redsolver / noteless

A Markdown-based note-taking app for mobile devices.

Noteless

A markdown-based note-taking app for Android

Compatible with notes saved in Notable

Features

• Markdown-optimized editor with syntax highlighting
• Supports Github Flavored Markdown, AsciiMath, KaTeX and mermaidjs for diagrams
• Tags for organizing your notes
• Pin, Star and sort your notes by title or different dates
• Very themable - dark/light mode and accent color
• Full-text search
• File Attachments that can be embedded into a note
• Multi-Note Editing
• Slide actions for easier editing
• Tutorial notes which explain how to use the app

Screenshots

Download

https://github.com/redsolver/noteless/releases

Changelog

1.4.6

• Added support for the Android 11 permission system
• Added option to sort tags alphabetically in the sidebar
• Improved compatibility with other Markdown-based note-taking tools (especially Dendron)
• Some small bug and theme fixes

1.3.1

• Added optional auto save option
• Added optional auto pairing of brackets/quotes (thanks to @RubbaBoy)
• Editor: Added option to move and restore note to/from trash
• Improved table styling (thanks to @davidebersani)
• Fixed some bugs

1.3.0

• Added feature to create a new note by sharing text with Noteless (#42)
• Adding an attachment to a note now automatically embeds it
• Improved blockquote styling (#44)
• Fixed some bugs

1.2.1

• Added Android App Shortcut for creating a new note from the homescreen
• Added proper table borders
• Fixed some bugs

1.2.0

• Added AsciiMath support
• Added Black/AMOLED theme
• Added experimental option: Automatic bullet points
• Added optional single line break syntax
• Increased height of editor toolbar
• Changed behaviour of list-button in editor toolbar
• Fixed image sizing in preview
• Fixed text field submitting when adding a tag

1.1.1

• Added support for spaces in links (#36)

1.1.0

• Made checkboxes in preview mode toggleable (#37)
• Added support for Wiki-style links like [[My Note]] (#38)

1.0.0

• First stable release
• Submitted the app to Google Play Store and F-Droid
• Updated to Flutter 1.20 (Better Performance and some bug fixes in the editor)

0.3.2

• Added F-Droid metadata

0.3.1

• Fixed editor content not loading without front matter data

0.3.0

• Fully reworked editor with syntax highlighting and a new keyboard toolbar to help with common Markdown operations
• Added fallback to file metadata if front matter data is missing

0.2.1

• Disabled the preview feature on Android 4.4 KitKat devices.
• Removed WebDav sync

Important Changes in Version 0.2.0

The app has been renamed from Notable Mobile to Noteless on 02.07.2020.

If you used an earlier Alpha Version, you need to uninstall the old one and install one of the new APKs (Don't forget to backup your notes!)

This is because the app also has a new package name: net.redsolver.noteless.

Also I decided to drop support for syncing notes directly via the app because there are alternative options which work a lot better.

I recommend using an external data directory and a third-party sync app for Android like Syncthing, Nextcloud Sync or FolderSync for other cloud services.

0.2.0

• Renamed the app to "Noteless"
• New app icon
• Reworked tutorial notes
• The Editor/Preview Mode Switcher is now the default option
• New error handling: When an exception occurs while reading a note, the note is skipped and the errors are shown as "virtual notes".
• Show loading dialog when changing external data directory
• Fixed issue with using an external data directory on Android Q (10)
• QOL Improvements (Autofocus, Small design improvements)

0.1.8

• Added support for subdirectories
• Added options to restore notes from trash
  • With the swipe actions of a note
  • With the "Restore from trash" button in the multi select options
• Added option to create a logfile for sync
• Added experimental option to enable virtual folder tags
• Minor theme fixes

0.1.7

• Fixed white flash when loading note preview

0.1.6

• Added option to use a mode switcher for editor and preview

0.1.5

• Added feature to add and remove attachments
• Searching in content of notes
  • Enabled by default
  • Can be disabled in settings
  • Can get slow with more than 2000 notes

