Well, it's been... fine. I'm not going to lie, I've been trying to use Joplin for over a year now and frankly I haven't been able to make it a daily usage app. Why? because Joplin isn't good. It's not bad, but it also isn't any good.
I started using it because it was open source and because it had encryption but those are poor reasons to use a program. The program has to be good first and foremost and Joplin just isn't. This latest .AppImage kerfuffle is just the cherry on top. From the app being built with electron meaning it takes some time to load, to the extremely limiting encryption key options, to the fact the android app opens in read mode as opposed to write mode, to the way new notes on android are being treated... yeah, Joplin just isn't good.
If I want a markdown editor there are a thousand I can find, all open source, many better then Joplin. If I want just a means to take a quick note, again, myriad apps, may better then Joplin. Encryption of files? same. And things only go on.
Joplin is one man's passion project. But it can't compete with professional projects backed by actual corporations. I'd like to say you get what you pay for but I was never using Joplin because it was free.
Joplin is decent and it seems to be what Laurent wants it to be. IT just isn't any good for my own needs.
And speaking of Laurent, since discourse is yet another half baked open source project, mind deactivating my account since I can't delete it myself?
“Joplin is one man’s passion project. But it can’t compete with professional projects backed by actual corporations”
You are totally wrong and I’m honestly the living proof of this. When my Joplin had trouble last week I seek in the whole internet for a solution that can have:
markdown AND
Mathjax support
Notes organized in notebooks
Only this… nothing more. I would PAY A MONTHLY subscription for this. EVERNOTE DOES NOT HAVE THIS. And guess what?? I DID NOT FIND.
I’m not saying that “you just said crap”, that’s not the point. But this part of your affirmation is by far wrong.
Joplin has a competitive differential, I don’t know the manifesto, I’m not updated in the situation of the project, but I honestly think that in terms of SOFTWARE, the project are solid enough to be profitable.
In less words: currently, there are stuff that the only app that makes it is Joplin. Period.
For those who use Linux, those who use Latex, Mathjax and others like chemical equations, Markdown, Dropbox, is not just a DECENT project as you say, is the perfect tool, beating all competitors. Is it a niche? Yes, it is. But so what? It is a niche with millions of possible users around the whole world.
To each their own. Sure Joplin has its issues (search is bizarre and it really needs spell check) but, I have yet to find an application that really competes with it.
And you slammed Discourse in passing. Ha! What the heck better application is there in its space? I’d be curious because I see so many projects moving to discourse simply because there just isn’t anything out there nearly as good. At least none that I have experienced.
Anyway. I hope you find something that works for you, I really do. Good luck.
Joplin is not PERFECT. But, it’s pretty good. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I have tried literally dozens of apps in my quest to replace Evernote before I settled on Joplin.
You made a rather large number of blanket statements about how Joplin is “not good”, but you didn’t give any specifics of apps that offer a better overall solution. What app are you settling on and why? I started reading your post with interest, but frankly it went nowhere. Care to elaborate or did you just post to get things off your chest?
People should learn what an open source project is and think about it for a second. The fact that Laurant makes this open source and works on it doens’t give you the right to moan about anything. How would you feel if you just work on something because it is your hobby and people keep complaining about everything being wrong and features missing etc etc.
Imagine yourself working on something and you are implementing certain functions because you see a need for yourself. In the same time other people find it usefull so you open source it. Now all of a sudden you have to respond to them and things start living on their own. Now all of a sudden you have hundreds of people saying “this app really has to have this, otherwise I will not use it”. “it’s a shame this app doesnt do X, look at all the other apps that can do X!!!”. So many open source projects die because of this attitude since the (often solo) maintainers can’t deal with the stress of having to live up to the expectations that are created while they just wanted to be helpful.
If you paid for something you can complain about it. (if you think that will help you)
Organisation of notes sounds easy but nobody can do it perfect.
I came from long time evernote, switched to notion.so and onenote.
Joplin can do organize my notes very well.
@AlucardNoir: what are u missing? why not helping development on github?
