First impression: Craft note-taking

Software
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I love Craft and I want to use it a lot more, but how are you all feeling about having an app that you basically won’t be able to use anymore once the subscription expires?

It’s the never-ending subscription debate, but it really is what’s holding me from using Craft a lot more, even though I want to. I wish they’d change model, or release a version without collab features that is unlockable with a one-time purchase. (It’s also what turned me away from Bear)

Even though I dread electron apps, I started playing around with Obsidian because I’m worried about vendor-lockin with Craft. So far so good. Just wish it was native. Maybe someone could write an app ontop of the obsidian database since it’s all markdown anyway, that’d be sweet :slight_smile:

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I also like Craft, a lot. I’m struggling, however, with the same concern. Because one can bulk export all of the files in four formats, including markdown, it is easy to transfer those documents to another application before cancelling the service. But, one loses the deep links, pages, cards, etc., requiring rebuilding the system.

I also like Obsidian but the lack of a mobile app makes the service less than ideal. I’m still experimenting with a combination of Obsidian+ DEVONthink (DT). This combination is probably best overall but the linking breaks between the two apps. DT has a robust linking system but, as of this post, lacks a good mobile app—which is coming but also reportedly requires a subscription.

My assessment thus far is:

Apple Notes: is good but syncing is not always reliable and there is no linking to specific text—only to a note or folder. Exporting one’s notes in bulk is terrible and will only export to PDFs.

Obsidian: great app but no native app and there is no mobile app. The work around, 1 Writer, works but is not ideal. Because everything is MD and on one’s computer, access, formatting and syncing notes is not a problem and Obsidian vaults can be indexed in DT but the links do not work between DT and Obsidian.

Craft: Excellent linking, formatting, and export options. But, one loses access if the subscription is cancelled.

DEVONthink: excellent overall. The main problem for me is the current lack of a quality mobile app and when it comes, the need to maintain a subscription—per recent rumors/reports. If the mobile app is good and the subscription reasonable, I may end up defaulting to DT for all notes. It has deep linking and too many excellent features to mention.

Agenda: I’ve experimented a little with Agenda but I don’t like the calendar-based note taking approach.

Who would have thought finding the “ideal” note taking / PKM system would be so hard in 2021! :slight_smile:

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The mobile app is “next” on their agenda for development. Hopefully we should see it in the next month or so (I’m making that time up). Having been on Obsidian early, they work really fast for features. I was looking at Craft lots, but with Obsidian saying mobile is next priority I’m content to wait.

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I really do like Craft… although some of your concerns are worrying me as I never want to get in too deep if its then hard to get out…

One thing that is really bugging me… how do you decide between making a new page in a note or making a new document… I cannot see why you would prefer one over the other… I.e. my quarterly plan… linking to my weekly reviews… are they pages within the quarterly plan document or do you link to a brand new document? Please help!!!

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@mikecufc I’m not sure to whom you are directing your question but I use pages or cards to “hide” sub-information in project notes. For example, I may have a project involving a large committee. I’ll put the committee member names and contract information in a page for reference when needed but kept out of the way until needed. I also create “resource” pages for an index of links to relevant documents outside of Craft, e.g, Things tasks, Google, emails (you can drag emails from Apple Mail into Craft and it creates an active link).

I don’t know if that answers your questions but that is how I use it.

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Thank you very much. That does make more sense.

Must say I am very impressed with Craft so far.

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The good news is that this will not be a problem! I’ve been emailing the developer and I asked him very specific questions and quoted from their policies. His response was:

Regarding export option - yes, of course if you even on the free plan, you will be able to export your content (in multiple formats). [emphasis mine]

From this aspect Pro Tier gives you more options for exporting, but batch export all your document will be available for everyone in the future too!

I sent a follow-up to confirm what those multiple formats are, but based on this, I have no concerns about getting my notes out of Craft at a later time.

I also did a test bulk export. It exported all of my notes and even kept the folder hierarchy in place.

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This is worth watching a couple of times. It gives a great overview of how to use the app on the iPad. I think this is pretty amazing.

The video is fast so I had to watch it a few times to catch some of the processes.

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The more I use Craft the more I like it and the more the following seems true:

Key features

• Intuitive and powerful mobile / touch editing experience - like Things.
• Allows you to write and structure content the way you want to - like Notion.
• Is blazing fast and works both offline and online - like Apple Notes.
• It has page and block linking capabilities - like Roam / Obsidian.
• Has simple and frictionless ways to share and collaborate - like Google Docs
• Has powerful export options, so your data isn’t locked in - like it Should Be

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I’m really watching it closely. I love Obsidian but I miss the fact that it’s definitely not native. If Craft implemented E2EE, I would be sorely tempted. A graph and aliases would be a big plus too.

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I actually have a feature request collaborative page set up in Craft that I am sharing with the developer. I will mention the E2EE with the developer.

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Agreed

Two simple things missing:

(1) No Menu Bar Icon - it could compete well with Drafts if it had this

(2) If you enter a URL in a note, the URL does not automatically become a link; you have to go through a more complex process to enter both the URL and the link name. It would be much nicer if it were to automatically retrieve the webpage title as the link name, or alternatively use the URL as both the link name and link URL by default.

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I imagine that most people are running a more powerful Mac than I am, but Craft on my 2017 MacBook Air is super sluggish – way worse than Obsidian, for example. On my 2018 iPad Pro, it runs great, but my experience on the Mac has been less than stellar.

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Test
Test1382×816 25.4 KB
I just discovered that I can use the Apple Pencil in Craft to create sketches.

You also have multiple options for adding content directly into a page in Craft.

Test
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I’ll mention both of those issues to the developer.

You are correct about the URL, however if you drag a URL, send a URL to Craft via the Share Sheet, or paste the URL you get the following results.

Test
Test1718×1239 183 KB

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I’ve been using it all week for all my work planning, and it’s just got better and better the more I learn the features and workflow. For researching, it’s my favorite app ever, and I’ve tried so many that I cannot remember most of them!

This is going to be a sticker for me, and with the educational pricing it’s an absolute bargain.

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I agree wholeheartedly! I just discovered this morning, after reading this November Macstories review, about the ability to use the Apple Pencil and to scan to add images to Craft. Using the Pencil in Craft is not as feature complete as in Apple Notes but good enough.

I’ve heard that a major update of Craft is coming on Monday. I’m not sure if this is true but exciting if it is.

Craft really combines the best of everything I’ve been looking for in a note taking app. I think the key is, and this is true of any application, taking enough time to learn an app’s features before too quickly abandoning it.

Additionally, as stated in the Macstories review:

insertion
@ - Linking to existing pages
One especially nice detail about page linking is that whenever a page has been @ linked, it will display a running list at the bottom of the page of all other pages that link to it, creating a connection point similar to what services like Roam offer.
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Please let us know how this goes! If they do implement E2EE, I might well be sold. I will miss the graph and aliases but native wins.

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As for the other sources of content to enter, Craft has what I think is the easiest implementation of LaTex I have ever seen. Am I missing something here or is there no need to deal with the complexity of installing the classic Terminal-based LaTex app any more?

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I will. I added that feature request to my list.

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