As a long time Evernote user (10+ years) I'm among the crowd currently and desperately trying to find an alternative atm.
I've tested nearly everything I can find (available on Windows Desktop) and while nothing still has the feature set Evernote has, Joplin is probably one of the main contenders I've been strongly humoring embracing. It imports my Evernote library relatively well, and has a interesting plugin community for customizing and extending features.
That said, there are several key features missing in Joplin that are sort of deal killers for me currently:
The in-ability to use Tab to indent text. I understand this is Markdown, but this limitation still really makes no sense to me. Using Tab to indent is an iconic staple in word processing interfaces for over 40 years now.
The in-ability to open multiple windows. While I could maybe get used to the Tab thing, this feature is critical to me being able to organize and work on multiple notes at a time- being locked to only one window that serves everything from Settings to Browser to Note editing, is a massive UX drawback and deal breaker for me. How realistic would be it to ever expect opening a note in a separate dedicated window?
While I'm here, other features that would be good to have to get it closer to compete with Evernote's feature set:
A screen clipping tool. Particularly Evernote's V5 screenclipping tool that not only clips something from the screen to a new note quickly, it also allows subtle options to send the screenclip to the clipboard or as a new file on the desktop. (I literally still run V5 in it's broken offline state for this screenclipping tool)
A dedicated view for organizing and nesting Tags. So far in my investigation of Evernote alternatives NOTHING (including modern Evernote) has come close to this interface from Evernote V5, to allow you to browse tags quickly, edit and organize them. I've literally considered hacking V5 to work again just so I can get this interface back. Incidentally I don't believe Joplin currently supports nesting tags, which is unfortunate.
I know that some of my suggestions are poor replacements only, but I'll bring them up anyway.
Doesn't work with plain text, indeed, but does work with indented bullet lists.
The latter can be achieved by exporting the note containing the clip, the former (probably) by a simple copy and paste procedure. Not in the process of clipping, of course, but after the note has been created.
Maybe this plugin can help, but it probably doesn't come close to what you (and me) used to find in Evernote (although I personally never used nested tags). In contrast I find it very useful, that nesting notebooks in Joplin is not as restricted as it is in Evernote or OneNote.
Edit the keyboard shortcut to Tab (by pressing on the Tab key).
Yeah... This is a frequently requested (and technically challenging) feature (example), and even a proposed GSoC project (didn't happen this year, as far as I know). For now, you can define an external text editor that will work in tandem with Joplin, and use it to open your notes in multiple windows.
Doesn't work with plain text, indeed, but does work with indented bullet lists.
Er yeah but I mean, I can hit Tab in Notepad++ editing a plain txt file, and y'know, it's giving me an indent. A proper Tab indent even. I can use Tabs in Obsidian. So I don't quite understand where the limitation here is (my understanding of the raw technicalities of Markdown is minimal at best). At the very least it could do 5 spaces- I'd prefer that over nothing.
Maybe this plugin can help, but it probably doesn't come close to what you (and me) used to find in Evernote (although I personally never used nested tags). In contrast I find it very useful, that nesting notebooks in Joplin is not as restricted as it is in Evernote or OneNote.
Interesting. Honestly even if that doesn't quite do what I'm looking for, it's assuring to see that a Joplin plugin is capable of this kind of functionality, meaning the door is open for an opportunity for one close to what I'm looking for to be made. My primary goal with exploring Joplin has been to identify the workflow features I absolutely need, and then find out if they can plausibly ever be recreated in Joplin via plugins.
Go to Joplin's settings, to Keyboard Shortcuts.
Search for the command "Indent more".
Edit the keyboard shortcut to Tab (by pressing on the Tab key).
Thanks, I'll investigate trying this out and see if it works for me.
Yeah... This is a frequently requested (and technically challenging) feature (example), and even a proposed GSoC project (didn't happen this year, as far as I know). For now, you can define an external text editor that will work in tandem with Joplin, and use it to open your notes in multiple windows.
Huh, interesting. I'm surprised to hear it's a technical challenge, I've considered investigating overriding to try and run multiple copies of Joplin at once just to see if it was possible.
