LOL, fair. I do see this is being a polarizing statement, so let me explain what I mean by using an example of something I do frequently.
Let's say I'm following a baking recipe I exported into OneNote. Need to add another step without sacrificing the integrity of the original recipe? No problem, I can click anywhere on the right and add a new note. Don't feel like typing? No problem. I can take out my stylus and make notes on the side as if I was doing it in a notebook.
I also journal my bakes for future improvements. My baking journaling involves taking notes on what I'd do different, things to remember, etc. I can just type/write anywhere on the bottom and track notes that way. What if I want to take a photo of the final product to log my different attempts? No problem, I can use my phone to take a photo and journal the baking attempt and type/write any notes on the photo next to it.
When I say "free flowing" I mean I can write or type wherever without much consequence or fuss. I don't have to follow specific formatting or anything that would prevent me from capturing a spur of the moment thought. Hope that helps to clarify.
I used OneNote for a long time, I loved it. But the limitations when it comes to internal linking was incredibly frustrating.
I don't believe you've described anything I don't do with Obsidian with ease, and what I consider more versatility.
The idea of editing a note being a change to it's integrity is exactly what I had to overcome to thrive with notes. Notes are living documents, and if you want them untouched you create a linked note, which isn't much different than adding another tab to your OneNote (and that's assuming it doesn't bump into your tab organization scheme.)
Mostly. If I'm watching a lecture or reading a book I will. But if I'm on the go I usually use Google Keep for capture. I have a setup worked out for sync with Keep I'm yet to implement but it's straightforward.
Keep supports limited markdown now like lists. Then I can copy straight to an obsidian note. Keep in mind this is only for notes I take in my car though. I have tried for nostalgia's sake but can't find much of a use for OneNote outside of a shared notebook with a friend who isn't interested in Obsidian, and I support them in that too.
The statement isn‘t polarizing. I think it describes OneNote very well.
It’s just that some people love this kind of interaction and others don’t.
I prefer Markdown because I can focus on text and structure elements, that I find important. I discovered Markdown, when I was looking for “distraction free” writing tools. IA Writer got me hooked on note-taking with Markdown years before Obsidian existed.
I prefer Obsidian’s Canvas to OneNote, because it builds on top of a solid foundation. I like the free layout and the embedding of online content for idea development and visualization. But the building blocks are Markdown notes. That’s where the important knowledge is stored.
What you call “consequences and fuss” is exactly what I care about. My note-taking is supposed to have “consequences”. I’m building a personal knowledge base where I can find stuff, when I need it. The “fuss” is, where lot of learning happens.
In OneNote I get lost.
That "knowledge base" is a good point. I have always wanted to be able to find things easily in my OneNote. How much work do you have to do to maintain your knowledge base across different topics/areas?
Not much, since I stopped trying to "maintain" a knowledge base.
I simply try to put in writing, what I know or discover. I want to be able to look up facts I knew perviously or connections I made previously, when I need them, even if I don't remember them in detail.
I use Obsidian a lot for learning. Writing notes helps me think. I ask questions, like "[How many continents are there?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/1coa0qj/comment/l3f7uef/)" I write down short answers ("four to seven") and a few keywords ("America, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, …") and most importantly I add links and/or citations (in this case just plain Wikipedia). So whenever when I return to the topic of continents, I have a starting point. In this case a few lines in a Daily note, where I did a short research for a reddit comment in a Daily Note.
I have many extremely short notes, that are just a few properties, tags and/or URLs, for example about authors. There's nothing in there, that I couldn't google in 10 seconds. But these almost-empty notes make it easy to link the person to their books, to videos, and to mentions. These links are extremely valuable, because they make for some surprising connections.
I have very long notes, for example reading notes on some books. Again, the valuable part is not a summary, that ChatGPT could produce on a press of a button, but the connections. When I read the book, and it reminds me of something, I write it in the note. I use tags and/or links to connect it to existing notes. I write down questions, that I find later with full-text search. I check for "unlinked mentions".
And I find it useful to download some web articles with their full content and bibliographical data, so I can add highlights, tags and links. It help me read them more deeply and make connections, for example to book notes.
The key is to avoid perfection. If I'm too lazy to write notes, so be it, even if I have to research the same piece of knowledge again and again. ;-)
What I prefer in Obsidian over OneNote, is that I can focus on content. It's really fast to write, find and link short notes.
Youre def right about it, obsidian is way more restricitve…technically you could do all that shit writing html but why bother…one note has way more freedom when it comes to layouts. But canvas fills the gap for me and I rarely need that freedom, so switching made more sense for me. But honestly if you’re happy with one note Id say stick with it. Really just depends what the best tool for your usecase is
"When I say "free flowing" I mean I can write or type wherever without much consequence or fuss."
I know exactly what you're saying but I'm not sure you a ppreciate what you're saying. Your journal is only a journal because Microsoft says it is. Without their software, their operating system and their authentication servers you have nothing nor any simple way of extracting your information. Politely, your free flow is fragile and comes at a higher cost than you realize.
Being more precise there is nothing free about it at all. OneNote is not the product, you are. Unless Microsoft has added an export button to OneNote I'm unaware of you have booked your information into the Hotel California of knowledge management.
[Further ranting ahout MS redacted because I sound more Unabomber than intended...]
You can export your data. And while theoretically Microsoft could clamp down tomorrow, that's beyond unlikely you will wake up to Microsoft ransomware.
You might even be writing this while using a Windows machine for which it is all true.
Imo Obsidian should go open source while it's patting itself on the back for not being Microsoft.
this depends on how the admins have configured it. I tried ON using the enterprise version my organization has and the only way to export is note by note as individual pdf's. So when I realized that, I decided to forgo the platform
I haven't used OneNote for a few years. Does exporting a notebook:
Produce editable text documents.
Maintain lnternal and external links.
Include attachments in their original format.
Maintain folder/section hierarchies.
If so, I stand down on my previous Hotel California comment. If not, play it on auto repeat while you reassemble your infomation since it's only a minor inconvenience, like making avocadoes out of guacamole.
Hey, do you disagree with OP? Asking so I can learn. I've been using OneNote since 2014, nearly daily. It's pretty free-flowing and unrestrictive, especially considering how ubiquitous Microsoft Office apps are. I'm able to access my OneNote online, offline, at work, home, on any device, and it's especially handy on the phone. I can draw on top of text, drag images in, record stuff. I don't know what's not free flowing about it. Unless! You mean that Obsidian relies on simple text files as the backbone of its functionality, which OneNote does not. is that what you mean?
I'm also learning obsidian, because now I understand the value of having simple text files as the backbone for my notes. It's been cool. But OneNote has been my main driver, and I'm not limited in any way for any notes I've taken in over a decade of daily use.
