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Evernote alternative?

S

sentinelsx

macrumors 68010
Original poster
Feb 28, 2011
2,004
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I really like evenote. It is cross platform, I archive pretty much everything in it with tags which is awesome, and the 60 mb free account limit while annoying, isn't a deal breaker.

But what irks me greatly is that I need a premium account for offline functionality. I don't really need their real time sync or keeping my notes on their servers or version history etc and would gladly give up that for offline notes on my devices instead. I am OK with syncing notes manually to my PC when I need to.

Are there better alternatives to it? I like keep but it has no tags. I do use it for to-do stuff and reminders though and wouldn't want it cluttered as I like to keep my archives separate from stuff needing attention.

Thanks in advance.
 
Depends upon what type of notes you keep. Evernote has become too bloated (functionally and UI) to be useful to me anymore so I've gone "old school".

NValt on OSX, Notesy on iOS, ResophNotes on Windows all storing text notes in DropBox and all syncing (via DropBox native sync).
 
sracer said:
Depends upon what type of notes you keep. Evernote has become too bloated (functionally and UI) to be useful to me anymore so I've gone "old school".

NValt on OSX, Notesy on iOS, ResophNotes on Windows all storing text notes in DropBox and all syncing (via DropBox native sync).
Click to expand...

Hmm. I archive everything. Things like how I have indexed my paperwork and what stays where. Copies of receipts. Work memo texts. Pictures of important stuff with description in note. PDF copies of govt application forms. Stuff like account numbers (no passwords), document numbers. Car codes and other related info. Pretty much all I can think of. It is my digital locker of the sorts.

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Oletros said:
Microsoft OneNote or Springpad comes to my mind
Click to expand...

I tried springpad but didn't like it much. I am gonna try onenote though. Thanks for suggestion.
 
OneNote is pretty awesome. I wish it had native handwriting recognition on the Android app though. S-note is very nice, but it's locked down and only kind of syncs with evernote, which I also don't like very much.
 
Hmm, back tracked to springpad from OneNote. One note seemed a bit too limited. No option to make notebooks on my phone or rename them? Also no tags . Seems a bit too basic.

I think i will learn to live with springpad's UI. Feature wise it is now turning out to be an identical copy of evernote, which i like. Migrating all my notes will be a pain though, but let it begin!
 
I use Google keep, very simple and works great. Only downside is there is no official iOS app for it. So on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac I just use apples note app.
 
Fernandez21 said:
I use Google keep, very simple and works great. Only downside is there is no official iOS app for it. So on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac I just use apples note app.
Click to expand...

I wished google was serious about it. It is great for simple note taking and reminders and to-do etc, but no where near Evernote.

I went back to evernote btw, and i am not paying them $50 a year just so i can keep my notes and archives offline on my phone and tablet. They don't want to give us an option where we keep our archives on our machines and sync them "locally" on same wifi, or use dropbox/google drive/onedrive etc as a sync solution, or something similar, so their servers won't be used. Some users are even willing to pay one time fee for that as a paid app, but evernote wants to keep their subscription model as the only option.

Unfortunately i have tried other options and they are not as good. Google keep cannot even do simple text formatting like underlines or bolds or italics, doesn't offer attachment options to notes, or tags. OneNote is very limited on mobile, at least the non-subscription one, with no options of attachments either. Also i bought Office 2007 suite a while ago, and the OneNote 2007 that is bundled will not work with OneNote web version, i guess i need to buy 2013. Ugh.

Springpad does not allow full offline viewing and i found weird bugs with its sync. Also no desktop app. And still cannot attach files without emailing, which is stupid on an android phone which allows far greater sharing capabilities. Evernote works like a charm in this space.

Also tried somnote but no formatting, no inline attachments killed it for me too.

Seems like i am debating between evernote and OneNote for mobile. I don't care for real time sync, but i want a powerful offline archiving tool that can archive anything. Evernote is king of the hill here, but unless i pay $50 a year and get all the extra features which i won't use, it is too expensive just for offline notebooks.

Just trying to see how i can work with OneNote in the mean time now.
 
Last edited:
sentinelsx said:
I wished google was serious about it. It is great for simple note taking and reminders and to-do etc, but no where near Evernote.

I went back to evernote btw, and i am not paying them $50 a year just so i can keep my notes and archives offline on my phone and tablet. They don't want to give us an option where we keep our archives on our machines and sync them "locally" on same wifi, or use dropbox/google drive/onedrive etc as a sync solution, or something similar, so their servers won't be used. Some users are even willing to pay one time fee for that as a paid app, but evernote wants to keep their subscription model as the only option.

Unfortunately i have tried other options and they are not as good. Google keep cannot even do simple text formatting like underlines or bolds or italics, doesn't offer attachment options to notes, or tags. OneNote is very limited on mobile, at least the non-subscription one, with no options of attachments either. Also i bought Office 2007 suite a while ago, and the OneNote 2007 that is bundled will not work with OneNote web version, i guess i need to buy 2013. Ugh.

Springpad does not allow full offline viewing and i found weird bugs with its sync. Also no desktop app. And still cannot attach files without emailing, which is stupid on an android phone which allows far greater sharing capabilities. Evernote works like a charm in this space.

Also tried somnote but no formatting, no inline attachments killed it for me too.

Seems like i am debating between evernote and OneNote for mobile. I don't care for real time sync, but i want a powerful offline archiving tool that can archive anything. Evernote is king of the hill here, but unless i pay $50 a year and get all the extra features which i won't use, it is too expensive just for offline notebooks.

