I'm a college student planning to switch to CachyOS and need a replacement for OneNote. I use it for a mix of typed and handwritten notes, as well as importing images and PDFs. An Android app with reliable syncing would be ideal. I could use Syncthing to sync files, since I don't want to pay around $5 per month just to sync roughly 100 MB of notes. I've heard of Joplin and Obsidian, but I haven't tried either yet. What alternatives have worked well for this kind of workflow?
4 Answers
I tried several alternatives and eventually returned to OneNote. The difficult part is finding something that can full-text search both typed and handwritten notes together. Obsidian with the InkedMark plugin came closest for me, but it still may not match OneNote’s handwriting integration.
Take a look at Rnote as well. It’s focused on handwriting and drawing, so it may fit better than a traditional markdown note app if pen input is important. I’d test several options before committing to one.
Obsidian is worth trying. It runs on desktop and mobile, has a large plugin ecosystem, and the basic app is free. The official sync service costs extra, but you can potentially use another syncing method if you’re comfortable managing your files yourself.
You could pair MicroPad with Xournal++. Xournal++ works well for handwritten pages, diagrams, and PDF-style annotation, while MicroPad can organize typed notes, lists, and pages. It’s a fairly simple setup, and you may be able to handle syncing yourself, although I haven’t used its sync features.
Obsidian is especially flexible, but handwritten notes may require a plugin such as InkedMark rather than working exactly like OneNote out of the box.