756: Exploring NotePlan with David Roth

Evernote for me is ok because the .enex format can be moved across apps, but can the same be said for, say, Notion, Bear or Supernotes?). You can avoid thinking about all this stuff by simply storing all your notes in Markdown files in regular folders and using an app that supports that structure (probably at the cost of some convenience).

@pantulis, your comments further reduce any residual angst I sometimes feel when I read about “future-proofing” my documents and notes. As to Apple Notes, I export those each month to DEVONthink as a “backup.” I can then convert any note to other formats easily and as needed.

@ldebritto the ability to convert files in the future should it become necessary is also encouraging.

Does NotePlan have an easy way of viewing all notes that are linked to a specific note similar to Obsidian where I can have them listed in the sidebar or on the bottom of a note?

I have some Word documents from the 1995-1997 era that Word cannot open today, and the documents contain valuable information. So, in this case, Microsoft failed to support their own proprietary format in less than 30 years.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-how-to-read-old-ms-word-files-when-word-says-you-can-rsquo-t/

Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t help you with the oldest Word files. Documents from the late 80s and early 90s may present you with the “Recover text” option only (you can scrape some recognizable words out, but all formatting and accents are lost) or only a blank screen.

I did manage to read and convert these in the end somehow (it was a while back) but current Word was useless here.

While the DOCX format is XML-based and standardised, I’d still not use it for anything that I expect to be able to open and use in 30 years. The problem is not the format but the availability of software to read it.

6 Likes

When you go to a linked note all of the links to that note are shown in a section called “References” on the top of that note(with a number indicating the number of links).

2 Likes

I’m sure I’ll not be trying to open any document in 30 or more years unless I end up a centenarian. Moreover, my stuff is not of a quality that anyone else will want to open the documents in 30 or more years either. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Totally valid point, as I was writing about the future proofness of Word files, the case of the very old AppleWorks came to mind, but I hadn’t thought about older Office documents. I also happen to have Ami Pro .sam documents that I cannot open any more. But preserving for that longer timeframes, I think I would be printing to PDF, it’s not that I would like to edit ancient documents and if that was the case, I think I would be better off copying and pasting from PDF into a more modern app.

As a weak opinion, the software panorama has changed a lot in almost 3 decades, I do not think MS is in the position to force an abrupt change of formats, at least one would have the opportunity to tediously convert the files one by one or some tool would appear to automate that.

Open source,Libre Office, reads Word files from the 90’s including word 6 from 1993.

4 Likes

But, what about your biographer?

1 Like

I agree that in an absolute sense, plain text is going to be safer. But, one has to weigh the cost and benefits of working with plain text and the inevitable friction that comes along with it. I have decided, I hope not wrongly, that using Word, and Pages is safe enough for me. In addition, I have scheduled periodic exports of important documents to PDFs for archiving.

2 Likes

I’ll add my two cents.

Started a Noteplan experiment today. I used Obsidian for mainly daily notes, project notes (active projects) and top tasks for the day. I really struggle with OmniFocus for tasks - It doesn’t fit my brain’s method for some of this, and then my brain explodes with the sheer amount of tasks in it. I know, that is my own fault.

Been doing some reading lately about maybe GTD had it wrong in thinking about everything as a “Project”. I really think that the next action is the best thing to capture. And Obsidian was doing that well.

But Noteplan looks so good as a Mac app. The time blocking feature is pretty cool! And the weekly, monthly and quarterly notes is a piece that was missing in Obsidian. My first day’s experiment went well, so we will keep going.

One thing I wish. I use focus time tasks with Google Calendar on a share calendar. I wish I could hide those appointments (like you can in Fantastical). And I don’t know if I want to give up my dedicated block scheduling calendar in Fantastical/Apple Calendars. But I have dragged items in to Noteplan’s calendar and created events. I will keep on tweaking and trying. Lots of promise!

3 Likes

I subscribe to SetApp. NotePlan is in SetApp, so NotePlan essentially costs me nothing. Not that I’m entirely sold on NotePlan at the moment, I’m still kicking the tyres.

I also have some old MS Word documents (OpenOffice opened those). AppleWorks documents are lost to me. Actually whatever is on those whole stacks of 3.5" floppies is lost now. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Another benefit of a non-proprietary format for me is that I can easily move from one app to another (ie, Obsidian to Noteplan) when something better comes out.

