you structure your data, so you can choose between: * a bunch of very focused small files * a single large file * some combination of the two So, for example, I might start off with my "todo.work.org" file and having something like: * Partner Integration ** <Partner name> *** APIs **** Query API ***** Quirks ****** TODO Confirm API only works on Tuesdays **** Purchase API *** Tasks **** TODO Read the documentation **** STRT Email about feature **** DONE Complain about horrible APIs in Slack The built in "folding" support (collapsing/expanding) is pretty good, so you can easily toggle between seeing the whole hierarchy of the headings, the content, arbitrary levels of nesting (i.e., show only headings 1 & 2 levels deep and hide everything else). The TODO/STRT/DONE entries can be placed anywhere in this hierarchy, and org-mode will take note of them and allow you to build up Agenda views of some/all of your TODOs. So you can ask org to give you a list of tasks filtered by some criteria (e.g. scheduled for this week) - but across many different files. You can "quickly" jump to arbitrary headings and start building onto the hierarchy. You can "narrow" your view on a sub-heading and the entire edit view becomes only about that sub-heading (so I could narrow my view to just "APIs" and everything below it). If you want to edit the hierarchy, it's basically a matter of going up and adding some headings ("** HEADING") and using shortcut keys to indent/un-indent (promote/demote) headings. I find this works really well for me. Allows for brainstorming, keeping notes without pre-organizing them, collapsing irrelevant details when not needed, etc. Also key for this, you can add UUIDs to individual "nodes" (headings) and those IDs persist with that heading, even if you move the heading to a different spot in the hierarchy (a different heading in the same file, or a different file). So your links (to the UUID, instead of the heading text or file) can be resilient to the restructuring of your data over-time. There's really a whole lot to org-mode, and it didn't click for me until I watched some YouTube videos, but now I really hate that it offer so much great functionality - but it's tied to Emacs and ultimately feels clunky and slow as a consequence.

franczesko 5y ago

Unfortunately, the platform lock is a deal breaker for me. After testing a lot of different note apps, I'm currently using Joplin. It does 95% of the things I need quite right. I'm not sure, if it's only my problem, but I really struggled to find a good app for note taking, although there's a plethora of solutions out there.

sharikone 5y ago
I agree perfectly. It seems there are zillions of apps (just look at this thread), but the moment I look for my requirements (markdown, good math rendering, no format lockdown, decent GUI, basic backup options) it seems that no matter how I look the only options are Obsidian and Joplin. Joplin being open source, albeit not perfect, it is my choice. It always surprises me how many apps there and how I don't get a feeling with 95% of them.
- msephton 5y ago
  These requirements are met by FSNotes. Or does it lack in some way you've not mentioned?
daniel_iversen 5y ago
By platform lock you mean OS vendor-lock (i.e. apple)? Because FS Notes stores all your notes in plain text files (which is why I use it - pointed to a Dropbox folder). Admittedly it has a weird way of naming the files (presumably so it can have the filesystem act as a more robust database that is then loaded and cached) but it's still the easiest and most "free feeling" workflow that I've been able to stick with for my workflow (what appeals to me about FSNotes is: Plain text files, Syncs with Dropbox, Fast and simple keyboard shortcuts, Works on mobile and desktop, Quick and simple to organise stuff in folders but no tags or complex structures, Very cheap)
- possibleworlds 5y ago
  > Admittedly it has a weird way of naming the files You can change the file naming default to be based on note title BTW, it's in the first Preference pane window "General".

utunbu 5y ago

I've jumped between note-taking Apps, Evernote, Bear, Typora, Notion, Obsidian, ..., you name it. Finally settled down with Obsidian as I can manage note files directly such as using Syncthing for backing up and syncing. This one does seem interesting and possible to integrate into my workflow, gotta give it a try.

