I've been looking into all sorts of them recently: logseq, appflowy, vikunja, etc. What tools do you use? Why? What problems did you run into with the previous set of tools you used for this job?
Right now I'm primarily interested in finding a "zero-knowledge" (cloud provider doesn't have access to my data) system for task management. Needs to be able to have recurring tasks and tasks organized in some interesting/useful ways (by projects/labels/something, maybe a kanban and table view). Deadlines and time tracking/planning interesting but not required.
For me one of the most flexible and mature way to knowledge base, tasks and notes is an org-mode.
I have two main workflows. The first one is task management. I have a lot of recurring tasks with tags, deadlines, schedules, etc. All of them are living in org-files in my Nextcloud. On Android I'm using orgzly-reviwed for sync via WebDAV, on my work I'm using organice (via WebDAV) as a "web-version" and also I'm editing my notes in emacs on my laptop (but actually any text editor could be used).
The second one is a knowledge base. I'm using org-roam locally (and with a localhost web server, built in into emacs) and orgnote for Android/Web + synchronization. My knowledge base is Zettelkasten-based.
Orgzly-reviewed: https://github.com/orgzly-revived/orgzly-android-revived
Organice: https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice
Orgnote: https://github.com/Artawower/orgnote
Orgnote provide a way to encrypt all notes by your own key/password. With orgzly I'm relying on Nextcloud encryption.
The org.pdf documentation is 300 pages long O_O ! https://orgmode.org/org.pdf
Simple, spin up a Stirling PDF docker, split the org docs and create org notes either by section or by page, linking to the relevant PDF page
Now you've practiced using org mode by documenting org mode in org mode using your own words based off the org mode documentation
Yes... org-mode is more than 20 years old... It is a price of flexibility: I have a strong feeling that one can adjust org-mode to any workflow. But I do not use even a third of the org specification. There are a lot of cool blog posts like "org mode quick start" or "org mode basics", I would recommend to start from such posts, not from a documentation.
I have logseq ready for the day I finally use it. If I use it. It will be there. Waiting.
I can't understand Logseq, even though it seems appealing. I haven't gone too deep yet but to me it feels weird that they say it's simple and then their documentation is confusing and full of videos explaining how it works. That seems far from simple.
I tried and failed. I couldn’t figure out a pleasant way to be able to copy and paste code. The only thing I could come up was to use a different editor for those instances.
Now I’m stuck between Joplin for work and Obsidian for personal, until I finally make up my mind. I like that I can create a second account for Joplin and share just the work related notes while I’m using company infrastructure.
I also tried logseq and couldn't really stick with it. Tried a few others like obsidian, joplin, Zettlr, Simplenote, even just vim and vscode with various plugins, but they all had their own drawbacks I couldn't get over, like a lack of built-in cross-platform support, syncing, encryption, not being open source, etc.
I eventually found Notesnook which strikes a good balance for my needs: open source, end-to-end encrypted, easy to use, decent UI, doesn't mangle code/formatting when copy/pasting, feature parity across platforms; I use MacOS, Windows, Linux and Android and they all have clients that have feature parity - even the web client is really good!
The only thing I would say it's currently missing is to release the source code for the server, but that's on their roadmap and actively worked on. It was this commitment to openness that lead me to try it and after some brief time start paying for it.
Thanks for sharing. I’ll be keeping an eye on this project. Looks promising!
Interesting, I have been able to use it for code no problem. They even support different language types to add colors automatically.
Zim
Its amazing. I keep my whole life in there. Also has tons of plugins that probably meet your tasks needs.
I store it in an a encrypted luks volume that I upload to the cloud, so its zero knowledge on all the clouds.
Zim really is amazing, its the perfect balance with its simple plain text files in folders data structure, but powerful search and back linking. And I love linking to other files on the local file system.
How do you do the LUKS volume upload to cloud? Is it for syncing between devices or just backup? Personally I use (self hosted) NextCloud to sync my Zim between devices.
Just backup. You just have to pause the luks mount and then you upload it like any file.
I've enjoyed Zim in the past but not being able to access it on mobile caused me to migrate. Do you have a way to access your notes on the go?
No, I wouldn't want my sensitive notes on an insecure device
Those are only .md files, I guess any text editor will open them.
