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replacement for evernote

allan53

allan53

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 22, 2002
166
12
New Hampshire
Can anyone recommend a note taking app that:
1. works with Mac OS and iOS
2. syncs between all devices
3. offers password protection for individual notes
 
Notability is too "fancy" for my needs.
I looked at OneNote but had a problem
i-xJcvbLf-S.jpg

[doublepost=1523115754][/doublepost]I think I would rather avoid MS.
 
macJournal
been using this for a few years. It seems to do everything you want but:
-getting long in the teeth and needs an update
-easy to keep backups but you will need to do this to prevent loosing everything
-I have experienced recent random failures that corrupted the journal.
-i sync through drop box with success
-the ios version dosnt work well and is unstable
-some modes of macJournal encryption are unstable and lock up and or corrupt the data db
-surprise! macJournal has a week upgrade path to other formats so your locked in

there is a danger relying on a 3rd party data base design. Especially if you intend to only keep text notes. Apple Notes? Could you design your own journal using MAC Numbers or some generic spread spread app. Just thinking
 
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jeyf said:
macJournal
been using this for a few years. It seems to do everything you want but:
-getting long in the teeth and needs an update
-easy to keep backups but you will need to do this to prevent loosing everything
-I have experienced recent random failures that corrupted the journal.
-i sync through drop box with success
-the ios version dosnt work well and is unstable
-some modes of macJournal encryption are unstable and lock up and or corrupt the data db
-surprise! macJournal has a week upgrade path to other formats so your locked in

there is a danger relying on a 3rd party data base design. Especially if you intend to only keep text notes. Apple Notes? Could you design your own journal using MAC Numbers or some generic spread spread app. Just thinking
Click to expand...

I used MacJournal extensively to keep a journal, which grew to many hundreds of pages. But the program crashed and everything was hopelessly scrambled; individual entries had no title or date. I think the crash occurred during a sync with my iPad.
 
Let’s not all have blinders on here. Many note taking apps do have a vast amount of useful features that Apple’s Notes doesn’t have. (E.g. tags).

That being said, if one’s criteria are the OP’s, then maybe you don’t need those extra features.
 
I use Evernote. I'm going to give OneNote a try, though. I've heard good things about it from some friends who use it on Macs too, so I'm planning to try that.
 
Ace2617 said:
I use Evernote. I'm going to give OneNote a try, though. I've heard good things about it from some friends who use it on Macs too, so I'm planning to try that.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1523762580][/doublepost]I must admit I loved evernote. But they started charging ( nothing wrongwith that) and limited the free version to 2 devices - which made it not as useful as it was. MS Onenote is good and I use it for a number of things. But - my delemia is - for long term will they charge ? At the moment it isthe only free MS product. Which makes me think - over time they will make it a compulsary part of Office. As Iam now moving from the corporate world I no longer get the “home use” deal ( and dont really need it as much as I did). I am pretty well using the free Mac apps. Pages has become my main word processor (and is getting better and better). Notes has become my Evernote replacement. It syncs between all my apple devices and is available in the cloud on windows devices. Files are lockable ( but not folders at this stage). You can organise into folders and subfolders ( on the mac - then syncs to ios). You can share notes (the family shopping list is on a shared note). Formatting can be fine tunes easy on the mac ( colour, font, etc). You can save files to notes, use apple pencil for drawings etc. All notes are searchable ( like Evernote). The beauty being it is free, on all your apple devices ( but available on the cloud for win) and apple will keep improving it.
 
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Tajhad said:
[doublepost=1523762580][/doublepost]I must admit I loved evernote. But they started charging ( nothing wrongwith that) and limited the free version to 2 devices - which made it not as useful as it was. MS Onenote is good and I use it for a number of things. But - my delemia is - for long term will they charge ? At the moment it isthe only free MS product. Which makes me think - over time they will make it a compulsary part of Office. As Iam now moving from the corporate world I no longer get the “home use” deal ( and dont really need it as much as I did). I am pretty well using the free Mac apps. Pages has become my main word processor (and is getting better and better). Notes has become my Evernote replacement. It syncs between all my apple devices and is available in the cloud on windows devices. Files are lockable ( but not folders at this stage). You can organise into folders and subfolders ( on the mac - then syncs to ios). You can share notes (the family shopping list is on a shared note). Formatting can be fine tunes easy on the mac ( colour, font, etc). You can save files to notes, use apple pencil for drawings etc. All notes are searchable ( like Evernote). The beauty being it is free, on all your apple devices ( but available on the cloud for win) and apple will keep improving it.
Click to expand...

Does Notes work with Android too?
 
The problem with Notes is that if you want features like password protection, you have to submit to keeping your notes in iCloud. And who wants to do that? Trust Apple to run a cloud service?
 
You can have “locked” notes. I assume all password protected notes (Evernote, OneNote etc) are cloud based. So I am not sure of your question? The advantage of anything cloud based is that it is available across all devices. The disadvantages are fairly obvious with all the publicity over Google etc. If you want a note taking app that is only on one device, secure and doesn’t use the internet - there are many. Including the mention ones that can be adjusted for that purpose.
As I say - I want one that syncs across all my devices - because I am not keeping secure data in there ( hence my moving away from Evernote).
For secure information I either make documents solely stored on my computer or documents buried in something like Dropbox.
 
deepakvrao said:
Does Notes work with Android too?
Click to expand...

willmtaylor said:
Notes is an iOS app.
Click to expand...
BUT - remember iCloud is web based. You can access this on all systems. I know a lot of people forget this. I worked with a colleague who loved Pages on the iPad and was forever asking questions on how to convert to Word for use on our windows based work environment. I pointed out that she could still continue using Pages on her Windows work computer because she could sign into iCloud via the internet. The same with Notes. Not as handy as a system based app - but still usable.

The other aspect about Notes is - as much as I use it ( and find it good for a lot of things) - I hope Apple continues to add improvements with each update. If they continued to do this - they would knock Evernote, OneNote and others totally off the Apple platform. If Notes could do all the aspects we like in the other apps - nobody on the Apple ecosystem would even bother with them and would automatically go to Notes.
 
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