I've already been using Obsidian for a while, which I love, but I'm also realizing how I've barely scratched the surface of its features. I think Obsidian will continue to rise dramatically in popularity.
I've jumped on the bandwagon and I'm loving it so far! Learning about all of it's features and using markdown to write my notes has been a very pleasant and fun experience so far.
I started using Joplin. I am a big supporter that open source so using this one made sense. Im not experienced "note taker" to really review how i feel versus OneNote or Obsidian but so far its been a positive experience.
I went through all the top 3 apps. Starting with Evernote in 2012, then switched to Notion in 2020, and again to Obsidian in 2021. I think Obsidian is the number one choice for scientists, engineers and programmers. Both Evernote and Notion require use of UI and mouse. Obsidian notes are text files, so the complete input can be made from keyboard. With help of required plugins, tables, equations and references become easy. Obsidian requires a lot of typing skills, and memorizing some commands, that usually programmers and engineers have. I really enjoy that I have a full control over the app. Notion has a great UI but I always missed more specific control that I do have in Obsidian. I also tried Joplin, that is an Evernote with Markdown syntax. That's also a nice app, but it didn't match my working style
It's a ridiculous notion (no pun intended) that scientists/engineers somehow prefer a keyboard centric approach. Real scientists/engineers don't care at all. Most people participating in the hype are first year students procrastinating on their homework on Reddit and UA-cam.
@@randomuser5237 I think it's definitely more common amongst older programmers, specifically those of us who started out on a CLI. Most young programmers/college students I've seen today can barely navigate the terminal or basic UNIX functionality.
@@randomuser5237 I was wondering how that conclusion was made. I'm an engineer, I use the good old pen and paper method but I would like to start taking digital notes.
@@randomuser5237amen. I know this from experience. Apps trick people into feeling like they're doing work... I'm not saying it's by design or anything, it's just the way people think. It's like..."I need this to be successful..."
Suggest an app for Android mobile in 2024... Sadly I'm stucked with Google keep. All my notes piled up. I need a reliable app that keeps my notes even if i lost my phone.
One thing to consider in regards to Roam, the beta closed around the time of these polls and now is no longer free. May be the correlation explaining your results
That's a good point. I left Roam for Obsidian, even though I was on the Believer Plan, due to Roam's lack of leadership (banning constructive criticism in their community, cultish behavior) and development (slow loading, no offline mode, and still buggy parsing of markdown).
Other hypothesis is: those who use Notion (or are using Evernote but thinking on moving to Notion) feel the need to invest time learning how to improve their note taking system (like participate in your workshop or acquiring your book). Also, it may show that Notion has a UI that invite users to reflect on how note taking can impact your life, due to the wide customization possibilities.
@@chrishoppner7875 Yes, I feel so I hadn't needed such a function before I started using Obsidian, so it was a wonderful fit. But anyway, adding additional features like handwriting recognition with bidirectional connection and AI support would be cool and interesting to observe and explore too.
I use both Obsidian and Notion. I use Obsidian for very formal and systematic notes, and use Notion for work project management and less formal notes or quick thoughts and ideas.
Interesting. I am a photographer and very visual. I had used Evernote for years but my brain could never find anything buried in there. When I found an app called Milanote (which didn't make your list) I finally found a visual note taking tool that worked with my brain. Now I'm actually on board with taking notes, finding what I need easily and actually starting to build my second brain. Just throwing Milanote out there for others who might need a note taking tool for the visually inclined.
I love Milanote too! Boards for notes, links to your favorite youtube videos and websites, check-off lists, and even pre-built templates. It's pretty amazing (and pretty!) for those who have too many thoughts, to-do's, and organizational anxiety.
as someone very new to the digital note taking space I was amazed at so many types of note apps, I am used to docs and one note because they kind of mimicked the way of having a notebook, but coming away from that I can see how using these other methods can be insanely useful, and I can see different aspects of my note taking and writing working better in different styles
I encountered the 4 archetypes today and I've realized I'm an intuitive Gardener and raised Architect. My first real dive into note-taking is OneNote for college which evolved to Notion after I fell in love with its organization, aesthetic, and sheer power. Never before have I seen databases, calendars, galleries, kanban boards and more in just 1 app! But somehow, I've found that after categorizing all of my ideas into neat little boxes in Notion, I never actually reviewed them again...which defeats the purpose of learning for me. Since I can't turn knowledge into action or a uniquely creative idea. Perhaps that's why Obsidian really intrigued me when I first encountered it on YT. Might also consider Roam, which I've heard for the first time here!
That's the same issue I have, after I'm done taking notes, I rarely see them again and that defeats its purpose. But yet again, do I really want to go back and see them again? That's why I'm interested in something that won't break the bank.
@@hobbyless4089 Good points! Personally, you'll see that my comment was 10 months ago and I've actually given Obsidian a try. I use it now for atomic note-taking, which I've found helpful for linking ideas together. But do I always review my notes? Not really. I only review them when I feel like it, since I want to keep the joy of learning intact. As a quick measure, I just add quick tags to all of my notes, which is quite easy to link to others since all Note Pages pop up immediately anyway. A more thorough review can come later.
Started with Notion switched to Roam and then to Obsidian. Now using primary Obsidian and for some other special stuff notion. The disadvantage of Roam is that you have pay for it while Obsidian is free and the notes are stored wherever you want. The data is yours.
I mostly use 3 notes apps, for different things. Roam for my online hub and general notes. Logseq for personal and sensitive data. Finally, there's Obsidian for my combined Second Brain/Zettlekasten system, it's also the app I do most of my initial writing in.
The only issue I have with Notion is the lack of support for handwriting. So, for now, I use Notability for handwritten or 'live' notes and Notion is where I sort everything that needs to be stored.
I personally use Bear and Craft (however my main use for Craft is latex). Notion used to be my choice but I started finding it cluttered so I separated notion into Bear + Todoist (+ Airtable at times). I love the simplistic design of Bear however the only thing I need from it is latex rendering.
You would not use Docs as your note taking app because there is no file structure for organization, it would be done in Drive - which gives you a very similar look of the left bar to Notion, but with the power of Google and all the Drive features.
I use one note because I'm new to note taking in college, and its simplicity is good enough to write things down without trying to fight the app, while being complex enough to organize and powerful enough to write anything I throw at it
The power of the 80/20 Principle (Again!)... Thanks Tiago for sharing these insights. One of the major causes why Obsidian is a strong Roam competitor resides in the fact it's free... and the strong community around it. Yet, the interface can be intimidating / looking old-school for a lot of users. Can't wait for your next video!
Tomorrow I will try Joplin note. Markdown version of Evernote which is free to use and doesn't have Evernote limitation of two devices and has web clipper which is exactly like Evernote clipper.
My evaluation for them: Notion - though it is aesthetically beautiful and it may be systematic, it's a bit more complicated. More features than the rest Onenote - If you want it simple but organized, this is for you. My only problem is that you can't delete notebooks or change the notebook colours. Rome research - It does the job, it's simple and the notes are like pages from notion. Notes app from your phone - This is the fastest way to gather ideas and is easy to use, but it may be harder to locate the ideas that you typed.
We are missing Remnote in this survey which I think is a great contender for Obsidian and Roam Research. If you have not heard about it, go and check it out. I'm just a regular user, not sponsored by any means.
I've been a OneNote user for years and continually find new uses for it. For example, I recently discovered that I could install the Korean language and use it to not only type with their characters but OneNote's Immersive Reader option will actually read the page aloud in both English and Korean with good pronunciation. I was floored that I had this very cool resource and it was free.
Just started using Obsidian, and it's so good out of the box that I'll be using only it to build my second brain. Evernote and Notion will have their uses but not as a knowledge base, more like workflow tools. Thanks for the video Mr. Forte.
@@RodneyDaut You can drag and drop photo's in a note. You can copy paste images in a note. Photo's can be added next to the note or grouped into an asset folder where all images end up in.
