Looking for OneNote Alternative

IuseArchbtw@feddit.de to Free and Open Source Software@beehaw.org – 61 points –

Hey everyone,

I am looking for an alternative for OneNote for Linux. A clone would be perfect, the interface of it and the ability to paste pictures into a very wide notes field is great. Please help me!

86

You are viewing a single comment
View all comments

Check out Obsidian! The canvas feature is very similar to onenote snd obsidian in general is the best notwtaking app/ personal knowledge management system in existence

Obsidians great! I do wish it was open-source though :(

I switched to Obsidian not too long ago.

For my needs, Joplin was a good open source alternative.

Between the two I went with Obsidian because, while the apps are closed-source, the data is accessible. All your notes are just stored in plaintext (with markdown) as simple files in a directory structure.

Joplin, in contrast, uses a SQLite database which adds a layer of complexity.

This was one of the main selling features for me (before I tried it and experienced all the other killer features). I've experienced a bad case of vendor-lock before where it was hell to export my data. So having it all available in plain text at all times is really reassuring.

I absolutely love Obsidian, despite being closed source. Their community plugin ecosystem is incredible. I use a plugin on all my devices to backup my notes to a private git repo hourly.

Yep, Joplin is great too, that's what I use currently! I also like that it has built-in syncing with nextcloud and dropbox; as far as I know, obsidian only has their own paid-for syncing (unless you sync externally like the person below using syncthing)

Obsidian is what I use mostly, it syncs great with syncthing across all my devices. It doesn't have drawing support, so whenever I need to doodle something I end up in samsung notes again.

The Excalidraw plugin may do the trick.

Can you use that with a tablet to make hand written notes?

You can, but there is no form of exporting your handwritten notes. There's also sort of a tendency to "bend" what you've just written a bit after you lift your stylus. Like it's vectorizing and slightly correcting the path you just drew.

I have had moderate success using the built-in Scribble feature to convey my handwriting into text in the main editor. It's not super great but is serviceable. It's real opinionated about when and where new paragraphs should appear.

Very much this. Obsidian has a learning curve. It needs more than a day to get a feel for.

@Stronk +1 for Obsidian! I love it. It's definitely different than OneNote. Notion may actually be a better fit for you, but I encourage everyone to check out Obsidian just to see if it's for you! Excellent software.

@IuseArchbtw