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Recomendation for a note taking app

Hello everyone, I'd like your recommendations for a note taking app that:

  • Can be selfhosted
  • Stores the notes as plain text or *.md files, not some SQL database.
  • Can use Marddown format.
  • Have an android client or at least a mobile optimized web-interface.
  • Not a must but it would be nice to have a to-do list option.

I tried:

  • Trilium: use an encrypted litesql to store the notes.
  • Joplin: does not encrypt the notes, but store them in random named directories, making ot harder finding the notes.
  • Logseq: No firefox support, I did not check how it stores itsdatabase.
  • Standard note: Needs subscription to selfhost or to even use markdown format, otherwise it is a heavy text editor.
  • Memos: does not store plain files, instead uses a (sqlite probably) database even when setting local filesystem as current object storage.
  • CodiMD: use database to store its notes
  • Hedgedoc: the same as above
  • Silverbulet.md: This is what I will end up using if Obsidian + syncthing was not for me,It is minimal without losing much features and can be enhanced with plug-ins.
    . It does need a bit of getting used to and it does not have an android app but can it can be run as PWA that runs offline. The only downside is it does clutter your note directory with a bunch of dot files (if you decided to install plug-ins).

The closest I found so far is Obsidian, which:

  • Unfortunately, does not have any selfhosting option.
  • Have a client app on every platform and store.
  • Can use a custom directory to store it database as plain text files, which can be a network mounted directory (on my laptop/desktop) or a directory on my android phone that i will have to keep synchronized using a third party app.
  • I used "Remotely Save by fyears" which allows you to synchronize local obsidian note directory with a cloud directory (onedrive, dropbox, webdav...), It requires webdav for self-hosted options, kinda forcing you to use a 3th party service to run a 3rd party plug-in so you can use Obsidian with your home server directory. On top of that It can only use a folder on the root of the webdave server (say /notes instead of /documents/notes).
  • I used syncthing initially to sync my Notes directory but I ended up using it to keep a buch of directories in sync across all my devices. Leaving you to use whatever app you like on any device, not just Obsidian.

Edit: March-2nd: added memos, codimd, hedgedoc
Edit: March-9th, It has been a busy week and I could not do much. I added silverbullet and both syncthing adn remotly-save for obsidian. I'm using now Silverbullet and Obsidian+syncthing until I decide on one.
Thank you everyone who helped me choosing.

TypicalHog ,

Obsidian without a doubt!

abies_exarchia ,

I use obsidian with obsidian-livesync for selfhosting the notes. Works pretty well across linux, macos, ios so far

Dhrystone ,
@Dhrystone@infosec.pub avatar
waz ,

It's not exactly what I think you're looking for, but depending on what you are trying to do, maybe look at hackmd/codimd.

It's more like Google docs meets markdown formatting. It's goal is realtime collaboration but I've definitely used it for syncing todo lists with people.

Codimd is the self hostable version.

Oh, and I think there is a way to have it sync with a GitHub repo too, in case that is useful.

Links for convenience:

https://hackmd.io/#

https://github.com/hackmdio/codimd

mhz OP ,
@mhz@lemm.ee avatar

Looks great, I'm definitely checking it this weekend. Thank for the share

d13 ,

Logseq has an Android app and clients for the usual desktop platforms. It stores as .md files. It meets your requirements. I'm not sure why you're focused on Firefox support?

One I have my eye on is Silverbullet.md. the creator recently promoted it here and it has some nice ideas. It's a web app that you self host. Behind the scenes everything is stored in .md files.

ryannathans ,

Sucks that it doesn't have any authentication or TLS support

constantokra ,

I'm getting a bit concerned with logseq. It's just kind of backwards to have a web app packaged as a desktop/android app that can be hosted on a server, but you can't store your files there. I get that they want to monetize sync, but they're kind of bending over backwards here to not have what's inherently a pretty reasonable feature in a web based app, and it makes me concerned about what they're going to do with the project in the future.

mrh ,
@mrh@mander.xyz avatar

Try Orgzly with Emacs Orgmode

jeffhykin ,

For standard notes, its got an auto-export plaintext file option on desktop. Were you wanting two-way editing of plaintext? (e.g. Auto export and import)

customley ,

Logseq actually does not need to be run in a browser, there are apps for every system. It does not have any sync server to host though (so far) so you have to use syncthing or something to have your notes available between devices. It does store notes in .md format with clearly labelled names so you always have access to them.

It does have a learning curve and android apps still do have some bugs to iron out, but I started to really like it and use it as my bullet journal.

The whole system of linking notes and even singular text blocks works really well in my mind. I can write a quick note about my health in today's journal file and tag it with and when I go to the health file it shows every mention of that tag from everywhere.

stgermain77 ,

+1 on Logseq and Sync Thing.

talentedkiwi , (edited )

Lots of good suggestions. I've also used memos, but wasn't a huge fan of how the notes were organized. Solid app and definitely worth a look.

https://github.com/usememos/memos

Edit: I'm holding out hope for when notesnook goes self-hosted.

Edit 2: after looking at my older instance I see they save the notes in a database and is not relevant to your question.

Fudoshin ,
@Fudoshin@feddit.uk avatar

Obsidian + private GitHub repo hosting

halm ,
@halm@leminal.space avatar

For the past many years I've simply synced my notes across devices (originally from webDAV, currently Syncthing) and open them with my favourite Markdown editor for each platform. On my android phone it's Markor, and Marktext on desktop.

I've tried so many note taking apps but especially Joplin's weird renaming of my files cooled my enthusiasm for One App To Rule Them All. I do understand the attraction of it, I just prefer a simple setup where I'm not bound by any developer (team)’s whims.

mhz OP ,
@mhz@lemm.ee avatar

I just prefer a simple setup where I’m not bound by any developer (team)’s whims.

This is my concern, if anything goes wrong with my favorite app I would just move on to another without much fuss.

fart_pickle ,

Obaidian + Syncthing will do the trick.

mhz OP ,
@mhz@lemm.ee avatar

Obaidian + Syncthing will do the trick.

This will be my backup plan if nothing else work out.

unlimitedbacon ,
@unlimitedbacon@kbin.social avatar

Check out SiYuan. It's an open source, self hostabole version of Obsidian.

It uses a database on the backend but editing is done in Markdown and it can import / export Markdown files.

Decronym Bot , (edited )

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
Git Popular version control system, primarily for code
IP Internet Protocol
NAS Network-Attached Storage
SSL Secure Sockets Layer, for transparent encryption
TLS Transport Layer Security, supersedes SSL

4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 10 acronyms.

[Thread for this sub, first seen 1st Mar 2024, 09:05]
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dust_accelerator ,
Strit ,
@Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show avatar

This is also what I use. It ticks all of OPs boxes, but it might be overkill if you just want notes.

mhz OP ,
@mhz@lemm.ee avatar

Actually, nextcloud is what introduced me to the markdown format. Hiwever, i found myself using NC for its note app only, hence i'm looking for a lightweight alternative.

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