I've got a very large collection of recipes in Evernote, also many journal entries going back years. I'm about to add a LOT more notes on other subjects for professional purposes but I'm already experiencing some serious problems with syncing. So I don't feel entirely secure with Evernote. I don't believe I've hit the limit on the number of notes in my account. But still, this makes me wary of losing important data when it so often completely refuses to sync. I've already emptied the trash and tried other suggestions.

Wondering if it's time to start migrating my recipes to other software.

This is what I don't need:
Shopping lists, suggested recipes from famous cookbooks, sharing lists with other users, task management checklists. I've seen one (Recipe Sage) that has a webclipper that automatically moves the ingredients, cooking instructions, portions, etc into appropriate fields. That's cool, but I don't really need that. I'm happy to keep the recipe as nothing but simple text. I like being able to choose whether I want to keep a picture or leave it out.

This is what I do need:
Software that works on Windows computer and iOS mobile devices.
A webclipper feature. Quickly importing text from a website without having to manually copy and paste it.
Tags in a tree-structure. Not sure I'm using the correct terminology here. I mean tags that can include sub-tags and sub-sub-tags. I've been using that in Evernote and I depend on that for keeping the tags in order. Putting all tags into one bucket and sorting them alphabetically wouldn't work for me because there are just so many.

Come to think of it, this software really doesn't have to be designed specifically as a recipe organizer. Looking for an alternative to Evernote that can let me tag in a hierarchical structure, and do webclipping. Ideally it would let me choose how much content I get from that webclipping. Evernote lets you choose a simplified article or chosen excerpt, which strips out extraneous webpage content and reduces the size of the document.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

A note I created in Evernote on iPhone about an hour and a half ago STILL has not successfully sync'd. I keep swiping down to get it to sync and nothing happens. Evernote suggests rebooting or reinstalling, but that wouldn't save me in a situation where I'm about to lose some recent edits. Just closing the app on my phone results in losing recent edits.

there is this site https://www.noteapps.info/ that lists a bunch of note taking apps, that can be browsed by features....

I've been playing with nimbus notes, but never testes it with 1000 of notes, and it doesnt do nested tags, NoteJoy is another option that does allow nested tags....

Amplenote is an option too

I might try OneNote. It has a pretty good Evernote import process.

Steve

https://www.notecasepro.com/features.php

Thanks, Rafael! I did find that website and it was super helpful.

rafael costacurta wrote:

there is this site https://www.noteapps.info/ that lists a bunch of note
taking apps, that can be browsed by features....

I've been playing with nimbus notes, but never testes it with 1000 of
notes, and it doesnt do nested tags, NoteJoy is another option that does
allow nested tags....

Amplenote is an option too

I only looked at OneNote because I was working my way through a long list of possible software. OneNote was pretty far down in that alphabetical list. Very glad to see that OneNote has tons of the features I do want without any fussy, cheesy "choose your own faux-artsy notebook cover" features, LOL. And, lo and behold --I already have Microsoft 365. Score!

I'm going to try it out and see how well the nested folders and tags actually work. I did see a review that says the web clipper on OneNote is kind of flakey. Going to try that feature out too. Glad to hear it has a good Evernote import process, thanks for letting me know.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I might try OneNote. It has a pretty good Evernote import process.

Steve

BTW, thanks to noteapps.info, I've been taking detailed notes pro and con for each of the listed software. I saw that Amplenote doesn't have these features:
no colored text
can't specify point size, just a few standardized header sizes
no text alignment
can't choose a font
can't underline


rafael costacurta wrote:

there is this site https://www.noteapps.info/ that lists a bunch of note
taking apps, that can be browsed by features....

I've been playing with nimbus notes, but never testes it with 1000 of
notes, and it doesnt do nested tags, NoteJoy is another option that does
allow nested tags....

Amplenote is an option too

Correction:
I only looked at OneNote *after lots of other options*, because I worked my way through a long list of suggested apps alphabetically.

Tiggerlou wrote:

I only looked at OneNote because I was working my way through a long
list of possible software. OneNote was pretty far down in that
alphabetical list. Very glad to see that OneNote has tons of the
features I do want without any fussy, cheesy "choose your own faux-artsy
notebook cover" features, LOL. And, lo and behold --I already have
Microsoft 365. Score!

I'm going to try it out and see how well the nested folders and tags
actually work. I did see a review that says the web clipper on OneNote
is kind of flakey. Going to try that feature out too. Glad to hear it
has a good Evernote import process, thanks for letting me know.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I might try OneNote. It has a pretty good Evernote import process.
>
>Steve

I understand your challenge with recipes and where to keep them. I've used https://www.zoho.com/notebook/ for a number of years. Two items I like:
1. They have a script called Recipe Card. When you are on a supported recipe website and find one you want, it will parse the instructions and ingredients into a nice card for you.
2. Reader View kind of strips out much of the noise on the page you want so you can add it to your notebook.

Items I do not like:
1. The recipes you added using their Recipe Card can not be printed.
2. Cards you add by highlighting text, then adding to the notebook do not have the URL where you got it. You need to remember to do that yourself. Though, Reader View card can be edited and do include the URL.

Syncing is OK. Sometimes I think it gets confused and takes a long time. BUT, the desktop version does a fine job.

Thanks for the tip about Recipe Card.
It would certainly save me some time to parse the instructions and ingredients, especially since there tends to be so much useless, superfluous fluff in online recipes. "So this is a picture of an onion.... and this is a picture of an onion after you slice it one time... And ohhh, lemme me tell you *three times* about how excited I am about this recipe and how it reminds me of when I lived in Ohio because I had a dog and we used to run around the back yard." etc etc etc.