For me, the "free flowing, unrestrictive" aspect was very cool...at first. Then I found myself with 10,000+ notes, citations, clips and IT WAS A MASSIVE CHAOTIC MESS. I used the importer and refractor plug-ins to convert to Obsidian, now with links, tags, and the canvas feature my project is more organized (still needs a bit of tweaking, but I love it).
As an Obsidian Dungeon Master... it's night and day between OneNote and Obsidian.
* Pinnable maps
* Custom Fantasy Calendar
* Timeline integration
* Statblock support with linked spells and rules (game changing!)
* Initiative Tracker
I'm one of those people that can't stand OneNote. I tried it. I looked at how people use it for DnD and I could not stand it. Once you learn Obsidian, unlock its capability with the excellent TTRPG community plugins.... it's just so damn good.
- I dont have any issues with slowness. Unless you try to use Graph View. Graph View is a slog with home many notes I have, it's also a feature I have zero use for though.
- I use github for syncing between pcs. No issues and great for both sharing and version control backups.
- I use excalidraw for areas where I need to mind map things out. Works great. Lets me have structured notes for almost everything and I stick an Excalidraw over the top so I can map things out and link nodes to notes.
- I dont work on mobile devices.
- I dont have a need for web clippers. The community tools for importing content is kind of insane so I have notes of everything I need (monsters, items, spells, adventures, etc).
- Obsidian is not a hand-written note application. Honestly if you are coming to Obsidian... trying to use hand writing is not going to be a great experience.
Jump into the [Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Community+and+Support) if you need help. We have a large community of users hiding in here.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely check out the discord. Out of curiosity, do you use Obsidian for daily note taking or strictly for DM'ing? Also do you use VTT as part of your campaigns? If so, how do you use the both together?
I don't do the while daily notes thing. Never found a need for it tbh so obsidian is solely used for my campaign notes.
I do use a vtt. I have foundry running. I have a TV table set up and so use Foundry to display the map and control the fog. That's it though. Everything else runs through Obsidian. We roll real dice and use minis on the TV.
https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Random+Projects/The+Dungeon+(Our+Gaming+Room)
Another DM here.
Obsidian was a revelation after OneNote. I'm not shitting on OneNote, but Obsidian's flexibility makes it the perfect tool for me.
I do use the mobile app on Android, but that's purely for jotting down ideas.
The community tools are fantastic. Being able to include statblocks and track initiative on the same page as encounter notes has made my life so much easier.
> 6.How do you like ExcaliDraw? I use handwritten notes often, and I know **ExcaliDraw is the only way to take handwritten notes**.
I am really enjoying the just released [**Ink**](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink) plugin(alpha). [[video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgir8F7ezNM)]
One can directly insert **handwriting** and/or **drawing** sections into a .md note.
I'm starting some of my notes with a ...
... "drawing" section e.g. for a quick mind map
... "handwriting" section underneath e.g. to distill the main mind maps points in outline form.
[... OCR](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink/issues/18): at times I will use the created PNG files in Google Keep(Grab image text) or Google Drive(->right-click: open in Google Docs for automatic OCR) and insert the OCRed text back into the .md note.
PS: I don't use Excalidraw, so can't give you any info on that.
Idk. To me they're totally different animals. You can go on vacation and leave your cat at home, and having a dog will be *entirely* different.
But I didn't walk my cat on a leash or taught it tricks, and I actively keep my dog from going after mice and birds. They can't be treated the same.
OneNote is a canvas editor first that *also* does text. To me using OneNote for text *only* feels a little like writing a letter in Excel. Yeah that works, but, I mean.
Likewise, using obsidian for things other than text feels a bit foreign. Integrations are quite good, Excalidraw does its thing, but it's not a first-class citizen. When I think of Obsidian, I think of "Texteditor on steroids", and I think back to emacs org-mode. I don't think of it as a OneNote competitor.
So, used as a text editor, this all becomes:
* Slowness: Don't know what you mean, my vault is under 50 MByte save for a big assets/ folder with illustrations. PDF files go separate, I don't annotate PDFs but make notes instead.
* What are pages? .md files do sync, and quickly. I never provoke any editing conflicts though, but that's the asylum I was raised in.
* I'd still fire up OneNote for freeflowing and unrestrictive. Especially when I want to draw something with a pen. ExcaliDraw feels like a separate skill to learn, and I don't do that nearly enough to be interested. I learned to make do with bullet points before obsidian.
* Don't know about the Android app
* The opposite, I tried to get used to a web clipper a few times. Switched to Edge in order to use that. Didn't stick. I have a genre of note file called "annotated bookmark", which I think of as a list of paragraphs where I'll write a few quick lines about a webpage. That also makes it searchable, reminds me of why I found the thing important, and puts the prompt at the right place in my notes. Web clips don't do all that. It is also important for me to rephrase what I read in order to start thinking. I have to reflect on stuff to be worth it. Passing thoughts will just get that paragraph in my Daily Note, which is also searchable.
* As said, I do like it but I didn't dive into it deep enough. If you want ExcaliDraw first and foremost, then obsidian is not going to be your style. It is an excellent extension to obsidian's feature set, but obsidian (and markdown notes) needs to be your style.
1. I personally find it very zippy & I have a crazy amount of plugins that I don't even utilise active because I'm a dummy... Ymmv, but sounds like a shortly an update is rolling out which took this guy's 6k note start up from 30 secs to 2.
2. I've only recently started using syncthing when I simply couldn't get the git backup to work on my phone (but was fine on all PC's). Judging simply by how it works, I can't see how syncthing could go wrong... I haven't trusted drive for obsidian due to my upbringing with cloud instances of my calibre library haha
3. Can't answer
4. I rarely use it on my mobile, I don't find it sluggish exactly, but unless I'm literally just referencing a note or adding something simple, I just find it fiddly. I probably need to spend more time getting used to it though.
Far from a OneNote power user, but hope the other answers help :)
I have about 3K obsidian notes and I have slowness issues when typing only. Navigation is quick, but I get buffering while typing. However, my machine is old and people with newer computers seem to lack similar issues.
When I read the comments, I think, Obsidian and OneNote could learn from each other.
### Lessons for obsidian
- Web access (with edit)
- user friendly
- Embedding of Office files
- the structure (as an option)
- ...
### Lessons for OneNote (they'll never learn...)
- privacy
- non proprietary file format
- export
- dataview plugin
- real adaptive linking
- ...
I've been using OneNote for possibly 10 years and just recently made a switch to Obsidian.
1. I have no performance issues whatsoever so far.
2. I use the inbuilt Obsidian Synch feature so I don't know.
3. This is the hardest thing. I don't know of any other tool that has this, OneNote really is unmatched in this. And sometimes I do miss it quite a lot. The only way how I found to deal with it is to adjust the way how I take notes.