@@OttoVanluchene True. But with Evernote, I can easily take a photo with the app itself and take a note. I've tried doing that with Obsidian and it asks me which note to add the photo to instead of creating a new note. A bit inconvenient. But yes, the other things you mentioned, I know how to do already.
So one thing I noticed that is missing is the note taking app for the visual thinker. The sole reason I left Evernote many years ago is that they, without warning, killed their poster view. I am a dominantly visual thinker and seeing the poster view of the notes was the only way for me to function. Years later, I switched to ZoHo notebook which allows for customized notebook covers in poster view, which I love. I also use an incredible mind map application called Mindly which again is very visual and has a unique visual geometry. For anyone that is a visual person I highly recommend these two apps and hoping that other note taking apps will begin to cater to the visual thinkers.
I am very old school interested in notetaking programs for my genealogy stuff. I don't really understand these concepts you young people talk about. I feel it would be interesting to talk about the "learning curve" some of these programs take, i.e. obsidian. I think (obsidian) would be good for my genealogy notes, research, etc. but I have not been able to understand how it works. A lot of YT videos just show how individuals have their templates set up but they don't tell how they do it (step-by-step). May be I am just in over my head here.
You're not over your head! These apps really have so much information and so many possibilities that it's hard to pick up the pace! It can be quite overwhelming, but don't give up. What works for me is just explore the app in my free time - with no pressure, no goal, just touching stuff and seeing what happens. It comes together eventually. Best of luck with your genealogy quest!
I've been playing around with Notion and it's been a fun way to play(waste time), but really I need OneNote's cross compatibility and most importantly its handwriting functionality
tbh, i'm not an architect, a gardener, a librarian, or a student. i feel like I'm more of a museum curator, collecting lots of notes, which I never use for more than two weeks, but there are multiple on-going notes I have that stay in use year round
Obsidian is one of the best, it is located in local, cares for privacy and has tens of plugins to sync, draw, map... Logseq is the open source alternative because Obsidian it is free but not open source only the plugins. And Emacs is great but difficult to install and focused on Linux devices, it is fully open source and very customizable, with org mode doom Emacs and others. But for me I stay with Obsidian that runs in almost every device because use electron (based on chromium) and the majority of devices permit to install a browser. The bad thing is also the use of chromium that consume a lot of RAM and depends on Google.
Obsidian + Zettelkasten method are all you need for notetaking, especially for life-long learning purpose. i have used these combo for a year and it works for me.
I wonder why Bear isn't more popular? Another thing I don't understand is why can't all the popular networked note taking apps come together to create some industry standards like for transclusions and linking. At present, we have Obsidian, Roam, Bear and Logeq allowing wiki style linking of notes using [[ ]]. On the other hand we have craft and nimbus note who use @ to link notes. The note transclusion aspect is even less standardized.
There's alot of videos talking about switching from Notion to Obsidian, and I myself also enjoy Obsidian more. I think it's just because of the history of the app, cause it's older, more people knows about it, therefore making harder for newer app to catch up even if it turned out to be better. And that's why Obsidian continues to go up because as time went on, more and more is hearing about Obsidian. Like Obsidian came out in 2019 and 1.0.0 release literary just came out like 2 months ago. Lol XD You can still use Obsidian for general purposes outside of just note-taking just like Notion, the difference is customization is not as good (but still super good, top tier even) but better at note-taking to make up for that and isn't that good in collab but that's because it's more offline based which also mean you can still use it when internet is out and is also more secured and faster too cause less lag issue. Even in their website Notion says collab while Obsidian literary says second brain, and for a good reason. And on top of all that, Obsidian is cheaper too I would say. Lol XD
Clarify please. Are you saying Obsidian is not as customizable as Notion? I beg to differ. There are vastly more options for customization than Notion offers. Add 800 or more plugins and a few hundred themes and the ability to customize fonts, standard headings and almost anything else and you have a no contest winner. If Uber customization is your thing, that is.
@@robertmaxey5406 I just thought Notion being about to put widget anywhere rather than tabs based mean there's so much more things you can do with the notion, atleast in terms of customization. But Obsidian customization is still so good that I wouldn't say it's that far off though, and I also think Obsidian customization is easier to understand than Notion too. Plus there's so many other things Obsidian is better at too, hence why I still enjoy Obsidian more despite being less popular. And tabs is better I'll say when it comes to taking notes, but maybe not as much as Widget when it comes to customization. Once again, not that far off though in terms of customization. Too bad Obsidian doesn't have both. There are few widgets in Obsidian, but I only found few, plus I needed to put them in a tab rather than anywhere like Notion.
Great summary. I think I have test-run every app in this space- some more than once. I keep returning to Evernote. But one area that does not get much attention in selecting a repository is the ability to share specific information with specific people who are not using the app. As an executive coach and peer advisory group chair, I take what are spare but clear notes about topics, discoveries, and action commitments- an ability to track those by client and more importantly share my notes without asking my clients to subscribe to the app I use. For the few who are not tech-phobic, I can simply share their Evernote notebook- but getting the integration on goals and outcomes with a calendar would be a big win- especially if it gets me off the hook for remembering to do so.
I agree. Sharing notes (and tasks) with others in a way that doesn't require them to sign up for that same platform would be huge! Does anybody know of an app that supports that kind of sharing?
@@DavidHansen1 Joplin with "joplin cloud" as a sync target (requires subscription), allows sharing individual notes and making them accessible for any device with a web browser.
I've been a fan of Tiago's work since I read his remarkable article "Evernote and the Brain: Designing Creativity Workflows" and it gave me the theoretic framework for how I built up my second brain in Evernote, which is remains the foundation of my information ecosystem.
I've been using Nimbus Notes for several years now along side other apps and have decided to stay with Nimbus Notes as it's the most like Evernote but at a price point I can afford, and the developers are always adding enhancements. Thanks for the video - I always watch because I love these statistics and I also love having a second brain. 😊
@@mr_red13 I really couldn't say, but if they do have ads, they would be pretty low key I would think. The premium is such a reasonable amount that I've been a pro user (not a business user) for several years now, so I really haven't seen the site from that point of view in a few years. What I can say is I don't like it's colour choice but other than that, it appears just like an Evernote, Apple Notes or OneNote screen. There's a panel down the left side for your different folders, the next panel lists your notes for the folder you're in, and the largest panel shows whatever note you've selected. Hope this helps.
"Evernote is perfect for the Librarian note taking style" - and you mentioned the ease of adding information. I respectfully disagree (though this may be because I live a long way from Evernote's servers, and found it painfully slow). If I had an idea and wanted to quickly add it to an existing note, I could not. The time it took to find a note was enough to forget my original thought and have three related thoughts to write down. So I would often add a new note instead. * The setting to save notes on my device didn't stop it being slow. * The fuzzy search rules also made it harder to find the specific note I needed. Now, two years after switching to Obsidian, I'm loving the lightning speed and much more powerful search in Obsidian - but I have thousands of notes still to process from my Evernote days. Maybe if I lived near the Evernote servers (rather than in Australia) it would be better. But I would still prefer Obsidian. Another frustration with Evernote: Making bug reports and feature requests, being asked to spell them out in detail, only to be ignored for years (even for very popular requests). Yes, I'm mainly a Gardener but I'm partly a Librarian (and a small part Architect). For each aspect of my style I prefer Obsidian over Evernote.
Is there any data on Samsung Notes? Also, I was wondering what method of note taking does each use? Typing, using a stylus, scan-n-save like Rocket book, etc...
IMO, Roam and Obsidian are direct competitors. Obsidian wins out on price, particularly for new users who aren't sure if the "gardener" style works for them
Enjoyed this - I was part of that first Aug 2020 cohort [BASB 11] as a long-time (10-year) Evernote user. I found the course eye-opening in so many ways and have been using the lessons I learned from you every day in small and sometimes large ways ever since. Since taking the course I have also established Notion as our business collaboration platform and for project work, whilst keeping and substantially improving my use of Evernote as my personal digital brain. The course also helped me resolve my decades-long battle between paper and digital, seriously enhancing my creative productivity. Great work Tiago and looking forward to the book!