0.1.4

• Added KaTeX and mhchem support
• Added option to change accent color
• Added note swipe actions (trash, delete, pin and favorite)

0.1.3

• Fixed webdav sync

0.1.2

• Fixed sync when using different data directory

0.1.1

• Added option to select data directory on device
• Moved multi select options to bottom app bar
• Pressing back while being in select mode cancels it
• Added option to recreate all tutorial notes and attachments in settings
• Updated info page
• Dark Theme now supports markdown preview

0.1.0

• Select multiple notes by long pressing
• After entering select mode, add notes to the selection by tapping them
• Select or unselect all notes in the select menu
• Favorite/Unfavorite multiple notes at once
• Pin/Unpin multiple notes at once
• Add and remove tags to multiple notes at once
• Move to Trash and delete multiple notes at once

0.0.9

• Dark Theme
• Confirmation Dialogs

License

The app is MIT licensed.

noteless's Issues

Pressing back should cancel the multi-select option.

What the title states. Pressing back is an action that should revert an app to a previous state, which in this case, is cancelling multi-select after being selected. Again, functionally similar to a mail app like Gmail or a notes app like Google Keep.

Support auto pair

Provide user an option to auto pair brackets and quotes.

iOS Build

Faster load times

Notes, even not particularly long ones take 1-2 or more seconds to load.
It's especially jarring that sometimes the screen flashes white after loading.
A better load animation might help a little with perception, but I don't know how much.
Other markdown apps (ones made with flutter too) take at most 0.5 seconds on my device, and it really feels different.

Delete all in Trash, with confirmation?

It's a pretty convenient feature to add so that each individual note doesn't need it.

Receive shared text from other apps and create a new note

This feature should use the receive_sharing_intent plugin (https://pub.dev/packages/receive_sharing_intent), but it's currently broken (KasemJaffer/receive_sharing_intent#81)

If tutorial notes are deleted, add ability to recreate/regenerate them

The desktop/base Notable app has this functionality, and it would make sense if this app did the same thing (which is to copy and paste the files from the app's data location/online to the data directory).

Open markdown files on device

Hi, I've tried out your app and I like it. I've been using neutriNote until now and to be able to give it a proper shot, I'd need to be able to open markdown files I already have on my device. Any plans for adding that, or some sort of import feature?
Thank you :)

Adding attachments

Support KaTeX

Optimization for search

1. Display contents in the search result (and highlight the keyword)
2. Provide an option to auto-clear the previous search terms (I'm note pretty sure which one should as the default)
3. Highlight the search term in the note
4. Provide a search function in the note page and could let user quickly jump to the corresponding location
   1. search term occurring in user's note should be highlighted, too
   2. it would be great if the located terms not at the very top of the view (I think it will cost more time to let user notice their result is there. And maybe it would be better if it's around the center of the page?)

Black then white flash when loading note previews

Loading previews first shows a black screen for a really short time, then a white screen until the note loads. Doesn't happen every time, but often enough. Noticable on both light and dark themes, with and without the preview mode switcher.

Load files without header

I noticed that markdown files placed in the notes directory are not recognized by Noteless without the proper header:

---
tags:
title:
created:
modified:
---

Many of my markdown files I've created manually with a text editor on a PC. Would it be possible to open these files without the header being present, and maybe only add it if changes are made in Noteless?

Switch to edit mode when create new note

Although some users may prefer preview as the default view, when user creates new note, I think in most cases user would like to write down something, so maybe it's better to go to the edit mode in this scenario.

In other words, for those who select preview as the default view, when they compose new note, go to the edit mode. And after that, when they open existing note, go to the preview mode as usual.

Searching in content of notes

Note swipe actions

Removal of the note swipe actions is not ideal, because they can be intuitive and useful for the user's preference, even if the functionality is redundant.

My proposal is that swiping left on a note pulls up the delete button like before, and swiping right pulls up a pin button to toggle a pin for the note or just pin the note outright.

Images with space in their filename are not displayed

Hello,

Because I use Notable on my laptop, I've tried your app to open my "Notable" markdown files and I really like it! Thank you!

