Ask HN: More programmer friendly alternatives to Evernote? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: More programmer friendly alternatives to Evernote?

15 pointssgt12 comments

I've been using Evernote for a while to keep track of notes that I'd like to be easily synced across a variety of devices.

However Evernote has a tendency to annoyingly format code and text in general that I don't want to be formatted. This usually happens during copy/paste operations. I just want all my notes to be fixed width font size, and without formatting.

Maybe the option is to just revert to a text file that I rsync or keep in a repo somewhere, but I do enjoy the convenience of using Evernote in that it always syncs automatically.

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I use org-mode:

http://orgmode.org/

... in conjunction with Unison:

http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/

OneNote tries to be very good about respecting the format of copy/pasted stuff (and uses the Office method of giving you a few options after pasting to possibly reformat, but only at your option).

It keeps a Code style for formatting handy in the list of quick styles.

It syncs well across devices (using OneDrive, of course) and these days is also multiplatform with apps for all major platforms (Windows, iOS, Android, Mac OS X).

Actually works reasonably well on Linux as well using https://github.com/xybu/onedrive-d

Its mentioned below but Org-Mode plus Dropbox is the way I manage my days at work.

Evernote is probably great for others, but I want to store my information in a way that its accessible in its raw form, I dont trust these cloud services to be around or have a meaningful way of exporting the data the day I want to switch.

Dropbox isn't bad, but Unison runs on just about anything, including *BSD, ARM processors, etc. etc. +1 for org-mode though :)

I recommend Trello. I switched over to Trello precisely because of the annoying formatting issues in Evernote. I like it because of its simplicity - it uses Arial size 10 for everything, and you can lay out all your to do lists on one page. I find that Evernote is too fiddly.

I'm interested in this as well. I've been using org-mode and Dropbox for many years, but have become interested in something I can (a) easily use with a phone, and (b) use photos with. I've been pleased, in these capacities, with Evernote so far, but would love something that's either open source or not subscription-based.

I have been using Google Docs for the last year at my new job. It has worked out reasonably well as it is primarly me that reads it. But it is super easy to cut and paste (incl images) and as well as share docs. Auto-save, accessible on my phone etc etc.

But, I would love to hear what others use as I am not convinced Google docs is necessarily the best way.

If you're on a Mac there is an app named Quiver (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quiver-programmers-notebook/...).

I like to use Jrnl and keep everything in a git repo: https://maebert.github.io/jrnl/

Wiznote has a good linux presence, but no good for mobile phones. I like that it doesn't do that RTF thing you're talking about.

Org-mode and Dropbox, Orgzly on Android, Google Keep for anything else.

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