Nico's blog

Joplin, an awesome notes taking app (and a lot more)

A quick look at why I chose it, and what I used and tested before

My usage

I take notes about everything: stuff to do, books to read, things I want to remember or track, "read it later" notes, ...

Moving away from Evernote

I was an early Evernote premium user, as it was really a nice application. However there were a few annoying things with it, such as no native Linux client, and also their commercial approach which tended to get worst.

At some point, I decided to look at alternative, open-source options, with some basic requirements:

• MacOS and Linux fat client
  • cherry on the cake: FreeBSD client
• Android/iOS app
  • for the Android one, must not require Google Play Services, as I'll be using it on Sailfish OS
  • I need one for iOS for my professional phone
• Markdown compatibility
• Self-hosted

Finding Joplin

I looked at a few options to keep it simple, such as having notes written directly in Markdown, and saved against a WebDAV server, without fat clients/mobile apps, but it was a bit rough.

I also tried used Owncloud's Notes application, but when I did 5 years ago, it was very basic, so I didn't choose it.

I then stumbled upon Joplin, which was ticking a lot of boxes:

• MacOS/Linux client
• Android/iOS apps
• Notes written in Mardown
• Self-hosted, with different backend for synchronisation (WebDAV, Nextcloud, Dropbox)

It also came with some nice additional features:

• Import of Evernote notes (YEAH!)
• Plugins to add new features
• Possibility to encrypt the notes end-to-end, so that they're stored encrypted on the backend server
• Very efficient search capabilities

Also, since the application is open-source, you can create issues on Github, exchange / ask/answer questions on Discourse, write new plugins, and more.

Adopting it

As I said, I've been using Joplin for a while, so as I'm writing this article, the migration from Evernote is long forgotten ;)
But I do remember that it was uneventful - I just followed the instructions on the website (i.e.: export your Evernote notes in an ENEX format, and then import it in the desktop application.

The first notes I have are dated from December 20th, 2018.

What I like about Joplin

• super simple to use:
  • create a few notebooks to organise your notes,
  • create a new note, using Markdown, and you're good to go
  • Joplin also has a WYSIWYG editor, which I rarely use, but it's nice to have this option
• comes with a lot of plugins, allowing you to customise it:
  • Sum-up
  • Diagrams
  • Coloring Markdown tables, so that you're sure you're in the right column:
• Terminal client: there's no desktop application for FreeBSD - you can build it from sources, but I decided to try using the Terminal client.
  • It does the job - obviously less pleasant than a regular app with a GUI, but it's good enough for my FreeBSD desktop
  • I found an article explaining how to install Electron/the desktop app on FreeBSD, I may try it some day.
• I am hosting it myself, with WebDAV as backend, so that I can keep control on my data
  • I discovered later that it was possible to encrypt my notes, which I did and was really easy
• Mobile app:
  • The Android app works flawlessly on SailfishOS (provided you have the Sailfish X license, of course) and does not require Google Play services
  • The user experience on iOS is the same as on Android

Wrap Up

I highly recommend Joplin to anyone who's looking to take back control of his notes, and doesn't want to rely on other providers, or doesn't trust them.

Note that there's a possibility to have Joplin providing you hosting, with Joplin Cloud - I am not using it myself, but it's a nice option if you want to use Joplin but don't have the skills/time to host it yourself.

Tags: Geek