This was originally published on 2019-12-04. I have since made the switch back to Notion because Joplin still has some synchronization bugs, and is esthetically...not the most pleasing thing to look at. 😢
I made the switch from using Notion to exploring Joplin, because Notion lacked the ability to access offline. Since I am often spending time outside without internet access, it became quite a pain to not have my various notes and to-do lists handy.
Why use Joplin/How is Joplin better than Notion?
- Open-source and free instead of freemium model
- Live markdown previews, a Godsend since I am using Jekyll for blogging! The less friction there is to blogging, the better.
- Super fast, no discernable lag/loading from servers/caches.
- Offline access as mentioned above. So critical for living outside of the tech bubble!
- Dropbox syncing, so I feel I have more control over my data instead of it residing in its own separate cloud. There's also support with other cloud services.
Both Joplin and Notion have similar useful features, such as web clippers, backup history, tags, file attachments, and more!
How to export from Notion to Joplin I was at first hesitant to switch in fear of a laborious importing process, but it was quite straightforward. The switch from Notion to Joplin was not explicitly stated on their documentation, so here it is for anyone who wants to make the switch. (I'll submit this as a PR for the project too!)
- In Notion, go to Settings & Members -> Settings -> Export Entire Workspace -> Markdown & CSV
- Unzip the .zip from Notion (usually named Export-string of numbers/digits.zip)
- In Joplin, go to File -> Import -> MD - Markdown (Directory) -> select folder named Export-string of numbers/digits
I hope this helps if you are searching for a new note-taking/to-do list application! I'll write another post once I gain more experience with Joplin.