Just trying to see how i can work with OneNote in the mean time now.
Click to expand...

Its a shame Inglorious Apps never ported their webOS Notes app to any other platform. It was fantastic. It synced with Google docs, allowed you to lable your notes and attatch pictures, audio, and video. And the ui was very simple and intuitive.
 
I don't really need to sync across devices so S-note works out great for me. I work in the Oilfield and I have every oil well we've ever worked on archived and indexed in chronological order. Works out great for me because my Note 3 is my go to device and everything is readily available for me when I need it.

Did I also mention that having the S pen functionality is a god send. It's really awesome to that I can label each Note and assign individual book covers.


y3uha2e8.jpg
 
Dontazemebro said:
I don't really need to sync across devices so S-note works out great for me. I work in the Oilfield and I have every oil well we've ever worked on archived and indexed in chronological order. Works out great for me because my Note 3 is my go to device and everything is readily available for me when I need it.

Did I also mention that having the S pen functionality is a god send. It's really awesome to that I can label each Note and assign individual book covers.


Image
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it doesn't work unless you use touchwizz. Also, does it allow file attachments to notes?

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blackhand1001 said:
I use google keep for the most part.
Click to expand...

Keep is OK but it is definitely not Evernote. Heck keep isn't even fully cross-platform yet.

Seems onenote also requires sync. Bah

Time to write own archiving app I guess...
 
Last edited:
sentinelsx said:
Unfortunately it doesn't work unless you use touchwizz. Also, does it allow file attachments to notes?

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Keep is OK but it is definitely not Evernote. Heck keep isn't even fully cross-platform yet.

Seems onenote also requires sync. Bah

Time to write own archiving app I guess...
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much anything. You can insert docs, PDFs, images, charts, voice memos, videos, clip art, shapes, map coordinates and any of the other Samsung related software tools. It is rather versatile but not really functional outside of Samsung's ecosystem.
 
Dontazemebro said:
Yep, pretty much anything. You can insert docs, PDFs, images, charts, voice memos, videos, clip art, shapes, map coordinates and any of the other Samsung related software tools. It is rather versatile but not really functional outside of Samsung's ecosystem.
Click to expand...

Looks like everything has a catch.....:(
 
I use OneNote.

Syncs kinda slow but you use local syncing and disable auto syncing. I just have synced with my onedrive account. Hand downs the most powerful and the searching doesn't require "tags"



I have 5 computers syncing Onenote plus my HTC one.

I use onenote on my surface pro the most because the pen (ink to math).
 
I previously left Evernote, hoping to find some other alternatives because I didn't want to pay the Premium subscription. It turns out that Evernote just does digital archiving really, really well and I was foolish to ever leave. The iOS apps have improved leaps and bounds in the last year. I've since come back to Evernote and bought a Premium subscription. It works out to $3 and change each month. Not exactly a big deal.
 
I'm back on Google Keep from Evernote, as Google have gradually improved it.
 
I use Journler with its preference folder in my Dropbox. Gives me 45Gb of storage and syn across platforms as long as I remember to quit it after use ;)

And it has password protection. OSS but havent been developed since 2011 unfortunately.
 
What apps for the iPhone are people using for google keep? I heard google may release one but this was said last year

I'm between evernote and simplenote
 
Dontazemebro said:
Yep, pretty much anything. You can insert docs, PDFs, images, charts, voice memos, videos, clip art, shapes, map coordinates and any of the other Samsung related software tools. It is rather versatile but not really functional outside of Samsung's ecosystem.
Click to expand...

Yea samsung's solution is really the best for that S-pen. Other than that I'd also have to recommend one note.

Offtopic: Is the Note 3 your primary device or is your iPhone you have listed in your signature. OR do you juggle the two. Trying to figure out how to work my system when the Note 4 is release :p
 
Diseal3 said:
Yea samsung's solution is really the best for that S-pen. Other than that I'd also have to recommend one note.



Offtopic: Is the Note 3 your primary device or is your iPhone you have listed in your signature. OR do you juggle the two. Trying to figure out how to work my system when the Note 4 is release :p
Click to expand...


I juggle the 2 to be honest. Some days I go heavy android and vice versa iOS. It's the best way to enjoy both platforms.
 
sentinelsx said:
I really like evenote. It is cross platform, I archive pretty much everything in it with tags which is awesome, and the 60 mb free account limit while annoying, isn't a deal breaker.

But what irks me greatly is that I need a premium account for offline functionality.
Click to expand...

Well, that sums it up very neatly. I have the same here.

I want to keep info from websites in notebooks to read them offline. I did that with copy-paste in pages, stored it in folders (to keep it organised) and uploaded it to an ios app. I thought I could do that much simpeler with evernote. So the offline incapability is no go for me.

Is there an app that let's me store webclippings/articles/foto's in notebooks/folders and let's me read it offline? My main usage for this kind of app is research. I have reminders and notes for notekeeping, so I don't use google keep. (which is also not available offline I guess).

I thought I could do that with dropbox, but yesterday I tried the offline function on my ipad and I couldn't reach my dropbox folders (maybe I need to sync first?). But a workflow like dropbox could be acceptable. See a info on a webpage, copy-paste to paper, store it in a folder, read it offline when I have the time to do research (in my corner of the world there is not an abundance of free wifi spots and I'm not on 3/4 G.)

Has Onenote offline capability? Is there an other app that does? Springpad is dead, that's one option less.

So, dear unknown stranger friends that I'll never meet, does anyone have a suggestion for me? The thanks from an equally unknown stranger that you'll never meet, will be yours.
 
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