Yeah, no reminders and tasks, but notes should be accessible from anything and git can sync it. Never tried it, but text files were the reason I choose zim in the first place. I want it simple.
Same. Perfectly simple to start, and you can build from there.
I just dump stuff if I not in the mood to organize it.
Many have mentioned org-mode. I used it for years but have moved on to todo.txt and markdown. I use syncthing to keep notes up to date on my phone and computer. I edit with whatever is available on my desktop and I use markor notes on my phone.
I think this setup only lacks the recurring tasks option. I think org-mode can do that but I use my calendar for that.
This is a highly personal topic so I'd suggest trying as many things as you can. Something will stick eventually.
I used to do this, but todo.txt is a dead format now unfortunately, the maintainers left a long time ago. Tasks.org is where its at, open-source, sync how you want, tagging, recurring tasks.
Is it dead or complete? For my purposes, it doesn't need any changes.
Try asking the maintainers for clarification or an update on anything. They're gone.
This is a highly personal topic so I'd suggest trying as many things as you can.
Seconded!
Right now mainly Nextcloud for task and kanban with Jtx and Deck on android.
For my knowledge markdown files edited with Quillpad, Zettlr, Tangent, Nextcloud …
That's not zero-knowledge but that's work for me and I feel that secure enough in my case for my daily life. :)
None. I'm used to Notion and unfortunately there's no OSS even getting close to that. I would like to move away, but even if I considered to lose my current base or move everything manually, there's nothing feature-rich enough to meet my use cases.
After many years of Org-mode, I've settled on Emacs Denote with a git repo of markdown files, paired with a paper bullet journal.
I'm curious why markdown works better for you?
I just switched to denote - liking the simple elegance.
I stopped using the task management features of Org mode and I wanted to use Apache mod_markdown to view my notes when on a mobile device. I like how simple markdown is. It's all I need for notes. Denote is great for keeping organized.
Not who you asked but I'm a big fan of markdown because it lets me create notes that are:
- Fast
- Useful
- Pretty
Usually you can only pick two of these things in a paper notebook or other file types. I personally use Obsidian right now, which allows me to create notes even faster with hotkeys and JavaScript templates, but any markdown editor with a preview mode is plenty
I would ascribe the same virtues to org mode, but to give one answer to my own question, markdown is entirely editor independent which is generally a plus, though least so for personal notes where org can export to many formats (including markdown).
With org and Emacs there are other benefits like integrated personal to-do and agenda management which is why I have favored it over markdown. But even though I'm a committed Emacs user, being primarily an Emacs format is a philosophical negative if not a practical one for me in this case.
Obsidian thankfully has many of the same features that you're describing, albeit some of them rely on community plugins. The cross platform accessibility of markdown is definitely the biggest factor for a lot of people - but for me, the fact that I can instantly make an aesthetically pleasing note; one that is not just easy to read and gather information from but is also nice to look at: is the biggest plus. Other editors have plenty of templates and most people probably don't care about how their notes look as long as it's notes, but I love the look and feel of a good markdown note
I’ve been using todo.txt for tasks for about a month now—it’s dead simple, supports all the bells and whistles you mentioned; and, with the topydo CLI, you can very easily make yourself a kanban interface using its columns UI. I sync the files with my iPhone and use Todooo on iOS, which works beautifully.
As for notes, I just write simple text files with my favorite editor. Maintaining complex systems of interconnected notes, I’ve found, most often does not pay off for the enormous time investment required (some specific use cases aside); tags, links, etc. I have all found to be superfluous—any kind of
grepintegration in the editor is all that’s needed for finding things. I write in either markdown or Typst, because basic Typst is essentially the same as markdown anyway, and because I’ve found it very useful to keep notes in the same format I write longer-form documents in.Zim Wiki https://zim-wiki.org/
Desktop wiki, saving to .md text files, can commit to git repo and has basic task handling.
Perfect for me.
Zim can be used to:
Keep an archive of notes Keep a daily or weekly journal Take notes during meetings or lectures Organize task lists Draft blog entries and emails Do brainstormingI use SuperProductivity. It works really well. You can keep track of how much time you spend on individual tasks and I sync it to my nas server so it's synced on my phone, desktop, laptop
