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!

  • 3nthusiast@infosec.pubEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    I’m happy with standard notes. Very easy to use and you don’t need to sync files across devices yourself. I’m not sure if it’s possible to share the notes tho.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Thank you! This is very helpful. I didn’t see these but Lemmy search is sort of broken for me right now.

    • dorkdad@feddit.onlineEnglish
      2·
      20 hours ago

      This is the best answer and should be much higher. It’s the closest thing to Google Keep with the features OP wants.

    • Dangerhart@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Does this reorganize the task list when checked or treat it as vanilla mark down?

            • Dangerhart@lemm.eeEnglish
              1·
              3 days ago

              Thanks, I gave it a quick try, the only things missing from keep are a home screen widget and custom ordering of tiles, lots of promise

              • Father_Redbeard@lemmy.mlEnglish
                2·
                3 days ago

                Yeah, it’s not perfect. I’ve noticed that when making a task list/checkbox note that you can’t delete the line. Sure you can go and edit the contents of that line, but even if you delete all text, the line with a checkbox remains. Kind of annoying, particularly when I accidentally create another checkbox and have nothing to put in it. it’s just an empty line and checkbox sitting there mocking me. You can still mark it complete of course, but it kinda makes my eye twitch. :)

    • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      17·
      5 days 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)

    • Statick@programming.devEnglish
      9·
      5 days ago

      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.

      • baconman1945@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        5 days 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.

      • stphven@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        5 days 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.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      41·
      4 days ago

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

      • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago
        • amount of backups to keep

        also is a nice addition but i like the fact that notally is just 1.9mb. So i keep using notally and delete a dozen backups from time to time :/

        • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          1·
          4 days ago

          yeah, just looking through the notes, it looks like both devs care a lot about their project and just have different visions for what a “Complete” notes app should look like. It’s nice to see, because sometimes when you see a fork of a project it’s because someone abandoned it or there is some kind of community drama, but that doesn’t seem to be the case afaik.

    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Why does Notally not have an Issue tracker?

      Seems pretty much exactly like Nextcloud Notes but without sync and with image/audio. Wish the images could be inline instead of headers.

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

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

    • SteveDinn@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      I wish the web interface let you sort the sub categories both ways. I have a series of subcategories of Year/month that I’m using as a journal and the longer I keep writing, the further have to scroll down :/

  • Dangerhart@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    Carnet on Nextcloud is currently the “closest” I’ve found but it needs a ton of TLC. Sharing notes currently only works on the dev build. I keep telling myself I’ll fix it but can’t find the time. If anyone wants some open source contributions the maintainer has asked for help

  • filister@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    4 days ago

    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.

    • Radioactive Butthole@reddthat.comEnglish
      5·
      4 days ago

      Basically unmaintained at this point until they release the DB version “some day”. And you’re delusional if you think they can maintain both versions at the same time. They can’t even update the current production version that they already have without focusing all their efforts on a new app that hasn’t been released yet.

      • t_378@lemmy.oneEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        Am I crazy? I’m seeing a github page with commits from 6 days ago. When you unmaintained what do you mean, like no new features?

        • Radioactive Butthole@reddthat.comEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          Almost all of those are for the database release, not the production release.

          Even if they are for the current production release was last April. Considering the buggy mess their product is, that’s kind of unacceptable for an app that is supposed to hold your entire lifes data.

      • bitwolf@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        They’re adding a database to back it?

        That’s off putting, I liked its simplicity, and it’s being open source.

          • bitwolf@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            4 days ago

            Same page as you. I found Obsidian but deferred to Logseq instead for two reasons:

            • Open source
            • The block editor

            But seeing this post reaffirms I should find an alternative. They want collaborative features, etc. That roadmap is very different from what I was wanting out of a “second brain”.

            I have already been considering switching back to Obsidian and pairing it with Quartz for publishing.

            AnyType seemed close as well, but it has a ton of features I wouldn’t use and it’s not clear to me how I could generate a website from it.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      21·
      4 days ago

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

        • Jinna@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          Critically you can’t share to specific accounts, it’s private, completely public or all registered users. Also, sharing is read-only, no collaboration allowed. So sharing sort of yes, but no collaboration say on a shopping list.

  • Daniel Quinn@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    4 days ago

    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.

    • Ohh@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      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 .

  • blackbarn@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    4 days ago

    Anyone know of any that integrate with Google assistant? Such that I can use my voice to add items to a list? Currently using keep due to this

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Oh, that is a really interesting question. I do think that there are some open source assistants that may offer some flexibility, but that’s not really how I personally use a phone so I wouldn’t have any answer. I found this article from a few years ago that seems to suggest it was and may be possible.