Category: OneNote

Why does Obsidian have to be SO GOOD?

Obsidian is a very powerful editor and works well for my workflow though I still use OneNote sometimes.

I am going to preface this by saying a few things:

  • I have tried almost every app under the sun. Exception being Apple only apps like Notability.
  • I am syncing between 2 Windows PCs an iPad and an iPhone. Mostly just between my iPad and iPhone. iPhone is a reference device and rarely a web clipping device. PC is secondary and another reference device.
  • I don’t care about privacy or having everything be in a local format in case an app gets discontinued. I have nothing private.
  • I am storing web clippings and journals. I am WAYY out of school and have nothing I am researching or need to take notes on.
  • I handwrite 99% of the time. Rare that I type into my journals.

The only apps that comes anywhere close to doing what I want and fits what I use the app for are:

  • GoodNotes -> Too buggy for me and web clipping barely works.
  • OneNote -> lack of features between platforms. Web clipping works okay on iPad but not as good as on PC. LOOOOVE the way the search works and how I can search all open notebooks.
  • Apple Notes -> Barely works on PC and lacking too many features. No web clipper.
  • Obsidian -> Takes too long to load up, handwriting is a pain cause I have to create a PDF and then markup that PDF as I hate the way Excalidraw works and Obsidian Ink is still too new for me to use. Managing attachments is annoying. Syncing is annoying (especially if you don’t want to pay) and based off the discord server, it is eay to lose notes if you use the paid solution so backups are mandatory with Obsidian where I have never had sync issues with any of the other options.

Even with all of the issues I have with Obsidian… It is still the best option out there. The web clipper works better than Microsoft’s option and the OneNote Web Clipper used to be my favorite and only one I would ever use. The Pixel Banner plugin makes my journals look amazing and it has the same features on every platform.

I keep going between OneNote and Obsidian and Obsidian is always my favorite option because I love how my vault looks and the app looks and how my journals look with the banners at the top.

Update an hour later…

A user (EstablishmentDizzy31) on my Reddit Post summarized my post better than I could have:

obsidian is just best of “not great” and closed sourced buggy software

you can leak your data with plugins that you installing, you dont know how and where your data synced is it encrypted or not

data sync is buggy/slow

you cant copy/paste images in mobile versions

on linux there is problems with wayland/nvidia/hardware accelleration

very easy to make obsidian slow when you will customize your setup with workflows and plugins

mappings are not so easy customizible to make it vim-like

well.. its still overall better than other tools that ive tried before, but im waiting for something better to uninstall and forget this app

I 100% agree with this comment and wanted to leave this here so that I could emphasize why I continue to use Obsidian.

My 2025 Productivity Setup

This is where I go over what apps I use to stay productive as a Front End Software Engineer, Wife, and Cat Mom.

I want to go over the apps I use on my iPhone, iPad and Windows PCs (work and personal) to stay productive on a day-to-day basis. This is meant to serve as an opinionated article on the apps I use. Please make sure to use what works for you and not what works for me. I wanted to give people ideas on apps that may work for them. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

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Plan with Erin – December 2024

I explain how I go through and plan my month with OneNote as an unemployed Software Engineer. This is the December 2024 Edition!

I use OneNote to plan my months. I will explain why I decided to stick with OneNote in a future blog. For now, just know that is what I use.

Create your planner for you not anyone else.

I create a simple planner instead of one like the video to the right. I do this for several reasons:

  • Easier to maintain
  • Easier to Set Up
  • Faster Planning Sessions

This works for me because I have undiagnosed ADHD or something in that spectrum. Since I do, I need things to be simple. The more complex they are, the more I feel constricted and the more I want to change it

While this may work for me, you may prefer something like the video. That’s awesome. Do what works for you.

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Ways to get iOS Shortcuts to work with OneNote

This is what I use iOS Shortcuts for and how you can use iOS Shortcuts to your advantage.

I wanted to share this in hopes it works for someone else. Once I figured out the best way to use Shortcuts with OneNote, the world opened up for me.

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