Checking the box in preview mode (this is done by bear, panda, obsidian, I think Joplin and logseq too). Especially on mobile where it takes clicking edit, then going to the box on an iPhone and putting your cursor in and putting the x is painfully tedious. Several other apps I have tried have the option when selecting the “task” button (aka put the - ) that is the cursor is on the line it will cycle between putting the x inside the box. This at least doesn’t require moving cursor, putting the x and deleting the space.
Options that would make this easier:
allow opening MD notes on DTTG straight to edit mode
consider option of realtime WYSIWYG preview mode (the dream option)
otherwise consider having the task button cycle through states rather than manually moving cursor to place an x
I think in general there are a lot of options on mobile that could use some clean up. Another example would be search. For example, while it is very powerful it’s tedious to type out the entire search such as
name: xxxxxxx tag:xxxxx AND xxxx date: etc
This would be the perfect option for a selector where there is a drop down and you pick name and type, then add another drop down for tag etc. I think obsidian Omni search plugin is a good reference or even Apple “smart lists” in Apple notes as an option for mobile friend/touch friendly way to powerfully search.
And then having option to save the searches rather than recent which seem to go away would allow easy recall as they are manually saved. And finally allowing true smart group/lists aka desktop app would be nice (which is essentially just saved searches).
DTTG has all the power, just feels like it was designed by engineers for engineers, the engineering power with a touch friendly interface update would go a long way.
Edit:
I should add DTTG is so good with email, pdf, and overall organization that I’m still using it. Have had lots of annoyances with shortcuts that have been bigger issue than above. These kinks are worked out so I use DTTG as primary app. Apple notes really is just getting the notes I need to adjust quickly. No way I’m going to put my own html to make checklist in a formatted note when I have Apple note and can export. Same way no way I’m going to do CSS styling on mobile (themes should be built in for the common man, mobile is possible but again this is efficient). I’m still happy with DTTG there is nothing like it, just a few creature comforts could really make the GUI more polished.
While that might be possible on iPad, it’s hard to imagine on an iPhone, given the limited screen space.
BTW: It would have been a good idea to move your DTTG issues to their own thread in the appropriate sub-forum. This thread is now a mix of issues with Notes on DT, MD and smart groups on DDTG.
As to your original topic: Notes on macOS uses an SQLlite database to store its data. Inside this database, the notes text is gzipped (which is not an issue) and in Protobuf format – the latter is an issue. Or rater a PITA – the protobuf used by Apple is not available, and they love to change details from one OS to the next. It all relies on a Core Data model that is equally unknown.
There are two projects on GitHub to extract the data from a Notes database, one in Java and the other in Python. I didn’t try either of them, just briefly looked at the code. If I were a developer of a 3rd party software, I wouldn’t bother at all to go down that road – there lies sheer madness.
So, if you like working with Notes – good for you. Enjoy its features and learn to embrace its shortcomings. It’s the same as with every other program or format: they have advantages and disadvantages.
I finally tried this on Sonoma. The links are not exported by Notes, neither in a PDF/Pages document nor in HTML code retrieved via AppleScript (and that’s what DEVONthink internally uses). Therefore it’s not possible currently.
On iPad, when I drag a note from Apple Notes to the File Manager it creates an RTF file.
The RTF file retains all of the formatting and links from the note, including any links to other notes within the Notes app (new feature). The links to Notes files work from within DEVONthink, DTTG, or if one just opens the note in TextEdit on a Mac.
On Sonoma dragging e.g. to the desktop or other apps doesn’t even seem to be possible and after exporting a note as a PDF or Pages document, the link to another note isn’t working (PDF) or stripped (Pages).
But dragging selected text from a note to the desktop seems to work and creates a .textClipping. Again with a non functional link.
Don’t have access to the iPad over the holiday while traveling, but tried this on iOS and it doesn’t seem to work. Have you been able to try on iOS to see if it functions too or is this iPadOS only?
Yes I’m aware that pull through, but the whole idea of using Apple notes with links is the ease of access (especially on mobile where >> is more convenient). This doesn’t really make Apple notes usable in this situation without more friction.