dinkleberg 5y ago
I'm in a similar spot, recently started using Obsidian and am enjoying it. It's far from perfect, but it is better than the others imo. And the fact that it is all markdown based means no lock-in which is fantastic.
Void_ 5y ago
If you're looking for Obsidian, but with a nicer UI, Reflect is definitely worth trying. (https://reflect.app https://reflect.app)
- smoldesu 5y ago
  Is it open-source and cross-platform, like Obsidian?
  - filchermcurr 5y ago
    I don't know if this was rhetorical or not, but I read through the blog and found no indication that it's open-source. The only platforms I saw mentioned were macOS and iOS (Android was mentioned once but I think it was more of a future thing) and it appears the final price will be $160 per year. From what I saw of the website and the blog posts, I'm not sure how this is better than Obsidian. The original comment mentions a nicer UI but the UI doesn't seem that much different. One of the things I love about Obsidian is how customizable the UI actually is.
  - tailspin2019 5y ago
    Obsidian isn’t open source.
5y ago

for_i_in_range 5y ago

I prefer the same notetaking app Feynman used… paper, something to write with, and your brain. Or you can go digital and develop someone else’s brain (or something else’s).

istingray 5y ago
The only thing better than Feynman paper is encrypted paper

simonw 5y ago

The thing I want most from a notes app is a web API that lets me programmatically fetch my notes data. Evernote's public API uses Thrift, which is really weird. Usually it takes me a couple of minutes to start getting data out of a web API - in Evernote's case I gave up after an hour.

wtf77 5y ago

forget everything...there is only one editor and knowledge manager: obsidian.

hamzakc 5y ago

I have recently started using logseq: https://logseq.com/blog/about https://logseq.com/blog/about I have to say I am really loving it so far. All based on Markdown or org mode format. I have a folder stored on OneDrive and it is synced across all my devices.

ydant 5y ago
Thanks for mentioning this. This looks like a nice companion to Obsidian and org-mode. It seems to mix a lot of the great qualities of each.

wdb 5y ago

I am really enjoy Noteplan for macOS and iOS. Works really well and it comes with Setapp :)

n1000 5y ago
Loved it until they introduced a subscription, which was a considerable price increase.

yayr 5y ago

Nice Tool. But why is it not possible to edit markdown files in arbitrary folders? why do I have to have a separate folder for notes and another one for all other documents?

msephton 5y ago
Just pick your top level folder and then you're set.

jereees 5y ago

Haven’t seen Craft mentioned here but amongst almost all of the other already mentioned apps, Craft feels to me like it’s got the whole pack. Native apps, cloud sync that works, option for iCloud sync or offline storage, blocks that turn into pages, multi platform, Markdown, etc.

AdamGibbins 5y ago
https://www.craft.do/ https://www.craft.do/ I assume you're referring to this, took a bit of googling.
- jereees 5y ago
  That one.
NmAmDa 5y ago
Also for people with student status they are offering free education license now until before October.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lostintangent 5y ago

After GitHub.dev was released (hit “.” on any GitHub repo, to open it in browser-based VS Code), I immediately saw the notetaking workflow that I wanted: a GitHub repo, storing markdown that I can own/control, but editable in the browser, using my existing VS Code preferences (theme, keybindings, etc.). Unfortunately, VS Code doesn’t natively support wiki links, so I created an extension that simply adds that feature on top of the core VS Code markdown editor: https://GitHub.com/lostintangent/wikilens https://GitHub.com/lostintangent/wikilens. Over the last week, this experience has really transformed my writing workflow. I can simply open https://GitHub.dev/lostintangent/wiki https://GitHub.dev/lostintangent/wiki (my personal notes repo) and begin editing and navigating, without too much ceremony. As the extension ecosystem begins creating more extensions for GitHub.dev, this experience will only get better.

pjot 5y ago
This is spot on to what I was wanting as well - thank you for pointing out the “.” workflow!
- lostintangent 5y ago
  Absolutely! If you end up checking out WikiLens w/GitHub.dev, don’t hesitate to let me know any feedback you might have. I’ll be iterating on the experience based on my own usage, but I’m keen to ensure this works well for others as well!
revicon 5y ago
How does this work for you if you’re on a mobile device?
- tbojanin 5y ago
  theres a github app you can download. I imagine the note editing experience on the mobile app is a bit subpar.
  - oreilles 5y ago

mahgnous 5y ago

Why is there no linux version? I didn't think people were still using macs.

