Note taking apps that will work offline

[shibamistress]

I have a Nook Color that I'm running cm 7 on from the SD card. It's working great as a android tablet. I especially need it for notetaking: so I can take notes in class, then have "note cards" I can review for exams.

I got Evernote, and LOVED it at first. Loved that I could take images off the web and put them in notes. Loved the fact that I can sync it across devices like my NC and my MacBook. Love how searchable it is, etc.

But then, big surprise: tried to review some of my notes offline and discovered I can't! (without upgrading to the rather expensive pro version, that is, which I'm not willing to do!)

So I need to find another note taking program. I need something that can be synced between devices, will work offline, and that I can easily include images in (I'm using this for studying anatomy, for example). I'm just typing notes, so I don't need handwriting capabilities necessarily.

I'm starting to work my way through other options, but there are a lot of note taking apps to review, so if people have suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[odin]

Evernote is the best. You must sync your evernotes before you go offline to read all available. There is no other way to do it with any program I know of without wifi or usb to a server.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by shibamistress

I have a Nook Color that I'm running cm 7 on from the SD card. It's working great as a android tablet. I especially need it for notetaking: so I can take notes in class, then have "note cards" I can review for exams.

I got Evernote, and LOVED it at first. Loved that I could take images off the web and put them in notes. Loved the fact that I can sync it across devices like my NC and my MacBook. Love how searchable it is, etc.

But then, big surprise: tried to review some of my notes offline and discovered I can't! (without upgrading to the rather expensive pro version, that is, which I'm not willing to do!)

So I need to find another note taking program. I need something that can be synced between devices, will work offline, and that I can easily include images in (I'm using this for studying anatomy, for example). I'm just typing notes, so I don't need handwriting capabilities necessarily.

I'm starting to work my way through other options, but there are a lot of note taking apps to review, so if people have suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

I thought the latest version of Evernote allowed some degree of offline catching.


Anyhow. One thing you can do is just use a word processor and uploaded the files to google docs or dropbox.

If you want it to be automatic you can either save all docs in the dropbox directory or purchase an app called dropsync.

[shibamistress]

As far as I can see, it does not allow offline use in the android app (it will allow some offline use of individual notes in other apps, though). I love Evernote, but I'm not willing to pay $45 a year, when I don't need the extra storage, and I just want to be able to store and view notes on my own device. That's a major sticking point for me.

[Marseille]

On the desktop side, evernote and OneNote are frequent competitors. There's an Android app called Mobilenoter SE (standalone edition) that might do what you want - it's a mobile companion for OneNote. It was just released this year for Android, and has been rapidly developing. One major remaining basic feature is the ability to create new notes. You can edit old ones, they just still have to be created on the PC. 7 months ago, all you could do was view notes, so I think they'll finish it up fairly quickly. It already includes skydrive and dropbox note sync.

The SE version is like $15 to buy, no subscription, but I expect it might go on sale over the holidays. That's mostly what I'm waiting for. I'm a big OneNote fan, and this will give me 1000x better mobile functionality than onenote for winmo did. There is a subscription version too, and think that's the only way to try it out, but beware, not all features in the subscription version are available in the SE version -- the SE version eventually gets them, but it lags behind.

Other relevant stuff I've heard of but don't know much about: simplenote and 3banana (now Catch I think).

[macminer]

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

I'm a big OneNote fan, and this will give me 1000x better mobile functionality than onenote for winmo did. .

That's my number one need now: be able to take notes on my mobile device. Years ago I used Palm devices (Handspring Visor, Palm TX) for that purpose and it was a simple solution, which worked instantly (just press the "note" button) and then painlessly transferred notes between PC and palmtop. Better still, you could choose if you wanted to synchronize your notes with Palm Desktop or MS Outlook.

Then I started using WinMobile and to my horror, the memos on that system work only "sort-of" (anyone who used WinCE or Windows Mobile knows why), while OneNote mobile is just plain useless. I've also tried creating a new Word file (with Textmaker or Word Mobile) for each new note, but this is not an efficient solution.
Presently I use AgileNotes on WinMo, which is much faster than either original Microsoft apps or Textmaker. AgileNotes also stores the notes where I want them, not where MS thinks they should be. However, it lacks a note organisation system.

I also have an Android phone, but still haven't found a simple solution which would enable me to write notes, have them locally on my device, put them in order (date of creation, category etc.) and synchronize with my PC. I don't really need graphic or voice notes, just plain text will do. How is that possible that almost 20 years ago the solution was there, in the antiquated PalmOS world and now there is not a single application for that purpose?

