Many of you probably know Joplin (the FOSS Markdown note-taking app)…
Just want to mention that Joplin has recently released an update on Android that brings a killer feature.
You can now draw within Joplin. This adds images to your markdown document and you can edit them later.
I have waited a long time for this and am happy, it’s finally there.
Now, I can get rid of “Samsung Notes”.
(You can draw by clicking the 3 dots at the top right and choosing “Draw picture”. To edit an existing one, just click once on it and press the pencil icon)
May I suggest Concepts? In over a decade of searching for a pencil-on-paper analog, it’s as close as I’ve found and it’s dropped my paper usage from over 1000 sheets a year to under 50. There’s a $10 (one time) cost for pdf import and export. The canvas is “infinite” but you can import a PSF of your favorite note-taking sheet, with or without guide lines/grid (or use the apps customizable grid), and copy it about the space. Then, when exporting, export just the PDF areas (The sheets/outlines you imported) into a single, paginated PDF file.
It’s available for iOS, android, and windows, though the three versions do not have synchronized feature and the files are incompatible across platforms (for now, at least). There are other paid add-ons, but I’ve not found them necessary or useful for note taking.
Looks pretty interesting, but I’m a macOS/Android user - a combination they don’t seem to support, plus I’d much rather a self-hosted solution for syncing. I’m trying to reduce my dependence on cloud services.
Fair enough, though the app is stand-alone. AFAIK there’s no sync function (I’m iOS/Windows). The files are local and export is to whatever filesystem is on the device (iOS allows any connected cloud service).
Try Obsidian, their canvas option is very similar. They have a paid sync option, but the app itself is free to use, and allows community plugins. I use one called Obsidian Livesync with my own self-hosted couchDB container. I share a vault with my partner and it syncs (mostly) flawlessly between iOS, Android, Windows and Linux. I haven’t personally used it on macOS, but it is supported as well.
I’m sure it’s good - my earlier point (two replies up) was that my basic requirements (self-hosted, Android/macOS sync) are already met by Joplin, and I can now draw in the Android version.