TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

Joplin – a note taking and to-do application with synchronization capabilities

368 pointsby adulauover 5 years ago

45 comments

ddseaover 5 years ago
I felt that Evernote was becoming increasingly constraining and slow&#x2F;flaky, so after trying a few alternatives (text files&#x2F;dirs, SimpleNote, Apple Notes, BoostNotes, Zim, etc), I&#x27;ve made a leap of faith to Joplin.<p>My requirements: multi-platform, multi-device, auto-sync (more than 2 devices in free ver.), tags, webclip-ability, preferably markdown format with code rendering. Text diagramming such as PlantUML is a big plus. The idea of owning my notes is very appealing.<p>My early attempts at synchronizing encrypted notes over OneDrive experienced repeated hiccups (stopped syncing for no apparent reason), so currently trying without encryption. Win10 and Android clients seem to chug along just fine, but the Linux client shows weird errors in the log - trying to hunt down the root cause.<p>The fact that Joplin is WIP and open source is encouraging. I&#x27;d like to be able to have separate DBs, e.g. for personal and business use.<p>ADDED: forgot to mention that the lack of dark mode on Windows EN client was a constant source of irritation.
评论 #21556627 未加载
评论 #21556407 未加载
评论 #21556635 未加载
评论 #21556513 未加载
评论 #21557729 未加载
schukeover 5 years ago
After years of searching I’ve pretty much settled on one note-taking app: Apple Notes. Quite unexpected to me as well because I started off just to sort of “cache” random notes in it before sorting them out in OneNote. Then I found myself almost stopped using OneNote. It’s just ubiquitous enough when you have a few extra PC devices, (unlike say, Bear) and versatile enough so it’s not limited to texts like Notational Velocity or SimpeNote, and quick and easy enough so I never have to wait for launching or syncing like with OneNote. It’s not enjoy-sparking to use and the text is a bit cramped. But it gets stuff done and I forget about it most of the time. So it’s just almost perfect for me.
评论 #21556108 未加载
评论 #21556089 未加载
评论 #21556673 未加载
评论 #21556069 未加载
评论 #21555928 未加载
评论 #21557357 未加载
评论 #21557207 未加载
评论 #21557122 未加载
oefrhaover 5 years ago
Off topic, but anyone else annoyed by these walls of contributor avatars in READMEs popular in the JS ecosystem? Occasionally they only include a handful of project members, with roles, so it could be mildly useful, but more often than not it’s a pointless list of just avatar and handle of everyone who ever fixed a typo, and if I want to see the list I’d better click on “contributors” which is built into every GitHub project. To me, this seems to be a manifestation of today’s front end devs’ utmost disrespect for people’s bandwidth.<p>Ironically, this README loads more than a hundred images but I can’t even find a desktop screenshot.
评论 #21559368 未加载
评论 #21609928 未加载
samdamsammover 5 years ago
I moved to Joplin from Evernote a little over a year ago. It has had ongoing development and new features being added the entire time. The development is very iterative, and functionality comes before fashion, but the UI has been getting improved too.<p>The backup&#x2F;sync system is great. Fully encrypted and numerous cloud configuration options. I use it with Fastmail’s $5&#x2F;mo. service and it’s very easy to setup.<p>The iOS app could use some more improvements but far better than not having one at all.<p>Overall Joplin is highly recommended because of it’s compatibility, flexibility, privacy, and no-frills functionality.
384028345over 5 years ago
One great aspect is that joplin supports iOS 8+. My Ex needed to write a big dissertation that she just couldn&#x27;t make progress on (unsurprisingly). Her work laptop is too bulky to carry around every day unfortunately.<p>So at some point I figured she could use my old ipad mini 1 with a size-fitted logitech &quot;ultrathin keyboard&quot; (that magnetically holds onto the ipad, making it one piece for storage) that I impulse bought and never used. So hardware was there, but looking for a markdown editor that supported sync and that old device + her windows laptop was not fruitful. Except well, short story: joplin is awesome for that.<p>She could use the ipad to write a few minutes here and there during transit and was able to complete it. The markdown file is then converted to latex&#x2F;pdf using pandoc + pandoc-citeproc (for citations using a bibtex-file).<p>Support for antiquated iOS versions is rare (making the ipad mini 1 useless in many cases although it still appears to be a capable device) even though many apps don&#x27;t seem to have a need for higher versions. I suspect that most apps use frameworks that have a version cutoff to reduce complexity if that even makes sense.