@ AlucardNoir I don’t understand what you hope to accomplish by posting a message to disparage Joplin and say goodbye (at the same time!). Certainly Joplin is not perfect; I developed software for a living, and I doubt anything I did in my 40 year career was perfect. But a lot of people find it very useful.
I tried half a dozen note-taking apps before settling on Joplin. I won’t name the others I looked at, because they are all fine apps with many happy users. Joplin simply satisfied my particular preferences better than the alternatives. I don’t see the point in naming the others, nothing would be accomplished.
At any rate, enjoy whichever note-taking app suits your needs.
Big disagree that Joplin “isn’t any good.” I operate across Linux and Windows systems and had been searching for a cross-platform, open-source desktop notes app to replace Linux-unfriendly Evernote for months if not years. Had been using CherryTree but wasn’t crazy about copy-pasting every one of the thousands of notes I’d accumulated in Evernote over the years. The day I stumbled on Joplin was a turning point in my notekeeping. I exported all my Evernote notes to Joplin and started keeping all my new notes in Joplin with no problems syncing among all my workstations as well as my Android phone. Congratulations and thanks to @laurent and everyone who helped and continues to work on this project.
I come from MS Onenote and I really like Joplin. Especially for the fact that you can “host” an instance for your self on Onedrive in my case and manage the encryption is something I really like because it gives you control over your data. I have to agree though with AlucardNoir that the android app needs some improvements because it indeed opens slow and lacks some useful features the desktop app has, but for me its no reason to leave but actually to stay and see the app grow.
I created an account on this forum simply for the purpose of disagreeing with you! I mostly use Linux and was previously using CherryTree for my note taking but I just didn’t like how rigid it is. When I didn’t spend nearly as much time in Linux I used OneNote for virtually everything… Once Linux became a part of my daily work flow I started keeping a git repo and manually creating .MD files for keeping track of notes - Joplin takes all that manual work away and as such I’m very thankful for having it as a solution that meets virtually all my current needs.
Others have made the statement so I won’t beat on a dead horse other than to say the whole point of open source is that you can get involved. If you don’t like something about Joplin, get involved. You have the power to make and be the change you wish to see! Stop being lazy and demanding that others always do your homework for you.
I must agree with the OP about markdown. To be honest MD is not a good note taking path. It is good for documenting stuff but not for note taking. I personally feel like MD is a format that limits what Joplin can become since its relying on what MD can do really, especially given that editing and viewing are separate paradigms in Joplin if you will. I do not think that a visual editor can solve this, it is really the MD not being a good ideation format.
I personally like Joplin, but I hope that it implements new formats and paths in the future, as of now it relying on MD is a blowback for the future of notetaking in Joplin.
I am sure MD is a killer format for many here, I like it myself for documenting basic stuff too. What I am after is creative note taking, not structured documentation.
I came to Joplin from MS OneNote, trying to escape the limitations of Evernote, which I loved but found a bit tight sometimes. OneNoter was terrible and I just couldn't bear its organization principles.
Joplin is not perfect, I've also found limitations and missing features but this is life in open projects: Bring Your Own Passion and contribute, by coding and sharing if you're skilled for it, by suggestions and feedback if you mind supporting the community.
I've been a contributor and sometimes open source software author centuries ago , so I know what motivates @laurent, so all we need to say him is "Thank you! And maybe you could [add your own idea here] ..."
By the way, I'm also curious of other applications @AlucardNoir tested in his quest: can you please share with us?
I have been looking for a simple, open source Evernote alternative that supports zero-knowledge E2EE for over a year. Joplin and Notes for Firefox fitted the bill but Notes still had serious problems with syncing and staying logged on. Joplin in the only credible option, and the way it uses commercial cloud services for syncing is great. Many other apps could use the same approach (eg calendars, password managers etc) for backing up and syncing their database. Another alternative for self-hosting is of course Nextcloud but that’s more demanding.
Joplin could be lighter and spellchecking is missing, but it’s by far the best for my needs.
, so I know what motivates