I have yet to come across a UA-cam video on note taking apps aimed specifically at taking notes involving coding (I.e. the ability to add code blocks into your notes)... It would be great if you could make one dedicated to that 👍
It's One Note for me, it's literally a virtual Notebook, so It's super easy to use, very intuitive and has all the functionalities you could need for taking notes....
I did not take part in any of the surveys, but appreciated the data in this video. I come from the Franklin Covey note system where entries are indexed every month. From there, I finally went all digital 4 years ago, and because I am a legacy Office user, utilize OneNote... My system mimics the Franklin system, where I create a notebook for a year, then create months, and daily notes... This is the primary way I do my digital notes.... Curious if you would consider doing a video on each of the notes... I am open to switching from OneNote, but as I like to say, at least I keep notes... lol. My structure primarily utilizes hashtags and daily notes.... Would be curious for a breakdown on each of these apps from your POV. Thanks. JB
I’ve been using OneNote since 2005. I don’t know what happened to the old data, but I picked it up again around 2012. I find it extremely reliable, especially when you move from one platform to the next. It’s always there on the next platform, and it’s never costed me a dime.
I really enjoy Nimbus Note, though know it's not big enough to make the top lists yet. Perhaps some of "other" classified here. Extremely similar in function and use to Evernote but WAY more fine tuned control and some features I felt more similar to Notion. Think just not enough people have heard of it yet
I've searched their product website but couldn't find an answer: do they support bi-directional linking of any kind? How about transclusion / embedding "live copies" of notes into other notes?
@@fynn8195 They are still working on truly bi-directional linking I believe, so not quite like Notion but 10x more powerful links and embeds than Evernote. They have a super transparent roadmap which helped me get on board. I haven't played with their embedding options a ton myself, but I have fully embedded some google sheets (editable from right within of course) and my todoist successfully.
@@drew-gray thanks a ton! I will check out the roadmap and research a little more. My organisation is full on O365 and I am searching for something that I can do a small MVP to enhance collaboration and knowledge transfer. This one looks promising.
I am very glad that I read your comments, which inspired me to look at Nimbus Note. Although it lags behind Roam, Logseq, Obsidian and the like in terms of linking, I agree with you that it is way better than Evernote in this area. I really like the design of its UI and the possibility of freely nested folders, which Evernote lacks. The problem I have with Nimbus Note is that it can be mysteriously slow when you are (a) moving your folders around, restructuring them, or (b) synchronising data with the iOS version. Having said that, Nimbus Note seems to suit my use case well, as an Evernote replacement. Instead of Obsidian + Evernote, I now plan to have Obsidian (for PKM) + Nimbus Note (for paperless document management). Moving notes from Evernote to Nimbus Note is straightforward.
Very interesting survey results! Despite my daughter's recommendations, I never got past the learning curve of Notion. Having tried Roam, RemNote, Obsidian, Logseq and Amplenote, I have finally settled on Obsidian as my tool for PKM. Functionality aside, I am attracted to a very vibrant, friendly and helpful Obsidian user community. But I have gathered a lot of stuff in Evernote after 10 years' use. I think I will not part with Evernote but continue to use it as my filing cabinet. PS - Can't wait to read Building a Second Brain on my Kindle. Wish it could arrive earlier.
Great survey! Good work, hope to see more～ I previously used Evernote and I loved it, but It changed everything after its updates few years ago, all good things changed and now it's a slow and disappointing apps. Then I switched to notion for personal notes, it works great and it's free for students! (A large plus) Few days ago I discovered obsidian, I was so surprised and love it instantly, it is perfect to build a knowledge database (especially for reading journal articles). Looking forward to more obsidian videos. 👍🏻👍🏻
I currently use notepad on windows PC, and apple notes on my phone, and random physical notes. I enjoy things being fast and simple. But I rarely go back and use the notes, searching can also be an issue. I'm screwed. I also use EverNote but find it clunky and it makes me feel bad when I look at it for some reason, I can't explain why.
Remonte should be here. Way nicer UI than roam with better features and easier to use. Also has an amazing team backing it that is always releasing new updates to improve UX.
Idk why keep notes is so underrated.i mean it's easy to use and that's what we want. Because in order to use notion and all u first need to understand how to use? But keep notes's ui is super simple and have all required features
Just saw your video on my feed - recognized your name and then realized I’m pretty sure I was in a class with you in high school lol. In any case fantastic video!
I got turned off of Evernote when they had a data breach and didn't tell their customers a few years back. Thankfully I hadn't put anything super private on my account. But for that reason, I deleted my account.
I use physical paper for my second brain, but I use craft for work. It’s the best combo of notion and obsidian for me, although I miss some Evernote features.
@@astronosmage3722 I don’t believe so. Evernote is great for capturing all sorts of information, whether scanning papers or clipping from the web. Evernote’s ability to capture pretty much anything is it’s golden feature that hasn’t been matched by anyone else. Because craft and obsidian are ultimately text editors first, they can’t work this same way.
Your video is fantastic! How a interesting survey result~ Especially your voice is so calm and crispy! Can I ask what microphone you use? I want to start my own channel recently, thank you again.
I love Notion because of how well the global tagging and integrations work. For BASB I find it to be the best. I love love love the simplicity of Apple Notes, though, and if it supported more sophisticated work, I'd use it more.
Hi Tiago, amazing survey!! I was wondering you mentioned a webinar for pre orders of your book. I pre ordered your book via Amazon months (30 November 2021) ago but didn’t receive a invite to the class ass mentioned? Is it stil possible to get the video”s ?
This is great 👍. I think it's also worth mentioning that some apps may not work offline, so regardless of your archetype you should consider how you will use the app before committing.
Bingo. The only reason I left Notion. Not everyone has internet access. Even today, I find myself in places without a connection. The last time this was an issue was on an Amtrak train between my home and Chicago. Plenty of time to work, but no access was a slight issue.
Next, the librarian discusses notes-taking apps with Dr. Barlow. He says that not only do people need to have the best note-taking app for their own personal needs and preferences, but they also need to know what note taking apps everyone else is using. In this series, he looks at the most recent data from mid-2020 as well as the oldest data from a survey of students from august 2020. The results of this survey reveal that notion comes in
I would venture to say that OneNote, Evernote, Docs (google, word), and Apple Notes are much much higher if you look at the general population. There are so many knowledge workers that are not watching UA-cam hustle pron.
I use notion for my project management. But the lack of offline mode prevents me to use it as a note taking app. I prefer Craft for all my notes and journalling. The connected notes are done correctly on Craft than any other app in my opinion.
This exactly. I've used Evernote since forever, but I wanted something with markdown support. I researched Notion, but it makes no sense to me that there is no offline mode. Ridiculous.
I'm a big fan of Notion (mainly personal and for fleshing out ideas) but I also use Workflowy and Google docs/sheet for specific work projects with my VA.
Thank you for your awesome videos Tiago! I'm trying to figure out what would be the best note-taking app for myself in preparation for a post graduate exam. I've been a long-term user of Evernote and have recently switched over to Google Docs for it's ease in inserting images/graphs, and how easy I can use templates with keyboard shortcuts to speed up my note taking. I have noticed though that as my document gets larger and larger (30-100MB+) the load time is getting slower and I find this quite frustrating. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. Here are a few insights about myself that may help. Note-taking style - librarian or architect Purpose - post graduate exam → will be studying for >1000+ hours over 12 months, collating information to answer 3 exams (a multi-choice question paper, short answer question paper and VIVA in person exam) Content - medical content, lots of diagrams, pictures, text Would love to hear your thoughts on how I can get the best out of my note-taking experience to be exam ready! Thanks Tiago! :)
IMO, one thing that was not mentioned and is vital to those stats is pricing. (People not necessarily choose the best tool, but many will go for the cheapest, especially when starting). Notion and Obsidian are free, hence fast growth. Evernote is very mature and reasonably priced. Roam is 15$/month.
