[Feature Request] Export Notes as Markdown/Other

[theotheroracle]

would it be possible have the app save the notes as markdown to an external directory ?

can work on an implementation if the idea is alright

[lainsce]

Go ahead!

Use the triple-dot menu when a Note is opened to store the "Export Note…" menu item, then code what's necessary to export the note. :)

[theotheroracle]

ok, one more question, could i add an option to save as markdown automatically ? it could use markdown instead of json, or just export to markdown on app close, but that seems a bit more convoluted

[theotheroracle]

( for context, there's an app called noteless on android, and notable on desktop, that save markdown files to an external directory that can be synced, but i much prefer the UI of this one, and would like to be able to use it if possible but i dunno if that's out of the scope of this project )

[lainsce]

As long as moving to Markdown makes saving the note's metadata like colour and notebook possible.. That's why it's in JSON right now.

But it would be a second Pull Request for that. Smaller Pull Requests are better than big ones for review. :)

[theotheroracle]

i think metadata like that could be stored in comments, as suggested in this post
comments like

[meta_colour]: # red

should be fine for storing metadata

alternatively, a file could be stored alongside it, like ".notejot.json" that stores metadata for all files

[lainsce]

Alright!

So, feel free to start coding :)

[theotheroracle]

awesome, thanks ^~^

[lainsce]

@theotheroracle Any updates? :)

[theotheroracle]

heya ! i'm sorry, i haven't gotten too much done, i've been busy with my job, and my dev PC is currently borked, but i'll try to work on it as soon as i can

[lainsce]

No rushes, just wanted to know what's up haha

[ghost]

Hey @theotheroracle, do you have any updates? This app looks sleek but it's kinda useless given that notes can't be synced betweed devices as it uses JSON and not markdown, plain text or other file formats.

[theotheroracle]

Hey @theotheroracle, do you have any updates? This app looks sleek but it's kinda useless given that notes can't be synced betweed devices as it uses JSON and not markdown, plain text or other file formats.

i got a new laptop and i have a bit more free time on my hands, so i'll take another crack at this, thanks for reminding me <3

[lainsce]

Due to an incoming backend super re-write, perhaps what I'm planning to do may add value to this issue.

I'm planning to rewrite the backend so that the core is using the Repository pattern, instead of the DIY mess that is now here.

Perhaps, this might make the job easier to have an export button in the menu.

[theotheroracle]

what do you mean by repository pattern ?

[lainsce]

Read up on it here:

https://blog.kylegalbraith.com/2018/03/06/getting-familiar-with-the-awesome-repository-pattern/

[theotheroracle]

should i wait for you to update the repo pattern before doing anything then ?

[lainsce]

It's already all done. You can start your things :)

[lainsce]

@theotheroracle Here's a mockup of where the Export button would be:

[theotheroracle]

looks good to me

[user82622]

Would usefull to make the most common markdown formatting options (titles, boxes, code quotes) available as formatting options (with buttons (like the listing item option) and correctly display/transform them it in the writer. That would make this tool super powerful cause it would be possible to do markdown formatting over the ui.

[theotheroracle]

yeah definitely, i could look into that if that's ok with @lainsce

[lainsce]

If you can rework the formatting to work with Markdown glyphs instead of what it has now, and at least add what would make sense in a simple notes app for the missing format options, then I give the ok. I just don't want all the formatting options and the kitchen sink as that would defeat the simple part of Notejot.

[macdabby]

This is a little off topic but related. I have been looking for a notes app that would sync with imap. Apple uses this for both Mac and iOS and I think there are some webmail clients that use the same. I think this is a little better than exporting to a folder to sync, because the sync is done automatically in the same app. But in this scenario it uses an html format that can also have embedded image data (base64 encoded right into the tag.) I haven't found any Linux or android app that's compatible with that. What do you think about this? Would it be a better solution?

[theotheroracle]

i think it would be fairly trivial to integrate with goa

[lainsce]

OK, so let's make it a multipart PR I guess, @theotheroracle? XD

First PR being the whole exporting of notes, and second PR being integration with GOA "notebooks" in a separate sidebar list where only Synced Notebooks are, with a refresh button by the header.

[theotheroracle]

yeah that sounds good

[lainsce]

The thing is, we'd have to wait for GOA to be ported to GTK4, since it only has a GTK3 version.

[luixal]

Hi!

Just found this app today and it's really nice, thanks!

About this issue, frist thing I thought when writting my first note was: "why is this not using markdown?!?"

I think it would be a perfect match. I mean, not exporting to markdown, but using markdown in the app's editor itself.

[theotheroracle]

maybe there could be a markdown mode ? wouldn't be too hard to implement once exporting was finished .

[dag7dev]

yes, in addition to what @theotheroracle said, it would be wonderful to have note's live previewing markdown, like Obsidian.

I've just discovered this app, I fell in love with it: keep it up!

[lainsce]

UPDATE

I have fixed this issue myself; notes will be able to be exported in a fixed format but favouring Markdown.

[theotheroracle]

sorry i wasn't able to do this and i'm glad you were able to

[lainsce]

Don't worry about it. :)