russellbeattieover 5 years ago
I replaced Evernote with Joplin a year or so ago and am pretty happy. It&#x27;s a little rough around the edges, but it works great and is actively updated. And all my data is stored where I want it to be, with no monthly bill, and no one trying shove &quot;chat&quot; or &quot;enterprise&quot; features down my throat.<p>Also, as the desktop client is a JavaScript app, it was relatively easy to go in and change a few things that I wanted tweaked. I hate MarkDown with a passion, so I just turned off all that stuff in the toolbar and use it as a plain text notepad that syncs. Works great. (At some point I need to make the effort to figure out the options dialogs they have and submit a pull request where this can be turned off&#x2F;on permanently.)<p>I do wish it would clean up the weird note&#x2F;todo item duality (at least in the options). You can treat a note as a todo item, so the list of notes acts as your list of todos. Or you can just use a note and put the todo items in it (which is what I do). I just don&#x27;t think the folder interface works well for the todo item paradigm.<p>Anyways, highly recommended if you&#x27;re still spending money on Evernote and don&#x27;t use any advanced features. If you&#x27;re using web clips or other stuff, someone else will have to chime in.
评论 #21560538 未加载
sorenjanover 5 years ago
When it comes to todo lists I really prefer nested checkboxes, like Dynalist[0] has. That enables me to make a list of projects, where each project has their own todo items, and maybe they have sub items, and so on. I like being able to divide stuff into smaller and smaller chunks, and then checking them off as I go.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dynalist.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dynalist.io&#x2F;</a>
评论 #21556825 未加载
评论 #21557019 未加载
评论 #21556902 未加载
评论 #21557501 未加载
fandaaover 5 years ago
I would recommend <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;standardnotes.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;standardnotes.org&#x2F;</a> after trying all other (OneNote, Boostnote, QOwnNotes, etc.) note taking SWs. Encrypted linked storage (S3, Dropbox, ...) for files, encrypted notes, multiplatform, multiple editors (code, 2FA, markdown, spreadsheets, your own!, ...) &amp; can be self hosted. Easy (also encrypted) backups. I only miss the diagrams tool (like draw.io) or handwriting (touch&#x2F;pen) support.
评论 #21555967 未加载
评论 #21556641 未加载
TheCabinover 5 years ago
I tried a few note taking apps but in the end came to the realization that regular editors are actually better at the job.<p>My reasoning:<p>* _Sync_ should not be solved by the note app (applications that implement sync themselves are usually buggy, I prefer to outsource sync to nextcloud &#x2F; dropbox &#x2F; ...)<p>* I want the same _editing capabilities_ as usual (block edit etc., note apps are usually less power full editors)<p>* A _tree organization_ is important to me, which is trivially solved using editors and the file system<p>* There are _Markdown_ packages for pretty much every editor.<p>Note taking apps tend to ship these features but are not as mature as editors are.
brakus127over 5 years ago
I&#x27;ve been using Joplin for a few months now. So far it seems to fit my requirements better than any other note taking app I&#x27;ve tried - and I&#x27;ve tried plenty - including my own Jupyter based solution. - future proof (it&#x27;s open source) - standard&#x2F;open format for notes (uses mark down which is easy to write and easy enough to parse if needed in the future) - sync support and conflict detection - Kudos to their implementation here, it&#x27;s very versatile. I use Syncthing and it&#x27;s worked very well for me. - support for multiple clients (I use Linux, Android, OS X and Windows) - stable (no issues so far)<p>The major issue I have is it doesn&#x27;t support stylus based notes like Onenote. A partial solution would be to extend Joplin to support additional file types so I can keep all my notes together when they are different types. For now, I keep my written notes separate.<p>If stylus support isn&#x27;t a requirement for you, I strongly recommend Joplin. I&#x27;ve tried a number of closed and open source note taking tools - Joplin hits the sweet spot for me. For a long time I used Jupyter for taking notes with custom scripts for Search. It&#x27;s been pretty good however it had two major shortcomings: no android client and the Jupyter client had poor conflict detection when using a a file based sync tool like Syncthing.
ab_ioover 5 years ago
Since none of the top comments seem to directly discuss Joplin itself, let me just say that I’ve been using it for years, and it’s great.