I've noticed an issue. If I try to display an image with a space in its filename, the image does not render.

![](@attachment/Screenshot 2020-08-08 at 20.33.23.png)

Thank you again for your useful app!

Other sync options: Google Drive, Dropbox, Nextcloud (regular, non-WebDAV)?

Allowing for other sync options using OAuth2 to authenticate or with integrated account support on Android would be pretty nice.

Auto save the changes

It would be great if the app provide an option to auto save the file changes. And I think it could be selected in default?

Custom filename rule

User could select different strategies to name the file:

1. by title
2. by date (e.g, yyyymmdd-hhss, or yyyy-mm-dd_hhss and so on)
3. combination of 1 & 2 (e.g, yyyymmdd-title)
4. specify in the edit mode

invalid YAML frontmatter

I think this is due to missing title but Notable handle this and fallback to filename. Also I can't even open the note.

Hang on startup, other oddities

Version 0.1.18

After writing #30, I noticed that the count of notes in the sidebar were not correct, and not all of the Notebooks were showing. I thought I'd restart the app to see if that might update what is shown. The app, upon restart, displayed the blue progress bar under the app title, but didn't progress beyond that for as long as I cared to wait (10 minutes or so?).

If I tap the add note (plus) button, it created a new note and the app started working (breaking out of the the eternal progress bar), but the note counts are still wrong.

I have a little over 400 notes (the app shows 284), and 300-ish attachments. I also have 5 Notebooks (the app shows none) and 39 different tags (the app shows none).

I'm using an external sync mechanism (Syncthing), but all the files appear to be present.

Let me know if there's anything else I can provide to be helpful.

Table borders

Hi, I recently came across this app - and it is really nice!

I just checked this markdown file (from the docs of another Markdown editor for PC) in your app (on Android) and found that it would be helpful to have proper table borders.

With this being fixed, I will use this app for writing/viewing my documents for studying. Thank you for this feature-rich app with generous capabilities of managing files without a proprietary sync server or closed-source data format.

[Enhancement] Preview Checkboxes

It would be really cool, if you could check and uncheck markdown checkboxes directly in the preview window, just like in the notable app.

WebDav sync replaces existing files with zero byte copies

Hi,
I know WebDav sync is considered experimental, and I know it says not to use it on important files.

I wanted to test if it would work for my workflow. I have a owncloud store with an existing "notable" directory, with approx 30 notes in the notes directory.

When I enable WebDav sync in this app, and point the location to my owncloud store's webdav interface, it shows the normal "syncing with WebDav" message, but none of my existing notes from owncloud appears in the app.

When I check my owncloud web interface, I see the android app has uploaded all of the Tutorial files (as expected) but it has also replaced all of my existing notes with zero-byte versions (Truncated them?).

Its easy enough to roll-back the files to the previous state using the owncloud web interface, but I'd prefer if I didn't have to do that.

Is it a bug that it does that, or is that expected in this Experimental state?

Markdown render/preview should also follow theme (light/dark) settings.

At the moment, dark theme means the app is themed but the preview is not, and it is a noticeable difference.

Info page

Although the info page will eventually be filled out, putting the link to the repository is a good placeholder for now.

Option for non-strict line breaks

Single line breaks don't show in preview mode in accordance with the Markdown specs. Other editors don't always work this way, and a single line break is enough to place something in the next line in preview mode. It would be nice to have an option to have it work either way.

Custom Fonts

New Features

• Changing the editor font
• Dropdown with font options: Roboto, OpenDyslexic, Open Sans...
• Optional: Use of custom fonts stored on device (/sdcard/fonts)

Discard changes confirmation

Modifying a note in the app allows you to save it, however backing out from the note without saving does not provide a warning. It should provide a warning, similar to a word processor in function.

Support gestures

For instance, users could quick click page twice (or slide from the edge?) to change the view mode.

Option to have preview as default view

You could have the toggle as a mode switcher, instead of taking you to a new "screen".