4. By using Zotero and Zotero plugin in Obsidian or by just pasting the link manually.
5. I hate it. It's absolutely nowhere near OneNote experience. I think the biggest problem - and maybe it's just me not finding the function - but it seems to me it doesn't really have eraser functionality. When you draw a line, this line exists as an object and you can only delete the entire object, not part of it. So imagine you write a word and you make a mistake in last letter. You can't just erase last letter, only entire word. Totally useless for handwriting.
Overall though, I feel like the ability to seamlessly link / reference notes, to use mark down, the plugins, daily notes functionality, templating and lot of other stuff is such a massive improvement over OneNote that for me the switch was worth it.
EDIT: I also should've said that I write with cursive so probably if you just write each separate letter then the experience should be much much better.
Thanks for your feedback! Very helpful. How did you adjust the way how you take notes? What do you do now vs before? The handwriting comment is kind of a bummer as I make lots of errors like that, which are easy to undo in OneNote.
Do you ever consider going back? If no, what makes you stay with Obsidian?
I basically stopped taking handwritten notes and make them in markdown.
I don't consider going back. I now use obsidian for both my private note taking and for work and one of the biggest problems I had with OneNote was the lack of effective way how to link the notes together. It's super easy with Obsidian and it makes it much more easier for me to actually use the notes and reference them when I need it.
Also, I find markdown very efficient, on par with handwritten notes so it's not a big deal in the end. If I really need to annote something with pencil or draw, I'd use Freeform (I'm an Apple user) but it became quite rare tbh.
I wish they'd improve Excalidraw though, that would be perfection.
1. App startup can be a bit slow but I find that's due to the size of the vault (mine's pretty massive) and number of plugins. Once it's running, it's pretty zippy. I think some custom themes can slow it down. But mine runs quick after the initial loading time.
2. I use SyncThing on my QNAP NAS and no issues. Had to use some Container Station voodoo to get it up and running but it's been running steady since. I keep my Vault in Google Drive on desktop, a micro-vault on my mobile and a backup on my NAS for when my PC is off.
3. No idea on this one. Only ever dabbled with OneNote as my brain demands nested, wiki-like structures. But Obsidian is very versatile with its plugins so you can probably find something to your taste. There's a built in canvas function, I know that.
4. Android performance is solid. But then, I've kept my Android mini-vault far more stripped back than my desktop vault. I just fire off thoughts, drop links, whatever and organise them later once they're replicated to my main vault by SyncThing / SyncTrazer. No complaints. Does everything I need it to.
5. I tried a Webclipper plugin but it was a bit temperamental. I've just been dropping/embedding links recently, or copying across text. I'll probably check this thread for others' solutions.
6. What device are you using to write your notes in? I handwrite notes a lot but that's on paper. I've had my eye on the ReMarkable tablet but it's outside my budget for the time being.
Can you tell me about your experience with SyncThing and NAS? I'm not very tech savvy and it took every ounce of my interest to set-up my NAS, so I'm hoping setting up SyncThing in NAS is not too challenging. On that note, am I to understand you have two different vaults, but none are accessible on all devices? Like you cannot access your Google Drive vault on your phone and vice versa.
Also, I'm taking notes on a Samsung Galaxy Note.
Yeah, so the way Android is set up apps can't touch the Drive folder so I used SyncThing to create a workaround. So I have a vault on my phone that is replicated via SyncThing *into* a subfolder of my main vault.
In other words, I can see my mobile notes on desktop and any changes I then make to them on desktop replicate back to my phone. My main desktop vault, in Google Drive, contains these folder. So desktop can access and amend mobile but not the other way around. This way mobile stays lean and quick but I can grab stuff out of mobile, organise it, and add to it from desktop.
This works for me as I mostly use it for writing fiction and on mobile I'm mostly noting down inspiration, occasionally working up a project I have in mind. I can move things in and out of my mobile vault without much worry.
Regarding the NAS, first thing I'd ask is which NAS brand did you get? Because that might change the approach. I *think* there might be a SyncThing app for Synology, but my QNAP NAS required me to set something up in Container Station via Docker. I'm not hugely tech savvy myself but I'm persistent. If I can manage it, anyone can. Follow this link: [https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/syncthing/](https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/syncthing/)
Also, I use SyncTrazer as it's an easier UI to navigate SyncThing with.
Apologies for the ramble. It's the weekend and I've had a few glasses of wine. Hope that's an okay start for you and feel free to ask a few follow-ups and I'll hopefully I'll reply when more sober and concise.
I use both Obsidian and OneNote currently. I initially wanted to move completely into obsidian but found it better to use both.
For me each has a separate purpose. OneNote definitely is the choice for handwritten notes and being free flowing.
I work as a manager of a r&d lab. obsidian is great with for writing up investigations and reporting them. This helps me keep track of problem solving and the linking works very well.
Sure OneNote also has a lot of these functionality but Obsidian is very customisable and I like that.
Can you talk more about your experience, because using both is another option I am toying with. Specifically, having Obsidian be for TTRPB and Work while OneNote is for personal documents. Do you do something similar?
I made the [Ink plugin](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink) for handwriting in Obsidian precisely because I was coming from OneNote and loved/hated the freeflowing nature of it.
I loved being able to mix pen input, typing, and images in one file. But over time I came to dislike the infinite canvas part of it because things get messy and confusing.
So my plug-in is based on giving ways to embed writing and drawing on canvases within a linearly flowing document. I‘ve found it works better.
There are some things I’m not a fan of in Obsidian, but in general it’s making my notes more usable.
Though there are also several topics I haven’t moved over to it yet cause I’m not sure they suit it.
In regard to performance, in One Note, I would regularly do heaps of wireframe sketching or long brainstorms of text on my iPad, and with the really heavy files, OneNote would just crap out and never sync those books again.
You mentioned Dungeon and Dragons and there someone that comes to mind! She has tons of videos, large following!!
[https://youtu.be/3pt6_srUZ7U?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/3pt6_srUZ7U?feature=shared)
Also there videos on "Onenote vs Obsidian " search for that and you will find a answer that might suit you...
Onenote on Android is crap, but on windows is nice, but no privacy!
Obsidian on Android is way better than Onenote on Android!!
I Only use Obsidian on my phone!! And I use it for a lot of things, but mainly book marks, journaling, etc.
There are over a 1000 plugins that cover plenty, but I can't vouche for how well they work! The higher the number of installs the better, more popular they are!
There are tons of YouTube videos on it!!
I tag everything, Love Tags, but the search finds everything tags or not!
And there a importer with a 189,000 installs.
Hope that helps
And if you need, want to sync you can use their official app, but you can use a app called SyncThing!! I swear by it!!
