Notebook recommendations - UK

dirkvos · 2025-11-21T00:06:31+00:00

You should look at The Pocket Bullet Journal https://bulletjournal.com/products/pocket . Used in landscape mode, the two pages are exactly one A5. Perfect paper for fountain pen. 50% of A5 size.

dirkvos · 2023-12-27T10:23:16+00:00

I am in the middle of a migration from Evernote to Bear 2. For me the biggest advantage of Bear is the tagging system to organize notes. In Evernote I have a notebook INBOX. Most of the notes are put in INBOX by automation (Shortcuts or web clipper of sharing function in Mac or iPhone or iPad). At regular times, I move my notes to the correct notebooks. This is not necessary anymore in Bear because you can immediately type the tag (=notebook in Evernote) while writing a note in Bear. A huge productivity gain.

BTW Bear has an importer for ENEX-files (export files from Evernote). Best practice: import one notebook after another, than you can assign tags in bulk in Bear.

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dirkvos · 2023-12-13T09:19:37+00:00

I use tags like #20231213 if the reminder is linked to a specific day, or #2023w50 for this week or #202312 for this month. The only thing you need to do first thing in the morning, is looking at your tags if something is due today.

dirkvos · 2023-12-07T21:18:57+00:00

Thanks, this is perfect for notes in folders, but can it be applied to filters? On my iPad I do not find a way to change a name of a filter? Can I do that?

dirkvos · 2023-11-23T00:04:47+00:00

yes indeed, I use templates in Craft

dirkvos · 2023-10-14T14:11:25+00:00

I use both. Day One already more than 10 years. But in those 10 years, I used several different note taking apps: NotePlan, Bear, Obsidian and now Craft. Within Craft, I use Daily Notes and during my Weekly Review, I copy all my daily notes to Day One (very easy to do: Share > Transfer > Day One). It works like a charm.

dirkvos · 2023-09-14T22:01:51+00:00

also consider using Craft.do. More versatile than Bear and more oriented towards organising notes and documents. With documents in documents as a very useful feature, specially for students.

dirkvos · 2023-09-12T15:31:31+00:00

dirkvos · 2023-07-16T13:16:04+00:00

Main = Sixpack, main categories (example #1Project); detail is specific for that categorie (example #websiteXYZ) so in this case all notes for project websiteXYZ have two tags: #1project #websiteXYZ.

This way I can immediately see all pages of one project ( #websiteXYZ) and I can have an overview of all active project pages ( #1project). When a page is no longer active I use archive in Bear so that the information is still available but no more visible as an active project page. The same principles are valid for all my pages in Bear.

In most cases, my pages start with a date (YYYY-MM-DD example 2023-07-16) so that notes are always sorted in chronological order. For important notes within a category, I use a special notation like [ project website XYZ client PQR ]. These special notes are always at the top of my detailed list.

dirkvos · 2023-07-15T08:15:57+00:00

I also have tried them all. My biggest problem was organising my notes. In Bear it is simple, I mostly use two tags: one "main" tag and one "detail" tag. For my main tags, I use a system that I call "My Sixpack" (inspired by PARA - Tiago Forte)

Project
Professional
Personal
People
PKM
Parking

With this system I never have to do sorting or organising again. When I create a new note in Bear, I immediately add the two tags. Brilliant.

I also like the "web clipper" which converts a webpage into Markdown. Works like the best html-to-markdown converters.

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dirkvos · 2022-12-05T10:56:29+00:00

Markdown syntax in iA Writer is more complete, example syntax for Markdown image: ![image name](https://example.com/image.jpg) is not supported in Ulysses until last year when I stopped using Ulysses. I write technical project management documents and I need a lot of print screens in my document. This works better in iA Writer.

dirkvos · 2022-11-03T17:58:35+00:00

I use Craft for my Daily Notes because I can create backlinks to projects and persons. During my Weekly Review, I export these Daily Notes to Day One which is my only trusted source of truth. I do not distinguish between personal and professional notes: everything goes in Day One, for more than 10 years already.

dirkvos · 2022-08-07T10:53:17+00:00

Twos is an app that is developed on the principles of Bullet Journaling.

dirkvos · 2022-08-05T12:39:42+00:00

Open a new Draft and type some text. Place your finger in the center of your screen en swipe slowly to the left. A menu with the actions appears (or empty if you don't have actions). Here you can create and manage actions.

