I Think I've Grown Tired of Obsidian 🫤

[AppleGuy]

I’ve been using Obsidian for a couple of years now. A little at work, mostly at home, and usually to write my weekly reviews, track what books I’m reading, track wins, and a few thoughts. I still use Evernote for storage (vacations, receipts, things to remember) and with the recent improvements it’s really good again, but I don’t see it as covering all the same functionality as Obsidian.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had to admit to myself that Obsidian no longer “sparks joy” for me. I’ve been in this place before but it’s that moment where I look up and realize I’ve overcomplicated things beyond my comfort zone, and beyond what I deem to be a reasonable input for the benefits I receive. It’s like I’m a cat who has climbed a tree without looking behind myself, and now all of a sudden I’m trapped up on a high branch and I don’t like where I am.

I realize Obsidian lets you own your data. That’s great. That’s what drove me to it. But with that freedom comes the limitation that you’re working inside a text file at all times. It seems like everything I try to do doesn’t have an obvious solution and when I hit the web for answers the solution is always a plug-in or a 4-page post with step by step instructions on how to set some workflow up.

Maps of content were a revelation when I discovered them, but once they start to grow they become unwieldy. I found myself bouncing around the daily notes linking to the meeting note linking to the project etc. After a little research, the solution to ease all this friction is, of course a plugin (dataview) plugin. That’s another chunk of time setting up queries and getting everything ticking along with no guarantee that plugin won’t be deprecated or left behind someday. Likely not in the near future, but it’ll happen eventually when an app called Granite comes out and everyone flocks to that as the new popular kid.

I don’t mean to sound negative. That’s just a few months of frustrations built up and summarized into a single paragraph.

But yes, I think I’m looking to move on. I tried some weekly review stuff in Craft which is definitely more in line with what I’m looking for. It’s visually pleasing – something I could never get quite right in Obsidian, even with all the themes, it’s easy to use, and just lets me work without tinkering and messing around. And when I click inside a note on a header or image, it isn’t constantly togging between markdown mode and reading mode.

I am happy with my task manager (Todoist), my note taker (Evernote), my calendar (Fantastical), but I think I’m officially on the market for a quick, pretty, easy to use note taking app for weekly reviews, tracking books I’m reading, tracking shows. Wait – I already track shows in Notion…

I know the Notions and Craft’s aren’t perfect either, but I like to save a lot of images, links, colors, highlights – and Obsidian just seems to either fight me too much all the time or sends me down these rabbit holes of installing plug ins and tweaking constantly.

And all those existing notes I have; they seem unorganized and messy, and overwhelming when even thinking of importing into another system. Future proof in that I can see everything just fine, but organizationally and functionally, I’m not sure text files make anything easier.

All this to say – what software do some of my fellow MPU’rs use to write weekly reviews and jot down some thoughts for quick reference, with a lot of rich text, multimedia elements. It’s helpful to assign dates/calendars to notes so you can see a higher level view of where things fit (e.g. Agenda?). I’m spitballing.

For reasons I won’t get into here (this post is already too long), I will say I’m not interested in the Obsidian alternatives (Logseq) or Apple Notes.

[Hickz]

I think you should check out agenda (which you already mentioned) and Upnote (although an electron app, it’s blazing fast, great keyboard shortcuts, amazing table support, one time purchase option, visually uncluttered etc.).

I’m on Agenda myself now, not much to complain about and the next update will apparently bring collapsible sections (which are present in upnote and are pretty good to work with imo).

I’m also on the road to simplify my workflows and am thinking of giving IA Writer a go as a simple notes app as well, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

After wasting a bunch of time with all the shiny tools (Amazing Marvin is great, surely, but I spend more time tinkering there than actually doing the things that need doing) I’ve come to realization that setting these sophisticated systems up is super close to mental masturbation, imo.

[pantulis]

If I was not using Obsidian for that, I would be using DEVONthink. Which both are totally overkill for what I need, but there you go. Apart from those “local first” solutions (synced via iCloud Drive), I would probably be using Evernote (in fact I do because my wife uses it a lot so shared stuff goes there)

[timlockridge]

I do all of my research work in Obsidian, but I’ve been using Capacities for tracking meetings and clipping webpages. It’s great—something of a hybrid between Obsidian and Notion. Its iOS app is much better than Obsidian’s, and the developers have prioritized offline functionality and local data storage. I wouldn’t use it for complex research projects, but if you like the daily note format and are interested in an object- and block-centered composing metaphor, it’s very good. (And, bonus points, it’s funded by subscriptions, not by venture capital that’s going to demand a return.)

[SpivR]

This is a tough one. Been down similar paths and I ended up with DevonThink.

Not because it is the prettiest UI or exactly everything I like, but overall, I can do many different things and eliminate my use of Apple Notes, Drafts, jumble of folders, etc. with a single app.

My quest over the past few years has been to consolidate/simplify my computing life. Not just to save money (but eliminating subscriptions when I can is desirable), but to reduce the cognitive overload of constantly using many best-of-breed single use (or limited use) apps.

Devonthink is my jack-of-trades but only master-of-some that has helped me get there.

The four features I rely on:

Embedding my files in DT database, not linking to external files.