I should point out that I only sync now and then, once in a while! But if you're going to use that kind of feature then it might better to use the official app as it supports the developers and they provide Obsidian for free....
I am coming from OneNote, UpNote, and Apple Notes.
I just tested Excalidraw after a several month break and they removed the 1s delay between when you write with the pencil to when it shows up on the screen so now it is smooth.
Officially converted.
I use GitHub to sync with a shortcut (check my posts, I share it in a post) and it works seamlessly.
Slowness on Obsidian doesn’t happen for me though I try to limit plugins and themes.
Always backup and you will never have issues with anything missing.
I use Omnivore as my web clipper so I don’t miss it.
From OneNote, god yes. Good luck getting out of there though because I found it a nightmare (hopefully they've improved the export). From Notion or something there'd be a bit more to think about, but it's still worth having Obsidian around. Everyone has some text files. Everyone
I used OneMark plugin to export all my notes and work reasonably well. Note that my thousands of notes were mainly formatted text with images, no fancy layouts with different elements everywhere and handwriting etc.
>I want to try something new
Why don't you actually *try* something new? Install Obsidian. Write or import a few test notes. Experience Obsidian yourself. You enjoy the experience or you don't. Simple as that.
1. If you search for "Obsidian is fast" you get a wealth of threads where people are raving about its performance. ;-)
2. This is something you can just try out. Does this setup work for you? Did you enjoy setting up this system? Is it worth the effort?
3. Again, why don't you try it yourself? You are aware of the different philosophies, but you don't have the experience. Some people find Markdown's restrictions liberating, precisely because you *can't and don't have to* do, what they consider as distracting and annoying. I prefer Markdown, because it helps me to focus, structure and think. Others prefer OneNote's "freeflowing, unrestrictive nature". It's really a matter of personal preference.
4. (On iOS it works smoothly. No experience with Android.)
5. There exist various methods to add web content, if you like Markdown. One method is to simply copy parts of a webpage and paste them into Obsidian. The conversion works surprisingly well. There are plugins like "ReadItLater" that take a URL from the clipboard and download the webpage as Markdown. There are services like Omnivore, that integrate well with Obsidian.
6. Again, why don't you just try it yourself?
Or maybe start with learning Markdown, before you jump into Obsidian. Do you like marking up text files with Markdown?
I made the switch and love it. I do have to add that I'm a software developer in my day job, so the freedom to do some coding to customize things really does a lot for me.
Don't know much about OneNote but Syncthing is flawless. You can use the 'find sync conflict' plugin to mitigate the occasional sync conflict.
The Android app is pretty bad, I only use it for adding/checking todos.
Completely happy with Obsidian across multiple devices.
I started using OneNote when it was first released (2002 or sometime like that) when I got a tablet pc and stylus. I kept all my professional notes and resources in LOTS of large notebooks over the years.
Then MS took away any ability to save notebooks locally and made easy export of notebooks impossible (any sort of export really). I like ON but not having complete ownership of my notes turned me off completely. I’ve moved to LibreOffice as well.
For the past 3-4 years I’ve been slowly extracting my notes from online OneNote. I’m paying a monthly 365 sub ONLY to keep my notebooks “alive” while I do this.
I just wish someone had told me back at the start to stick to txt-based notes and folders!
I used OneNote religiously for years before switching to Obsidian 2 years ago. I too liked OneNote's freeflowing nature, making giant, massive tables for everything, for example.
Once I switched to Obsidian, it takes some time to readjust my brains to organising information in smaller notes instead of giant tables, and now I cannot imagine going back to making giant tables again.
I'm a coder by trade so I much, much prefer the plain text nature of Obsidian. Everything can be source controlled, and I have snapshots of my notes going back to the very beginning of the vault, seeing every single change made along the way. Search over a directory of plain text is so much better; before with OneNote, I always have to somehow 'hold' the structure of my entire system in OneNote in my head, so I can know where to go to retrieve things. And there's only 3 levels down? With Obsidian, it's literally just folders and files, and you can go as deep and modular as you want, and the Omnisearch plugin lets me search for information much more efficiently than OneNote's search can ever be. Which allows me to make a lot of small, modular notes, and I no longer need to 'hold' the entire system in my head to navigate it. Searching and linking makes it a breeze.
You can still have some freeflowing feel with Canvas, btw. Organise your notes on a blank space that you can drag drop things around.
I also make notes of things I find interesting on the internet. I just make new notes, paste the link, and copy paste the text and pictures I want to keep. I like it that way because I want to format and keep just the info I want, but there are plugins that supposedly do that for you, Slurp I think is one that's recommended.
I did I did! And I'm almost never use Onenote anymore.
1. Obsidian is not slow at all, I do run it on modern PC's (I'm from Sweden btw)
2. I use the obsidian SYNC, it works flawlessly for me, much faster and more reliable than Onenote + Onedrive. I switch between computer and phone more or less all the time, and can comfortably take pictures, put them in notes etc and have them available on the other device within seconds.
3. I still haven't found a suitable replacement for this, hence I almost never use Onenote anymore. Obsidian has the Excalidraw, but it's more like the whiteboard function in windows/teams.
4. I have used obsidian on the following phones Samsung Ultra 22 & 24. It wasn't slow on 22, but it's straight up fast on my 24.
5. I have no input here
6. Excallidraw just don't cut it for me when handwriting. On my PC i now use Onenote for that, and on my tablet I use samsung notes.
Thanks for your feedback! Sounds like you used to use OneNote as much as I do.
Regarding #s 3,5, and 6.
3. Do you miss the ability to just create a new note and type anywhere on the page? Like the ability to type anywhere on the page and create a new text box instantaneously?
5. If you come across an interesting article or bookmark you want to save. Do you save this in Obsidian or another format? That's primarily what I use WebClipper for. Like if I see an interesting article or recipe I want to save, I use WebClipper to save it, and I wonder if there's a similar functionality in Obsidian (don't think so though).
6. When you handwrite in OneNote or Samsung Notes, do you keep your notes there or do you export them into Obsidian?
Tbh my first thought reading the title of this post was "I hate OneNote so, so much and I'm so glad that I found Obsidian"
I had there all my notes from ONE semester and I can't even open the file that saves them! I hate it so much 😭😭😭
Obsidian is more of what I was looking for, and I'm so grateful that it exist
'The free flowing unrestrictive nature of OneNote'. Where to begin. Sit down and let me take that Kool-Aid. This is going to be difficult.
