Joplin has again removed all formatting

Support
1

Operating system

macOS

Joplin version

3.6.13

Desktop version info

Joplin 3.6.13 (prod, darwin)

Device: darwin, Apple M1 Max
Client ID: e8761ec354b840d2a71276c1f95c2b81
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 49
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text

Revision: 7e21762

Backup: 1.5.1
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0

What issue do you have?

Hi,

I'm curious what other users do when Joplin suddenly removes all formatting from large areas of text, replacing bold with asterisks, adding html codes, series of "=" signs and markup language, when I've been using the supposedly Rich Text Editor. This happens all the time in Joplin. I've just gotten used to dealing with a massively buggy program in exchange for its ability to handle large documents (relatively) snappily. I usually just manually re-enter all the formatting myself, understanding that this is just what Joplin does. The only two formatting tools I use are Bold and Highlight, but that is apparently too much for this program to handle.

But now it did it with 50 pages of text, changing highly organized paragraphs into gibberish, and turning the ENTIRE block of text into a weird, unselectable graphic. With no advance notice, as usual. One moment it was fine, then when I return to the app a little later, it's changed 50 pages. It's hard to explain because I don't have the PhD in Physics Joplin requires to use its app, but it's all in a typewriter font and I cannot select or copy/paste a single word. So I can't even manually change anything.

I will obviously be switching to another program as soon as possible, but to save myself a week of work manually transcribing this graphic Joplin created (!!!), I'm asking if anybody has any suggestions on reverting what Joplin destroyed.

Thank you for your help.

2

Hi,

So i gather there are no backups of your original data with all of the proper formatting that you used to enter into Joplin.?

What you are experiencing is not normal functionality for Joplin. The codes if you see any are markdown codes.

for headings

** for bold

You can view your data in two different ways. You can be using the markdown editor where all of the codes are displayed and they need to be displayed and then there is the rich text viewer and I tend to do a split screen myself so the markdown is on the left and the rich text is on the right.

Here is one piece of advice I can give you that I think might very well solve your problem importing the preformatted data with bold and underlining and things like that.

ALWAYS PASTE FROM CLIPBOARD TO THE MARKDOWN EDITOR.

Then you are welcome to switch back to the rich text for viewing but for pasting into the product I find it far more reliable to be in the markdown editor when pasting text into a note.

I forgot to ask and I don't recall if you wrote it down are you importing from files or pasting?

If you're importing files what files are you importing what type are they?

3

Hi Leo,

Thank you for your thoughtful suggestions. (See last paragraph below for update on this issue)

I do have backups and I can try sifting through them, but because the text has been changed in various places, both inside the corrupted area and in other areas, I’d rather not introduce multiple versions if I can avoid it.

Yes, I only try to use the Rich Text Viewer, but that’s where the problem arises — Joplin unilaterally switches to markdown, in certain areas and with certain formatting, without notice. So I suddenly have a string of asterisks and equals signs instead of the precisely formatted texts, and I always have to manually change it back. And as I mentioned, I only use Bold and Highlighting, and sometimes alternate colors for specific groups of words. So essentially three different formatting changes, seemingly the simplest types, and nothing involving Headings.

Thank you re. pasting into Markdown. I actually always try to paste without style, to avoid confusing Joplin further than necessary. It usually works, but sometimes I forget and paste with style. I don’t think that’s what caused this recent issue though.

In terms of importing from files or pasting — I originally imported my notes a couple years ago in "RTF with attachments” or "Markdown Format,” I can’t remember now, and no attachments came through in any event. Currently the entry in question is a very long text document that I imported then and that I’ve continued to add to over the years. It’s just notes on movies, but the text has become rather long after several years of adding to it.

I went into Markdown, at the start of the area of text corruption, and removed a couple commas I’d never added. I also checked and unchecked some preferences that were inscrutable and contradictory but that seemed to pertain to the way text appears. Now the corrupted area has reverted for the most part to the way it was meant to look. I’m still looking for Joplin alternatives, at least for this long entry, as these unbidden changes have become the most predictable features of Joplin.

Thanks again for your help.

4

Ahh,

Note taking software such as Joplin, Obsidian, and others all use markdown formatting natively that is just the way it is it's a markdown world of note taking apps.

Have you ever tried pasting from chat gpt or gemini or co-pilot into Joplin markdown area you'll find that chat gpt when you hit the little copy icon its in marktown format by default so you want to paste it into the markdown editor which now by the way has the ability to render text as though it was in the rich text editor so there's really no reason not to use the markdown editor anymore.

I only use the rich text editor to read the formatted document but now the latest version of Joplin allows you to do that neededly in the markdown area or I'm not sure if I'm using a plugin I will look into that.

Joplin is For Better or Worse designed for you to add formatting codes while in the market editor. There are a lot of plugins that add formatting features that simply don't exist in the Rich Text Editor they only become visible in the markdown editor.

As far as other editors go, I subscribe to Joplin Cloud because I like the service and I like the software. I also pay for obsidian sync. It is also Markdown based but it handles it a little bit differently and it might be more to your liking. You can try it for free. I use both because I like some of the features of both.

There is a free markdown editor called Marktext. You can either type text or paste the unformatted text that you intentionally do use into a blank document and then use the menu at the top to add bold underline highlight Etc and then you can copy and paste that into Joplin and it will retain all of the formatting and it will look beautiful.