Text documents are also tiny compared to Word files which can get huge.

Lastly, I enjoy the minimal aesthetic of markdown, but it has just enough formatting to be easier to read. Then throw in MathJax / LaTeX, Excalidraw, Mermaid, etc and it’s pretty much all I need.

3 Likes

Lawyers used WordPerfect as the dominant word processor for decades, and now it’s Word. There are lots of .wpd documents most of us can’t read now.

But it’s not just the issue of file formats that become unreadable over time. It seems like when my notes are stored in individual, plain text files like Obsidian and NotePlan do, the notes won’t become unreadable if the app’s database file gets corrupted. And if I no longer have the app (or the dev goes out of business), I still have my notes. This gives me piece of mind. Or am I missing something?

4 Likes

I concur, if I was publishing to the web or had mostly basic formatting needs. However, I often prepare complex and or lengthy reports and other documents. While it is possible to develop those in plain text, there is a lot of friction and needed reformatting once exported to a word processor. Here are a few screenshots of a recent report illustrating why plain text makes this type of work more work.

I have a lot of similar reports and documents that need creating. For things that are work specific and have sensitive information, that stays in One Drive and (unfortunately) in Word. Here’s to hoping Microsoft creates their own Obsidian using markdown, but I think OneNote is getting pretty close (it has backlinks?).

If it’s not sensitive information, I still put it in Obsidian where I can work on it without fighting formatting. Sometimes Word wants to format things how it wants and I can’t change its mind (ie, numbered lists, line spacing, etc). I later cut and paste it into Word and use its features (like auto table of contents). The pie charts I’d have to remake in Excel because Obsidian Charts or mermaid isn’t pretty enough.

1 Like

What you describe is what I’ve encountered, plain text ultimately adds more work and friction for the type of work I primarily do. Also, I’m a fanatic about adding citations to what I do (a hold over from grad school). Dealing with temporary citations, footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies, while possible in plain text, is just easier with fewer steps in a traditional word processor. When I try to use plain text with markdown, I end up doing a lot of cleanup and reformatting. There is a reason(s) why the word processor was created. :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

You don’t have to defend your choice of software tools. I am a big fan of plain text, but I’m not aware of any plain text advocates who would insist that plain text is all that anyone should ever use. As with all software, use what best suits your needs. Most of us on this forum are pragmatic enough to use whatever works.

But that doesn’t stop us from trying to show you a “better way.” :wink:

4 Likes

I’m enjoying checking out NotePlan. It combines many of the functions I use Obsidian for with many of the functions I use Craft for (such as being able to easily move lines of text by long pressing and dragging) and adds much more.

In addition, it’s a much more beautiful and fuss-free app than Obsidian and a real Mac, iOS, and iPadOS app. Beauty counts for me, and I enjoy working in NotePlan much more than Obsidian. Everything I do in Obsidian, I can do in NotePlan. And several things function better.

I have been doing my daily planning as a part of my Day One template (Priority task, Other tasks), but I can see myself switching to NotePlan for planning and easy time blocking, all in one place with no unsupported community plugins to depend on and configure.

I’m going to continue to experiment with my workflow for the next week, but right now it looks likely Obsidian will be uninstalled from my devices in the near future. :slightly_smiling_face:

3 Likes

Reading them is still possible. Looks like there are several options for turning WPD files into Word documents. If all else fails there is a plug-in go-between for LibreOffice that can read WPD files. Or use pandoc with a WPD custom reader to do bulk conversions. Or hack up a tool using Apache’s Tika to do the same.

It has been several decades since I had to mess with WPD files thankfully.

1 Like

I’ve been trying out NotePlan as well. I gave Obsidian a try a in 2021 and couldn’t get it to click. When David published the Obsidian Field Guide I purchased it and gave Obsidian another go but once again I gave up on it. It’s too fiddly for me to set it up so I’ve been on the hunt for a replacement.

I’m testing NotePlan out by tracking my Roles based projects and habits. I like having my Daily, Weekly and Quarterly tasks along with my notes all in one app. I created a Shortcut to dictate a quick note or task into my Daily Note.

NotePlan looks great (a big positive :grinning:) and performs well on all platforms, plus the notes are encrypted.

3 Likes