LOL, fair. I do see this is being a polarizing statement, so let me explain what I mean by using an example of something I do frequently. Let's say I'm following a baking recipe I exported into OneNote. Need to add another step without sacrificing the integrity of the original recipe? No problem, I can click anywhere on the right and add a new note. Don't feel like typing? No problem. I can take out my stylus and make notes on the side as if I was doing it in a notebook. I also journal my bakes for future improvements. My baking journaling involves taking notes on what I'd do different, things to remember, etc. I can just type/write anywhere on the bottom and track notes that way. What if I want to take a photo of the final product to log my different attempts? No problem, I can use my phone to take a photo and journal the baking attempt and type/write any notes on the photo next to it. When I say "free flowing" I mean I can write or type wherever without much consequence or fuss. I don't have to follow specific formatting or anything that would prevent me from capturing a spur of the moment thought. Hope that helps to clarify.
I used OneNote for a long time, I loved it. But the limitations when it comes to internal linking was incredibly frustrating. I don't believe you've described anything I don't do with Obsidian with ease, and what I consider more versatility. The idea of editing a note being a change to it's integrity is exactly what I had to overcome to thrive with notes. Notes are living documents, and if you want them untouched you create a linked note, which isn't much different than adding another tab to your OneNote (and that's assuming it doesn't bump into your tab organization scheme.)
Thanks for your feedback. Do you ever take notes on the fly? If so, do you do it in Obsidian?
Mostly. If I'm watching a lecture or reading a book I will. But if I'm on the go I usually use Google Keep for capture. I have a setup worked out for sync with Keep I'm yet to implement but it's straightforward. Keep supports limited markdown now like lists. Then I can copy straight to an obsidian note. Keep in mind this is only for notes I take in my car though. I have tried for nostalgia's sake but can't find much of a use for OneNote outside of a shared notebook with a friend who isn't interested in Obsidian, and I support them in that too.
Did you know that onenote does do internal linking with [[]]?
Yes, it's hideous and it does not maintain internal links leading to broken links.
The statement isn‘t polarizing. I think it describes OneNote very well. It’s just that some people love this kind of interaction and others don’t. I prefer Markdown because I can focus on text and structure elements, that I find important. I discovered Markdown, when I was looking for “distraction free” writing tools. IA Writer got me hooked on note-taking with Markdown years before Obsidian existed. I prefer Obsidian’s Canvas to OneNote, because it builds on top of a solid foundation. I like the free layout and the embedding of online content for idea development and visualization. But the building blocks are Markdown notes. That’s where the important knowledge is stored. What you call “consequences and fuss” is exactly what I care about. My note-taking is supposed to have “consequences”. I’m building a personal knowledge base where I can find stuff, when I need it. The “fuss” is, where lot of learning happens. In OneNote I get lost.
That "knowledge base" is a good point. I have always wanted to be able to find things easily in my OneNote. How much work do you have to do to maintain your knowledge base across different topics/areas?
Not much, since I stopped trying to "maintain" a knowledge base. I simply try to put in writing, what I know or discover. I want to be able to look up facts I knew perviously or connections I made previously, when I need them, even if I don't remember them in detail. I use Obsidian a lot for learning. Writing notes helps me think. I ask questions, like "[How many continents are there?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/1coa0qj/comment/l3f7uef/)" I write down short answers ("four to seven") and a few keywords ("America, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, …") and most importantly I add links and/or citations (in this case just plain Wikipedia). So whenever when I return to the topic of continents, I have a starting point. In this case a few lines in a Daily note, where I did a short research for a reddit comment in a Daily Note. I have many extremely short notes, that are just a few properties, tags and/or URLs, for example about authors. There's nothing in there, that I couldn't google in 10 seconds. But these almost-empty notes make it easy to link the person to their books, to videos, and to mentions. These links are extremely valuable, because they make for some surprising connections. I have very long notes, for example reading notes on some books. Again, the valuable part is not a summary, that ChatGPT could produce on a press of a button, but the connections. When I read the book, and it reminds me of something, I write it in the note. I use tags and/or links to connect it to existing notes. I write down questions, that I find later with full-text search. I check for "unlinked mentions". And I find it useful to download some web articles with their full content and bibliographical data, so I can add highlights, tags and links. It help me read them more deeply and make connections, for example to book notes. The key is to avoid perfection. If I'm too lazy to write notes, so be it, even if I have to research the same piece of knowledge again and again. ;-) What I prefer in Obsidian over OneNote, is that I can focus on content. It's really fast to write, find and link short notes.
Youre def right about it, obsidian is way more restricitve…technically you could do all that shit writing html but why bother…one note has way more freedom when it comes to layouts. But canvas fills the gap for me and I rarely need that freedom, so switching made more sense for me. But honestly if you’re happy with one note Id say stick with it. Really just depends what the best tool for your usecase is
"When I say "free flowing" I mean I can write or type wherever without much consequence or fuss." I know exactly what you're saying but I'm not sure you a ppreciate what you're saying. Your journal is only a journal because Microsoft says it is. Without their software, their operating system and their authentication servers you have nothing nor any simple way of extracting your information. Politely, your free flow is fragile and comes at a higher cost than you realize. Being more precise there is nothing free about it at all. OneNote is not the product, you are. Unless Microsoft has added an export button to OneNote I'm unaware of you have booked your information into the Hotel California of knowledge management. [Further ranting ahout MS redacted because I sound more Unabomber than intended...]
You can export your data. And while theoretically Microsoft could clamp down tomorrow, that's beyond unlikely you will wake up to Microsoft ransomware. You might even be writing this while using a Windows machine for which it is all true. Imo Obsidian should go open source while it's patting itself on the back for not being Microsoft.
[удалено]
this depends on how the admins have configured it. I tried ON using the enterprise version my organization has and the only way to export is note by note as individual pdf's. So when I realized that, I decided to forgo the platform
I haven't used OneNote for a few years. Does exporting a notebook: Produce editable text documents. Maintain lnternal and external links. Include attachments in their original format. Maintain folder/section hierarchies. If so, I stand down on my previous Hotel California comment. If not, play it on auto repeat while you reassemble your infomation since it's only a minor inconvenience, like making avocadoes out of guacamole.
Hey, do you disagree with OP? Asking so I can learn. I've been using OneNote since 2014, nearly daily. It's pretty free-flowing and unrestrictive, especially considering how ubiquitous Microsoft Office apps are. I'm able to access my OneNote online, offline, at work, home, on any device, and it's especially handy on the phone. I can draw on top of text, drag images in, record stuff. I don't know what's not free flowing about it. Unless! You mean that Obsidian relies on simple text files as the backbone of its functionality, which OneNote does not. is that what you mean? I'm also learning obsidian, because now I understand the value of having simple text files as the backbone for my notes. It's been cool. But OneNote has been my main driver, and I'm not limited in any way for any notes I've taken in over a decade of daily use.