评论 #21559087 未加载
bakooover 5 years ago
I&#x27;ve replaced both Evernote and my markdown file hierarchy with Joplin (on linux and windows, trying android next), and love it!<p>Only thing I really miss is the ability to have completely separate instances. While it&#x27;s theoretically possible to script different configs, they can&#x27;t be used simultaneously.<p>Syncing works well both through Syncthing and Google Drivw. Haven&#x27;t tried syncing through OneDrive, and IIRC the docs had some warning about it.
dmixover 5 years ago
This subpackage called Webclipper would be cool for parsing articles like Instapaper but instead of a better web version it saves to a markdown file than opens in Vim (or similar).<p>For some reason I like those old long readme.txt files from the 1990s. The ones formatted with max 80-120 characters wide per line, black background, etc.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;laurent22&#x2F;joplin&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;readme&#x2F;clipper.md" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;laurent22&#x2F;joplin&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;readme&#x2F;clipp...</a><p>I haven&#x27;t tried this one yet. But the biggest problem with that approach is the links typically don&#x27;t work, nor will citations render properly for Wikipedia. So maybe it&#x27;s preferable using Lynx or w&#x2F;e just for long-term reading or articles on news sites with disaster web design.
lordgrenvilleover 5 years ago
Switched from Evernote and I&#x27;m very happy. As often happens, Evernote took on VC money and then were obligated to keep growing and adding features, while increasing the pressure to monetize (see also: Any.do).<p>Joplin does the simple things I want, well. They are also adding features pretty quickly, but I&#x27;m happy with it the way it is.
kerngover 5 years ago
Nothing compares to Microsoft OneNote - I wish it would work with just regular file storage, rather then requiring OneDrive.<p>It has all the best features, including client side encryption, while still enabling collaboration.
评论 #21556611 未加载
noisy_boyover 5 years ago
I use WriterPlus [0] on Android and ReText [1] on Linux for taking notes (markdown supported). Syncing notes is via Syncthing [2]. All plain text files so not much dependency on the apps themselves. Works perfectly.<p>Update: This thread prompted me to re-check the options on Android and I found Markor [3]. Much more polished and I was able to point it to the notes folder. Now I have the option of using it or WriterPlus (though seems to me that Markor&#x27;s option of opening notes in preview mode by default + more customization options makes it better than WriterPlus).<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;writerp.fileplanet.com&#x2F;apk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;writerp.fileplanet.com&#x2F;apk</a><p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;retext-project&#x2F;retext" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;retext-project&#x2F;retext</a><p>[2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;syncthing.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;syncthing.net&#x2F;</a><p>[3]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=net.gsantner.markor&amp;hl=en_US" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=net.gsantner.m...</a>
The_Colonelover 5 years ago
Another alternative is Trilium Notes which ticks the boxes from the title (sync, note, todo) but goes in a bit different direction (unlimited hierarchy, WYSIWYG, scriptability) - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;zadam&#x2F;trilium" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;zadam&#x2F;trilium</a>
nico_hover 5 years ago
I’m looking for a multi-platform (linux-mac-ios) markdown editor that saves at regular interval and keeps history and sync via git.<p>Is there anything like that?<p>How hard would it be to extend joplin to write a service driver to sync via Git(-hub &#x2F; -lab &#x2F; your own server)?
评论 #21555854 未加载
评论 #21555914 未加载
评论 #21556090 未加载
评论 #21555738 未加载
评论 #21556379 未加载
评论 #21555754 未加载
hirundoover 5 years ago
&gt; Recognition data - Evernote images, in particular scanned (or photographed) documents have recognition data associated with them. It is the text that Evernote has been able to recognise in the document. This data is not preserved when the note are imported into Joplin. However, should it become supported in the search tool or other parts of Joplin, it should be possible to regenerate this recognition data since the actual image would still be available.<p>This is the feature that has me locked in to Evernote and no one else seems to have. I&#x27;ll be watching this repo and jump over as soon as it becomes supported.
merricksbover 5 years ago
Also discussed 2 years ago:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15815040" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15815040</a><p>(Not a dupe, link posted for info purposes.)