I think you are correct. It is amazing how a few dollars a month for this app subscription and a few dollars for that and five bucks for some other app can add up. At some point, paper and pencil begins to look pretty good. I think the key to this is deciding what you need now and forget the bells and whistles unless you really need them. For example, I never use tags. I simply put my notes in the proper folder. If I need to refer to something, it takes 30 seconds. Some might say I can get my needed notes faster if I used tags. And they have. I say it takes me half a minute to find any document I require and if that is too long for you to wait, you are foolish. There are probably more than a hundred apps for these things on Play Store. I can see how overwhelmed some folks are.
@@YamiHoward I'm with you regarding paywall, I have used Evernote since 2011 it's was reasonably priced then but it's now at a price I am looking to change programs but the thousands of notes and trying to export them to another program makes me re-think my options. The subscription model that encompasses everything now will force us back to free or pay once and own it.
Thank you, Mr. Forte, for giving us the 'CODE' framework and for continuous spreading this valuable concept of BASB. BTW. Which tool do you use to visually demonstrate the interactive workflow in this video?
I want a note app that has a desktop app, is end-to-end encrypted, has a phone app, is open source, is free, and can synchronize the encrypted file with google drive/onedrive/dropbox etc. The closest thing I've come up with is Standard Notes.
I've been playing with Joplin, which has encryption, a main password, can be synced with onedrive etc, and has desktop/ios versions. I don't want to pay for a subscription for the basic notes that I do, one has to watch the pennies these days.
I use Apple’s Notes functionality. Evernote I tried, but too many functions - meaning it takes time to load. Onenote. Same thing. Google Docs, I don’t use because internet requirement. Basically, I took physical notes in class. Apple Notes for note to self type notes. But of the computer apps, Evernote was the one I actually really tried for class. Not my preference.
Don't peoplr care about the constraints of proprietary forms of their content? I want generic form, so go with Obsidian. But it lacks a simple export and I'm still figuring out how to work with urls, images, etc.
Cannot get anywhere with Notion. I am more leaning to Apple Notes, Evernote, Notability. OneNote just does not cut it for me because it is so slow and clunky. AppleNotes is getting very close to Evernote, though.
Very interesting stats. One negative holding back One Note is you have to decide if you are going to use the cloud or computer-based - when, in fact, it could be a strength because many apps are not usable off-line. Another huge negative with me is I use Office 365 at work, so logging in and out from work to personal 365 is just too much. Thanks!
That sounds off. OneNote has two paradigms for notebooks: 1. Local files only (available only on the paid Windows Office app). Notes are just a bunch of local files, never stored in the cloud. 2. Master copy of notebook stored on OneDrive, the OneNote app builds a full local cache of any notebook you open, and changes are done to that local copy first and synced separately. Importantly: OneNote literally can't operate without a local copy of your notes. Evernote has online-only notebooks accessible from within the app and notebooks that can be accessed offline. With OneNote, if it's open in your app, it's accessible offline, period. The only way to even have "online only" notebooks is to not have a Model 2 notebook open on any app, and access it via OneNote's web app. Remember, OneNote is OLD. 20 years level old. It started as an editor for local files like all the other Office apps, and that still shows in its need to work on a local copy of your notebook.
@@kentfaver When I said "app" I meant any OneNote application at all, including the old version that comes with Office. If you install it on your computer, it's an app as far as the post above is concerned. On Windows, there's two OneNote apps: "OneNote" (the Office app) is available with Office and for free, and it's what MS will be supporting going forward. "OneNote for Windows 10" is from the MS Store, it can't do local-only notebooks (but still keeps a full local copy of any notebook you open), and will be phased out in the coming year or two so there's only one OneNote app for Windows. Both keep full local copies of your notebooks. They look different and do have some different features, but that part of how they work is the same.
Ugh. Roam wants me to sign up for a “Free trial” that ends in $15/mo (unless I explicitly say no) in order to even try it. Meanwhile, I can use Notion or Evernote for free, or for a much smaller paid rate. Roam has to do a much, much better job to convince me to take that risk.
Does anyone know of an app that allows you to edit text in the same way notion does (aka holding and dragging a block of text around)? That is the only feature that I really care about (it making writing on a phone a lot easier ) at it seems to be really hard to search for.
I am an Evernote Premium user, I have been for many many years. I am a Librarian/Student. My problem is that my notes get lost in Evernote, I don't have a good organising system, and it is like a drawer where I just throw in everything. Any advice on how to organise all that? 😢 Thanks a lot!!!
Is there an app that has the ease of use and UI similar to somethibg like Google docs but with the connection and the network dataview of obsidian? I rly like parts of obsidian, but I miss that simple fast and easy style of Google docs
I never tened to use node apps if i did i trew it in my google docs but for my dnd it was a bit meh I discoverd obsdian and i just fell in love it with im building my first world with all the notes and side things no hassle and its so nice
I've already been using Obsidian for a while, which I love, but I'm also realizing how I've barely scratched the surface of its features. I think Obsidian will continue to rise dramatically in popularity.
I've jumped on the bandwagon and I'm loving it so far! Learning about all of it's features and using markdown to write my notes has been a very pleasant and fun experience so far.
Absolutely! It's deep and wide.
I started using Joplin. I am a big supporter that open source so using this one made sense. Im not experienced "note taker" to really review how i feel versus OneNote or Obsidian but so far its been a positive experience.
can joplin search for text within a screenshot?
@@gregd6907 yes, but it appears that it was first part of the 2.14 release on March 1, 2024, so it is available now.
I went through all the top 3 apps. Starting with Evernote in 2012, then switched to Notion in 2020, and again to Obsidian in 2021. I think Obsidian is the number one choice for scientists, engineers and programmers. Both Evernote and Notion require use of UI and mouse. Obsidian notes are text files, so the complete input can be made from keyboard. With help of required plugins, tables, equations and references become easy. Obsidian requires a lot of typing skills, and memorizing some commands, that usually programmers and engineers have. I really enjoy that I have a full control over the app. Notion has a great UI but I always missed more specific control that I do have in Obsidian.
I also tried Joplin, that is an Evernote with Markdown syntax. That's also a nice app, but it didn't match my working style
It's a ridiculous notion (no pun intended) that scientists/engineers somehow prefer a keyboard centric approach. Real scientists/engineers don't care at all. Most people participating in the hype are first year students procrastinating on their homework on Reddit and UA-cam.
@@randomuser5237 I think it's definitely more common amongst older programmers, specifically those of us who started out on a CLI. Most young programmers/college students I've seen today can barely navigate the terminal or basic UNIX functionality.
@@randomuser5237 I was wondering how that conclusion was made. I'm an engineer, I use the good old pen and paper method but I would like to start taking digital notes.
@@randomuser5237amen. I know this from experience.
Apps trick people into feeling like they're doing work...
I'm not saying it's by design or anything, it's just the way people think.
It's like..."I need this to be successful..."
Suggest an app for Android mobile in 2024... Sadly I'm stucked with Google keep. All my notes piled up. I need a reliable app that keeps my notes even if i lost my phone.
One thing to consider in regards to Roam, the beta closed around the time of these polls and now is no longer free. May be the correlation explaining your results
That's a good point. I left Roam for Obsidian, even though I was on the Believer Plan, due to Roam's lack of leadership (banning constructive criticism in their community, cultish behavior) and development (slow loading, no offline mode, and still buggy parsing of markdown).
Other hypothesis is: those who use Notion (or are using Evernote but thinking on moving to Notion) feel the need to invest time learning how to improve their note taking system (like participate in your workshop or acquiring your book).
Also, it may show that Notion has a UI that invite users to reflect on how note taking can impact your life, due to the wide customization possibilities.
I’m an Evernote user trying to transition to Notion lol
@@High_Key There is a direct import from evernote in obsidian IIRC
To me, obsidian is the most powerful of all.
No handwriting support sadly. Otherwise perfect.