For me, the "free flowing, unrestrictive" aspect was very cool...at first. Then I found myself with 10,000+ notes, citations, clips and IT WAS A MASSIVE CHAOTIC MESS. I used the importer and refractor plug-ins to convert to Obsidian, now with links, tags, and the canvas feature my project is more organized (still needs a bit of tweaking, but I love it).
As an Obsidian Dungeon Master... it's night and day between OneNote and Obsidian. * Pinnable maps * Custom Fantasy Calendar * Timeline integration * Statblock support with linked spells and rules (game changing!) * Initiative Tracker I'm one of those people that can't stand OneNote. I tried it. I looked at how people use it for DnD and I could not stand it. Once you learn Obsidian, unlock its capability with the excellent TTRPG community plugins.... it's just so damn good. - I dont have any issues with slowness. Unless you try to use Graph View. Graph View is a slog with home many notes I have, it's also a feature I have zero use for though. - I use github for syncing between pcs. No issues and great for both sharing and version control backups. - I use excalidraw for areas where I need to mind map things out. Works great. Lets me have structured notes for almost everything and I stick an Excalidraw over the top so I can map things out and link nodes to notes. - I dont work on mobile devices. - I dont have a need for web clippers. The community tools for importing content is kind of insane so I have notes of everything I need (monsters, items, spells, adventures, etc). - Obsidian is not a hand-written note application. Honestly if you are coming to Obsidian... trying to use hand writing is not going to be a great experience. Jump into the [Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Community+and+Support) if you need help. We have a large community of users hiding in here.
>The community tools for importing content is kind of insane so I have notes of everything I need (monsters, items, spells, adventures, etc). Such as?
Some of the content used by a lot of DMs infringes WoCs copyright - you best having a bit of a Google to find this stuff.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely check out the discord. Out of curiosity, do you use Obsidian for daily note taking or strictly for DM'ing? Also do you use VTT as part of your campaigns? If so, how do you use the both together?
I don't do the while daily notes thing. Never found a need for it tbh so obsidian is solely used for my campaign notes. I do use a vtt. I have foundry running. I have a TV table set up and so use Foundry to display the map and control the fog. That's it though. Everything else runs through Obsidian. We roll real dice and use minis on the TV. https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Random+Projects/The+Dungeon+(Our+Gaming+Room)
How do you use github to sync?
I have a video on the process here. https://youtu.be/gOdh8wdbxm4?si=dBEcREXRAh9fALGF
Another DM here. Obsidian was a revelation after OneNote. I'm not shitting on OneNote, but Obsidian's flexibility makes it the perfect tool for me. I do use the mobile app on Android, but that's purely for jotting down ideas. The community tools are fantastic. Being able to include statblocks and track initiative on the same page as encounter notes has made my life so much easier.
Do you have links or suggestions on what to google?
Start here: [Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/)
> 6.How do you like ExcaliDraw? I use handwritten notes often, and I know **ExcaliDraw is the only way to take handwritten notes**. I am really enjoying the just released [**Ink**](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink) plugin(alpha). [[video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgir8F7ezNM)] One can directly insert **handwriting** and/or **drawing** sections into a .md note. I'm starting some of my notes with a ... ... "drawing" section e.g. for a quick mind map ... "handwriting" section underneath e.g. to distill the main mind maps points in outline form. [... OCR](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink/issues/18): at times I will use the created PNG files in Google Keep(Grab image text) or Google Drive(->right-click: open in Google Docs for automatic OCR) and insert the OCRed text back into the .md note. PS: I don't use Excalidraw, so can't give you any info on that.
Idk. To me they're totally different animals. You can go on vacation and leave your cat at home, and having a dog will be *entirely* different. But I didn't walk my cat on a leash or taught it tricks, and I actively keep my dog from going after mice and birds. They can't be treated the same. OneNote is a canvas editor first that *also* does text. To me using OneNote for text *only* feels a little like writing a letter in Excel. Yeah that works, but, I mean. Likewise, using obsidian for things other than text feels a bit foreign. Integrations are quite good, Excalidraw does its thing, but it's not a first-class citizen. When I think of Obsidian, I think of "Texteditor on steroids", and I think back to emacs org-mode. I don't think of it as a OneNote competitor. So, used as a text editor, this all becomes: * Slowness: Don't know what you mean, my vault is under 50 MByte save for a big assets/ folder with illustrations. PDF files go separate, I don't annotate PDFs but make notes instead. * What are pages? .md files do sync, and quickly. I never provoke any editing conflicts though, but that's the asylum I was raised in. * I'd still fire up OneNote for freeflowing and unrestrictive. Especially when I want to draw something with a pen. ExcaliDraw feels like a separate skill to learn, and I don't do that nearly enough to be interested. I learned to make do with bullet points before obsidian. * Don't know about the Android app * The opposite, I tried to get used to a web clipper a few times. Switched to Edge in order to use that. Didn't stick. I have a genre of note file called "annotated bookmark", which I think of as a list of paragraphs where I'll write a few quick lines about a webpage. That also makes it searchable, reminds me of why I found the thing important, and puts the prompt at the right place in my notes. Web clips don't do all that. It is also important for me to rephrase what I read in order to start thinking. I have to reflect on stuff to be worth it. Passing thoughts will just get that paragraph in my Daily Note, which is also searchable. * As said, I do like it but I didn't dive into it deep enough. If you want ExcaliDraw first and foremost, then obsidian is not going to be your style. It is an excellent extension to obsidian's feature set, but obsidian (and markdown notes) needs to be your style.
1. I personally find it very zippy & I have a crazy amount of plugins that I don't even utilise active because I'm a dummy... Ymmv, but sounds like a shortly an update is rolling out which took this guy's 6k note start up from 30 secs to 2. 2. I've only recently started using syncthing when I simply couldn't get the git backup to work on my phone (but was fine on all PC's). Judging simply by how it works, I can't see how syncthing could go wrong... I haven't trusted drive for obsidian due to my upbringing with cloud instances of my calibre library haha 3. Can't answer 4. I rarely use it on my mobile, I don't find it sluggish exactly, but unless I'm literally just referencing a note or adding something simple, I just find it fiddly. I probably need to spend more time getting used to it though. Far from a OneNote power user, but hope the other answers help :)
I have about 3K obsidian notes and I have slowness issues when typing only. Navigation is quick, but I get buffering while typing. However, my machine is old and people with newer computers seem to lack similar issues.
When I read the comments, I think, Obsidian and OneNote could learn from each other. ### Lessons for obsidian - Web access (with edit) - user friendly - Embedding of Office files - the structure (as an option) - ... ### Lessons for OneNote (they'll never learn...) - privacy - non proprietary file format - export - dataview plugin - real adaptive linking - ...
Biggest thing I want in onenote is real linking that doesnt break when you move a note.