godelmachineover 5 years ago
Relevant but not directly related -<p>I use iOS.<p>I have been looking for a note taking app that will directly save my notes to my Google Drive as soon as I take it.<p>For past 4 years I have been using the default Apple Notes. Back then, I noticed I can configure Notes to be synced with my Google account, and a new label called Notes is created in Gmail. But what I missed is that a separate Google account folder is created Notes and I need to save all my notes there in order for it to be uploaded to my Gmail in real time, and this I noticed only last week. So, for the past 4 years, I have been saving all my notes on my iPhone, in the default folder. And now there’s no other way except to manually upload all notes , one by one, which I have collected over the past 4 years, which goes in thousands, to Gmail.<p>Last week I downloaded Google Keep. There’s one big difference I noted between Apple Notes and Google Keep. In Apple Notes, the Notes which you have recently created &#x2F; edited &#x2F; modified &#x2F; updated, automatically comes to the top, whereas that’s not the case with Google Keep. I love this feature of Apple Notes so much that I decided to stick to Apple Notes despite the disappointment I faced earlier of missing out on the separate Google folder in Apple Notes<p>Does anyone know of a way to upload all of my Apple Notes, which I have accumulated over the past 4 years, to Gmail directly in one go? Any workflows available to make this happen?<p>Any suggestion from anyone would be reciprocated with disproportionate gratitude _&#x2F;\_<p>Memento Mori<p>PS - I am looking for a free software.
评论 #21556670 未加载
hagoseyuover 5 years ago
I have been using Joplin in my Linux laptop for the last two month. A good note taking for meeting, journal and even technical documents. It sync well with dropbox.
Meph504over 5 years ago
This application makes use of ip-api.com by default, this site is free for non-commercial use only.<p>this should probably be reconsidered, or least made clear to everyone.
评论 #21557858 未加载
hollanderover 5 years ago
I&#x27;m looking for an Evernote alternative since long. Evernote is one of my favourite applications, but I fear the moment when Amazon or Google or Microsoft buys it like Fitbit or Nest. It is going to happen, and I put more and more info into that app.<p>I&#x27;m definitely going to try this and I truly hope it is good enough for me.
评论 #21555812 未加载
bhlover 5 years ago
If you search &#x27;Markdown&#x27; on HackerNews, it&#x27;d seem like the &#x27;market&#x27; for markdown editors is fragmented: there isn&#x27;t a single dominant editor yet. I think every week there&#x27;s a new editor posted (Joplin is an exception given that it&#x27;s been here for a while). Why is that the case?
评论 #21555857 未加载
评论 #21555637 未加载
评论 #21556183 未加载
评论 #21555640 未加载
roktiwover 5 years ago
I recommend Ulysses app due it ability to sort notes by drag and drop an export multiple notes as one document. Didn’t find this functionality so far in any other app. Only minus is Ulysses it is fact that runs only Apple devices
surfsvammelover 5 years ago
I haven’t found something that does it all for me. I still use Evernote. Every time I get a real paper mail, an invoice or a receipt, I scan it with my phone and save to Evernote. For the PDF OCR search. Thats my only Evernote usecase.<p>For notes I use Bear. Which is, IMO, the best UX for note taking on iOS. But. It doesn’t have a web GUI or a Linux app. So. I can’t really keep using it.<p>I’ve tried them all. Joplin, SimpleNote, Evernote, Turtl, Laverna, you name it. But none of them have both Linux Apps and a great iOS app&#x2F;experience. (80% of my notes is done from iOS).<p>One day I’ll have to go out to write something myself.
评论 #21557273 未加载
评论 #21557022 未加载
评论 #21556983 未加载
评论 #21557931 未加载
steveharmanover 5 years ago
Big company evil, let&#x27;s take ownership of our own data etc. But if Dropbox is supported as a sync conduit - why is Google Drive missing?<p>Especially noticable on Android where Google is obviously omnipresent
dariosalvi78over 5 years ago
I use it every day, it&#x27;s great and very portable. All the data is backed on Dropbox. Only a bit too heavy considered that runs on Electron.
mstijakover 5 years ago
Tdo is built for handling many little tasks by using only a keyboard. Feature-wise, markdown is used for formatting, RegEx and custom CSS task highlighting, search supports logical operators (AND, OR), Firebase enables realtime sync, etc...<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;codaxy&#x2F;tdo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;codaxy&#x2F;tdo</a>
gsichover 5 years ago
Issues when I tried Joplin last time (this year):<p>Android: no auto-save. type something, close it, lose everything.<p>Scrolling is a pain. Need to reach the end very fast? Forget it.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;laurent22&#x2F;joplin&#x2F;issues&#x2F;899" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;laurent22&#x2F;joplin&#x2F;issues&#x2F;899</a>
agravierover 5 years ago
To add to the list for those willing to try alternatives, here is a multiplatform markdown note taking application I&#x27;ve been using for a while: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tamlok.github.io&#x2F;vnote&#x2F;en_us&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tamlok.github.io&#x2F;vnote&#x2F;en_us&#x2F;</a>
snissnover 5 years ago
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;nirvana-for-gtd&#x2F;id1022913190" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;nirvana-for-gtd&#x2F;id1022913190</a><p>Nirvana hq and David Allen GTD are great for being organized and feeling in charge of all your tasks
crazypythonover 5 years ago
I use DevonThink. It&#x27;s great-- excellent capture-from-web features. It has See Also, and folders.
