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I installed Obsidian and did some initial testing, but two things completely threw me off: 1) Basic synchronization is a paid feature and you cannot (or at lea

I installed Obsidian and did some initial testing, but two things completely threw me off: 1) Basic synchronization is a paid feature and you cannot (or at least could not) set up a private synchronization server. 2) Synchronization depends on the cloud. I simply cannot trust all important information of my life going to an unspecified location in the cloud for synchronization, even if it promises end-to-end encryption. The fact that the source is closed and it is a small company aggravates that immensely. Which is why I'm using Trilium now. It's a bit more limited (no app) but has a web clipper extension and it is open source, so I can do changes or quick fixes if needed. I also synchronize with my own server, running behind a VPN. For mobile, I'm pulling all tabs using adb and a couple of scripts, and it has been working nicely for my use case (mostly archival/planning).

elashri 4y ago
While Trilium have a very good web version. It also have cross platform app (Linux, MacOS and Windows) [1] [1] https://github.com/zadam/trilium/releases/latest https://github.com/zadam/trilium/releases/latest
AB1908 4y ago
Wait I can synchronize with nextcloud just fine. It's just a folder on my drive after all. That said, it's janky on mobile.
- selykg 4y ago
  That's an understatement. The mobile app is... frankly, kind of a garbage can of usability issues imo, but I love the desktop app, it's pretty great. But until they fix the mobile app I just can't use it. I'd like to see the mobile app bridge the gap between typical mobile note taking apps and the desktop Obsidian app. Make it easy to create a new note like you would in any other note app, save it where it makes sense to save it, make sync easy to setup, etc. Probably asking too much, but ugh... the mobile app is so bad.
  - kepano 4y ago
    Did you try the 1.0 version of mobile app? It's much improved compared to past versions. What are the issues you are running into?
    - selykg 4y ago
      Just downloaded. Seems a little better. I wish I could easily create a note in whatever folder I am in currently. I have an inbox folder. It’s where new notes go until I can deal with them. This always drove me nuts in both apps, but I can’t just go into a folder. Look at Apple Notes for instance as a simple example of how this works. The sidebar is just a tree in Obsidian. It doesn’t really act how I want. This is less an issue on desktop, but on mobile my expectations are different. Hopefully sync setup has improved in mobile. That was awful last I tried it.
      - kepano 4y ago
        > I wish I could easily create a note in whatever folder I am in currently. That's easy. Go to: Settings > Files & Links > Default location for new notes: Same folder as current file Note that the file explorer is a plugin like any other, so you can also create your own file explorer plugin that works the way you want it to :)
        selykg 4y ago
        Great, I’ll give that a look. Thanks!
      - ngrilly 4y ago
        I agree that version 1.0 is a huge improvement on mobile, and what convinced me to start using Obsidian. But I also agree that usability on mobile is still not on par with Apple Notes when it comes to navigating folders and searching. The way the desktop UI has been translated to mobile doesn’t work well enough. Would be great if the Obsidian team could spend some time playing with Apple Notes on mobile and see if they are some UI concepts they could imitate :)
smoldesu 4y ago
You can also syncronize Obsidian with your own hardware/software solution. I've been doing it for years and it's the simplest thing: - Set up Syncthing to sync your vault folder - Share with your devices and you're done If you're already using a VPN and syncing with a home-server, you could also leverage Nextcloud or whatever your current syncing solution is. I don't see any reason to get mad when Obsidian is effectively saying "we don't want your data unless you pay us to handle it right".
mikae1 4y ago
I've had not reason to pick freemium Obsidian over open source https://logseq.com/ https://logseq.com/.
e12e 4y ago
Any reason not to put the Obsidian folder in git, and sync via push/pull?
- andymac4182 4y ago
  There is a plugin that helps automate that as well :) https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git
- trefoiled 4y ago
  this is very common
kepano 4y ago
Obsidian is just a folder of plain text files on your computer so you can use pretty much any sync service (iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc) — you can even use Git if you want to completely control sync and version control. Also for web clipper check out this bookmarklet I made: https://stephanango.com/obsidian-web-clipper https://stephanango.com/obsidian-web-clipper

elashri 4y ago

While Trilium have a very good web version. It also have cross platform app (Linux, MacOS and Windows) [1] [1] https://github.com/zadam/trilium/releases/latest https://github.com/zadam/trilium/releases/latest

AB1908 4y ago

Wait I can synchronize with nextcloud just fine. It's just a folder on my drive after all. That said, it's janky on mobile.

selykg 4y ago
That's an understatement. The mobile app is... frankly, kind of a garbage can of usability issues imo, but I love the desktop app, it's pretty great. But until they fix the mobile app I just can't use it. I'd like to see the mobile app bridge the gap between typical mobile note taking apps and the desktop Obsidian app. Make it easy to create a new note like you would in any other note app, save it where it makes sense to save it, make sync easy to setup, etc. Probably asking too much, but ugh... the mobile app is so bad.
- kepano 4y ago
  Did you try the 1.0 version of mobile app? It's much improved compared to past versions. What are the issues you are running into?
  - selykg 4y ago
    Just downloaded. Seems a little better. I wish I could easily create a note in whatever folder I am in currently. I have an inbox folder. It’s where new notes go until I can deal with them. This always drove me nuts in both apps, but I can’t just go into a folder. Look at Apple Notes for instance as a simple example of how this works. The sidebar is just a tree in Obsidian. It doesn’t really act how I want. This is less an issue on desktop, but on mobile my expectations are different. Hopefully sync setup has improved in mobile. That was awful last I tried it.
    - kepano 4y ago
      > I wish I could easily create a note in whatever folder I am in currently. That's easy. Go to: Settings > Files & Links > Default location for new notes: Same folder as current file Note that the file explorer is a plugin like any other, so you can also create your own file explorer plugin that works the way you want it to :)
      - selykg 4y ago
        Great, I’ll give that a look. Thanks!
    - ngrilly 4y ago
      I agree that version 1.0 is a huge improvement on mobile, and what convinced me to start using Obsidian. But I also agree that usability on mobile is still not on par with Apple Notes when it comes to navigating folders and searching. The way the desktop UI has been translated to mobile doesn’t work well enough. Would be great if the Obsidian team could spend some time playing with Apple Notes on mobile and see if they are some UI concepts they could imitate :)

smoldesu 4y ago

You can also syncronize Obsidian with your own hardware/software solution. I've been doing it for years and it's the simplest thing: - Set up Syncthing to sync your vault folder - Share with your devices and you're done If you're already using a VPN and syncing with a home-server, you could also leverage Nextcloud or whatever your current syncing solution is. I don't see any reason to get mad when Obsidian is effectively saying "we don't want your data unless you pay us to handle it right".

mikae1 4y ago

I've had not reason to pick freemium Obsidian over open source https://logseq.com/ https://logseq.com/.

e12e 4y ago

Any reason not to put the Obsidian folder in git, and sync via push/pull?

andymac4182 4y ago
There is a plugin that helps automate that as well :) https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git https://github.com/denolehov/obsidian-git
trefoiled 4y ago
this is very common

kepano 4y ago

Obsidian is just a folder of plain text files on your computer so you can use pretty much any sync service (iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc) — you can even use Git if you want to completely control sync and version control. Also for web clipper check out this bookmarklet I made: https://stephanango.com/obsidian-web-clipper https://stephanango.com/obsidian-web-clipper