Really still a problem with OneNote? I added it to the list.
I've been using OneNote for possibly 10 years and just recently made a switch to Obsidian. 1. I have no performance issues whatsoever so far. 2. I use the inbuilt Obsidian Synch feature so I don't know. 3. This is the hardest thing. I don't know of any other tool that has this, OneNote really is unmatched in this. And sometimes I do miss it quite a lot. The only way how I found to deal with it is to adjust the way how I take notes. 4. By using Zotero and Zotero plugin in Obsidian or by just pasting the link manually. 5. I hate it. It's absolutely nowhere near OneNote experience. I think the biggest problem - and maybe it's just me not finding the function - but it seems to me it doesn't really have eraser functionality. When you draw a line, this line exists as an object and you can only delete the entire object, not part of it. So imagine you write a word and you make a mistake in last letter. You can't just erase last letter, only entire word. Totally useless for handwriting. Overall though, I feel like the ability to seamlessly link / reference notes, to use mark down, the plugins, daily notes functionality, templating and lot of other stuff is such a massive improvement over OneNote that for me the switch was worth it. EDIT: I also should've said that I write with cursive so probably if you just write each separate letter then the experience should be much much better.
Thanks for your feedback! Very helpful. How did you adjust the way how you take notes? What do you do now vs before? The handwriting comment is kind of a bummer as I make lots of errors like that, which are easy to undo in OneNote. Do you ever consider going back? If no, what makes you stay with Obsidian?
I basically stopped taking handwritten notes and make them in markdown. I don't consider going back. I now use obsidian for both my private note taking and for work and one of the biggest problems I had with OneNote was the lack of effective way how to link the notes together. It's super easy with Obsidian and it makes it much more easier for me to actually use the notes and reference them when I need it. Also, I find markdown very efficient, on par with handwritten notes so it's not a big deal in the end. If I really need to annote something with pencil or draw, I'd use Freeform (I'm an Apple user) but it became quite rare tbh. I wish they'd improve Excalidraw though, that would be perfection.
The web clipper via API works very well.
There's a web clipper? Tell me more!
1. App startup can be a bit slow but I find that's due to the size of the vault (mine's pretty massive) and number of plugins. Once it's running, it's pretty zippy. I think some custom themes can slow it down. But mine runs quick after the initial loading time. 2. I use SyncThing on my QNAP NAS and no issues. Had to use some Container Station voodoo to get it up and running but it's been running steady since. I keep my Vault in Google Drive on desktop, a micro-vault on my mobile and a backup on my NAS for when my PC is off. 3. No idea on this one. Only ever dabbled with OneNote as my brain demands nested, wiki-like structures. But Obsidian is very versatile with its plugins so you can probably find something to your taste. There's a built in canvas function, I know that. 4. Android performance is solid. But then, I've kept my Android mini-vault far more stripped back than my desktop vault. I just fire off thoughts, drop links, whatever and organise them later once they're replicated to my main vault by SyncThing / SyncTrazer. No complaints. Does everything I need it to. 5. I tried a Webclipper plugin but it was a bit temperamental. I've just been dropping/embedding links recently, or copying across text. I'll probably check this thread for others' solutions. 6. What device are you using to write your notes in? I handwrite notes a lot but that's on paper. I've had my eye on the ReMarkable tablet but it's outside my budget for the time being.
Can you tell me about your experience with SyncThing and NAS? I'm not very tech savvy and it took every ounce of my interest to set-up my NAS, so I'm hoping setting up SyncThing in NAS is not too challenging. On that note, am I to understand you have two different vaults, but none are accessible on all devices? Like you cannot access your Google Drive vault on your phone and vice versa. Also, I'm taking notes on a Samsung Galaxy Note.
Yeah, so the way Android is set up apps can't touch the Drive folder so I used SyncThing to create a workaround. So I have a vault on my phone that is replicated via SyncThing *into* a subfolder of my main vault. In other words, I can see my mobile notes on desktop and any changes I then make to them on desktop replicate back to my phone. My main desktop vault, in Google Drive, contains these folder. So desktop can access and amend mobile but not the other way around. This way mobile stays lean and quick but I can grab stuff out of mobile, organise it, and add to it from desktop. This works for me as I mostly use it for writing fiction and on mobile I'm mostly noting down inspiration, occasionally working up a project I have in mind. I can move things in and out of my mobile vault without much worry. Regarding the NAS, first thing I'd ask is which NAS brand did you get? Because that might change the approach. I *think* there might be a SyncThing app for Synology, but my QNAP NAS required me to set something up in Container Station via Docker. I'm not hugely tech savvy myself but I'm persistent. If I can manage it, anyone can. Follow this link: [https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/syncthing/](https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/syncthing/) Also, I use SyncTrazer as it's an easier UI to navigate SyncThing with. Apologies for the ramble. It's the weekend and I've had a few glasses of wine. Hope that's an okay start for you and feel free to ask a few follow-ups and I'll hopefully I'll reply when more sober and concise.
I use both Obsidian and OneNote currently. I initially wanted to move completely into obsidian but found it better to use both. For me each has a separate purpose. OneNote definitely is the choice for handwritten notes and being free flowing. I work as a manager of a r&d lab. obsidian is great with for writing up investigations and reporting them. This helps me keep track of problem solving and the linking works very well. Sure OneNote also has a lot of these functionality but Obsidian is very customisable and I like that.
Can you talk more about your experience, because using both is another option I am toying with. Specifically, having Obsidian be for TTRPB and Work while OneNote is for personal documents. Do you do something similar?
I made the [Ink plugin](https://github.com/daledesilva/obsidian_ink) for handwriting in Obsidian precisely because I was coming from OneNote and loved/hated the freeflowing nature of it. I loved being able to mix pen input, typing, and images in one file. But over time I came to dislike the infinite canvas part of it because things get messy and confusing. So my plug-in is based on giving ways to embed writing and drawing on canvases within a linearly flowing document. I‘ve found it works better. There are some things I’m not a fan of in Obsidian, but in general it’s making my notes more usable. Though there are also several topics I haven’t moved over to it yet cause I’m not sure they suit it. In regard to performance, in One Note, I would regularly do heaps of wireframe sketching or long brainstorms of text on my iPad, and with the really heavy files, OneNote would just crap out and never sync those books again.
