If I synchronize, do all notes have to be sync'ed?

Can I specify what gets sync'ed, or does everything have to get sync'ed?

There are some notes that I'd rather keep only on my main computer storage and not sync to my phone or other devices. In Evernote, this feature is called "Local Notebooks".

Is this possible in Joplin?

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Can I specify what gets sync'ed, or does everything have to get sync'ed?

At the Moment everything gets synced.

Is this possible in Joplin?
No not at the moment. I guess that something similiar will be implemented at some point in the future but right now this is not not possible.

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I actually have to corect myself. You can not decide which notes to sync but you don't need to download all atrachments. There is an "Attachment download behaviour" setting.

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Thanks. Would be a useful feature for at least a couple reasons:

  1. For large databases, sync'ing everything could create storage spaces issues on mobile devices
  2. Since Joplin does not encrypt notes on user devices, sync'ing everything means even the most private/confidential notes are on every device (e.g., a mobile device you might share with a relative or friend). If users can specify certain notes or a notebook(s) to be excluded from sync, then these notes are kept off less secure devices.
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Thanks. Does attachment download setting apply for all notes or on a per note basis?

I think it is very good explained in the gui:

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@jb261
add 1. : not downloading the attachments solves that problem for any mobile device.
add 2. : Joplin DOES encrypt all notes on all devices (or nothing is encrypted), and all recent Android devices (from Oreo on, I think) are encrypted by default, and this encryption cannot be switched off any more.

Another idea :
use a different masterkey for the "private" notes, and do not enter the password to this masterkey on your mobile device. Even when your phone is stolen while unlocked nobody can read these notes.

add 2. : Joplin DOES encrypt all notes on all devices (or nothing is encrypted)

As I understand it, Joplin only encrypts notes in transit and at rest on server, not on user's devices. To quote Laurent from this github thread

yes, the note directory on the cloud service (eg. OneDrive, Nextcloud, etc.) has encrypted data.
The local, SQLite data is not encrypted.

Another idea :
use a different masterkey for the "private" notes, and do not enter the password to this masterkey on your mobile device. Even when your phone is stolen while unlocked nobody can read these notes.

You lost me here. I thought when encrypting data in Joplin, you use one password to encrypt the entire database (again, in transit and at rest on your sync server). So I don't understand your suggestion. Please can you elaborate/clarify? Thanks.

What you write is not incorrect (last paragraph), it is the standard case. However, Joplin can have several masterkeys (see one of the many posts on "how to get rid of unused keys). And each one can have the same or a different password.
If you now prepare a new mobile device, sync it, and only enter the password for one key, and not for the other, then you have effectively found a solution to your problem. Nevertheless, and that's why I called it " just an idea", this was not intended to be used like this, this feature may or may not vanish in future releases ... I have no clue. I hope this helps a little.

PS: it is also correct that until this evening I misunderstood that Joplin would encrypt locally too, when E2EE is on. Therefor my partially incorrect reply.

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I would be interested in being able to choose what notes are or are not synced automatically to a particular device. This might even be useful at the Notebook scope for simplicity.

i have created 92000 notes in Joplin. i need to wait a whole night for my phone to sync notes. i think sync settings should make some change, especially for mobile device.

I think one way to do this could be to use Joplin Cloud or set up your own Joplin server (i. e. NOT just using Dropbox or similar).
Then you can define which notebooks you allow 'others' to see.
Then you define a different user on, say, your phone, and from then on your phone will only sync with those exact notebooks you allow it.
I hope it is clear, but you have more details here...