Excellent review of Napkin. I"ve been hooked since June 2022. I initially thought it was a note-taking app but finally realized it's a place to capture the essence of one's thoughts. Napkin is a thought weaver!
Thank you for this well-thought-out review. I have been struggling to get into Napkin - I like the concept of it. I think you showed me how to use this appropriately. I like your analogy of getting ingredients to make soup. Great visualization! I have been struggling to find other videos on Napkin so again thank you and keep posting great content.
Thanks a lot for the kind words! I'm glad you liked the analogy. I've fallen behind a bit on processing my inbox in Napkin with "life getting in the way" and stuff, but I know the tidbits I save daily are safely stored and linked. So when I come back to make some soup, my ingredients will be waiting for me. 😁
It's a very unique approach that I haven't found anywhere else! Hope you enjoy it-do share your thoughts. Personally, I think it needs to be coupled with some other system where you can do some long-form writing, and create a more intentional structure. But it's great at what it does: helping you see connections.
@@annafilou yep, the suggestions you made towards the end of the video were all good and things I would appreciate too. I won't be trying it right away as the end of the year makes it a bit hard for me to test it properly, but I intend to try it out early next year.
What... This is what I always wanted obsidian to be, but the manual upkeep of connections worked against my neurodivergence, so I just stayed in the more visual apps like google keep and trello. This should be fun to try. It just look so.... refreshing? I also agree that having a place to work towards turning notes into long form research right in the app would be great. Usually my notes are all disjointed snippets working towards different larger goals and they just need a place to coalesce.
Then Napkin sounds like just the app for you! I use Obsidian too, because I think I'll always need an offline-first note taking app for the long form stuff I cannot lose. But I also use Napkin to collect stray thoughts and quotes and then see them come together in the app.
Hey, I show exactly how the export works in the export options chapter. You click a button and it gives you a CSV or JSON with your notes. You cannot import data in batches, so that rules out using data stored on Notion.
It should work in most languages but: it's not as accurate if it's not English, and the tag names will be in English even if the input language is different. The team hopes to add support for more languages in the future.
It was just a visual thing to differentiate between Napkin cards/ideas/thoughts and plain notes that only showed within stacks. But they’ve since removed that feature entirely and stacks look different now. I’ll be making a newer video at some point!
Well, it's totally different. You can think of Evernote as a bunch of notebooks in which you can write and stick anything (photos, videos, documents, audio tapes). Napkin would be a bunch of sticky notes that you take out of the box every now and then, shuffle and read in semi random order (but similar sticky notes somehow magnetically attract each other). So it really depends on what you hope to get out of your note taking. And of course you can use both Evernote and Napkin at the same time for different things. If you're interested in easily linking your notes to each other, also also look into Obsidian, which is completely free, unlike Evernote.
This seems Like a Note taking Dream comes true. I love Obsidian. But this napkin app could be a great Addition less confusing than obsidian. I guess Magic Tagging Just works in English language?
It actually works in most languages but: it's not as accurate if it's not English, and the tag names will be in English even if the input language is different. The team hopes to add support for more languages at some point. Regarding Obsidian, I also use it (need an offline-first app too), but it's more for long form stuff and learning notes, while Napkin is for developing ideas.
Nice review of Napkin, both the good and the not so good of the product. I think it is a great app for specific kinds of note-taking. Myself, I don't generally take such granular notes, so I have decided not to subscribe. But I do admire the app. Thanks for the video!
Yeah I never took that kind of notes either until now, but I see the utility. I'll keep it up because it seems to be helpful. And I don't think this method is meant to replace standard, longer notes. Once you think you have enough "material" to write something longer, you do just that, using the cards as a reference.
I have a suspicion that this is a mining operation by the creators. Users go out scouring for information from everywhere, and it becomes human thought-maps that we pay them to collect. But that's just me.
Every machine is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough. I trust in good old pen and paper. Only saving jokes and memes on computer, not any really important notes. Niche product at best.
Excellent review of Napkin. I"ve been hooked since June 2022. I initially thought it was a note-taking app but finally realized it's a place to capture the essence of one's thoughts. Napkin is a thought weaver!
Indeed! Thank you
do you guys still use it and how would you recommend to use it and for what not?@@annafilou
Thank you for this well-thought-out review. I have been struggling to get into Napkin - I like the concept of it. I think you showed me how to use this appropriately. I like your analogy of getting ingredients to make soup. Great visualization! I have been struggling to find other videos on Napkin so again thank you and keep posting great content.