My huge folder structure nested many levels deep is now replaced by 5 DT database blobs. Much easier to backup, store offline, and most important - use on iOS as DT basically gives me a rational file system on iOS instead of the head-scratching iOS native Files app (as long as I stay inside DT for simple editing and reference tasks to my data).

Replication - basically DT lingo for symbolic links. I’m a hierarchical organizer and DT lets me create folder-like structures using replication that I can’t do in a physical file system easily. I use replication as an alternative to tags. I have a top-level for clients, but I can cross-file some lower-level client files into a top-level folder organized by location (remote or onsite), for example.

Saving reference material as PDF’s - I constantly use DT to save webpages/websites as pdf’s that I can organize by multiple search keys (using replication folder structure) so I actually can find stuff that I save when I need it weeks, months, or years later. (Unstructured searching just doesn’t work well for me.)

Native handling of graphic asset files - I have moved all my graphic assets - png, jpg, vector, and even some smaller videos into DT database. Now all the company logos, press photos, and my own branding files are finally retrieval in an organized way that I can also re-use them when I need them.

[alvinc]

That’s why I give up using Obsidian because even though it can show images in text files, the experience is painful. I am using Apple Notes. I don’t do weekly but monthly (or sometimes flexible) and Apple Notes can give me some freedom for planning and reflection.

For your cases should you all in Evernote? I think they can have better writing and planning with comprehensive tasks integrating with calendar well.

[AppleGuy]

Evernote DID add a daily note feature recently . It isn’t the best at the moment but you raise a good point. Might be worth a trial since I’m already paying for the app.

[Yaakov]

Why not Logseq? Thank you

[Yaakov]

How to you use DT for note-taking or quick thought capture? (Mac & iPhone) Thank you

[MitchWagner]

Do you write in DevonThink? That’s been something that holds me back from using DevonThink. It’s various editor options are limited and ugly.

I’m not someone who cares a lot about esthetics regarding apps. I roll my eyes at app reviews that talk about “exquisite” design. But DevonThink’s editors seem ugly even to me.

Maybe I should give it another try. For about the millionth time. Sigh.

[Yaakov]

@Yaakov

How to you use DT for note-taking or quick thought capture? (Mac & iPhone) Thank you

How to you use DT for note-taking or quick thought capture? (Mac & iPhone) Thank you

[KVZ]

This might seem odd, but I am finding when I get blocked into a corner with my work, spending more time fiddling with software then doing what I turned on the computer to do, that I flip open Perplexity and have a very detailed conversation with it about what I’m trying to accomplish, asking for specific recommendations. I was about to begin a series of research projects – knowing I was going to store source documents in DEVONthink and probably do the writing in Obsidian, and Perplexity helped me figure out the best way to structure and use both apps together. The rabbit hole of plugins never came up – the AI just drew on its sources and was a useful sounding board.

Much better sounding board than a forum – present esteemed company excepted, of course!!

Katie

[brookter]

On the Mac, DT has a quick capture tool that allows you to capture websites, notes, screenshots, and videos. You have to have DT running but the shortcut works when you’re in other programs.

For example, while reading your post I used the shortcut cmd-opt-shift-n and entered the note you see in this screen shot.

On iOS, there are Apple Shortcuts which do the same sort of thing.

HTH.

[NiKoBeaR]

It seems like everything I try to do doesn’t have an obvious solution and when I hit the web for answers the solution is always a plug-in or a 4-page post with step by step instructions on how to set some workflow up.

This is exactly why I moved to UpNote.

[ERJ_T]

heheh… i finally made it to the right side of the graph myself

[Bmosbacker]

I’ve been there waiting for you.

[AppleGuy]

I noticed the other day while revisiting Apple notes for handwritten notes……

You can’t zoom in and move around on the page. It’s locked to a set view. Things like that just drive me crazy about it.

But I see where you’re coming from on the “generally, it’s just easier” train.

[cwc]

Do you write in DevonThink? That’s been something that holds me back from using DevonThink. It’s various editor options are limited and ugly.

I myself don’t write in DEVONthink, but I do like how a command-shift-o opens documents in DEVONthink in their default Mac apps. So when I do tinker with markdown documents in my DEVONthink databases, it’s always through iA Writer.

I’m not someone who cares a lot about esthetics regarding apps. I roll my eyes at app reviews that talk about “exquisite” design.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs

[WayneG]

I started out in business before Apple and IBM designed the first “personal computers”, and was involved with building a factory in a foreign country when the majority of my notes, contacts, and calendar were on paper and a Palm Pilot.

A common problem I’ve encountered over the years is people’s fascination with technology causing them to seek something better before they master their existing tech.

I suspect any task manager, calendar, and rich text editor, etc. would be sufficient for most “office workers” so I would suggest you start simple and build from there. And because I was once a long time user of Evernote I’d stay with that for now.

[cwc]

My quest over the past few years has been to consolidate/simplify my computing life. Not just to save money (but eliminating subscriptions when I can is desirable), but to reduce the cognitive overload of constantly using many best-of-breed single use (or limited use) apps.

I often wrestle with the question: Is it better to use a variety of specific tools tailored for particular tasks, or to rely on one multipurpose tool that covers most of my needs, even if it’s not perfect? I tend to opt for a variety of tools (with DEVONthink being one of them), but I do find myself drawn to the idea of using fewer.