Notes: Provide list of desktop clients

[bugzy]

Problem:
While it is easy to locate the mobile clients for the notes app, it is pretty difficult to find desktop clients or note taking apps that have some integration with the nextcloud notes app.

Solution:
Provide a document as a readme file in the Repo or as a wiki page that lists desktop editors that provide some integration with the notes app (I know that any standard text editor will work but few provide true integration)

Some desktop applications in the category needed are:

• QOwnNotes -- https://www.qownnotes.org/
• AlephNote -- https://github.com/Mikescher/AlephNote
• MyCloudNotes -- https://github.com/pullus-org/MyCloudNotes
• Nexcloud Notes Mac Client -- https://github.com/dgmid/nextcloud-notes-mac-client

[stefan-niedermann]

Makes absolutely sense in my opinion.

@korelstar if you agree, i will spend the wiki a overhaul, categorize the clients by platform and link the here mentioned ones.

I think QOwnNotes is some special case as it does not use the Notes API as far as i know, but it is kind of the most popular Notes editor according to the help forum and twitter... I would keep it here.

[korelstar]

Wow, I wasn't aware of the most of those clients.

@korelstar if you agree, i will spend the wiki a overhaul, categorize the clients by platform and link the here mentioned ones.

That would be great! But some of them haven't been updated for years, so they should be somehow marked as unmaintained.

Maybe you could also remove the old v0.2 API description? Nobody should implement clients for this version anymore.

I think QOwnNotes is some special case as it does not use the Notes API as far as i know, but it is kind of the most popular Notes editor according to the help forum and twitter... I would keep it here.

Agreed.

[stefan-niedermann]

The following comments is a proposal - feedback is welcome :slightly_smiling_face:

[stefan-niedermann]

• 3rd-party clients
  
  
  
  • Known apps which use the Notes API
  
  
  • Known apps which integrate with the Notes app without using the Notes API
  
  
  • Others
  
  
• 3rd-party developer documentation

3rd-party clients

Since the Notes app stores all contents as casual .md or .txt files, 3rd party apps don't need to interact with the Notes API directly. You can use any editor of your choice to manage your notes and synchronize them with the default Nextcloud client or using WebDAV.
The Notes API provides a interface that focuses on the contents of the Notes app and allows an easy and backward compatible access to your notes.

Known apps which use the Notes API

Android

• Nextcloud Notes
  
  
  
  • Google Play
  
  
  • F-Droid
  
  

iOS

• CloudNotes
  
  
  
  • iTunes
  
  

OS X

• CloudNotes
  
  
  
  • Binaries
  
  
• Nextcloud Notes Client
  
  
  
  • Binaries
  
  

Sailfish OS

• Nextcloud notes client
  
  
  
  • OpenRepos
  
  

Alexa skill

• Nextcloud Notes Alexa Skill (currently not maintained)

Known apps which integrate with the Notes app without using the Notes API

Android

• MyOwnNotes (currently not maintained)
  
  
  
  • Google Play
  
  
  • F-Droid
  
  

Windows, Linux & OS X

• QOwnNotes
  
  
  
  • Installation manual
  
  

Others

Google Keep export

• gkeep_to_nextcloud_notes: Python script to export notes from Google Keep as text files in a format which is compatible with the Notes app

Clipper extension

• note: Script that turns selected text into a text file which is compatible with the Notes app

CLI client

• notes: Command line tool to manage note files which are compatible with the Notes app

3rd-party Developer Documentation

Documentation for people who want to integrate their apps with Nextcloud Notes

• REST API documentation

[korelstar]

Looks fine for me, thank you! Let's go forward with this. :-)

[stefan-niedermann]

Done ✅

Guess we can simply delete the 0.2 pages of the wiki?

[bugzy]

Thanks for the swift action on this. While we are at it here are a few more (feel free to add or not):
https://github.com/scharel/harbour-nextcloudnotes -- for Sailfish OS (mobile)
https://github.com/mathiasconradt/nextcloud-notes-alexa-skill -- Alexa client (unmaintained)
https://github.com/matthoug/gkeep_to_nextcloud_notes -- Google Keep to nextcloud notes migration script
https://github.com/einalex/note -- clipper tool for nc notes
https://github.com/nereusx/notes -- cli client

[stefan-niedermann]

Well, not sure about the last ones.

Maybe we should further split it up into something like

• 3rd party apps which use the Notes API and
• 3rd party apps which are compatible with Notes¹

And add an explanation to the latter, something like

¹ 3rd party apps don't need to interact with the Notes API directly. Instead they can just write .md or .txt files and synchronize them with the notes folder of your Nextcloud. Also using any editor in combination with the Nextcloud sync client will work.

[korelstar]

I'm fine with that.

[stefan-niedermann]

I updated my proposal. I think adding tools which explicitly mention Nextcloud Notes compatibility in their repositories is a good decision about whether or not they should be listed here (regardless whether or not they use the Notes API directly). I think this is also a chance to expand the ecosystem and maybe we can motivate people to use the Notes API directly in the future.
I already opened two issues (1, 2) to propose using version 1.x instead of 0.2 of the API. Keeping track of those projects and listing them in the Notes wiki might also motivate further people to contribute here or there :slightly_smiling_face: :rocket:

[korelstar]

Thanks, that's cool! 🎉

[stefan-niedermann]

Alright - wiki is updated now 😉