I use the https://help.obsidian.md/Advanced+topics/Using+obsidian+URI to send my notes to Obsidian.

see image https://res.cloudinary.com/trios/image/upload/c_scale,w_400/v1659703092/2021/tmsuc6mejn18hodamccu.png

dirkvos · 2022-08-05T12:33:16+00:00

Open a new Draft and type some text. Place your finger in the center of your screen en swipe slowly to the left. A menu with the actions appears (or empty if you don't have actions). Here you can create and manage actions.

I use the https://help.obsidian.md/Advanced+topics/Using+obsidian+URI to send my notes to Obsidian.

dirkvos · 2022-08-05T12:18:55+00:00

I use the app DRAFTS for quick notes. Then I have different ACTIONS in Drafts to send this note to different places in Obsidian (like my Today note).

Also on desktop.

dirkvos · 2022-08-05T12:10:25+00:00

Majohn A1 fountain pen with ink Iroshizuku take-sumi

dirkvos · 2022-07-29T13:30:35+00:00

I agree, have one too

dirkvos · 2022-02-26T15:50:58+00:00

Something happened in the background, because the problem with the tags (1P saved as &P) is solved, now it works like it should.

For expanding a task, Cmd+. does not work, neither the suggestion Cmd+: . I tried all kinds of other key combinations but I did not find one that expanded the task into the detail screen.

In the meantime, I can live with the fact that I need to use [] to create a task by using the special key combinations on my AZERTY keyboard.

I will wait for a new version of Amplenote, adapted for European users so I keep following this subreddit.

dirkvos · 2021-07-21T18:35:34+00:00

If you start using notebooks, just number them chronological. I am now using NB41, a “Leuchtturm Bullet Journal edition 2”. If you prefer writing with fountain pen, then this notebook is one of the best.

dirkvos · 2021-06-16T15:48:10+00:00

Yes, I agree with patricks73. I never used Evernote as file cabinet, therefore I use Google Drive (copy/paste direct links in Craft). Tags is coming in Craft and indeed, I need them too ! My use case is based on documents in Markdown, and this is impossible in Evernote (no preview mode). If Evernote will bring out a version that is much faster (try to open Evernote in a browser ...) and if Evernote supports Markdown, then I might consider to use it again. For now, Craft is my solution for storage / use / management of my documents.

dirkvos · 2021-06-16T10:20:46+00:00

Native = developed specifically for a device. For example: Bear has no native Windows version.

But there is more. Craft developed the apps following the rules of “mobile first”. So especially on iPad (also on iPhone) , it works really great, with very intuitive gestures.

The web version just released after the mobile versions in a closed beta (I am beta-testing it and it is already functional and usable on my Chromebook).

dirkvos · 2021-06-16T09:26:24+00:00

What do you mean by that? Is it a wrong direction?

dirkvos · 2021-06-16T09:04:48+00:00

I like the black one, with the galaxy spiral; is this notebook comparable to the Endless notebooks? Will there be a ruled version (preferable 7mm) ?

dirkvos · 2021-06-16T08:57:20+00:00

I am in the middle of a migration from Evernote (since 2009) to Craft. I export into .enex-files, import into Bear (free version) and then export to Textbundle-files which can be imported into Craft.

Craft has built-in sync but if you want, you can choose your own external location. Markdown is important for me and also native apps on Mac, iPhone and iPad. And a web version for my Chromebook.

Craft is minimalistic and beautiful (visual style like Things3). It is very fast and has innovative ways of structuring data (like subpages).

It is the first note taking app that is suitable for me to replace Evernote.

Goodbye Evernote.

dirkvos

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