Publication Date: February 3, 2021 Episode No: 173

The Best Note Taking App for Small Businesses | Joplin Application

As you all know I am a big fan of Notion application, but I hate using it for note taking or as my To-Do List. I was referred to the Joplin application by one of my viewers (Thanks Meyer’s Family). So, I thought I would test drive this application and provide you with my thoughts on its usefulness.

What am I looking for?

I really had to sit down and think about what I wanted in a note taking and to-do list application. Let’s face the fact that I normally would just go try an application and if I liked it great, if not then I would continue on with my search. But to be honest each of us has to figure out exactly what we are looking for in an application.

First and foremost, I want an application that does not cost me any money. You can call me cheap or frugal if you like but I am tired of monthly or yearly subscriptions. The next requirement is that the application has to work across all my devices. I use Macs, iPad, iPhone and Windows based machines. It must work seamlessly across all these devices. Requirement number three it that it must be easy to use. If I have to watch a dozen YouTube videos on it then I am going to give up on the application. The fourth requirement is control over where the data is stored. I want to be able to have the data stored on my Google drive. Lastly, it has to be easier than what I am currently using.

What Is Joplin?

Joplin is a free open-source application for handling your note taking and to-do lists. The developer does not charge for using the application but does accept donations. The application helps you write and organize your notes and synchronize them between your devices. In fact, the notes are searchable, can be copied, tagged, and modified from within the application or using your own text editor. Joplin uses the Markdown format the same as Notion. Joplin can be downloaded on a desktop, mobile and terminal application.

Joplin Display

Joplin is divided into three parts.

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The first is the Sidebar which contains the list of your notebooks and tags. It also displays your synchronization status here too.

Note List contains the current list of notes. It will show you either the notes in the currently selected notebook, selected tag, or search results.

Note Editor is the place where you write your notes. This is a WYSIWYG editor and a Markdown editor. You can click on the Code view to switch between both. You also have the option of using an external editor to take notes.

What is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language with plain text formatting syntax. It is meant to be human readable, even without being rendered. In fact, Joplin has a link to the Markdown documentation if you any assistance.

So far, I have found the application easy to use. I was able to create a new Notebook and jot down some thoughts without any problems.

Organizing Your Notes

Joplin allows you to drag a notebook to either a root or to a sub-notebook. I really liked this feature. As I can create different notebooks for different things then organize them after the fact. For example, I can have one notebook Guitar information. Then I can have a subnotebook for my songbook, guitar chords, scales, and guitar tracking.

Tags Joplin allows for tags which can identify a category. It is a great way to organize your notes. Even though the text in Joplin is searchable, it is often easier to identify something through the use of a category then to search through years of daily notes.

Importing Options

You may not know that Joplin was originally designed as a replacement for . So, it can import complete Evernote notebooks, as well as notes, tags, images, attached files and note metadata. In order to import into Joplin, you need to export the data as ENEX file from Evernote.

You can also import from many other applications as well as Markdown or text files. Unfortunately, I have not used any note taking or to-do list application on a regular basis in order to test the import functionality. I guess that is what I guess for handwriting everything in actual notebooks!

Synchronizing Your Notes

The developers of Joplin wanted to avoid being tied to any particular company or service when it came to data storage. You simply select the service that you prefer. Joplin allows you to connect to OneDrive, , WebDAV, , AWS S3 (Beta), Joplin Server. Okay, where is Google Drive? I pay extra every year for Google drive as it is cheaper than Dropbox. I want all my data to be stored in one location. I did do a few Google searches to see if it was possible to save the data to Google drive and there are problems with that option. So, what alternatives do I have. Well, I could live the data on the Joplin server, but it is not ideal.

There are some people that have found ways to save the data to Google drive, but they are using Android devices. Since I don’t use Android devices this is not an option for me.

Exporting Options

The problem I have with using any application is that if I am not happy with it what happens to the data that I entered. So generally, I do not go full speed ahead on any application until I am willing to commit to it. After all, I just don’t want to enter the data twice if I can help it. 2You can export your data from Joplin. However, this feature is designed for backup purposes and not a true export function. You can however save the files to PDF.

Privacy

Joplin applications will not send any data to any service without your authorization. You can always save the data to your local device.

Now Joplin does offer End to End encryption (E2EE) which prevents potential eavesdroppers including telecom providers, internet providers and even developers from being able to access the data.

End to End Encryption

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system where only the owner of the data (i.e. notes, notebooks, tags or resources) can read it. It prevents potential eavesdroppers - including telecom providers, internet providers, and even the developers of Joplin from being able to access the data.

The system is designed to defeat any attempts at surveillance or tampering because no third party can decipher the data being communicated or stored.

There is a small overhead to using E2EE since data constantly has to be encrypted and decrypted so consider whether you really need the feature. You will need to enable this feature.

Summary

Overall, there is a lot to like about this application. However, for me there is just one thing that I cannot get past and that is the ability to store the data on my Google drive. Yes, it is a small thing but one that I am not willing to give up on.

However, this application is hands down better than Evernote and Notion based upon the encryption function alone. As far as note-taking applications goes, Evernote and OneNote are the top dogs. However, there is a ton of room for innovation and competition in this industry. If you are looking for the best pick for a free open-source note-taking app then look no further than Joplin. Joplin is very user friendly unlike most open-source apps. However, it does not have as many features as Evernote or Microsoft OneNote nor can you use it collaboratively, but’s it’s an excellent solution for anyone who wants a single user account.

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