@@chrishoppner7875 Yes, I feel so I hadn't needed such a function before I started using Obsidian, so it was a wonderful fit. But anyway, adding additional features like handwriting recognition with bidirectional connection and AI support would be cool and interesting to observe and explore too.
@@chrishoppner7875 drafts does on iPad and Apple Pencil
👍🏼
@@thinker4933 I would be absolutely shocked if there was a solid hand writing plug-in with support for search and adequate ergonomics.
I use both Obsidian and Notion. I use Obsidian for very formal and systematic notes, and use Notion for work project management and less formal notes or quick thoughts and ideas.
Interesting. I am a photographer and very visual. I had used Evernote for years but my brain could never find anything buried in there. When I found an app called Milanote (which didn't make your list) I finally found a visual note taking tool that worked with my brain. Now I'm actually on board with taking notes, finding what I need easily and actually starting to build my second brain. Just throwing Milanote out there for others who might need a note taking tool for the visually inclined.
I love Milanote too! Boards for notes, links to your favorite youtube videos and websites, check-off lists, and even pre-built templates. It's pretty amazing (and pretty!) for those who have too many thoughts, to-do's, and organizational anxiety.
Just discover Milanote and i really like it! Do you think it could be a long term note taking app too?
as someone very new to the digital note taking space I was amazed at so many types of note apps, I am used to docs and one note because they kind of mimicked the way of having a notebook, but coming away from that I can see how using these other methods can be insanely useful, and I can see different aspects of my note taking and writing working better in different styles
I encountered the 4 archetypes today and I've realized I'm an intuitive Gardener and raised Architect. My first real dive into note-taking is OneNote for college which evolved to Notion after I fell in love with its organization, aesthetic, and sheer power. Never before have I seen databases, calendars, galleries, kanban boards and more in just 1 app! But somehow, I've found that after categorizing all of my ideas into neat little boxes in Notion, I never actually reviewed them again...which defeats the purpose of learning for me. Since I can't turn knowledge into action or a uniquely creative idea. Perhaps that's why Obsidian really intrigued me when I first encountered it on YT. Might also consider Roam, which I've heard for the first time here!
That's the same issue I have, after I'm done taking notes, I rarely see them again and that defeats its purpose. But yet again, do I really want to go back and see them again? That's why I'm interested in something that won't break the bank.
@@hobbyless4089 Good points! Personally, you'll see that my comment was 10 months ago and I've actually given Obsidian a try. I use it now for atomic note-taking, which I've found helpful for linking ideas together. But do I always review my notes? Not really. I only review them when I feel like it, since I want to keep the joy of learning intact. As a quick measure, I just add quick tags to all of my notes, which is quite easy to link to others since all Note Pages pop up immediately anyway. A more thorough review can come later.
It's same for me. Although I am not abandoning Notion, obsidian will take up most of my micro notes and oneNote will support hand written ones.
Started with Notion switched to Roam and then to Obsidian. Now using primary Obsidian and for some other special stuff notion. The disadvantage of Roam is that you have pay for it while Obsidian is free and the notes are stored wherever you want. The data is yours.
Logseq like roam with obsidian philosophy. You should to try if liked outline way for notes.
I mostly use 3 notes apps, for different things. Roam for my online hub and general notes. Logseq for personal and sensitive data. Finally, there's Obsidian for my combined Second Brain/Zettlekasten system, it's also the app I do most of my initial writing in.
Is Obsidian good for writing a novel?
@@mr_red13that’s takes a novelist
The only issue I have with Notion is the lack of support for handwriting. So, for now, I use Notability for handwritten or 'live' notes and Notion is where I sort everything that needs to be stored.
Damn even i follow the same thing
I personally use Bear and Craft (however my main use for Craft is latex). Notion used to be my choice but I started finding it cluttered so I separated notion into Bear + Todoist (+ Airtable at times). I love the simplistic design of Bear however the only thing I need from it is latex rendering.
You would not use Docs as your note taking app because there is no file structure for organization, it would be done in Drive - which gives you a very similar look of the left bar to Notion, but with the power of Google and all the Drive features.
I use one note because I'm new to note taking in college, and its simplicity is good enough to write things down without trying to fight the app, while being complex enough to organize and powerful enough to write anything I throw at it
I cannot understand the success of Notion. You must invest too much time in learning the use of the system, instead of doing your own stuff.
The power of the 80/20 Principle (Again!)... Thanks Tiago for sharing these insights.
One of the major causes why Obsidian is a strong Roam competitor resides in the fact it's free... and the strong community around it.
Yet, the interface can be intimidating / looking old-school for a lot of users.
Can't wait for your next video!
You are forgetting the customizability that Obsidian offers with a mindblowing number of plugins. No other note taking app has that.
Tomorrow I will try Joplin note. Markdown version of Evernote which is free to use and doesn't have Evernote limitation of two devices and has web clipper which is exactly like Evernote clipper.
My evaluation for them:
Notion - though it is aesthetically beautiful and it may be systematic, it's a bit more complicated. More features than the rest
Onenote - If you want it simple but organized, this is for you. My only problem is that you can't delete notebooks or change the notebook colours.
Rome research - It does the job, it's simple and the notes are like pages from notion.
Notes app from your phone - This is the fastest way to gather ideas and is easy to use, but it may be harder to locate the ideas that you typed.
We are missing Remnote in this survey which I think is a great contender for Obsidian and Roam Research. If you have not heard about it, go and check it out. I'm just a regular user, not sponsored by any means.
I personally preer Obsidian over notion because of it's pro privacy stance. A additional pro is vim commands!
I've been a OneNote user for years and continually find new uses for it. For example, I recently discovered that I could install the Korean language and use it to not only type with their characters but OneNote's Immersive Reader option will actually read the page aloud in both English and Korean with good pronunciation. I was floored that I had this very cool resource and it was free.
Just started using Obsidian, and it's so good out of the box that I'll be using only it to build my second brain. Evernote and Notion will have their uses but not as a knowledge base, more like workflow tools.
Thanks for the video Mr. Forte.
I started using Obsidian a couple of months ago. I love it. The only thing I don't like is it's not as easy to add photos to it as with Evernote.
All of my book notes and knowledge building is going in Obsidian
Notion gets more streamlined notes for projects and resources
@@RodneyDaut You can drag and drop photo's in a note. You can copy paste images in a note. Photo's can be added next to the note or grouped into an asset folder where all images end up in.
@@OttoVanluchene True. But with Evernote, I can easily take a photo with the app itself and take a note. I've tried doing that with Obsidian and it asks me which note to add the photo to instead of creating a new note. A bit inconvenient. But yes, the other things you mentioned, I know how to do already.
So one thing I noticed that is missing is the note taking app for the visual thinker. The sole reason I left Evernote many years ago is that they, without warning, killed their poster view. I am a dominantly visual thinker and seeing the poster view of the notes was the only way for me to function. Years later, I switched to ZoHo notebook which allows for customized notebook covers in poster view, which I love. I also use an incredible mind map application called Mindly which again is very visual and has a unique visual geometry. For anyone that is a visual person I highly recommend these two apps and hoping that other note taking apps will begin to cater to the visual thinkers.
cool, never heard of those apps before, will check them out
Obsidian is having a new feature called Canvas! Check it out!
u should start a channel showing how you use these apps
I am very old school interested in notetaking programs for my genealogy stuff. I don't really understand these concepts you young people talk about. I feel it would be interesting to talk about the "learning curve" some of these programs take, i.e. obsidian. I think (obsidian) would be good for my genealogy notes, research, etc. but I have not been able to understand how it works. A lot of YT videos just show how individuals have their templates set up but they don't tell how they do it (step-by-step). May be I am just in over my head here.
Check out this video - ua-cam.com/video/L9SLlxaEEXY/v-deo.html
If I recall correctly it has a demo of using Obsidian
You're not over your head! These apps really have so much information and so many possibilities that it's hard to pick up the pace! It can be quite overwhelming, but don't give up. What works for me is just explore the app in my free time - with no pressure, no goal, just touching stuff and seeing what happens. It comes together eventually. Best of luck with your genealogy quest!
