Fedi #hivemind (https://kevquirk.com/hashtags/hivemind), I need you.

I use OneNote in work. It's shit, but it's all I have. I need a better way of managing my notes and particularly my to do list. The latter is really the most important. Ideally it has an option to set "next action" so I know what's due on any given day.

I can't install anything on my work laptop, so I intend to run it on my personal Ubuntu machine, for both work and home.

Any recommendations?

@kev taskwarrior is a really great todo list manager, but I don't think it's a very good fit for keeping notes.

@kev It used to be much better, but it's been going down hill for a long while. I remember when I first appeared as basically somebody's pet project that escaped into the wild - very cool. Then it got shoe-horned into Office, and forced into OneDrive/Sharepoint, and all the great things in it just kept being removed.

I've tried Obsidian as an alternative, not too bad. Joplin and TriliumNext have both been suggested to me in the past as good alternatives as well.

@kev Windows? Then Portable Emacs with Org-mode if you plan for long-term.

https://karl-voit.at/orgmode/

@kev @logseq is one such app but the learning curve is a little heavy (I synchronize using git).

@joplinapp could be interesting.

QQnotes too.

(Wait for an edit with the url)

#OpenSource #KnowledgeManagement

@kev I have given up on finding a good todo app. I've gone back to pen, paper and simple bullet journaling.

For notes, though, I like capacities.io or logseq

@kev I really enjoy https://silverbullet.md/

@kev I’m in the same kind of controlled work environment: I have a folder called Notes with Markdown files where I have various notes for everything.

It sucks, but less than anything MS.

@kev In general, you need 2 apps for what you want. Most of the good note taking apps are not really designed with the power of the good task management apps. Once you submit to that unfortunate reality, you open up your options.

@kev Planify. Can sync with Todoist or NextCloud.

https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.alainm23.planify.

Or just Todoist with premium plan.

@kev I'm using Nextcloud tasks and sync them with my phone. It's okay. Wished there were a better app for it, though.

@kev I like Joplin and logseq for notes but my only todos are in Apple Reminders.

@kev how about Ghostwriter + simple markdown files? I used that while for personal stuff I'd prefer Nextcloud Deck or HedgeDoc

@kev What about a Plain Text Kanban Board?

https://readbeanicecream.surge.sh/2025/03/17/plain-text-kanban-board/

@kev Zim Desktop Wiki integrates notes and tasks very well. You can add tasks with tags like "next" and due dates to any note and get a centralized, sorted overview of your TODOs. https://zim-wiki.org/

@kev todo.txt as a plain-text file format for tasks and a reasonably free choice of programs to interact with the file.

Or, as suggested previously, markdown files.

The real problem is "next action" or due dates. That requires support by the program used.

Especially on an android phone Markor is not the worst option.

Looking forward to reading about your discoveries on your blog 😁

@kev
I seem to remember you're already using Joplin, so as has been suggested, that's probably a good start.

There's also Microsoft's To Do, which is cloud based. But you probably already know about that one.

@kev I'm working on a todo app, what features you need exactly? or the workflow your looking for?

@kev I've used https://tiddlywiki.com/ for decades; single html file or individual 'tiddlers' for todos and notes. Have not heard a "next action" mechanism but community is friendly and helpful and can imagine one of them showing you how.

NB: I've reached its limits and will transition to org-mode.

@kev I'm using Obsidian for notes, but I don't keep a task list. There's _multiple_ community plugins that claim to do that, but I haven't tried any of them. I like Obsidian for the markdown file formatting and using Hashtags for search and binding like notes together. The graph view is fun, but not the most practical for my use. I've seen the Canvas used in interesting ways by others, but I haven't played with it much.

@kev I’ve switched a few months ago to a paper notebook and a pen, and I couldn’t be happier.

@mike @kev Likewise using Obsidian, which I love for my TTRPG notes 😃 ... but now I can't unknow that https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Introduction exists... and I have to go try it.

@mike @kev +1 for Obsidian.

I've given up on todo lists. I put appointments into my calendar which blocks time to actually do the things. Instead of a separate list that just keeps snowballing stuff up which I'll never get to anyway.

@kev I use Superproductivity, it's got lots of features. But for more basic tasks tasks.org is quite good too.

@kev

While not necessarily a note taking app, @vikunja is quite nice as a TODO list manager :)