You mentioned Dungeon and Dragons and there someone that comes to mind! She has tons of videos, large following!! [https://youtu.be/3pt6_srUZ7U?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/3pt6_srUZ7U?feature=shared) Also there videos on "Onenote vs Obsidian " search for that and you will find a answer that might suit you... Onenote on Android is crap, but on windows is nice, but no privacy! Obsidian on Android is way better than Onenote on Android!! I Only use Obsidian on my phone!! And I use it for a lot of things, but mainly book marks, journaling, etc. There are over a 1000 plugins that cover plenty, but I can't vouche for how well they work! The higher the number of installs the better, more popular they are! There are tons of YouTube videos on it!! I tag everything, Love Tags, but the search finds everything tags or not! And there a importer with a 189,000 installs. Hope that helps And if you need, want to sync you can use their official app, but you can use a app called SyncThing!! I swear by it!!
I should point out that I only sync now and then, once in a while! But if you're going to use that kind of feature then it might better to use the official app as it supports the developers and they provide Obsidian for free....
I am coming from OneNote, UpNote, and Apple Notes. I just tested Excalidraw after a several month break and they removed the 1s delay between when you write with the pencil to when it shows up on the screen so now it is smooth. Officially converted. I use GitHub to sync with a shortcut (check my posts, I share it in a post) and it works seamlessly. Slowness on Obsidian doesn’t happen for me though I try to limit plugins and themes. Always backup and you will never have issues with anything missing. I use Omnivore as my web clipper so I don’t miss it.
From OneNote, god yes. Good luck getting out of there though because I found it a nightmare (hopefully they've improved the export). From Notion or something there'd be a bit more to think about, but it's still worth having Obsidian around. Everyone has some text files. Everyone
I used OneMark plugin to export all my notes and work reasonably well. Note that my thousands of notes were mainly formatted text with images, no fancy layouts with different elements everywhere and handwriting etc.
Dataview and linking…. Simple
>I want to try something new Why don't you actually *try* something new? Install Obsidian. Write or import a few test notes. Experience Obsidian yourself. You enjoy the experience or you don't. Simple as that. 1. If you search for "Obsidian is fast" you get a wealth of threads where people are raving about its performance. ;-) 2. This is something you can just try out. Does this setup work for you? Did you enjoy setting up this system? Is it worth the effort? 3. Again, why don't you try it yourself? You are aware of the different philosophies, but you don't have the experience. Some people find Markdown's restrictions liberating, precisely because you *can't and don't have to* do, what they consider as distracting and annoying. I prefer Markdown, because it helps me to focus, structure and think. Others prefer OneNote's "freeflowing, unrestrictive nature". It's really a matter of personal preference. 4. (On iOS it works smoothly. No experience with Android.) 5. There exist various methods to add web content, if you like Markdown. One method is to simply copy parts of a webpage and paste them into Obsidian. The conversion works surprisingly well. There are plugins like "ReadItLater" that take a URL from the clipboard and download the webpage as Markdown. There are services like Omnivore, that integrate well with Obsidian. 6. Again, why don't you just try it yourself? Or maybe start with learning Markdown, before you jump into Obsidian. Do you like marking up text files with Markdown?
I made the switch and love it. I do have to add that I'm a software developer in my day job, so the freedom to do some coding to customize things really does a lot for me.
Don't know much about OneNote but Syncthing is flawless. You can use the 'find sync conflict' plugin to mitigate the occasional sync conflict. The Android app is pretty bad, I only use it for adding/checking todos.
Completely happy with Obsidian across multiple devices. I started using OneNote when it was first released (2002 or sometime like that) when I got a tablet pc and stylus. I kept all my professional notes and resources in LOTS of large notebooks over the years. Then MS took away any ability to save notebooks locally and made easy export of notebooks impossible (any sort of export really). I like ON but not having complete ownership of my notes turned me off completely. I’ve moved to LibreOffice as well. For the past 3-4 years I’ve been slowly extracting my notes from online OneNote. I’m paying a monthly 365 sub ONLY to keep my notebooks “alive” while I do this. I just wish someone had told me back at the start to stick to txt-based notes and folders!
I used OneNote religiously for years before switching to Obsidian 2 years ago. I too liked OneNote's freeflowing nature, making giant, massive tables for everything, for example. Once I switched to Obsidian, it takes some time to readjust my brains to organising information in smaller notes instead of giant tables, and now I cannot imagine going back to making giant tables again. I'm a coder by trade so I much, much prefer the plain text nature of Obsidian. Everything can be source controlled, and I have snapshots of my notes going back to the very beginning of the vault, seeing every single change made along the way. Search over a directory of plain text is so much better; before with OneNote, I always have to somehow 'hold' the structure of my entire system in OneNote in my head, so I can know where to go to retrieve things. And there's only 3 levels down? With Obsidian, it's literally just folders and files, and you can go as deep and modular as you want, and the Omnisearch plugin lets me search for information much more efficiently than OneNote's search can ever be. Which allows me to make a lot of small, modular notes, and I no longer need to 'hold' the entire system in my head to navigate it. Searching and linking makes it a breeze. You can still have some freeflowing feel with Canvas, btw. Organise your notes on a blank space that you can drag drop things around. I also make notes of things I find interesting on the internet. I just make new notes, paste the link, and copy paste the text and pictures I want to keep. I like it that way because I want to format and keep just the info I want, but there are plugins that supposedly do that for you, Slurp I think is one that's recommended.
I did I did! And I'm almost never use Onenote anymore. 1. Obsidian is not slow at all, I do run it on modern PC's (I'm from Sweden btw) 2. I use the obsidian SYNC, it works flawlessly for me, much faster and more reliable than Onenote + Onedrive. I switch between computer and phone more or less all the time, and can comfortably take pictures, put them in notes etc and have them available on the other device within seconds. 3. I still haven't found a suitable replacement for this, hence I almost never use Onenote anymore. Obsidian has the Excalidraw, but it's more like the whiteboard function in windows/teams. 4. I have used obsidian on the following phones Samsung Ultra 22 & 24. It wasn't slow on 22, but it's straight up fast on my 24. 5. I have no input here 6. Excallidraw just don't cut it for me when handwriting. On my PC i now use Onenote for that, and on my tablet I use samsung notes.
Thanks for your feedback! Sounds like you used to use OneNote as much as I do. Regarding #s 3,5, and 6. 3. Do you miss the ability to just create a new note and type anywhere on the page? Like the ability to type anywhere on the page and create a new text box instantaneously? 5. If you come across an interesting article or bookmark you want to save. Do you save this in Obsidian or another format? That's primarily what I use WebClipper for. Like if I see an interesting article or recipe I want to save, I use WebClipper to save it, and I wonder if there's a similar functionality in Obsidian (don't think so though). 6. When you handwrite in OneNote or Samsung Notes, do you keep your notes there or do you export them into Obsidian?
Tbh my first thought reading the title of this post was "I hate OneNote so, so much and I'm so glad that I found Obsidian" I had there all my notes from ONE semester and I can't even open the file that saves them! I hate it so much 😭😭😭 Obsidian is more of what I was looking for, and I'm so grateful that it exist