44 ms·

Joplin is really nice feature-wise but the last time I looked at it a few years back I absolutely HATED the way that it structured your notes. The way it worke

Joplin is really nice feature-wise but the last time I looked at it a few years back I absolutely HATED the way that it structured your notes. The way it worked was that they stored new/existing notes in an SQLite table with UUIDs. This of course makes it very difficult to use bash tools, other IDEs, etc. to work with your notes after Joplin has ingested them. Further the related media was renamed "UUID.<related extension>" which were stored in `~/.config/joplin-desktop/resources`. Compare this to apps like VS Code / Obsidian / Logseq (also open source) which don't mess with your markdown file organization. You can just point them to a root folder and they'll work natively with your markdown files. No syncing required.

jhbadger 2y ago
Basically Joplin is an Evernote replacement. If you were a fan of Evernote, you like how it is structured, if you weren't, you probably don't.
darkmuck 2y ago
I'm with you 100%. I wish there was an OSS tool that was like Obsidian and cross-platform (no cloud hosting required). Logseq is the closest but the markdown standard isn't fully supported, and they add a lot of custom syntax/metadata.
- terminalgravity 2y ago
  You said “like Obsidian”. Which parts of Obsidian are most important for you
  - darkmuck 2y ago
    - Apps for, at least, windows and android. - Storage of files in a folder that can be seen by the OS to allow sync by something like syncthing - Moderately good UI (nice to have: live preview of markdown) - Core features not behind a paywall (e.g. siyuan can't sync, notenook missing important features) - Nice to have: push notifications for tasks/reminders
    - celsius1414 2y ago
      I keep thinking about how much feature lists like this could be matched by the Finder/File Explorer and my favorite text editor.
      - darkmuck 2y ago
        Yes of course but not on android. Also I'd prefer the same app/experience across platforms.
- Joeboy 2y ago
  Also Logseq is moving towards some sort of "database storage", which I think entails moving away from plain text files.
- znpy 2y ago
  > Obsidian Probably not what you're looking for, but I'm having a wonderful time running a private instance of Mediawiki. It's only accessible to me in my lan (or through my vpn). It's been my private digital garden for a few years now and i like it very much. The only thing I truly miss is the possibility of pointing a Wikipedia-like app (might as well be the same codebase of the official wikipedia app, but pointing at my private endpoint). I'm not sure it has all the features Obsidian has (I haven't tried Obsidian) but it has a fairly large number of extensions: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:All_extensions https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:All_extensions
jayflux 2y ago
I really think you’re trying to use the wrong tool for the job here. Joplin isn’t designed for your notes to be modified outside of the ecosystem, the notes themselves are markdown so you can export or transfer them, but you can’t simultaneously edit them outside of Joplin. For that you’re better off with a folder of markdown files which you can push to Git. Joplin is essentially an open source version of Evernote and a great alternative for people who enjoyed that style of application.
- JackTorrents 2y ago
  > Joplin isn’t designed for your notes to be modified outside of the ecosystem, the notes themselves are markdown so you can export or transfer them, but you can’t simultaneously edit them outside of Joplin. Well, except for https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/external_text_editor/ https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/external_text_editor/
  - CalebJohn 2y ago
    With that feature the external editor is launched via Joplin, so the editing is still happening in the ecosystem. You can’t just open the notes from outside Joplin.
    - JackTorrents 2y ago
      True, good point.
ashishb 2y ago
> The way it worked was that they stored new/existing notes in an SQLite table with UUIDs. This of course makes it very difficult to use bash tools, other IDEs, etc. to work with your notes after Joplin has ingested them. This is the real deal breaker for me for evaluating any note-taking tool. If the Obsidian app dies tomorrow, my notes will be fine. If Joplin gets abandoned, then I will have to deal with all the imports/exports into a new tool. Bash tools are really powerful. One can even take a git (not just GitHub) backup of one's Obsidian notes easily. With binary files like SQLite, the git backups work, but they don't provide a meaningful diff.
- worble 2y ago
  Joplin can export all of your notes as markdown right now using the export feature. It is not how Joplin works with it internally, but if it did shut down tomorrow, all of your notes can still be exported as plain text markdown into another editor, such as Obsidian.

jhbadger 2y ago

Basically Joplin is an Evernote replacement. If you were a fan of Evernote, you like how it is structured, if you weren't, you probably don't.

darkmuck 2y ago

I'm with you 100%. I wish there was an OSS tool that was like Obsidian and cross-platform (no cloud hosting required). Logseq is the closest but the markdown standard isn't fully supported, and they add a lot of custom syntax/metadata.

terminalgravity 2y ago
You said “like Obsidian”. Which parts of Obsidian are most important for you
- darkmuck 2y ago
  - Apps for, at least, windows and android. - Storage of files in a folder that can be seen by the OS to allow sync by something like syncthing - Moderately good UI (nice to have: live preview of markdown) - Core features not behind a paywall (e.g. siyuan can't sync, notenook missing important features) - Nice to have: push notifications for tasks/reminders
  - celsius1414 2y ago
    I keep thinking about how much feature lists like this could be matched by the Finder/File Explorer and my favorite text editor.
    - darkmuck 2y ago
      Yes of course but not on android. Also I'd prefer the same app/experience across platforms.
Joeboy 2y ago
Also Logseq is moving towards some sort of "database storage", which I think entails moving away from plain text files.
znpy 2y ago
> Obsidian Probably not what you're looking for, but I'm having a wonderful time running a private instance of Mediawiki. It's only accessible to me in my lan (or through my vpn). It's been my private digital garden for a few years now and i like it very much. The only thing I truly miss is the possibility of pointing a Wikipedia-like app (might as well be the same codebase of the official wikipedia app, but pointing at my private endpoint). I'm not sure it has all the features Obsidian has (I haven't tried Obsidian) but it has a fairly large number of extensions: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:All_extensions https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:All_extensions

jayflux 2y ago

I really think you’re trying to use the wrong tool for the job here. Joplin isn’t designed for your notes to be modified outside of the ecosystem, the notes themselves are markdown so you can export or transfer them, but you can’t simultaneously edit them outside of Joplin. For that you’re better off with a folder of markdown files which you can push to Git. Joplin is essentially an open source version of Evernote and a great alternative for people who enjoyed that style of application.

JackTorrents 2y ago
> Joplin isn’t designed for your notes to be modified outside of the ecosystem, the notes themselves are markdown so you can export or transfer them, but you can’t simultaneously edit them outside of Joplin. Well, except for https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/external_text_editor/ https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/external_text_editor/
- CalebJohn 2y ago
  With that feature the external editor is launched via Joplin, so the editing is still happening in the ecosystem. You can’t just open the notes from outside Joplin.
  - JackTorrents 2y ago
    True, good point.

ashishb 2y ago

> The way it worked was that they stored new/existing notes in an SQLite table with UUIDs. This of course makes it very difficult to use bash tools, other IDEs, etc. to work with your notes after Joplin has ingested them. This is the real deal breaker for me for evaluating any note-taking tool. If the Obsidian app dies tomorrow, my notes will be fine. If Joplin gets abandoned, then I will have to deal with all the imports/exports into a new tool. Bash tools are really powerful. One can even take a git (not just GitHub) backup of one's Obsidian notes easily. With binary files like SQLite, the git backups work, but they don't provide a meaningful diff.

worble 2y ago
Joplin can export all of your notes as markdown right now using the export feature. It is not how Joplin works with it internally, but if it did shut down tomorrow, all of your notes can still be exported as plain text markdown into another editor, such as Obsidian.