Trying out a few markdown editors

markdown
note-taking
Just spent a while trying out some markdown editors that I’ve not tested before or not used for a while.
Published

April 4, 2025

Takeaways

  • Tried out a few markdown editors I haven’t used in a while.
  • There is a lot to like about Obsidian. Previously I wrote about it: “A dream PKM app for nerds. Really well designed technically. Lots of plugins. But ultimately a distraction. Tempting but must resist. 🛑😬” See here: My Personal Knowledge Management system.
  • But that was before I started generating my websites from Markdown, and using it for structured note-taking. It might be time to revisit Obsidian. I can see Obsidian being a better choice than Bear in many instances, because it keeps notes as plain Markdown files.
  • Of course switching now would mean some fiddling about changing all my existing files, but it might be worth trying. Or perhaps I set up a new site using Obsidian to try it out and to get to know it better?
  • Having a super-fast Obsidian -> Hugo -> website process would be very satisfying.

Caret

  • ok, but not proper rendering of Markdown elements in the editor.
  • “For continued use Purchase License at $29”

Obsidian

  • I have tested Obsidian a lot before. There is a lot to like.
  • Perhaps I should try it again.

Joplin

  • Joplin looks really nice, except you can’t actually use markdown shorthand when editing, unless you edit the markdown in raw mode. Which kind of defeats the purpose of a markdown editor to my mind.

Znote

  • Znote is one of those annoying apps that you can’t test unless you make an account.
  • Nope thanks bye!

MarkText

  • There are some apps that I trust and so I’ll do the workaround to make them work, but not this time. Bye!

Typora

  • What the hell is this? It looks nice I guess, but I’m not writing a novel, I want a good looking work tool for my daily notes.