Custom preview page

Allow user to select the .css file to customize their preview page

Dark Theme

As you might have guessed, a Dark Theme would be an excellent addition to the app.

Small scrolling improvement

I just have another suggestion concerning the scrolling behavior.
If there is a <pre> section in a Markdown notes file, which is wider than the current devices' screen, then it appears a horizontal scrollbar for the whole note file. In fact, this disturbs sometimes when you accidentally scroll horizontally but just want to scroll the document vertically.
My suggestion would be: Making a <pre> section with following style rules would result in a scrollable area only for this part of the document.

pre {
  max-width: 100%;
  overflow-x: scroll;
}

Would this be possible? Thank you in advance!

Exit app confirmation

Notable already has the exit app confirmation. It would be nice if the mobile app followed suit.

Support AsciiMath

All AsciiMath features are already available in KaTeX (ca6d036).

If you want AsciiMath support, please upvote this issue.

Location doesn't update on main settings

Version 0.1.8

Steps

1. Settings > Location
2. Pick a new note location using the file browser

Expected - The "Location" field on the settings screen updates with the newly chosen location.
Actual - The "Location" field retains its old value. The value does actually update internally but the display doesn't until leaving settings and returning. This caused me to think it wasn't working until exiting the settings to discover the new location had been applied.

BTW - Thanks for making this!

Move multi select options to titlebar

Should act more like the traditional Material Design guidelines and put those options in the titlebar, such as in the Gmail app or Google Keep with multi-select.

Performance optimization for preview

It seems like adding an image and/or a checkbox (which appears to be a rendered image rather than a HTML tag) causes the performance for the preview to drastically drop.

This seems to be a prevalent issue with Flutter at the moment. Though it possibly has been fixed fairly recently. brendan-duncan/image#104

There's also a non-native option.
https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_image_compress

My suggestion is either to cache or compress (in memory) the displayed image through some optimization, as well as replace the checkbox with an actual HTML checkbox.

Delete permanently confirmation?

Deleting a note in the Trash section should have a warning associated with it.

[Enhancement] Accent colour

Currently the app is looking very good, but one nice addition would be something similar to Textra where the accent colour of the app could be changed (either with a hex code or preset pallette). The accent colour would affect the title bar, left nav bar text/icon highlight and floating action bar.

Preview not loading

Cannot load preview, even for very simple notes. Loader icon just spins forever.

App version: 0.1.8, build 18
Device: Kindle Fire HDX 8.9
OS: Android 4.4 (Fire OS 4.5.5.3)

(The device/OS is of course rather old. Don't know if it's supposed to work on legacy devices? Rest of the app works fine.)

Local links to notes do not seem to work

I tried to create two notes, one named A and one named B.

If I create a local link from B to A, by typing [[A]] and enter display mode, then [[A]] is not turned into a link.

Restore note from trash

Should be a way to restore the note back from trash.

Sync notes in subdirectories

Notes read from notes subdirectory

The desktop app of Notable does not care which folder a note is in, so long as it is under the notes directory. Regardless if it is in the root notes directory or a subdirectory or anything under that, it will always read the note, provided that the note has the correct markdown extension (such as .md, .markdown, etc).

Plan to Open Source

Hey @redsolver Do you have any plan to open-source this app? Maybe I can also help you build an ios/ipados app for it

Small improvement on blockquote styling

There's currently no styling to blockquotes, which makes it hard to tell if it's a paragraph or a quote.
Let's try this CSS for blockquote styling:

blockquote{
  padding: .75em .5em .75em 1em;
  background: white;
  border-left: 0.5em solid #DDD;
}

blockquote::before {
  display: block;
  height: 0;
  content: "“";
  margin-left: -.95em;
  font: italic 400%/1 Open Serif,Georgia,"Times New Roman", serif;
  color: #999;
}

/* for nested paragraphs in block quotes */
blockquote p {
  display: inline;
}

Taken from here (nteract/nteract#810) with preview images! Would this be possible in Noteless app environment?

Option to specify data directory on device