Markdown Editors and Note-Taking

See also: [[Knowledge Management]]

I expect the following from a markdown/text-based knowledge base

  • Easy to adapt my established way of organizing
    • folder based, all-over the file system, in a Dropbox folder for sync, in a project folder for documentation
  • Global search over all documents
  • Document Outline
  • Handling of Assets, like easy copy and paste of images, without writing or naming files. Preferably stored near the document – no global image folder
  • Maybe linking between files
  • Nice, minimal and functional UI, not super large text, or if, then easy to customize.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VO6SmioKkt4smrTddzsZxbMrCynuSK_9jkvcHWom_-M/edit?usp=sharing

Lightweight Markup Language

Thoughts on Markdown

To embed images in Markdown, use <img> tags instead of the Markdown ![](i.jpg) syntax, especially in an authoring context (image size) Markdown images are an anti-pattern | daverupert.com

Instead of embed content (like youtube videos) with HTML code, just set a link and let the Markdown parser do some magic on a set of known sources (turn a youtube link into an embed)

Thinking out loud about embedding content · Paul Robert Lloyd

// this is just a test
var x = 0;
function x() {
    return x;
}

Obsidian

Drafts

https://getdrafts.com/

  • Desktop (MacOS) and iOS
  • Best Feature: Actions for notes (append to file in dropbox, post to wordpress, send as email)

iA Writer

https://ia.net/writer

  • Desktop and iOS
  • Library to add folders
  • Outline inside file listing
  • UI 50/50 nice/bad
  • Focus mode (dim surrounding text)
  • commercial
  • no code syntax highlighting

Lepton

http://hackjutsu.com/Lepton/

  • Client for Gist
  • Write Markdown in a code editor
  • Public Notes on Github
  • Comments (via Gist website)
  • Electron

Typora

https://typora.io/

  • Reads nested Folder Structure
  • Sidebar with Document Outline, Folders (flat/nested)
  • TOC Support
  • Fast Startup
  • configurable image embed (upload, custom folder, custom naming)
  • beautiful UI
  • needs pandoc

Notable

https://notable.md/

  • beautiful UI
  • flat filesystem
  • YAML frontmatter for tags etc
  • paste images, uses global asset folder
  • Wiki like Internal linking via filename with [[]] Syntax
  • Easy and decent export as HTML and PDF without extras
  • detects changes on notes outside
  • Ok syntax highlighting
  • Doesn't need pandoc
  • VSCode editor shortcuts work well
  • Batch change of Metadata
  • No access to Yaml Block
  • Share text via Notable online service

Zettlr

https://www.zettlr.com/

  • Based on Luhmanns Zettelkasten
  • reads the directory and keeps it
  • Document Outline
  • Headline folding
  • Internal linking via dropdown and internal id or filename with [[]] Syntax
  • #tags are in text and are searchable (or clickable with Ctrl)
  • PDF only with Pandoc and Latex and Latex is a large ugly package to download, Pandoc is universal but needs templates to make the output less ugly
  • easy table editor
  • detects changes on notes outside
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Setting up projects
  • Working with directories is a bit weird (shows empty subfolders)
  • Weird UI and color scheme
  • Change appearance https://docs.zettlr.com/de/core/custom-css/
  • Block Folding (Headlines)

Notepad2-mod

https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/

  • fast startup
  • Markdown Syntax highlighting
  • Integrate into Windows
  • Bare bones code editor

Boostnote

  • nothing too special about this
  • cloud storage

Joplin

  • A little bit odd to use
  • Local Evernote Alternative
  • has an iOS app, which is super ugly
  • syncs into a dedicated dropbox folder
  • iOS/Android App

Sublime Text (or VSCode or any IDE/Texteditor)

  • Folder Structure
  • search index over all files
  • paste images extension, creates folder per file, with attachments (per extension)
  • plain text, no meta data, no links, no nothing
  • some functionality (footnotes, links) come with ST extensions
  • Document Outline
  • GoTo Panel

VSCode Extensions

Knowledgemanagement similar to Obsidian

Markdown Monster

https://markdownmonster.west-wind.com

  • Not an electron app
  • Preview and themes work out of the box
  • Folder based
  • Document Outline
  • Publish to Wordpress, Gist etc.
  • Git integration
  • Screenshot tool
  • Code Editor Feeling
  • Slightly Weird UI
  • TOC maybe via MarkDig Extensions
  • Table Editor and CSV Import

Mark Text

https://github.com/marktext/marktext

https://marktext.app

  • Folder based (Open recent)
  • Multiple open documents (Tabs)
  • Document Outline
  • really nice UI
  • Instant full text Search
  • Easy insert of block (Math, Code, Graphs) via typing @

QOwnNotes

https://www.qownnotes.org

  • Folder Structure
  • Scriptable Actions
  • Local Evernote Alternative
  • Cloud Support (Owncloud, Dropbox)
  • Cluttered UI
  • Metadata like tags are saved to sqlite db
  • Manual TOC
  • ![qownnotes-media-sqjeEQ](../media/qownnotes-media-sqjeEQ-14855.png)

Caret

https://github.com/careteditor/releases-beta/releases https://caret.io/

  • beautiful UI
  • Folder Structure
  • Ctrl+P for opening files
  • Ctrl+Shift+P for commands
  • Find in Folder
  • TOC [[toc]]
  • Paste images into editor ![](.pastes\2020-05-19-19-56-10.png)

Stackedit

  • Browser based editor (nothing to install) or PWA
  • Connect to cloud storage

Abricotine

http://abricotine.brrd.fr

  • single document editor
  • very basic
  • Document outline
• #markdown, #software