@@haneul1271 Thank you for your words of encouragement. Very good advice. :)
I've been playing around with Notion and it's been a fun way to play(waste time), but really I need OneNote's cross compatibility and most importantly its handwriting functionality
tbh, i'm not an architect, a gardener, a librarian, or a student. i feel like I'm more of a museum curator, collecting lots of notes, which I never use for more than two weeks, but there are multiple on-going notes I have that stay in use year round
Obsidian is one of the best, it is located in local, cares for privacy and has tens of plugins to sync, draw, map...
Logseq is the open source alternative because Obsidian it is free but not open source only the plugins.
And Emacs is great but difficult to install and focused on Linux devices, it is fully open source and very customizable, with org mode doom Emacs and others.
But for me I stay with Obsidian that runs in almost every device because use electron (based on chromium) and the majority of devices permit to install a browser.
The bad thing is also the use of chromium that consume a lot of RAM and depends on Google.
Obsidian + Zettelkasten method are all you need for notetaking, especially for life-long learning purpose. i have used these combo for a year and it works for me.
I wonder why Bear isn't more popular?
Another thing I don't understand is why can't all the popular networked note taking apps come together to create some industry standards like for transclusions and linking. At present, we have Obsidian, Roam, Bear and Logeq allowing wiki style linking of notes using [[ ]]. On the other hand we have craft and nimbus note who use @ to link notes. The note transclusion aspect is even less standardized.
There's alot of videos talking about switching from Notion to Obsidian, and I myself also enjoy Obsidian more. I think it's just because of the history of the app, cause it's older, more people knows about it, therefore making harder for newer app to catch up even if it turned out to be better. And that's why Obsidian continues to go up because as time went on, more and more is hearing about Obsidian. Like Obsidian came out in 2019 and 1.0.0 release literary just came out like 2 months ago. Lol XD
You can still use Obsidian for general purposes outside of just note-taking just like Notion, the difference is customization is not as good (but still super good, top tier even) but better at note-taking to make up for that and isn't that good in collab but that's because it's more offline based which also mean you can still use it when internet is out and is also more secured and faster too cause less lag issue. Even in their website Notion says collab while Obsidian literary says second brain, and for a good reason. And on top of all that, Obsidian is cheaper too I would say. Lol XD
Clarify please.
Are you saying Obsidian is not as customizable as Notion? I beg to differ. There are vastly more options for customization than Notion offers. Add 800 or more plugins and a few hundred themes and the ability to customize fonts, standard headings and almost anything else and you have a no contest winner. If Uber customization is your thing, that is.
@@robertmaxey5406 I just thought Notion being about to put widget anywhere rather than tabs based mean there's so much more things you can do with the notion, atleast in terms of customization. But Obsidian customization is still so good that I wouldn't say it's that far off though, and I also think Obsidian customization is easier to understand than Notion too.
Plus there's so many other things Obsidian is better at too, hence why I still enjoy Obsidian more despite being less popular. And tabs is better I'll say when it comes to taking notes, but maybe not as much as Widget when it comes to customization. Once again, not that far off though in terms of customization. Too bad Obsidian doesn't have both. There are few widgets in Obsidian, but I only found few, plus I needed to put them in a tab rather than anywhere like Notion.
Great summary. I think I have test-run every app in this space- some more than once. I keep returning to Evernote. But one area that does not get much attention in selecting a repository is the ability to share specific information with specific people who are not using the app. As an executive coach and peer advisory group chair, I take what are spare but clear notes about topics, discoveries, and action commitments- an ability to track those by client and more importantly share my notes without asking my clients to subscribe to the app I use. For the few who are not tech-phobic, I can simply share their Evernote notebook- but getting the integration on goals and outcomes with a calendar would be a big win- especially if it gets me off the hook for remembering to do so.
I agree. Sharing notes (and tasks) with others in a way that doesn't require them to sign up for that same platform would be huge!
Does anybody know of an app that supports that kind of sharing?
@@DavidHansen1 Joplin with "joplin cloud" as a sync target (requires subscription), allows sharing individual notes and making them accessible for any device with a web browser.
Amazing video Tiago! Thanks for sharing with us all of your passion and wisdow
I've been a fan of Tiago's work since I read his remarkable article "Evernote and the Brain: Designing Creativity Workflows" and it gave me the theoretic framework for how I built up my second brain in Evernote, which is remains the foundation of my information ecosystem.
I've been using Nimbus Notes for several years now along side other apps and have decided to stay with Nimbus Notes as it's the most like Evernote but at a price point I can afford, and the developers are always adding enhancements. Thanks for the video - I always watch because I love these statistics and I also love having a second brain. 😊
I’ll have to check it out. Is the interface clean without ads or do users have to pay for premium, like Evernote, to have a clean Home Screen?
@@mr_red13 I really couldn't say, but if they do have ads, they would be pretty low key I would think. The premium is such a reasonable amount that I've been a pro user (not a business user) for several years now, so I really haven't seen the site from that point of view in a few years. What I can say is I don't like it's colour choice but other than that, it appears just like an Evernote, Apple Notes or OneNote screen. There's a panel down the left side for your different folders, the next panel lists your notes for the folder you're in, and the largest panel shows whatever note you've selected. Hope this helps.
I also use Nimbus notes and like it. I was able to get it as a one time purchase via appsumo
"Evernote is perfect for the Librarian note taking style" - and you mentioned the ease of adding information. I respectfully disagree (though this may be because I live a long way from Evernote's servers, and found it painfully slow).
If I had an idea and wanted to quickly add it to an existing note, I could not. The time it took to find a note was enough to forget my original thought and have three related thoughts to write down. So I would often add a new note instead.
* The setting to save notes on my device didn't stop it being slow.
* The fuzzy search rules also made it harder to find the specific note I needed.
Now, two years after switching to Obsidian, I'm loving the lightning speed and much more powerful search in Obsidian - but I have thousands of notes still to process from my Evernote days.
Maybe if I lived near the Evernote servers (rather than in Australia) it would be better. But I would still prefer Obsidian.
Another frustration with Evernote: Making bug reports and feature requests, being asked to spell them out in detail, only to be ignored for years (even for very popular requests).
Yes, I'm mainly a Gardener but I'm partly a Librarian (and a small part Architect). For each aspect of my style I prefer Obsidian over Evernote.
Is there any data on Samsung Notes? Also, I was wondering what method of note taking does each use? Typing, using a stylus, scan-n-save like Rocket book, etc...
Hi Tiago, will you also make something similar with To-do list applications?
IMO, Roam and Obsidian are direct competitors. Obsidian wins out on price, particularly for new users who aren't sure if the "gardener" style works for them
Enjoyed this - I was part of that first Aug 2020 cohort [BASB 11] as a long-time (10-year) Evernote user. I found the course eye-opening in so many ways and have been using the lessons I learned from you every day in small and sometimes large ways ever since. Since taking the course I have also established Notion as our business collaboration platform and for project work, whilst keeping and substantially improving my use of Evernote as my personal digital brain. The course also helped me resolve my decades-long battle between paper and digital, seriously enhancing my creative productivity. Great work Tiago and looking forward to the book!
Great to hear from you Steven!
I have yet to come across a UA-cam video on note taking apps aimed specifically at taking notes involving coding (I.e. the ability to add code blocks into your notes)... It would be great if you could make one dedicated to that 👍
A lot of coders seem to use obsidian, because its in markdown.
@@arawilson yea, I'm using that currently 👍 Thanks
I started using Obsidian a week ago and its really good compared to Evernote which kept deleting some of my notes.
It's One Note for me, it's literally a virtual Notebook, so It's super easy to use, very intuitive and has all the functionalities you could need for taking notes....
