Kira Herdman

I recently switched to Trilium Notes from Obsidian, here is why.

What was wrong with Obsidian?

While Obsidian is a brilliant note-taking application, there are two reasons why I have moved to Trilium Notes.

• Not open source. While Obsidian keeps your data in Markdown format, the program itself is closed source. I like to use open source when possible.
• Sync Problems. Syncing between iOS/iPad OS and Linux. Obsidian cannot sync between iOS/iPad OS and Linux without a subscription, as Obsidian for iOS will only sync using iCloud and Obsidian Sync, which is a paid syncing service and also means the data will have to go outside my network or iCloud, which is secure since I have ADP (Advanced Data Protection) enabled. There was also some sync problems when using iCloud for Windows and Obsidian on that platform.

The syncing problem is not Obsidian’s fault.

The syncing issue with iCloud is not Obsidian’s fault; there is no iCloud client for Linux. If Obsidian offered a service like Joplin or Trilium Notes where you can use your own server, then that would solve the problem, but they don’t offer any other options.

Syncing with Windows is also unreliable via iCloud. For me all the plugins was constantly turned off when I opened Obsidian on Windows.

Why Trilium Notes over Joplin?

There are two main reasons why I chose Trilium Notes over Joplin, the other main note-taking open-source solution.

• Joplin has no web interface I could use instead of a dedicated client.
• The mobile app for Trilium Notes is a LOT better than the one for Joplin, which for me is absolutly usless.

A web client is very important for me, as it means basically any computer can be used to access my notes.

There is also a very good 3rd party client for iOS/iPad OS called Trinote that works perfectly with Trilium Server and is a lot better than the Joplin one. Trinote is also free.

Setting up Trilium Notes.

Trilium Notes Server is very easy to set up as you can get it in a Docker container. The server is instantly accessible via the web client, and there are also native clients for all the major desktop operating systems.

If you only need Trilium Notes on one computer, the client can also act as a stand-alone application without the need for the server installation.

Accessing Trilium Notes outside my home network.

I don’t want my server to have any ports open to the outside network unless I have to, so I have installed Tailscale on my server and on all my devices that will access the server.

This means no matter where I am, I will always be able to access my server that is still behind my firewall without having to expose it; this also includes Trilium Notes.

This is especially useful as I usually type these blog posts out while I am in a coffee shop on my iPad Pro.

Using Trilium Notes Web Interface.

I have noticed since I started to use Trilium Notes I use the web interface more than the desktop app’s. This does surprise me a lot as I usually prefer to use desktop apps over the web versions of programs.

The web version I think has a bit more functionality than the desktop apps and there is also no need to sync between the app and server, as the web componient of Trilium is the server.

Backing up of the Trilium Notes database.

While Trilium does use a database for all the notes you have, it is very easy to export all your notes into Markdown format, and vice versa to import them.

There is also a backup option built into Trilium that automatically backs up the database every day, week, and year if you want to.

My ZimaOS server, that I have Trilium Notes docker installed on, automatically copies this backup onto Dropbox, and I manually copy it onto a separate hard drive as well as Proton Drive during my normal backup routine that I do once a week.

Conclusion.

I really enjoyed using Obsidian but the sync issues made it unsuitable for me. I’m switching to Linux over time and need access to my notes on those machines, especially since my main PC in the office is now running Linux Mint full time. My gaming laptop is also currently running Windows 11 as there are a few games that I play that are not compatible with Linux.

Joplin, on the other hand, was a complete letdown, particularly its mobile client. It just didn’t work for me, although if you don’t need your notes on a mobile device then the desktop Joplin app is very good. I don’t know what the Adnroid version of Joplin Mobile is like as I don’t have an Andriod device anymore.

Trilium however meets all my needs, was incredibly easy to set up and offers significantly more power than I currently need or use. Plus, if I ever get an Apple Pencil for my iPad Pro, Excalidraw is built into Trilium for diagrams, which is a bonus.

One of the main reasons I chose Trilium is its web client. It’s always there as a fallback if I need it, and like I said before I use the Web client more than the desktop clients on desktop these days.

The mobile web version of Trilium is perfectly functional on the iPhone and I just switch to the desktop mode when I am on the iPad Pro.

Trinote, while not an official client, is getting regular updates and with every update is getting better, and it works properly on the iPad as well as the iPhone. The functionality of Trinote is exactly what I need for a mobile client.

I am very happy I tried Trilium Notes and now is the only application I use for my journal, general note taking and blog writing needs.