DavideNL 5y ago

Apple’s “Quicknote” feature in iOS 15 is great, being able to highlight and link to specific text on any webpage in Safari, and other apps as well. I guess a lot of people will stick to the stock Notes app just because of this feature [1] Unfortunately no 3th-party Notes app can implement such a feature due to Apple’s walled garden :’( [1] https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/22/quick-note-may-be-the-best-new-feature-in-ipados-15 https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/22/quick-note-may-be...

nimvlaj30 5y ago
That's such a dumb limitation imo. Wish there was a system API apps could use to allow it.
smartbit 5y ago
Anyway to change the storage backend from iCloud to something self-hosted that has all the Apple Notes features? In my experience syncing works fine with IMAP as backend storage, regretfully without most of the rich-text features.

brailsafe 5y ago

Looks like a bit of a spiritual successor to Quiver, with some inspiration from Bear. Cool

atombender 5y ago

I keep seeing apps like these, and what they almost never have is sharing notes between multiple people. I use Apple Notes, and I constantly share notes with my wife — and entire folder structures, too. We use it for grocery lists, dinner planning, travel planning, and many other things. It's not quite as elegantly real-time as Google Docs, but we don't need that as much, since we tend to edit at different times. I also like that Notes is rich text all the way. My heart sinks when a new note-taking app boasts of Markdown support, as if that's a good thing. I think Markdown is fine for technical docs, where no good standard for rich text editing exists. But Markdown is a compromise — things like asterisks and underlines are less legible than the bold and italics they represent (especially across more than one word), and links become nigh unreadable, not to mention things like inline images and tables. I previously used Evernote, and I've tried Notion (slow, awful for organizing, "block model" gets in the way of writing). I've yet to find anything that matches Apple Notes.

istingray 5y ago
Here here. I love Apple Notes. I don't even need a title for notes - iOS just takes the top line of the note. Is it that hard to create an open source hosted version? Just get out of the way and let me take a note! As I posted in this thread, I will pay $100/year for this solution. The closest I've found is Standard Notes, but it's missing a few things.
- setpatchaddress 5y ago
  Out of curiosity, why not just use Notes? (I’m aware there are legit reasons, but I’m curious about your scenario.)
  - istingray 5y ago
    Moving off Apple's ecosystem. Their definition of privacy/surveillance falls short of "human rights" level privacy and only protects against advertisers and hackers.
    - 5y ago

istingray 5y ago

I will pay $100 a year for an iOS-like Notes replacement, de-Appled with these criteria: 1. Secure - E2E encrypted on cloud storage, vendor cannot read it 2. Accessible - standalone native app on desktop and mobile on all platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac/iOS, Android) 3. Simple - love how Apple doesn't even make you "title" notes, it just takes the first line 4. Shareable - with others with editing privs eg a grocery list for family 5. Paid - that way I know it's sustainable and not some data scam 6. Plain - Base version has no ability to publish to a blog or any junk like that. 7. Open source I just subscribed to Standard Notes:https://standardnotes.com/ https://standardnotes.com/ Standard Notes has #1, #2, #5, and#7. But UI is more cluttered than iOS. And not shareable with editing privs.

mithusingh32 5y ago
Have you looked into Joplin?
- istingray 5y ago
  I appreciate the suggestion. I checked it out at the same time as Standard Notes. It seems to break the Simple + Plain criteria. For example on the main nav, pressing "+" prompts to either New Note or New To Do. And all the references to "notebooks". Too much for me.
  - mithusingh32 5y ago
    That's fair. The syncing is bit janky if you're careful. But having a self-hosted option is what attracted me. I don't trust anyone with my data anymore.
    - istingray 5y ago
      Apparently you can self host Standard Notes -- From Standard Notes: Standard Notes is free and open-source software, which means self-hosting both ends (the app and server) is both totally possible and very easy." https://standardnotes.com/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.com/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n...

ezconnect 5y ago

You should have a OneDrive sync, lots of people uses it.

possibleworlds 5y ago

Lot's of discussion about other apps but none cover the main selling point for me. FSNotes was created initially as an open source Notational Velocity / NVAlt replacement when NVAlt broke on one of the MacOS version upgrades. It can be configured to replicate the amazing modal search / create interface from those apps. There is also NVUltra [0] from Brett Terpstra, his successor to NVAlt. It is still in beta after quite a while. From memory it seemed more powerful and a bit slicker overall, but right now I don't need to do anything too complicated and prefer the cleaner native look of FSNotes. FSNotes has no dropbox integration for the iOS app, but you can still use dropbox as a store and use any other plain text / markdown iOS note app. I use 1Writer. [0] https://nvultra.com https://nvultra.com [1] https://1writerapp.com https://1writerapp.com

guessbest 5y ago

My favorite notetaking program is Keynote NF https://github.com/dpradov/keynote-nf https://github.com/dpradov/keynote-nf On the mac though I never found anything as good.