[Marseille]

I had an m500, T|T and TX, and they were trusty devices. I remember my m500 with special fondness. I remember the initial iOS gushing while thinking my obsolete tech dinosaurs can do that too and frankly, for all the hype about iOS ease of use, the zen of Palm has yet to be matched. When the old platforms died, the new ones spent the first few years reinventing wheels. It would have been less annoying if they hadn't spent so much time foisting the old stuff on their shoulders like a championship trophy. 2001 called, and they want their features back.

I think we're just now entering a phase in mobile computing where someone could utter the word "innovation" about something that actually is innovative. Sadly a major staple of mobile computing, namely PIM, is often still a square afterthought that we have to hunt down ourselves, piece together and shove into round hole.

[macminer]

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

I think we're just now entering a phase in mobile computing where someone could utter the word "innovation" about something that actually is innovative. Sadly a major staple of mobile computing, namely PIM, is often still a square afterthought that we have to hunt down ourselves, piece together and shove into round hole.

Couldn't agree more with that! I guess it is not just developers, but also customers: most people seem to be interested in bells and whistles rather than staples. Watching videos on a tiny phone screen seems more important than using the mobile as one's digital secretary, that is - to help organize one's life. The history of DogMelon's Note Studio (a truly innovative note taking system) says something about that: http://www.dogmelon.com.au/nsblog/

Or, I could simply say that perhaps IT slowly gives way to ET, that is: entertainment technology

BTW, I've just noticed that you own a HTC Touch Pro 2 - that's the same model I have currently. So our journey through mobile devices went along a similar route

[jschall]

@shibamistress:

Here is what you need - Catch Notes:

https://catch.com/

It saves notes on your device AND in the "cloud", and you can organize your notes with "tags".

Highly recommended!

For more suggestions, see here:

http://www.notetakingmethods.com/online-tools-2.html

[shibamistress]

Catch notes is one I downloaded but haven't had time to try out yet, so it's now going to the top of my list. I'm trying springpad right now, but I haven't quite figured it out yet, and so far, it's looking like only the text part of my notes is available offline. I'll also check out MobileNoter. I don't mind paying for an app that works well, but I really DID mind the $45 a year charge on Evernote, when I don't need most of what that brings. (part of the problem is I'm trying to study for an anatomy test, and I need the diagrams AND the text, and of course, really, I need to focus on the studying more than I do finding a notetaking app!)

thanks for the suggestions--I'll report back, too, on what I figure out.

[Marseille]

Originally Posted by shibamistress

and of course, really, I need to focus on the studying more than I do finding a notetaking app!

Been there. As someone who has been an early tech adopter my whole life, I still know that all too often, post-its and 6x9 pads are better than tons of tech that almost works. It's frustrating, but the truth usually is.

Good luck!

[shibamistress]

an update:

I tried everything. Springpad is cool, but I did notice only my text stuff--not images--was available offline. Catch notes I believe is the same way. One of my big frustrations was not finding easy answers for how to do things on any of these cloud based note taking apps--it was really hard to find out what the full capabilities of some of these programs are and how to do things. I'm sure there are answers to some of my questions out there, but they weren't readily apparent.

Anyway, I was frustrated because Evernote really is by far the best for my needs, since I can use make notes with images from webpages (skeletal diagrams, for example) really easily, etc. I was actually starting to think damn it, do I just have to pay use to Evernote? As I've said before, I'd be willing to pay for the app ONCE, but I wasn't willing to pay $45 a year....

And then I discovered something. I was looking at a image based note on my Nook, and pressed a button, and it asked if I wanted to download the note! to my SD card! Of course I did! So voila! Now I have the notes that I need on my SD card, and yes, I can access them offline.

Perhaps other Evernote users knew all about this capability, but I did not, and it certainly was not information I found readily available, but now I'm a delighted Evernote user!

And perhaps this info. will be useful to someone else who also didn't know this was possible!

[polly]

Another option is to use SugerSync. Just tell it which folders you want it to sync and it will automatically sync across devices. Handy in that you can put PowerPoints, spreadsheets, etc. in the folder in addition to pictures and notes. I recommend SugarSync over DropBox because it comes with 5GB free storage and will let you choose any folder on your device to be synced.

[shibamistress]

Originally Posted by polly

Another option is to use SugerSync. Just tell it which folders you want it to sync and it will automatically sync across devices. Handy in that you can put PowerPoints, spreadsheets, etc. in the folder in addition to pictures and notes. I recommend SugarSync over DropBox because it comes with 5GB free storage and will let you choose any folder on your device to be synced.

Thanks, great tip! I was looking at syncing apps, too, and didn't know which one to use, so this is quite useful!

[Kaysclie]

Glad that evernotes is working for you.
But just as an additional choice, I have been using catch notes and it synchs with all of my android devices. I can attach pictures easily. Once synched, I can view my notes(with pictures) offline as well. I find the interface very simple and especially enjoy that I can view my notes on all of my devices! For free!!