###Update###

I tried a bit of Notesnook. While it wasnt bad it didnt quite fit the expectation that obsidian created for me for what I want. Maybe it was user error but I honestly can’t say what specific aspect bothered me.
For now I decided to stay with what I have experience witg and bought a year of Obsidian-sync for 1 Remote-Vault

Thanks to everyone that suggested me solutions to my really specific problem. I appreciate that and I love(d) the discouse I seemingly sparked in this post.
Please continue commenting. Maybe someone else still hasnt found their solution yet :)

Original Post:

Hello fellow lemmy users, for the lack of a better fitting community I hope my request for help fits here the best.

I am a bit of a scatter-brain, have some notes in Google Keep, OneNote, Obsidian and in GitHub or other places. This is partially multiplied by splitting my work stuff with my home stuff.

What I like about every app I use so far

  • OneNote: I like the way I can write on something like a canvas. Very useful if the note does fit the general theme of the page but not at the exact position. Also helps by utilizing the big space of a horizontal monitor. Also it now sports a very good mobile editor.
  • Obsidian: So easy to backlink between notes and I love the graph view. I also like the extension “code styler” which lets me format inline code blocks with syntax highlighting (e.g.: `{powershell icon} Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Path\To\Folder -Filter XYZ*`).
    I like to learn scripting but I also use obsidian for RL-stuff and technical non-code like keeping track of configs, settings, wishlists etc.
  • Google Keep: I bastardize the check-box feature to keep track of (online) shop orders. Mostly the only reason is that checked items get hidden in a collapsed section

    Any other program that let’s me to that (even with plugin/extension) is a valid replacement candidate

What I dislike:

  • OneNote:
    • Quite difficult to link between notes (unsupported on mobile)
    • Limited to 1 folder deep notes. Currently work around that by using the horizontal space or multi notes.
    • A bit clunky to edit bigger notes
    • By microsoft.
  • Obsidian:
    • No native way to have everything on a server outside of using the obsidian-sync service for $4 or the community plugin which requires me to use some novel type of db called couch-db (ugh, another service to keep updated/troubleshoot). I can stomach the $4 but am limited to only one vault which I don’t really like.
  • Google Keep:
    • Google
    • No real way to have everything backed up. Only use it for quick notes or for my shipment list. Everything else is probably exported to Obsidian/OneNote if I feel like doing house-keeping.

How I currently manage/store my files:

  • Right now I use
  • OneNote which is stored on OneDrive (I like how Outlook (classic) works and I got 1TB of cloud storage),
  • Obsidian which syncs with the plugin “remotely sync” to my OneDrive folder.
  • Google Keep: Dunno. Probably some account storage on google

What I want:

  • A primarily server-side setup or with a native sync feature that works like on OneNote: The true source is my server or the cloud, the client only streams/caches the data locally. I have no problem with individual markdown files.
    I just dislike the general need to sync them manually with external tools like syncthing.
    I already have a good backup solution on my main server and secondary server (For the curious: Veeam backup and replication that backs my proxmox VMs). No need to manage another set of backups. Another reason I want everything in one spot as I already have everything scattered.
  • A tree view of my notes like obsidian and OneNote does. Plus point if the app can even do sections like OneNote does.
  • (Optional) A way change-log of the edits done. Some apps do it by implementing git or have a very rudimentary way to manage that
  • Mobile/desktop companian app: PWA is okay but I would probably miss out on the caching feature. I would prefer an actual (android) app on my phone. Same for Windows.

What I found so far but have issues so far:

  • silverbullet: Server-side but seems to miss the side bar with the tree view (which can probably be added by another extension). Seems like the best candidate so far
  • Joplin: Seems alright to use but I can’t use callouts which (to me) is mandatory to use with coding/scripting tasks.
  • Obsidian: Fits best of all I found but I dislike the $4. But still miles better as the former option which was (i believe) $15 monthly
  • BookStack: I bit limited how it manages the change-log. Seems okay
  • Outline: No way to sync it without paying beyond manual sync. Didnt try it out much but I like how it looks.
  • Logseq: Same issues as with obsidian: Paid sync. Didnt look much beyond
  • Joplin: Sufficient but no callouts :(
  • Trilium Notes: Maintenance mode. Not a deal-breaker but I don’t want to migrate something that could maybe die :/

Thanks for reading the wall of text and I wish you a good start into the year of 2025. ✌️

    • aesEnglish
      1•3 months ago

      This.

      Also, one of the machines is running the git plugin, so things get saved in my Forgejo as well. I guess I could set it up so they save to hit, but in different branches. 🤔

  • @fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    14•3 months ago

    I just sync a folder with syncthing and use native markdown editors.

    On a desktop I like zettlr. On android I like zettel notes. Both have zettelkasten features which is pretty much just a way to link to other files.

    • NaNEnglish
      2•3 months ago

      Exactly what I do, too! (Tho I use VS Code and owncloud on desktop, and foldersync on Android.) Only issue I have is occasional file conflicts, if some edits didn’t get sync’d right away. (Tho it hasn’t happened recently, perhaps due to Zettel’s recent file saving updates.)

  • @alphabethunter@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8•3 months ago

    I just use Obsidian + Syncthing + MEGA. My obsidian folders are on my mega synced folder on my pc, and they are set up to use syncthing to push updates to all my other devices (2 phones and a tablet), but you can have as many devices as you want. It’s all free as well, and the cloud service can be any that you like.

