Betting on the future winner is impossible. Last year it was Roam all the way. This year, there is a new PKM app being launched every week!
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Evernote’s new/improved task management would benefit hugely from enabling Fantastical-style natural language input. It’s currently way too clunky to set reminders/deadlines for tasks, which (at least for me) makes it unusable for tasks.
I like the direction they’re taking with the new home screen, and the new widgets it’s enabling. Also the new Finder integration with hot folders, and proper boolean search.
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Having access to files in a flat file system is why I went with Keep It. It supports markdown but also other formats and you can use any app you want to edit the files since it is just stored in a folder. Keep It can import Evernote notebooks as well since I used to use Evernote.
I relly wish Evernote could get their act together. The new apps are so slow, search is still broken and the edit workflow sucks. On top of it, they want a higher price now!
Being at one time (years ago) an enthusiastic Evernote user, I will add that as @MacSparky often says, Evernote is a “roach motel.” It is difficult to get your information out in a useable flexible format. This may not be a significant problem if one has only a few hundred notes but if one has thousands it is problematic.
Obviously, this is relative to each person’s perspective, but I find the value proposition of EN to be extremely low. I have not given EN a second look since I abandoned it. I think there are far better programs with a far higher VP than EN.
I still have 6 months of EN to go when I discovered Obsidian. I evaluated how much I like Markdown, played around with Obsidian and never looked back. My EN account is just idling. I’m glad there was a tool to move everything out of EN and Apple Notes and I don’t want to be locked in again, ever.
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Same here!!
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Speaking of Evernote, have you tried the “NEW” version. I continue to be bombarded with come back email, but as I am still in limbo between Craft and Obsidian. Regardless if my final decision, I will continue to support Obsidian. IMO, the community is unmatched and that means a lot to me.
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Yea, Obsidians Discourse is great, and Craft’s Slack is one of the most accessible communities (in terms of talking to the development team and founder). Evernote has the forums which are basically run by a couple of really old crumudgeons that seem like they represent Evernote, but don’t. I will say that if you get in a beta, they assign a couple of developers and community people to respond, (even Ian has jumped in) and the experience is much more positive.
Obviously there is scale involved here. I have a lot of hope for the future of Evernote, but I am in love with Craft right now, and Obsidian is great, but knowing myself, too fiddly to get any work done.
Craft has actually found its place next to Obsidian for me. This will probably be even more so the case once Shortcuts are available on macOS. The Shortcut action to append blocks to a specified document in Craft is my favorite. Especially the fact that it runs in the background smoothly without jumping back and forth when iterating over long lists of items to add.
This paired with the rich in-line URL previews allowed me to use it as my own read it later tool that I can structure in as many subpages as I want.
Obsidian has become my app for thoughts and notes on referenced content or broader topics and “continuous journaling” in daily notes. It has degraded Day One to essentially be my private Instagram feed. Using the share extension to drop things into Day One, paired with all meta-data filters is still the gold standard. Yet the UI discrepancies of Day One keep me looking for alternatives.
I like that my data is local first in Obsidian and that my vault is also indexed by DevonThink (just in case).
But I have to admit that Obsidian somehow feels fragile. It is just not as robust as I would want my note-taking app to be. It feels like VS Code these days, whereas Sublime Text always was solid.
I also keep Bear around for the quick and ephemeral notes. I could use Apple Notes for those, but seeing the “a” character variant constantly makes my eyelids twitch.
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I’m one of the Evernote holdouts. I have my complaints about the Electron client but it is getting much better. I understand folks concern about the proprietary format and getting content out if need be. For me it is more about getting content in to Evernote in the format I want than it out. Between the web-clipping and iOS client features, I haven’t found a better option. There are other benefits that make it more advantageous for my workflow. If for whatever reason I’m forced to abandon Evernote, then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. As other have stated there is a significant cost to switching and with the amount of content I have in Evernote it isn’t a cost I’m willing to pay.
All that said, I’m “Obsidian curious”. I’m similar to Leo in I’m coming up with a hybrid model. I’ve been loading certain content in Obsidian that I feel might get more out of the features of Obsidian. I’m still getting used to MD and Obsidian’s quirks but I see real potential. I’m not thrilled with having content split between two applications but I guess that is the trade-off.
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I don’t know if I have shared in here but I am digging Taio as the iOS viewer and editor for my Obsidian markup documents. I don’t like Obsidian iOS app at all and the native Files app always launch Obsidian when I tried to view a .md file.
Taio has a great File Explorer browser. I can pin some of my favourites Obsidian folder and have instant access. When I tap on a .md files, it opens up in a nice markdown editor.
I don’t have to pay subscription for Taio - the default free tool serves my need.
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Wish Obsidian had a way to access on the web.
Perhaps it’s just me but I do not find Obsidian visually pleasing to use. Craft is beautiful 
It’s the same reason I use Things instead of a Omnifocus.
Is this a subjective thing for Obsidian? Are there users who find Obsidian beautiful to use?
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Obsidian is ugly, period. But, if one wants the power of linking with local markdown files and the expandability that plug-ins provide, then ugly is worth it. Otherwise, I agree, Craft is a far nicer option but as I noted, there are other shortcomings with Craft.
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Perhaps I failed to explain. To ensure one keeps using the app, one needs to enjoy using it. otherwise, one tends to just seek alternatives or lose interest. Attleast that is the case for me.
Do you consider that at all? or is it all about the utlity of the app. For me, especially apps for task management, notes and writing - the app must be enjoyable to use.
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I, like most everyone else, much prefer a nice app but at the end of the day it is about getting the best app to get the job done. I’d still be using Craft if it was not a block-based system and if it exported sub-pages differently.
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I am of the same thoughts as you. That is why, like you, I am still using Things. I also love beautiful apps and have the irrational practice of not allowing apps with ugly icons in my phone.
Stock Oblivion is ugly. But, after applying a couple of user-created themes and tweaking them slightly, it is bearable. I’d think that Craft would be the editor of choice given my love for beautifully designed apps but I guess I like my wallet more. That, and I am pretty sicked of being locked into proprietary format (I was a Evernote, Awesome Notes and Apple Notes user) and my next editor of choice should be an open format.
I haven’t been able to get into apps like Obsidian or Roam and I think this is why. Ideally I want form and function and Craft strikes that balance for me.
That said, I’m beginning to agree with @Bmosbacker about the block-based system in Craft. It’s getting in the way more than it’s helping.
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I too normally lean toward beauty in UX over function, but in Obsidian’s case I’ve found a nice balance. I’m using the Yin & Yang theme. Is it as pretty as Craft? No, but it works literally anywhere I work. I can sync between iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows, and there is more functionality for me to manage my content. I can link easily between items, and I can use things like Dataview for surfacing my content.
As much as I love Craft, there is a lot of limitations in surfacing and viewing your content. I can write all day, but getting back to that content was troublesome for me. 
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