Thanks a lot for the kind words! I'm glad you liked the analogy.
I've fallen behind a bit on processing my inbox in Napkin with "life getting in the way" and stuff, but I know the tidbits I save daily are safely stored and linked.
So when I come back to make some soup, my ingredients will be waiting for me. 😁
This sounds exactly like what I've wanted from a note taking app!
It's a very unique approach that I haven't found anywhere else! Hope you enjoy it-do share your thoughts. Personally, I think it needs to be coupled with some other system where you can do some long-form writing, and create a more intentional structure. But it's great at what it does: helping you see connections.
@@annafilou yep, the suggestions you made towards the end of the video were all good and things I would appreciate too. I won't be trying it right away as the end of the year makes it a bit hard for me to test it properly, but I intend to try it out early next year.
What... This is what I always wanted obsidian to be, but the manual upkeep of connections worked against my neurodivergence, so I just stayed in the more visual apps like google keep and trello. This should be fun to try. It just look so.... refreshing? I also agree that having a place to work towards turning notes into long form research right in the app would be great. Usually my notes are all disjointed snippets working towards different larger goals and they just need a place to coalesce.
Then Napkin sounds like just the app for you! I use Obsidian too, because I think I'll always need an offline-first note taking app for the long form stuff I cannot lose. But I also use Napkin to collect stray thoughts and quotes and then see them come together in the app.
Great review! Thanks for covering main features of the app. Want to try it for collecting notes for further writing
Can you use the data stored on Notion? How does the export work?
Hey, I show exactly how the export works in the export options chapter. You click a button and it gives you a CSV or JSON with your notes.
You cannot import data in batches, so that rules out using data stored on Notion.
In which languages does napkin Work?
It should work in most languages but: it's not as accurate if it's not English, and the tag names will be in English even if the input language is different.
The team hopes to add support for more languages in the future.
Hello. What is the yellow tape for at the top of the card in the Stacks feature?
It was just a visual thing to differentiate between Napkin cards/ideas/thoughts and plain notes that only showed within stacks. But they’ve since removed that feature entirely and stacks look different now. I’ll be making a newer video at some point!
Great review. Thanks.
Thank you. I'm now planning on making a follow up video with more thoughts and ideas for improvement ^^
How would this compare to Evernote- I am looking to start with something
Well, it's totally different.
You can think of Evernote as a bunch of notebooks in which you can write and stick anything (photos, videos, documents, audio tapes). Napkin would be a bunch of sticky notes that you take out of the box every now and then, shuffle and read in semi random order (but similar sticky notes somehow magnetically attract each other).
So it really depends on what you hope to get out of your note taking. And of course you can use both Evernote and Napkin at the same time for different things.
If you're interested in easily linking your notes to each other, also also look into Obsidian, which is completely free, unlike Evernote.
This seems Like a Note taking Dream comes true. I love Obsidian. But this napkin app could be a great Addition less confusing than obsidian. I guess Magic Tagging Just works in English language?
It actually works in most languages but: it's not as accurate if it's not English, and the tag names will be in English even if the input language is different.
The team hopes to add support for more languages at some point.
Regarding Obsidian, I also use it (need an offline-first app too), but it's more for long form stuff and learning notes, while Napkin is for developing ideas.
Nice review of Napkin, both the good and the not so good of the product. I think it is a great app for specific kinds of note-taking. Myself, I don't generally take such granular notes, so I have decided not to subscribe. But I do admire the app. Thanks for the video!
Yeah I never took that kind of notes either until now, but I see the utility. I'll keep it up because it seems to be helpful. And I don't think this method is meant to replace standard, longer notes. Once you think you have enough "material" to write something longer, you do just that, using the cards as a reference.
Hey, could you maybe share the fan-made android app please? 😁
Sure! Here's the link → github.com/TaQuangKhoi/Napkin-Collect-Android
I have a suspicion that this is a mining operation by the creators. Users go out scouring for information from everywhere, and it becomes human thought-maps that we pay them to collect. But that's just me.
Interesting. What would be their end game?
@@annafilou I didn't expect a reply. The end game is to train their bots with human relational data collection. The bots can then mimic that process.
Every machine is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough. I trust in good old pen and paper. Only saving jokes and memes on computer, not any really important notes. Niche product at best.
Whatever works for you. 🤷♀️ The idea here is to add to what you could do with paper cards.