Hey all, I’m a Linux baby and just discovered all my Onenote notes for DnD aren’t transferable to my new machine 🙃
I’ve seen a few alternatives, specifically Joplin, mentioned, but what I’m looking for is an editor that lets me move notes all around or type in random places like Onenote. I found Spiral, but it’s not my favorite, though it does have what I need so far, if at a very bare and basic level.
Can anyone recommend anything with the ‘type anywhere’ functionality? I’m not even wholly invested in it being FOSS, but this seemed like the best place to ask. Thanks y’all
Good luck, people are just going to recommend bare bones note apps that use markdown or something and don’t allow placing things where you want them.
I’ve looked and looked and nothing comes close to Onenote.
Obsidian effectively let’s you do it through window panes. Literally lay out any content in any fashion. There are trade-offs but the graph view makes up for a good portion I think.
Obsidian supports canvases now, which seems very much like OneNote.
I wouldn’t say barebones, but you’re right in there is no direct alternative to OneNote I have ever found. It remains the product I haven’t been able to directly replace.
A lot of the products people will suggest are very feature rich, just not all the same features as OneNote. For me, the ability to draw on the page freestyle with a stylus is what I love about OneNote. So easy to annotate notes. But linking and plugins are things others have which I love that OneNote lacks.
Maybe check out xournal++, has the type anywhere functionality
This is the answer. Joplin and obsidian are excellent for markdown notes, but theyr arent suitable for “jot whatever, anywhere”.
also has pressure sensitive pen support
+1 for logseq and its whiteboard. It’s the reason I switched. +It’s blocks(notes/paragraphs) can be reordeded. You can pay for sync between your phone and PC. But you can use sync thing which is free and once you set it up it’s pretty much set and forget. I tried obsidian and anytype, but logseq just clicked for me.
+You can write with a stylus on the whiteboard if that’s your thing.
I’m still using Obsidian (free but not FOSS) mainly because of the wealth of plugins. QOwnNotes was another good option I used before. I really liked Logseq, but the deal-breaker for me was its approach to primarily being an outliner - and that modified all the paragraphs of my markdown notes as they become referenced blocks (otherwise it is great). I like to stick to standard markdown for portability to any future app.
Notesnook
Go for the pain tier (even though it’s FOSS) 100% worth it.
Think I might skip the pain tier 😆
Ahh autocorrect 🤦
I really really liked this guy’s video on note taking apps
https://youtu.be/XRpHIa-2XCE?si=eUMH1T7eezu_6v-V
It slowly spirals completely off the rails, in a great way
If you’re used to the OneNote desktop, try OneNote web.
I maintain my RPG groups’ notebooks and have stuck with OneNote throughout - especially because it’s easy to share access through the web application.
I wasn’t able to find anything even close so I just keep using One Note https://onenote.com/
Works without any issues in Firefox.
You can still use OneNote online or mobile.
I use nextcloud notes. They are .md and work wonderfully imo. You can either edit them through nc or through the editor on linux (or vs code on windows). Tried obsidian, never got into it and its not open source.
Doesn’t allow moving sections around inside a note.
I‘m not sure I understand what you mean. If I wanted to move a section I would cut and paste it. What alternative don’t I know about?
You can drag the sections anywhere on the page, beside another one, above to the right, etc. So you can write some text, make a table and place that to the right of the text. Or place an image anywhere.
Cut and paste only works in a linear fashion, up or down.
Ok, got it. Thats neat.
As someone who is writing with a pen I use “write”. I think you can also type on a keyboard but moving things around as you want is definitely possible.
Not FOSS but I see so many YouTubers that DM talk about Obsidian for notes. I use it and love it myself, just not for DnD stuff.
Logseq and Joplin are FOSS and are often brought up. Joplins android app is garbage, if that matters to you.
Acreom isn’t FOSS yet, but it’s on the roadmap and I liked that one.
Notesnook is FOSS but has some features behind a paywall that might be deal breakers for some folks.
There are some good alternatives in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8accXNcwjs
I used to use BasKet (a KDE program) for this, don’t know if it is still alive.
Apart from Logseq’s whiteboard feature, do consider checking out logseq’s actual workflow (adding stuff in journal etc.). It does have a learning curve, but you might end up liking it more than Onenote’s.