I even strip out the words 'ingredients' and 'instructions' from recipes. Seriously, if someone says "cook until the vegetables are soft", that is not an ingredient. I'm guessing most people can tell the difference ;-) As far as I'm concerned the less fluff and extraneous text, the better. I will sometimes save the introductory text if it's useful and interesting. For example, Asian-American chefs, telling us where to find substitutions for obscure ingredients --that I saved. But the story about the dog? Nah. I love dogs but they don't help me cook.

Re: printing recipes. One of the major reasons for my purchase of a tablet was so I would never have to do that again. Before that time, I had a huge heap of stained printouts with barely legible handwritten update notes that never got transcribed back into the recipe. Now, all I have to do is (wipe my hands clean,then..) enter those edits directly into the saved recipe. Done.
I've been adding lots of edits into recipes for decades (in italics) and using Evernote has changed that dramatically. For example, tagging all the major ingredients, sorting recipes by regional cooking style, important appliances like air fryer, portions of a chicken, savory vs sweet baking, etc. That makes these recipes files all the more precious to save. I essentially have a fully indexed, very detailed cookbook, assembled from dozens of print books and hundreds of online recipes.

I always save the URL (thanks for the tip about that), thanks to the Evernote web clipper. There have been times when I wanted to go back to the original source and I'm glad to still have that.


Steve wrote:

I understand your challenge with recipes and where to keep them. I've
used https://www.zoho.com/notebook/ for a number of years. Two items I
like:
1. They have a script called Recipe Card. When you are on a supported
recipe website and find one you want, it will parse the instructions and
ingredients into a nice card for you.
2. Reader View kind of strips out much of the noise on the page you want
so you can add it to your notebook.

Items I do not like:
1. The recipes you added using their Recipe Card can not be printed.
2. Cards you add by highlighting text, then adding to the notebook do
not have the URL where you got it. You need to remember to do that
yourself. Though, Reader View card can be edited and do include the
URL.

Syncing is OK. Sometimes I think it gets confused and takes a long time.
BUT, the desktop version does a fine job.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I might try OneNote. It has a pretty good Evernote import process.

Steve

Microsoft ceased development of its Evernote importer tool years ago and while it remains available for download many people have reported significant import problems using it over the last couple of years. There is an open source, 3rd party app you could try: https://tools.stefankueng.com/Evernote2Onenote.html

Tiggerlou wrote:

I've got a very large collection of recipes in Evernote (...) but I'm already experiencing some serious problems with syncing. So I don't feel entirely secure with Evernote (...)
A note I created in Evernote on iPhone about an hour and a half ago STILL has not successfully sync’d (...)

I sync regularly between desktop (Windows) and my phone (Android). Works flawlessly and within a few seconds.
As a developer of an app that syncs with Evernote (InfoQube IM) using the supplied SDK, I've seen similar issues in the past, myself and as reported by other IQ users.

In most cases, these were related to the account. Try the following:
1- Open you account settings
2- Select the Applications (left pane)
3- revoke access to all apps and services.
4- Reconnect your apps and devices
(With InfoQube, at times, there would be multiple entries, not sure yet how this happens, but clearing the list gets things back on track)

Evernote does have some outstanding features (take a picture of a recipe and it does OCR for you). OneNote is a different beast... IMHO Notion would be a better match if you still want to exit EN

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer
https://infoqube.biz

Hi Tiggerlou - I wonder if Notezilla could work for you. It calls itself a sticky notes program, but it offers many note taking features - I think of Notezilla as a note taking program. It works on Windows, IOS, Android

https://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/WhatsNew

Notezilla lets you have a list of notes in a table which has columns, create a table within notes, put photos in notes, have more than one note open at a time, etc.

Daly

Tiggerlou, another program is UpNote. It might work for you.

https://getupnote.com/

Daly

Interesting, you posted about Notezilla. Excellent program and excellent support.
I received an Email from the developer this week, informing me of a new feature that addressed a request I made 2 YEARS ago.

That's a deal.

Hi Steve -

Back in early winter I needed Notezilla support to help me. The person I dealt with was superb!

I would use Notezilla much more than I do if it were possible to create my own columns in the memoboard. If I could do that I would probably use Notezilla more than MyInfo.

I'm curious what was the feature you requested?

Daly

Steve wrote:

Interesting, you posted about Notezilla. Excellent program and
excellent support.
I received an Email from the developer this week, informing me of a new
feature that addressed a request I made 2 YEARS ago.

That's a deal.

It had to do with the taskbar access added in version 9. This is what:
"We would like to update you that the new version - Notezilla 9 now allows an extra taskbar icon to be shown in the taskbar like other apps. This way you can bring the desktop notes on top very easily. I am informing you because you had requested something similar in the past."

The taskbar did not do much for me. But being able to quickly display what I wanted is a help.

Thanks @Daly and @Steve for mentioning and appreciating Notezilla.

I am from Conceptworld, the creator of Notezilla. If anyone has questions related to Notezilla, let me know.

Hi Gautam - good to see you here. Thank you again for your time and help some months ago!

I have one question: Would it be possible to have custom columns for the Notezilla memoboards? For example, if I had a memoboard listing notes on books I had read, I could have a column for authors, one for how I rate the book, and so on.

Notezilla is already an excellent program. Custom columns would add to Notezilla's value for users wanting to associate metadata with their notes.

Daly


Gautam Jain wrote:

Thanks @Daly and @Steve for mentioning and appreciating Notezilla.

I am from Conceptworld, the creator of Notezilla. If anyone has
questions related to Notezilla, let me know.

Hi Daly,

Adding metadata and custom columns is a very good idea. I will take note of it.

Of course, I cannot promise any date for this. This feature will be prioritized with respect to other features that other customers have requested.

But definitely, it is a nice idea. Thanks!

Regards,
Gautam Jain