[lukefreiler]

I recently lost nearly a days writing - but apparently they only do a back-up every 8 hours, and I was off by one (I don't write in Evernote anymore, lesson learned).

They did try to placate with 3 months free (after being a paying customer for years), but I'm just amazed that with the ~$300M of VC they've raised, they still haven't caught up to the real-time sync of Google Docs of 8+ years ago.

Hopefully their new focus (i.e. sync) is aiming to at least match that. I'd have moved by now if I could find something that was both highly cross-platform (Mac/Win/iOS) and lighter (Markdown pretty please).

[yorak]

Somebody here at HN suggested using Zim wiki a while ago http://zim-wiki.org/

I've been using it ever since. It stores data in plain text files (dokuwiki markup) and in addition the folder structure is mirrored in the note hierarchy. Zim is open, cross-platform, can include Latex-formula, and is extendable with plugins written in Python. I really also like that it is a proper desktop application instead of some webapp that changes UX every now and then, usually to worse, and that is dependent on network connection. After learning the keyboard shortcuts it is really a pleasure to use. Five stars * * * * *

I keep my Zim notebooks (separate NB's for Work and Personal things) in Dropbox for easy syncing between two desktops. Other Win7 and other Ubuntu.

edit: Added mention to Latex, as it might be of interest in this crowd.

[thanatropism]

I used a lot of Evernote as well, but what killed it for me was how slow the mobile client was.

I didn't "switch" as much as I've started (inspired by Luhmann's Zettelkasten) a personal wiki of sorts in markdown files. I've been using 1Writer for iPad (as a separate app from Editorial and iaWriter, where I usually compose text), which already lists the files in a folder on the left-hand side of the screen.

I also have a script on a Linux server that watches for changes in that folder and auto-commits to a local git repo under increasing "version numbers".

[pmlnr]

instead of dropbox, there's syncthing: https://syncthing.net/

[mbrutsch]

Thank you for the Zim plug. This will meet my needs nicely.

[antiffan]

I made the switch to Simplenote, and I've had a great experience so far. The main "sacrifice" is that you can only store plain next.

It was created by Automattic, Matt Mullenweg's company.

[mintplant]

Simplenote was actually created by Simperium (YC S10) [1], a company founded by Fred Cheng and Mike Johnston and acquired by Automattic in 2013 [2].

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/simperium

[2] http://simplenote.com/2013/01/24/simplenote-supercharged/

[PhantomGremlin]

I made the switch to Simplenote

I have a problem committing to a program/site that says:

   it’s all completely free

How can they stay in business? Is their business nothing more than data mining my files? Is that something I want to allow? Is that a long term strategy for viability?

[netmare]

Automattic make money from Simperium and they provide Simplenote as a freebie to showcase the technology I guess.

[PhantomGremlin]

That is very helpful. Now their business model makes sense.

I wonder why they don't even mention Simperium on their home page? It's not even mentioned under Help. It's a secret?

They even have a a perfect opportunity to mention it. E.g. in Simplenote Help they say:

   Q: How does syncing work?

   A: All notes are synced between your device
   ...
   they automatically and wirelessly show up
   in the other locations

I guess they want us to hypothesize that magical "Data Fairies" do this syncing?

[coldtea]

>I guess they want us to hypothesize that magical "Data Fairies" do this syncing?

No, they hypothetize that the average user wants a high level description, not to read about servers, incremental sync protocols, etc.

[PhantomGremlin]

They could have added this sentence, more or less:

   The secret sauce underlying this syncing is
   Simperium, a service for developers to move
   data everywhere it's needed, instantly and
   automatically

One extra sentence would have overwhelmed the average user? Bah.

[revorad]

Another vote for Simplenote - does exactly what it says on the tin. In 2-3 years of using it, I had only couple of issues with sync. When I reported them, support was super responsive and the issues were fixed with subsequent updates.

They also offer easy exports of your notes.

If you've never tried, give it a shot - http://simplenote.com

[balladeer]

Simplenote is where I keep my plain text notes now (Notational Velocity on Mac and official app on Android). My local copy of notes reside in my Dropbox folder and my (pretty much) entire ~/ is backed up to CrashPlan cloud.

For notes or docs that need diagram etc I use Google Docs. Even my team uses the same (as part of the Google Apps suite).