ibdf 5y ago

Ugh… I have been through so many notes apps and half of them look like this one… boostnote, quicksilver, apple notes… all offer just the basics. I’m with Notion right now because I can add files and images easily, and can create some more complex layouts that you can’t achieve with markdown, but I’m still not satisfied… Notion biggest flaw for me is trying to make every table a relationship database.

rjzzleep 5y ago
I haven't used notion, but isn't that what they market as their biggest selling point? It's basically a modern pretty Access in some ways. Can you explain why you dislike that part?
- julianz 5y ago
  Because sometimes you just want a bit of tabular formatting within a note. The table feature is really, really cool when you want to use it, but if you don't it's a bit OTT - e.g. every table has a bunch of chrome at the bottom with a row count, some auto-totalling things, a new row button etc. I'm also a little unclear what happens if I export to another product, do my tables show up as tables in the new product or as a thousand small notes each with one row of one table in?
- ibdf 5y ago
  What @julianz said... the relationship stuff is great... but not every table have to act that way. Sometimes you have some content that are tabular in nature, but don't need the whole formatting they force it on you.
msephton 5y ago
FSNotes is far from basic and can include images.

fattybob 5y ago

Having been a notational velocity / Simplenote user for ages, I’m very happy to be able to migrate my stash of notes into FSNotes, and bonus - it can take images/ photos (far better than standard notes manages - a neglected purchase I have) and even encryption for specific entries that works easily!! Wow all my ideals in one place. I’m a convert for sure, but have to admit, still using NV on my desktop and Simplenote on iOS, but it looks like they will be left behind slowly, as I’m only adding to FSNotes now. I hope they keep it independent and avoid the eventual buyout offers to come.

msephton 5y ago
FSNotes is already up to version 5, and fiercely independent, so things are looking good.

njsubedi 5y ago

If it has already integrated git, why not support syncing through the VCS instead of third party like Dropbox or iCloud? Is there any note taking app that automatically syncs changes with a remote repository, so I can simply provide credentials to a hosted git instance and it does everything out of the box?

filchermcurr 5y ago
There's a Git plugin for Obsidian: https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git It's not quite out of the box, but installing community plugins is very easy through the settings UI.

jessejjohnson 5y ago

I was very intrigued then you had me with mermaid support. New customer!

xx__yy 5y ago

Looks a little like SimpleNote, and also free. Difference looks like Apple tech only. It's got end-to-end encryption, which is amazing! I'm hoping SimpleNote will get end-to-end- encryption soon.

makach 5y ago
e2e encryption is not amazing these days, it is a basic requirement. i.e. if you communicate using https you are using e2e encryption.
- southerntofu 5y ago
  In a c2s model, TLS is usually not considered end-to-end encryption. End-to-End refers to your server not being able to read the contents of your communications. For something like FSNotes, that would probably look like encrypting your notes with your own public key before sending them to the server.
pacifika 5y ago
Can you paste images from clipboard into simple note yet?

Techasura 5y ago

I'm happy with Things honestly. https://culturedcode.com/things/ https://culturedcode.com/things/

CoryAlexMartin 5y ago

I use Notational Velocity on my Mac, FSNotes on iOS, and have them both use .rtf and sync via iCloud.

unhammer 5y ago

I feel like I should wash my hands after clicking that URL, might want to consider a new domain name?

msephton 5y ago
Feel free to suggest one.

msephton 5y ago

I really appreciate that this is a native app on both macOS and iOS. Props to the developer.

chartpath 5y ago

My #1 wish with all of these is decent footnote support. None of that manually tinkering with superscript numbers. EDIT: looks like it got added here https://github.com/glushchenko/fsnotes/pull/704 https://github.com/glushchenko/fsnotes/pull/704 Take my money! EDIT 2: darn, the footnotes in markdown still need to be manually incremented. Why can't it work like auto-incrementing numbered lists already do?

fluder 5y ago

Founder is here. I want to thank everyone for the votes and feedback. I can't answer personally to everything here, but I read all the questions on github and answer by email. Some news about project will be tweeted soon.