Hi !
I’m really interested in your solution, which I use back and forth with Evernote.
From a functional point of view, the software is well designed, the Nextcloud sync is a plus, the Electron client on Windows less, but overall it holds very well.
However, if I often go back and forth between Joplin and Evernote, it’s because apart from giving you a little something every month to help you advance in the software, I can’t do much and, a priori, you’re alone. Even if a community seems to have grown and the software is mature, I don’t think you are surrounded by many devs.
So I ask this question: should I ask my luggage very close to home (after all, the notes are on Nextcloud that I host on a VM that I rent), with the risk that one day you will be tired (and believe me, this kind of weariness happens very quickly), or rather to start again on a solution that has existed for a long time, but that has an unfortunate tendency to read your notes (not proven, but there are strong suspicions), which is not in Europe, and which costs me a little per month.
Basically, I’d like to be enlightened, I’m a little blurry.
EDIT 12:46 - I can not answer you, I was blocked on the forum, when I wanted to answer earlier, is there an automatic mechanism?
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Basically as I understand Joplin, is that if development ceased on it and the developer closed up shop, it would continue to work as is as you’re not using any services hosted by the developer as you are when using a service such as Evernote.
Until something changed with your system or the dropbox API that the current incarnation of the code can’t handle I imagine you’ll be okay to continue using the software.
Obviously this is only conjecture though and it would be good to get some kind of an idea of the prospects of long term support for the product.
Hi,
The durability of the data is very important for me too, as indeed I don’t know for how long or how frequently in the future I’ll be able to work on the project.
In my opinion however, the data is safer in Markdown format because even if the whole project becomes discontinued, it’s still possible to read, write and search the notes. At worse, you could simply extract everything to directories with each note being a Markdown file. That’s not true with Evernote, which uses a closed-source and poorly documented XML/HTML format. I’ve mostly wrote the exporter via trial and errors and based on user’s feedback. Evernote can break it (and all other exporters) if they decide so by changing their format a bit. Basically they have a commercial incentive to lock people in, so it’s not likely to get any better.
As for other contributors, there are some pull requests now and then but indeed not that many. Maybe it’s simply because there’s not a major need for more contributions since I’m relatively active? If for whatever reason I stop working on it, then there will be more reasons for others to make more contributions, fix bugs, etc. Well it’s hard to know, but basically I hope the code base is not too messy so it’s possible to improve on it for anyone with some knowledge of JavaScript.
For now anyway I plan to keep working on it now and then. I have a personal incentive to do so since I’m using the apps every day on multiple devices, and I’m slowly moving more and more of my data to it. That being said, if you have any suggestions on how to make the project more durable, feel free to share them.
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Yes indeed. Also one advantage is that there's a WebDAV driver too, which is based on open standards, so even if OneDrive and Dropbox close their API, the many WebDAV servers out there will continue working and being compatible with Joplin.
You’ve created an awesome tool. I really hope you keep it working for the foreseeable. Joplin has become a big part of day to day work for me now. I use it across 3 different platforms. I’m no developer but I can contribute donations which hopefully help can keep things going.
Thank you for your complete answer.
Actually, your arguments are pretty good. It is true that an.md will be easier to read than an.enex, especially if the service closes suddenly or the account is closed.
But it’s always the same for this kind of project: visibility is not guaranteed, and in 2 years, you could potentially find yourself with your beak in the water.
Well, it’s a pessimistic vision I agree:) and my digital daily life is governed by open-source projects, a little “bigger” but that could disappear.
But there is something in my notes that makes me need to have them with me everywhere all the time, as I also need them not to get away.
So yes, following this argument, as well as that of data portability, I can definitely install on Joplin.
And instead of putting 4€/month in a company, I can at least put them with a French developer who will continue to ensure a little more development.
Unfortunately, that’s all I can do and I’m not a developer.
To finish, a way to perpetuate the whole (and on that I can help) is, via a subscription per month, to have a space of 500 MB-1GB (at a ridiculous price), so as to finance a little more development, a little bit like Evernote, but open-source sauce, or Wallabag with wallabag.it
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I don't think that opening a storage service will be usefull as there are many many other specific existing ones with very low costs
I think that hosting such a service would be a lot of work to manage for laurent, a waste of time and money.
The interest of the project is to avoid to be tied (the less possible:) to a service.
Except donation, I dont see any solution. Some projects that produce API earn money with a monthly donation for example. (i did that for one 
In any case, the intention is laudable !
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Since that message, I’ve been to a lot of other places, I even went back to Evernote for a while, without it satisfying me.
It is especially for the use at work that I cannot start at 100%, because of the blockages that make it impossible for me to modify my notes.
I would like to do without all the other note systems because Joplin is fine with me, but not knowing how to code, except waiting for your webapp project to progress, there’s nothing else I can do.
Could you clarify what is preventing you from using the app at work?
I can’t do anything because my computer is blocked to access the Webdav (classic or with Nextcloud), or even Dropbox or OneDrive, as well as in the absence of a webapp.
I go through the telephoen (not practical when it comes to typing a long text), or I put a note on Nextcloud (not practical either, the Nextcloud Notes app on Android is not very nice).
In short, Joplin doesn’t need much to separate me (at last) from all these notes that I scatter everywhere.
But since I don’t know how to code, I don’t know what to do…
I'm sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. You don't have Internet access at work? What exactly is blocked? WebDAV is the same as HTTPS (both use port 443). Can you please be a bit more specific?
If you can't use a computer at work, you probably should be using pen and paper.
It's the synchronization with my Nextcloud that blocks, and when testing OneCloud and Dropbox, I always get an error message, with port 443 at the end of the URL, and that seems to be blocked by my machine.
The access to the net is via a proxy of my company, but I would have assumed that the synchronization attempts would have triggered a request to open a port
And for paper and pencil I take note....on paper
So basically you need proxy support for Joplin.
I remember there were a few feature requests on githuib and I think somebody asked for it in the forum as well.
As of yet this has not been implemented and I don’t know the current status.
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