What I love about Simplenote is that it does what it says - just plain text notes. No gimmicks, no extra load and bells and whistles.

But I have a feeling that they will shut it down soon. They had a paid tier and they removed it some time back. There has hardly been any update I guess and iirc they don't really update their Android app frequently either.

Do they encrypt the notes at client side before sending it their servers? I would love to use a self hosted app that has such a functional and minimal interface and clean sync feature.

[rodgerd]

> I'd have moved by now if I could find something that was both highly cross-platform (Mac/Win/iOS) and lighter (Markdown pretty please).

I've compromised on OneNote, which isn't lightweight, but has become impressively cross-platform.

[veidr]

I might use OneNote if its search could find text in attachments. But it cannot; it only supports searching the actual text contained in the note itself.

Part of the Evernote value proposition is being able to find things again (although Evernote's search interface is abysmally bad, and offers no way to narrow your search so as not have a huge number of irrelevant matches).

[lukefreiler]

I tried to get back into OneNote last night (after the frustrations brought up by posting in this thread). I appreciate the cross-platform aspect, but I really don't like the interface - especially on desktop. The really weird text-box thing just blows my mind, I just want to write.

[donny2015]

You can turn that 'text box thing' off and make it behave like normal page.

[baldfat]

I personally have been using git more and more for my note taking. I use RStudio and RMarkdown for my notes and it has been great and easily spread to all my personal devices.

[chipperyman573]

Hmm, that's an interesting solution. You could always combine this with a private github repo and get easy-to-browse note-taking. It does seem like having to manually sync would be annoying though, is it really better than solutions like GDocs?

[zrail]

I use a combination of Sparkleshare, Emacs, Markdown, and an emacs mode named Deft to accomplish this. Deft autosaves my notes as I write them, and then Sparkleshare automatically syncs changes with the git server. It's pretty nifty.

https://www.petekeen.net/git-backed-personal-markdown-wiki (I added Deft later)

[4lun]

You could automate it using something like https://github.com/nevik/gitwatch

[baldfat]

I actually use a FREE Private repo on bitbucket.

[xerophyte12932]

> I'm just amazed that with the ~$300M of VC they've raised, they still haven't caught up to the real-time sync of Google Docs of 8+ years ago.

I don't understand. EverNote has instant sync across devices. If you are using in web browser or PC client then its even real time. (Android one requires you to click "Done" before syncing apparently because it treats the whole note as one giant text area).

I very frequently switch between typing on my desktop or my tablet whenever i leave my desk but have an idea running in my head. Similarly if someone is viewing my note, they get frequent updates as I type

[lukefreiler]

The iOS and Desktop clients do not instant-sync, or I assume they wouldn't both have sync buttons (or a "Synchronize Automatically" preference, that has "Every 5 minutes" as it's most frequent option).

I'm aware of instant-sync in the web client, but typically (especially in this case) prefer desktop clients to web.

In the unfortunate case I referenced above, I spent an entire morning writing in Evernote (Mac desktop). At lunch I had another thought to add, opened Evernote on my phone, and apparently the same note was already open - so it overwrote all the work I set all day to it's earlier state. There was no way to get it back, as it didn't consider it a conflict and it had no backups due to being less than 8 hours (I went through this with their support team). It's a broken product.

Sync shouldn't even need to be one of their goals - it should be a solved problem by now.

[xerophyte12932]

I agree, it needs git style (or even Ms word style) conflict resolution. hopefully they will figure this out soon

[julianz]

The Windows desktop client isn't real time sync at all, it's set to sync every X minutes (configurable) and there's a great big Sync button on the toolbar.

[xerophyte12932]

i meant in the context of the whole 8 hours limit thing. Yes its X minutes but not X hours, but that has been cleared up by his follow up comment

[tdkl]

Dropbox with Markdown editors ? They exist on all platforms.

[puranjay]

This is why I store all my important writing (mostly fiction, journal entries, etc.) locally, on an external HDD AND Dropbox.

[mars]

after being a long time user of evernote i switched to moo.do it's not a good tool for writing articles, but rather a mix between note taking and a todo app. your data is stored on your google drive, so you can back it up as you like.

it's free too: http://www.moo.do