I did not take part in any of the surveys, but appreciated the data in this video. I come from the Franklin Covey note system where entries are indexed every month. From there, I finally went all digital 4 years ago, and because I am a legacy Office user, utilize OneNote... My system mimics the Franklin system, where I create a notebook for a year, then create months, and daily notes... This is the primary way I do my digital notes.... Curious if you would consider doing a video on each of the notes... I am open to switching from OneNote, but as I like to say, at least I keep notes... lol. My structure primarily utilizes hashtags and daily notes.... Would be curious for a breakdown on each of these apps from your POV. Thanks. JB
I’ve been using OneNote since 2005. I don’t know what happened to the old data, but I picked it up again around 2012. I find it extremely reliable, especially when you move from one platform to the next. It’s always there on the next platform, and it’s never costed me a dime.
I really enjoy Nimbus Note, though know it's not big enough to make the top lists yet. Perhaps some of "other" classified here. Extremely similar in function and use to Evernote but WAY more fine tuned control and some features I felt more similar to Notion. Think just not enough people have heard of it yet
I've searched their product website but couldn't find an answer: do they support bi-directional linking of any kind? How about transclusion / embedding "live copies" of notes into other notes?
@@fynn8195 They are still working on truly bi-directional linking I believe, so not quite like Notion but 10x more powerful links and embeds than Evernote. They have a super transparent roadmap which helped me get on board. I haven't played with their embedding options a ton myself, but I have fully embedded some google sheets (editable from right within of course) and my todoist successfully.
@@drew-gray thanks a ton! I will check out the roadmap and research a little more. My organisation is full on O365 and I am searching for something that I can do a small MVP to enhance collaboration and knowledge transfer. This one looks promising.
I am very glad that I read your comments, which inspired me to look at Nimbus Note. Although it lags behind Roam, Logseq, Obsidian and the like in terms of linking, I agree with you that it is way better than Evernote in this area. I really like the design of its UI and the possibility of freely nested folders, which Evernote lacks. The problem I have with Nimbus Note is that it can be mysteriously slow when you are
(a) moving your folders around, restructuring them, or
(b) synchronising data with the iOS version.
Having said that, Nimbus Note seems to suit my use case well, as an Evernote replacement. Instead of Obsidian + Evernote, I now plan to have Obsidian (for PKM) + Nimbus Note (for paperless document management). Moving notes from Evernote to Nimbus Note is straightforward.
Very interesting survey results!
Despite my daughter's recommendations, I never got past the learning curve of Notion. Having tried Roam, RemNote, Obsidian, Logseq and Amplenote, I have finally settled on Obsidian as my tool for PKM. Functionality aside, I am attracted to a very vibrant, friendly and helpful Obsidian user community.
But I have gathered a lot of stuff in Evernote after 10 years' use. I think I will not part with Evernote but continue to use it as my filing cabinet.
PS - Can't wait to read Building a Second Brain on my Kindle. Wish it could arrive earlier.
Great survey! Good work, hope to see more～ I previously used Evernote and I loved it, but It changed everything after its updates few years ago, all good things changed and now it's a slow and disappointing apps. Then I switched to notion for personal notes, it works great and it's free for students! (A large plus) Few days ago I discovered obsidian, I was so surprised and love it instantly, it is perfect to build a knowledge database (especially for reading journal articles). Looking forward to more obsidian videos. 👍🏻👍🏻
I currently use notepad on windows PC, and apple notes on my phone, and random physical notes. I enjoy things being fast and simple. But I rarely go back and use the notes, searching can also be an issue. I'm screwed. I also use EverNote but find it clunky and it makes me feel bad when I look at it for some reason, I can't explain why.
Remonte should be here. Way nicer UI than roam with better features and easier to use. Also has an amazing team backing it that is always releasing new updates to improve UX.
Yes, RemNote is a good program to take notes and use flash cards with active recall and space repetition
RemNote is based in zetelkasten method
Evernote, Roam, and Obsidian work the best for students Notion, Trello, and Coda work best for organizing plans, roadmap, and startups
Idk why keep notes is so underrated.i mean it's easy to use and that's what we want. Because in order to use notion and all u first need to understand how to use? But keep notes's ui is super simple and have all required features
Yeah we need to cover Google Keep more - video coming in June 2023
It lacks functionality. All my notes are piled up. I need an Android app that keeps all my data even if i lost my phone. Anybody pls help.
Trying to choose a notepad for my projects...
This was so helpful...
Thank you
Craft could have a great future, especially now that they also have a web app (still beta?) that has almost the same functionality as the native app
I pre-ordered the book but I think I missed the 3-hour webinar on March. I'll have to look up how I can gain access to that.
Use this form: basb.io/claimpreorder
@@TiagoForte Thanks.
Just saw your video on my feed - recognized your name and then realized I’m pretty sure I was in a class with you in high school lol. In any case fantastic video!
Will you do a How To note take / Second brain based in each archtype using the prefered app for each?
In this video, I talk about 4 notetaking styles (and the best app to accompany each style): ua-cam.com/video/f3dDVtJ2sec/v-deo.html
I got turned off of Evernote when they had a data breach and didn't tell their customers a few years back. Thankfully I hadn't put anything super private on my account. But for that reason, I deleted my account.
I use physical paper for my second brain, but I use craft for work. It’s the best combo of notion and obsidian for me, although I miss some Evernote features.
which evernote features are you missing? maybe there is / or will be a plugin for that
@@astronosmage3722 I don’t believe so. Evernote is great for capturing all sorts of information, whether scanning papers or clipping from the web. Evernote’s ability to capture pretty much anything is it’s golden feature that hasn’t been matched by anyone else. Because craft and obsidian are ultimately text editors first, they can’t work this same way.
Your video is fantastic! How a interesting survey result~ Especially your voice is so calm and crispy! Can I ask what microphone you use? I want to start my own channel recently, thank you again.
I think Roam and Obsidian are the mostly the same user-base, it's just that Obsidian is taking over from Roam.
One insight I find interesting is that the notable newcomers like Logseq revolve also around the "gardener" style of note taking.
I love Notion because of how well the global tagging and integrations work. For BASB I find it to be the best. I love love love the simplicity of Apple Notes, though, and if it supported more sophisticated work, I'd use it more.
I'm curious how the percentages of notetaking apps users actually breakdown.... unless I'm doing my math incorrectly, you've achieved 102%...
38 + 23 + 11 + 9 + 7 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 102% ?
Rounding numbers, e.g. 0.7% = ~1%
@@TiagoForte not really a big deal. Just I’m just OCD hahaha 😂
Hi Tiago, amazing survey!! I was wondering you mentioned a webinar for pre orders of your book. I pre ordered your book via Amazon months (30 November 2021) ago but didn’t receive a invite to the class ass mentioned? Is it stil possible to get the video”s ?
Use this form to watch the recording if you preordered: basb.io/claimpreorder
How about a notebook and pencil? Worked for Hemmingway, Edison and Einstein.
Everyday. I still haven’t digitized my notes yet.
Looking forward to the next app choosing videos👏👏👏🤩🤩🤩
This is great 👍. I think it's also worth mentioning that some apps may not work offline, so regardless of your archetype you should consider how you will use the app before committing.
Bingo. The only reason I left Notion. Not everyone has internet access. Even today, I find myself in places without a connection. The last time this was an issue was on an Amtrak train between my home and Chicago. Plenty of time to work, but no access was a slight issue.
Next, the librarian discusses notes-taking apps with Dr. Barlow. He says that not only do people need to have the best note-taking app for their own personal needs and preferences, but they also need to know what note taking apps everyone else is using. In this series, he looks at the most recent data from mid-2020 as well as the oldest data from a survey of students from august 2020. The results of this survey reveal that notion comes in
I would venture to say that OneNote, Evernote, Docs (google, word), and Apple Notes are much much higher if you look at the general population. There are so many knowledge workers that are not watching UA-cam hustle pron.
Absolutely true
What about Capacities? For me, it is a mix of Notion and Obsidian. The graph view, and the new connection between notes, pages, cards... is awesome.
1. Evernote
2. Notion
3. Roam
4. Obsidian
Super informative video Tiago! I’m a student and was wondering what you thought about RemNote for the student archetype?
