Ask HN: What do you use to jot down random thoughts and ideas at any time/place?
Back when I lived on only one computer at a time, I used Microsoft OneNote. It worked real well until I realized the pitfalls of proprietary software and formats, and sure enough, I was bitten by them when I found I couldn't access any of my old notes files on the Mac version.
My next favorite was Ulysses [0] because of its drawer/shoebox UI and the plaintext Markdown format, but since they moved to a dumb (IMO) subscription model, the deprecated paid version has been mysteriously or coincidentally becoming too buggy for me on newer macOS versions.
I'm looking for something that basically just puts a pretty interface around a folder hierarchy of plaintext (and possibly image/sound) files, and is compatible with any cloud storage providers (iCloud Drive, Dropbox etc.) so that macOS-only will be enough if it saves in regular plaintext, but ideally it would also have iOS [+Android/Windows] versions.
I'm currently looking at Quiver [1], and would like to see what HN uses.
[0] https://ulyssesapp.com
[1] http://happenapps.com/#quiver
Love it. Thank you for your work. Please don't stop.
The main way I use it for fast entry is I have an IFTTT integration setup to take any incoming text messages, and store them as a note in my Inbox that I can sort later.
Then I have my Pebble watch setup to have a one button press voice to SMS to my IFTTT number. So I just raise my wrist, hold the 'up' button, say my note, and send it. Done.
If voice to text won't work, I can send a normal text, an email, run a terminal command, use my Alfred workflow, send a chat to the Telegram bot, or even make a voice phone call.
[0] https://bulletnotes.io/ [1] https://github.com/NickBusey/BulletNotes
For me, for the sort of quick/random thought logging, quick accessibility trumps features any day.
— Too easy to accidentally edit notes. I've occasionally destroyed some notes by "butt dialing" when I forgot to turn off the phone and put it in my pocket, which caused them to be replaced by random text. To avoid that I have to password-protect and hide important notes, which is inconvenient if I don't necessarily need privacy on them.
— Cannot view creation date, afaik, only modification.
– If I ever cannot (or don't want to) use the Notes app then I can't access my notes.
— Cannot add audio or link to arbitrary files on local storage. Can't link to other notes.
I try to organize my entries pretty well, so they are easy to search. However, there is no folder hierarchy. No links or images.
I was using Pages for my journal, it was good solution if you are in Apple’s ecosystem. But I like automatic builtin back in git’s workflow. Sometimes, I take notes in Pages for a few days, then move them over to markdown file. This is slowly becoming my preferred workflow as it allows me to review my previous notes instead of just continue to add at the end of the file.
And when I jotting down random ideas, I prefer pen and paper. Stuff like things to do, random ideas for projects, etc. If I store them electronically, I will never look at them again.
That seems to be an actual problem for everyone, isn't it?
Maybe a notes app could try solving it by doing the Facebook-like thing where it occasionally shows you a random note from the past. :)
Or suggesting similar past notes when you write a new one that matches them. e.g., if I'm writing down an idea I've had for a role-playing game, the app suggests past notes with RPG in them.
For me, a physical note occupies space on my desk but rarely ever gets in the way. I can look at it if I want but it is not annoying like notifications in cell phone or pop ups in desktop apps. This includes both, sticky notes and notepad.
Also another part of using pen and paper is drawing capabilities. Sometimes I have ideas that will take too long to describe in words, but one crappy flowchart grabs everything about the idea.
And delete function in real world is so hard to replicate in electronic devices. When you are done with a physical note, crumbling the paper and tossing in trash is so satisfying.
With all that said, all my physical notes are temporary. They are either to do lists which get done in next few days or ideas that get transferred to more permanent place such as journal or blog post.
For electronic notes I use the notes app from Apple.
http://www.bear-writer.com/
I jot a lot of notes though, and still prefer revising on pen and paper so I wrote an Apple script that prints all notes in a given date range and I then review/consolidate them.
I try to do it once a week, and it works pretty well.
Personal experience is you can't beat pencil and paper. No need to charge, login, sync etc. If it has to be on a computer plain text files for me, though I like me some markdown.
Trello card for actual tasks