    • @e8d79@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2•3 months ago

      I really tried to like silverbullet but the VI mode is too bare bones for me. The worst thing about it is that Ctrl+W closes the browser tab instead of deleting one word left of the cursor and there is no way around that. I think I closed the silverbullet tab 20 times while typing a single note.

  • @TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1•3 months ago

    Joplin: Sufficient but no callouts :(

    Can you give an example of those “callouts”? Joplin has many plugins, many you can find that in there.

    My only complaint about Joplin is that there’s no production / real WebUI for it yet.

    • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      1•3 months ago

      Am I blind or is it mobile only? Would probably create issues if I use 3rd party plugin features in other apps if I don’t stay markdown-only Also it seems like I have to manually sync the file?

  • Bahnd RollardEnglish
    3•3 months ago

    Note for Obsidian, there is a git plugin that can auto-push/pull from a repo. I put my repo on a server and have multiple devices use it as a sync feature (there is also a VPN to my home network involved). Not sure how well it works on the android app (its pure lazyness as to why I haven’t tried that yet…)

  • StatickEnglish
    2•3 months ago

    I know this says “Solved” but you should look into Gitjournal. You can use the one free private repo from gitlab to connect to. Just use vscode or similar on PC and Gitjournal on your phone. Version controlled notes, file based instead of database, can organize on PC via folders (Gitjournal recognizes the folders, don’t think it can create them though). I absolutely love it.

    https://gitjournal.io/

    • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      1•3 months ago

      I think your post was even the one suggested during my post creation. Skimming through your linked posts it seems like joplin and obsidian is used often but I have yet to read about software like notesnook which looked promising.

  • @IsoSpandy@lemm.eeEnglish
    2•3 months ago

    I use Obsidian primarily and just push everything to git. Remember to gitignore .obsidian/workspaces.json to prevent conflicts on multiple devices.

  • @Father_Redbeard@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1•3 months ago

    Honestly it seems like Obsidian is the one matching most of your criteria. $4/mo isn’t bad for a bullet proof sync solution with version history, imo. I also have my vault backed up on each client locally for extra protection.

    I’d love to suggest Logseq because FOSS, but man does the android app suck.

    That said, I find Obsidian really lacks in the simple to-do/checklist function. So I use Quillpad synced to my Nextcloud server for Google Keep-like functionality. Everything else goes into Obsidian.

  • @Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5•3 months ago

    Another vote for Silverbullet, I’ve been using it for a while and it’s great. There is a tree view plugin that’s very easy to install, however I disabled it after a short while because I realized that, because of the way I take notes, that is a lot less useful than other features.

    For example, I have a folder with all my cooking recipes, at first I thought having a Tree view would be good there, but actually if I use the querying mechanism I can have tables that give me more information than just the name, e.g. tags, difficulty, etc. also this works regardless of where the recipes are, so if I want to create a subfolder structure or scrap recipes from elsewhere in the whole space it would work (granted, not very useful for recipes, but I also have a table for work tools, some of which are embebed on another page, some of which are a page of their own, and I have a table that lists all of the tools to give me an overview)

    • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      1•3 months ago

      I am the sort to know where to look but not what it’s called. So it’s either a tree view or a content table that gets filled automatically (for example by tags) but also unmarked/untagged notes

      • @Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2•3 months ago

        Let me give you an example, I have a page with this:

         ```template
 | Name | Keywords |
 |-----------|-----------------|
 {{#each {recipe}}}
 | [[{{name}}]] | {{keywords}} |
 {{/each}}
\ ```

        Then each recipe page has a header, so for example if I have a file named Recipes/Steak.md with the content:

        ---
tags: recipe
keywords: beef easy
---

# Ingredients 

Yadda yadda yadda...

        So that table gets populated with all of the recipes wherever they are and I can add other columns or info there. It’s very neat and customizable.

        • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          1•3 months ago

          Looks very cool to automate but also a high learning curve for someone just starting out with scripting ;)
          Atm probably not for me.

            • @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
              1•3 months ago

              Nah, I mean the how it’s written looks close to a for-loop.
              Right now this would require me to pay active concentration to write and utilize something like this vs just writing in markdown as I have already memorized part of the syntax.

              Don’t get me wrong though, this is very good and impressive to automate.
              I am a fan on how MS Word automatically creates the table of content, complete with formatting when just configuring the formatting correctly for the levels. This basically blows it out of the water.

              • @Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2•3 months ago

                In that sense it is a bit of scripting, it’s a templating language similar to Jinja, so you put things you want to display between {{ }}, for example {{name}} will get rendered as the content of the name variable. [[ ]] is the way Silverbullet habgles links, so [[Something]] is a link to the file Something.md, so [[ {{ name }} ]] is a link to the file with the name from the variable.

                Also that’s because I wanted a custom view, a very similar thing could be done with:

                \```query
recipe
\```

                BTW, you can have a table of contents on Silverbullet by just putting a block named toc, i.e. ```toc and closing it on the next line.

  • @hertg@infosec.pubEnglish
    0•3 months ago

    I use Obsidian and pay for Sync. You are not limited to one vault, I have multiple vaults synced, don’t know where you got that information?

    Can recommend doing this, vault is E2E encrypted and the people behind Obsidian seem decent. They are very much opposed to taking VC money and the growth at all cost mindset. See the blog of their CEO to get a vibe check: https://stephango.com/