I'm not sure the external editor is a good solution for me unfortunately as my library as a visual artist skews towards being extremely media heavy, and it's a very common situation for me to have multiple notes open across several monitors.
Regarding the tabs, could you describe exactly what you cannot do? Which specific editor are you using? If I press tab it does a tab on both editors. The only thing is that a tab in the Markdown editor means you're creating a code block.
Regarding the tabs, could you describe exactly what you cannot do? Which specific editor are you using? If I press tab it does a tab on both editors. The only thing is that a tab in the Markdown editor means you're creating a code block.
Sure, here's a gif
Basically instead of inserting a Tab indent, it just changes the interface focus onto a different part of the application (the same way you can use Tab in other applications to navigate without using a mouse)
edit: changed the gif host because imgur was not playing the gif for some reason
This may not be what you need or want but I will suggest it anyway just in case...
The Note Tabs plugin allows you to open, organise and work on multiple notes at the same time. It does this by creating a tab bar into which you can add (and pin) notes. They are all in the same window, which is why you may not find it suitable, but you can definitely use it to work on multiple notes at once. I do.
Thanks. I did actually install that in my evaluation to try and work around the issue, it's better than nothing, but still a little awkward compared to what I'm used to.
I've been an Evernote paid customer for many years and have decided to switch to Joplin and have begun using Joplin full-time.
After more than 10 years of Evernote, I am adapting to Joplin.
I look at it this way. There's nothing out there better than Joplin to replace Evernote and it's the only program that I'm aware of that can actually import Evernote data so in my opinion Joplin is the only game in town.
There are changes to adapt to yes. However, I find myself using Evernote less and less these days.
Ksnip is open source and runs on multiple platforms and can annotate screen captures very much the same way that Evernote can annotate screen captures.
I also use Snagit to replace some of Evernote's functionality.
As for opening multiple notes, I added to Jopin the Marktext program as an external editor. This will let you open more than one note. It's not perfect, but I have adapted.
As for opening multiple notes, I added to Jopin the Marktext program as an external editor. This will let you open more than one note. It's not perfect, but I have adapted.
Here is the best way to export/backup your notebooks in Evernote so you can import them all at once in to Joplin.
If you have any other concerns, just post them and I will reply with what I do to replace features I liked in Evernote.
Joplin has a very nice browser plugin for doing web clips. Be sure to check that out.
I use the Joplin plugin that lets me publish my notes to Github Gist so they are accessible from the web.
Hit me with any other concerns you have and I will do my best to answer.
In word processing one "should" really be using styles instead of hard-typed tabs to indent the first line of a paragraph. It's been that way for 20 years. That doesn't solve your problem, of course. But perhaps it makes it more understandable why something you think is obvious isn't quite so.
If you want all of your paragraphs to be indented (if that's even what you mean by using a tab, I'm not 100% sure) then you should be able to add custom css to accomplish that.
Actually, I just tried using tabs in the markdown editor. It seems to work just fine. The highlighted bit is two tabs:
Since my company has moved away from Microsoft & hence OneNote I have been bouncing between Joplin and Trilium.
I am finally moving to Trilium for these reasons:
Joplin doesn't hand tables well. Can't edit tables easily. Can't edit column widths, etc. Tables take up too much real estate. I installed 2 plugins to help deal with tables and neither worked. It may be that I don't know how to use the plugins properly but they look like they were not baked enough.
Trilium has drawing capabilities.
I do like the Joplin GUI much better and tree structure.
I do wish they both had an Undo feature....
I don't see an option to draw. Is it a plugin? I don't have much confidence in the plugins.
I have to take the undo comment back. Joplin does have an undo in the Edit menu.
If it inspires any confidence, drawing features are maintained by one of the top contributors to Joplin. There's a Freehand Drawing plugin for desktop, and a native Draw picture context menu item exists for when you're editing a note on mobile.
As far as tables go, the MultiMarkdown Table Tools plugin for desktop is also up-to-date. It has quality of life features like a Create table toolbar button, tab-through, auto-resizing, and more. If you are interested, I wrote about how to test the features I've named here: Making a Telephone Call Log - #6 by muzak
If you don't know how to use a plugin properly, you can always check its documentation on the Plugins website or search for its thread on this forum.