评论 #21556025 未加载
mattlockyerover 5 years ago
Would you consider data privacy and features that enhance protections for end users becoming popular? Bear Notes just added a &quot;vault&quot; style feature. With all the leaks, hacks, and mis-use of personal data, surely there&#x27;s something brewing in the market?
wiradikusumaover 5 years ago
I read few comments against OneNote, may I know what&#x27;s the problem with that? (Other than no Markdown—but even Evernote doesn&#x27;t support it)
评论 #21556435 未加载
评论 #21557160 未加载
amaccuishover 5 years ago
OneNote on Linux, if only such a thing existed.
rwhaover 5 years ago
Why are new applications still adding dot folders&#x2F;files to the home directory and not following freedesktop standards?
arthurofbabylonover 5 years ago
Sometimes all you want is a notebook. If it needs to be digital... -&gt; www.minimal.app
threatofrainover 5 years ago
What do people who also want Latex use? So far I haven’t found anything better than VSC.
评论 #21556222 未加载
评论 #21556163 未加载
评论 #21556311 未加载
评论 #21556165 未加载
fabiospampinatoover 5 years ago
Disclosure: I work at a competitor note-taking app called Notable [0], so I&#x27;m somewhat biased.<p>I&#x27;ve made a comparison table [1] comparing Joplin and other popular note-taking apps, you may find it useful.<p>Joplin could have been my go-to note-taking app, but IMO they made a few bad design decisions and there are few things I really don&#x27;t like about it, maybe listing some of them from my point of view could be useful either to Joplin&#x27;s maintainers or potential users:<p>- Notebooks are indefinitely nestable but tags are not, why?<p>- Joplin&#x27;s icon is SO out of proportions, it looks way out of place in my dock, it may sound silly but I might not have used it just because of this alone.<p>- There&#x27;s a button for opening the current note via a third-party editor, this is quite powerful because it means you can use all the fancy plugins and capabilities your general purpose text editor has, but why are all metadata about a particular note stored who-knows-where rather than putting them in the note itself as YAML front matter so I could have edited them directly too?<p>- Attachments are stored on disk as plain files, that&#x27;s great because now you can find them and edit them without going through Joplin if necessary, but those files are named with unique ids so actually finding the files you&#x27;re looking for will be a problem.<p>- And why not storing all notes on disk directly too, so that you could have done fancy things like running a global search and replace on them, run git on them...? Storing them in a database is generally better for performance, but you can do both.<p>- Notes have a separate title field, why wouldn&#x27;t I want to write my titles in an H1 heading in the Markdown content directly instead? The default notes look a bit silly because of this, coming effectively with 2 identical titles.<p>- The UI looks pretty ugly, there are too many buttons, the interface isn&#x27;t properly responsive (at some widths the toolbar gets cropped, labels spawn multiple lines etc.), useless things like the &quot;Watching...&quot; label are displayed etc.<p>- The database location is not customizable, if it were you would have the ability to store multiple notes collections separately, and you could achieve synchronization for free just by putting your database inside Dropbox for instance.<p>- Some shortcuts are weird and&#x2F;or missing, for example there&#x27;s a shortcut for cycling between previewing, editing, and the split editor. That might be useful sometimes, but don&#x27;t people just want to toggle between editing and previewing or between previewing and the split-editor most of the times? There should be shortcuts for doing that instead.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;notable.md" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;notable.md</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;notable&#x2F;notable#comparison" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;notable&#x2F;notable#comparison</a>
评论 #21559454 未加载
评论 #21557402 未加载
评论 #21560422 未加载
评论 #21556177 未加载
评论 #21568502 未加载
braindongleover 5 years ago
Is there anything like this that is Vim-centric? Pretty please?
评论 #21556070 未加载
评论 #21556125 未加载
评论 #21556444 未加载
评论 #21558409 未加载
评论 #21560330 未加载
godelmachineover 5 years ago
Can this be synchronized with Google Drive using any driver?<p>Thanks
standup75over 5 years ago
Had the same problem, decided to make my own. With pouchdb &#x2F; couchdb for sync. Https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tagidea.net All free
tobiasbischoffover 5 years ago
wow thats the worst mac desktop app i&#x27;ve seen for a while.