Au Revoir Evernote, Hello Obsidian

I know, I know. I’ve been in and out of love with Evernote for years now. You and I both know I’ll be probably writing a post in a year’s time saying how I’m using it again.

But not for now.

There are many, many positive things about Evernote. It’s the only app that does everything I need. The web app is superb, the web clipper and the facility to email notes are unequalled. You don’t realise just how thoroughly Evernote covers your needs until you try another app.

But there are problems too. Evernote’s direction of travel has diverged from mine. I don’t need RTE, I’m not really interested in AI support.

I want something that takes me to the right note straight away, that allows me to edit my notes quickly and effectively. I want to be able to get information into and out of the system without having to download it first. I want to be able to rearrange things without hassle. And that’s where Obsidian excels.

Obsidian isn’t perfect. Its not for casual users, the lack of a web app is a big problem, especially in a work environment with strict firewalls (I’ve bought an iPad to use at work to get round this). But the pluses are so much more than the minuses. Evernote seems to have lost interest in updating the note editor, the editing experience in Obsidian is fantastic, partly because it’s all based on Markdown, partly because it’s just so well thought out.

Even so, I would have probably remained with Evernote but for two things. First, they ceased development on the Linux client. This might be temporary, but no Linux support is always a deal breaker for me. I believe in paying for the software I use. I’m not paying for something that doesn’t support my preferred platform

But more importantly, it’s the realisation that it’s been five years since Ian Small acknowledged Evernote had stagnated and started to turn things around. Bending Spoons are making great strides in fixing things, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if in three months it will be near perfect, but that will be too late for me. Six months ago I got fed up with notes not syncing, I downloaded Yarle and jumped ship to Obsidian and I’ve never looked back.

I still use Evernote. On those occasions when I want to share or collaborate its ideal. I still use the web app. I may yet be back, fully on board, in a year’s time, but for the moment I love Obsidian.