this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2024
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Yes, I know that the are dozens of notes apps. I'm looking for recommendations based on a few features that I like:

  • nice design (including color coding)
  • easy checklists
  • sharing - this one is key. I use a shared shopping list and we both need to add and edit.
  • pinning and archiving (hidden notes)

I don't mind running it from my homelab server, but that is not a requirement. Does anyone use a notes app that you love? Let me know!

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I just use NextCloud Notes. Categories are just sub folders, so you can create a Shared category and just share it in Nextcloud.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This feels a lot like Nextcloud Notes but the editor seems a bit clunky (like the web editor).

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (6 children)
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Markor is absolutely amazing. Pair it with syncthing.

Find it will mentained on play, froid and github https://github.com/gsantner/markor

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Joplin + Syncthing has been great for me. Sync across multiple devices with no third party in between. However the "sharing" in this context is limited to other installations of the entire db. To my knowledge, there's no way to say "sync these notes with my wife, and these others with my phone only" etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Last i looked into it, joplin had a bug which ment syncthing didnt work . Can't remember the details but the solution was pinning an old version.

I am much much happier with markor notes + syncthing.

Super sinple, 100 % foss, sync what you want .

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I guess it's been a while then. Syncthing works perfectly for me, with the official latest version in Arch, the older version in Debian, the flatpak on Ubuntu, and the forked version on Android, syncing all my Joplin data all over the place.

I don't much care for the file format though. The appeal of Git Journal is strong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Dokuwiki + wireguard would be different but satisfy since if those needs, try it out of you have time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Vikunja seems to check all your boxes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Vikunja is great and I use it but I really wish that the search also searched the contents of a to do. I put massive amounts of notes on my todos.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Obsidian is amazing, though it isn't FOSS but your notes are saved in Markdown, so even if something happens with the app, they will remain yours.

Another alternative may be Joplin and AnyType, but I think AnyType is also not 100% FOSS.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Fossify Notes is quiet good for note taking and quick check-lists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

No sync or share though, right?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Nextcloud Notes?

I was skeptical at first but have found it the most useable of all the ones I tried out.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I also found a fork called NotallyX, which includes import functions from Keep and Evernote. Pretty useful for someone migrating.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago
  • sharing - this one is key. I use a shared shopping list and we both need to add and edit.

i use and love notally but you can't share/sync (export/import wouldn't satisfy the above requirement)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I was using Joplin for a while... Self hosted their server. On two occasions it screwed up on me and wouldn't load my folders... Luckily I had backups but it was still frustrating. I don't recommend them purely because the notes are stored in a custom format instead of just plain text files.

My favorite way of doing notes now is with git, currently using a free private repo on gitlab.

Just clone the repo on whatever PC I need them and it has backups and version control.

Then use GitJournal on my phone.

It's perfect for me. I love it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Nice, I’ve been doing something similar, using the obsidian-git plug-in for Obsidian and the Working Copy app on iOS.

Obsidian is my front-end, and it saves the notes in markdown files in a git-synced folder on my computer.

The plug-in pushes and pulls automatically, and Working Copy does the same thing on iOS, just before opening the Obsidian app on iOS.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

I had similar experiences with Joplin. Would randomly lose quite a lot of data, and exporting to other formats was a hassle. I also cannot recommend.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wow, this looks amazing. I'll have to check it out to see how sharing/collaboration works though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

They make an account on your hosted service. Notes can be set private or public or workspace.

https://demo.usememos.com/

Log in with the default there.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

This is a very cool project! With a few minor developments this could meet my needs

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Upvotes because the devs are good. Sharing does not work well if at all though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You might like Blinko. It seems similar to Keep to me. I set it up for awhile, but it didn't give me anything beyond what I already have with Joplin, so couldn't justify keeping it or transitioning to it. Here's a video from DB Tech on the set up process: Self-host Blinko with docker

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wow, this has some neat features and it looks great on any size screen. I will be following this for sure

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Development is pretty rapid too. I didn't track the features on the updates, but new versions were getting pushed regularly. No mobile app which was kind of a bummer, but the progressive web app integration was pretty good. It felt like a mobile app.

Edit: I forgot to mention the note sharing function, it shares a URL of the note that allows the recipient to view and edit the note through the URL. It was a little janky when compared with sharing a note between two users using themselves app, but it still worked pretty decently.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What benefits do you find in particular that make it better than hosting yourself?

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