I really love the toggle feature on notion. Does any other app has the same feature?
Nimbus Notes
I use notion for my project management. But the lack of offline mode prevents me to use it as a note taking app. I prefer Craft for all my notes and journalling. The connected notes are done correctly on Craft than any other app in my opinion.
This exactly. I've used Evernote since forever, but I wanted something with markdown support. I researched Notion, but it makes no sense to me that there is no offline mode. Ridiculous.
I'm a big fan of Notion (mainly personal and for fleshing out ideas) but I also use Workflowy and Google docs/sheet for specific work projects with my VA.
Thank you for your awesome videos Tiago! I'm trying to figure out what would be the best note-taking app for myself in preparation for a post graduate exam. I've been a long-term user of Evernote and have recently switched over to Google Docs for it's ease in inserting images/graphs, and how easy I can use templates with keyboard shortcuts to speed up my note taking. I have noticed though that as my document gets larger and larger (30-100MB+) the load time is getting slower and I find this quite frustrating. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. Here are a few insights about myself that may help.
Note-taking style - librarian or architect
Purpose - post graduate exam → will be studying for >1000+ hours over 12 months, collating information to answer 3 exams (a multi-choice question paper, short answer question paper and VIVA in person exam)
Content - medical content, lots of diagrams, pictures, text
Would love to hear your thoughts on how I can get the best out of my note-taking experience to be exam ready! Thanks Tiago! :)
IMO, one thing that was not mentioned and is vital to those stats is pricing.
(People not necessarily choose the best tool, but many will go for the cheapest, especially when starting).
Notion and Obsidian are free, hence fast growth.
Evernote is very mature and reasonably priced.
Roam is 15$/month.
I think you are correct. It is amazing how a few dollars a month for this app subscription and a few dollars for that and five bucks for some other app can add up. At some point, paper and pencil begins to look pretty good.
I think the key to this is deciding what you need now and forget the bells and whistles unless you really need them. For example, I never use tags. I simply put my notes in the proper folder. If I need to refer to something, it takes 30 seconds. Some might say I can get my needed notes faster if I used tags. And they have. I say it takes me half a minute to find any document I require and if that is too long for you to wait, you are foolish.
There are probably more than a hundred apps for these things on Play Store. I can see how overwhelmed some folks are.
Spot on! I hit a pay wall with Evernote and immediately dropped it and never went back.
@@YamiHoward I'm with you regarding paywall, I have used Evernote since 2011 it's was reasonably priced then but it's now at a price I am looking to change programs but the thousands of notes and trying to export them to another program makes me re-think my options. The subscription model that encompasses everything now will force us back to free or pay once and own it.
No Samsung Notes? I only use it. Can use in multiple Samsung device and PC. and it is free.
You’re probably the only one using it so it didn’t make it to the list 😂
Another thing to point out is that notion is also a project management tool.
One note is incredible at organization
The only problem is the handwriting aspect
Other than that it’s perfect
Amazing video! Thank you!
Thank you, Mr. Forte, for giving us the 'CODE' framework and for continuous spreading this valuable concept of BASB.
BTW. Which tool do you use to visually demonstrate the interactive workflow in this video?
I cannot believe what I am seeing it with my eyes! LOOL TY SO MUCH!
Can't wait for the latest updates to the None editor. From the feature list, my productivity can increase by 20x! 😄
I love the None editor’s UX
so intuitive
I want a note app that has a desktop app, is end-to-end encrypted, has a phone app, is open source, is free, and can synchronize the encrypted file with google drive/onedrive/dropbox etc. The closest thing I've come up with is Standard Notes.
I've been playing with Joplin, which has encryption, a main password, can be synced with onedrive etc, and has desktop/ios versions. I don't want to pay for a subscription for the basic notes that I do, one has to watch the pennies these days.
Hi, Could you tell me what TEXT EFFECTS are you using in middle of your video. Thanks!
I use Apple’s Notes functionality. Evernote I tried, but too many functions - meaning it takes time to load. Onenote. Same thing. Google Docs, I don’t use because internet requirement.
Basically, I took physical notes in class. Apple Notes for note to self type notes. But of the computer apps, Evernote was the one I actually really tried for class. Not my preference.
Don't peoplr care about the constraints of proprietary forms of their content? I want generic form, so go with Obsidian. But it lacks a simple export and I'm still figuring out how to work with urls, images, etc.
Cannot get anywhere with Notion. I am more leaning to Apple Notes, Evernote, Notability. OneNote just does not cut it for me because it is so slow and clunky. AppleNotes is getting very close to Evernote, though.
Very interesting stats. One negative holding back One Note is you have to decide if you are going to use the cloud or computer-based - when, in fact, it could be a strength because many apps are not usable off-line. Another huge negative with me is I use Office 365 at work, so logging in and out from work to personal 365 is just too much. Thanks!
That sounds off. OneNote has two paradigms for notebooks:
1. Local files only (available only on the paid Windows Office app). Notes are just a bunch of local files, never stored in the cloud.
2. Master copy of notebook stored on OneDrive, the OneNote app builds a full local cache of any notebook you open, and changes are done to that local copy first and synced separately.
Importantly: OneNote literally can't operate without a local copy of your notes. Evernote has online-only notebooks accessible from within the app and notebooks that can be accessed offline. With OneNote, if it's open in your app, it's accessible offline, period. The only way to even have "online only" notebooks is to not have a Model 2 notebook open on any app, and access it via OneNote's web app. Remember, OneNote is OLD. 20 years level old. It started as an editor for local files like all the other Office apps, and that still shows in its need to work on a local copy of your notebook.
@@Komatik_ Thanks - fairly certain there's a desktop version and an app - maybe with slightly differing names - but they look different as displayed.
@@kentfaver When I said "app" I meant any OneNote application at all, including the old version that comes with Office. If you install it on your computer, it's an app as far as the post above is concerned.
On Windows, there's two OneNote apps:
"OneNote" (the Office app) is available with Office and for free, and it's what MS will be supporting going forward.
"OneNote for Windows 10" is from the MS Store, it can't do local-only notebooks (but still keeps a full local copy of any notebook you open), and will be phased out in the coming year or two so there's only one OneNote app for Windows.
Both keep full local copies of your notebooks. They look different and do have some different features, but that part of how they work is the same.
@@Komatik_ Thanks for the detailed clarification - makes sense!
Ugh. Roam wants me to sign up for a “Free trial” that ends in $15/mo (unless I explicitly say no) in order to even try it. Meanwhile, I can use Notion or Evernote for free, or for a much smaller paid rate. Roam has to do a much, much better job to convince me to take that risk.
Does anyone know of an app that allows you to edit text in the same way notion does (aka holding and dragging a block of text around)? That is the only feature that I really care about (it making writing on a phone a lot easier ) at it seems to be really hard to search for.
I am an Evernote Premium user, I have been for many many years. I am a Librarian/Student. My problem is that my notes get lost in Evernote, I don't have a good organising system, and it is like a drawer where I just throw in everything. Any advice on how to organise all that? 😢 Thanks a lot!!!
Is there an app that has the ease of use and UI similar to somethibg like Google docs but with the connection and the network dataview of obsidian? I rly like parts of obsidian, but I miss that simple fast and easy style of Google docs
What about this in 2024? It will be interesting to see how many people left Evernote after they ended their free plan😢
Sad that people aren't using iA Writer, I wouldn't change it for any other app. I'm alone in a niche within several niches
I use it! I love the one-payment approach.
Which is the best for a amateur/pro photographers with a family and a real job to run?
I really like Onenote, I hate how incredibly slow it can be and the browser version doesn't have dark mode. It's painful.
I never tened to use node apps if i did i trew it in my google docs but for my dnd it was a bit meh
I discoverd obsdian and i just fell in love it with im building my first world with all the notes and side things no hassle and its so nice
Do Evernote, Obsidian and Notion work well together when you need certain features for different things? 🤔