Notion’s offline mode would possibly simply make me ditch Obsidian

Notion is certainly one of my favourite instruments. From databases to to-do lists, monitoring eating places I wished to take a look at, and a lot extra, I’ve dabbled in it for years till I lastly made the swap to Obsidian. That’s principally due to Notion’s one deadly flaw. The second you lose web, the app successfully turns into ineffective.

I’ve realized that the arduous method on flights, cafes with rocky Wi-Fi, even when eager to verify a washer’s upkeep schedule in my basement laundry and not using a mobile sign. It’s what pushed me in direction of Obsidian, a local-first markdown-based app that has by no means failed me after I simply wanted entry to my notes. For a really very long time now, Obsidian has been my security web. However now that Notion has lastly mounted that deadly flaw by rolling out offline mode, it is likely to be time for a rethink. Maybe it’s time to ditch Obsidian and return to Notion. Right here’s why.

For anybody who has used Notion lengthy sufficient, the dearth of offline entry was not a minor inconvenience. It was successfully a dealbreaker. The entire app was designed round its well-defined construction and cloud-first expertise. So while you misplaced entry to the web, you additionally misplaced the app’s utility. You might be staring on the prettiest dashboard on the earth, however in case you wished to verify your notes throughout a flight or in an space and not using a sign, it was successfully ineffective.

For me, that was the hole Obsidian stepped into so neatly. With its markdown-based information residing in your native storage, it by no means mattered if the web was on or off. I may take my laptop computer on a long-haul flight or my cellphone right into a low-signal zone, and my notes had been all the time there. Clearly, I couldn’t sync information throughout with out the web, however my work thus far was proper there and able to be accessed. I can’t rely the variety of occasions I’ve been mid-thought on a flight and wished so as to add one thing to my venture tracker, solely to stare at a clean Notion display. Obsidian solved that, however at the price of giving up Notion’s highly effective databases, templates and collaboration instruments. Now that Notion guarantees to work the identical method wherever, it feels just like the steadiness is bridging the hole within the function set. As somebody who’s continuously on the go, I wanted that sort of reliability, and Obsidian has been the place the place I preserve something vital.

In fact, Obsidian and Notion are very completely different in how they strategy note-taking. Obsidian leans into extensibility with plugins for nearly every part, and the truth that all notes are simply easy markdown information means they’re as transportable because it will get. However the app isn’t good. Even the best duties can take only a bit an excessive amount of time to perform.

Notion, then again, is extra polished and collaborative. Constructing a database takes solely a few clicks. It rapidly helps you to hyperlink tasks, create aesthetic and practical pages, share them to the web with one click on, and extra. Options like Notion Kinds are unbelievable for fast knowledge entry on the go. Suffice it to say, Notion has all the time felt like the higher software for managing greater tasks, whereas Obsidian is extra geared in direction of private tasks and analysis. For years I lived in each worlds, and although it was messy, it labored.

Notion’s offline mode replace upends that. With the software program’s newest launch, I can now view, edit, and create notes without having the web. All the things syncs again when you reconnect, just like Obsidian. On paper, which means I not want two separate instruments. My use case is best served by Notion, and getting access to offline mode means I ought to be capable of ditch Obsidian. Nicely, as is all the time the case, the main points matter, and Notion’s offline mode comes with loads of quirks that it would be best to be careful for.

For starters, not like Obsidian, Notion’s offline mode isn’t automated. Any web page that you just need to entry offline have to be marked for offline use on every gadget you intend to make use of. Should you neglect to try this, you’re out of luck. Premium plans do ease issues by routinely downloading current and favorited pages, however it’s nonetheless removed from Obsidian’s always-available simplicity. And since most dwelling and fanatic customers are on the free tier, they don’t profit from auto-downloading.

Then there are the bounds. Databases are capped at 50 rows for offline entry with no method to drive a full obtain. When you have a sophisticated setup utilizing a number of subpages, you’ll should manually toggle every one for offline entry. Subpages don’t routinely tag alongside while you mark a father or mother web page offline. On prime of that, embedded content material, buttons, and kinds cease working and not using a connection. None of those points are dealbreakers individually, however collectively they make offline mode really feel extra like a workaround than a seamless function. Whereas I’m glad the function exists, it’s clear that Notion was constructed from the bottom up as a cloud-first software.

Regardless of the various limitations of Notion’s offline mode, it’s already making me rethink how I work. As I discussed earlier, Notion comes throughout because the slicker software because of its extra outlined schema of getting issues performed. Obsidian affords extra freedom and has by no means let me down with offline entry, however all too typically you need to bounce by hoops for easy duties. Generally you even want to put in third-party plugins for what needs to be fundamental performance. That isn’t excellent for the way I take advantage of apps.

With offline mode, Notion has lastly earned again a few of that belief. Offline mode isn’t good, but it surely not collapses the second Wi-Fi drops. That’s sufficient for me to think about shifting again.

On the identical time, I don’t see myself deleting Obsidian any time quickly. Markdown information saved domestically are nonetheless unmatched for permanence. If one thing goes fallacious, I do know my notes are sitting on my arduous drive, untouched by anybody else. That sense of possession is tough to beat, particularly for somebody like me who’s deeply entrenched within the self-hosted ecosystem. However the actuality is that I don’t need to dwell in two worlds anymore. Splitting notes between apps provides friction I not want. If Notion can do sufficient for me daily, then Obsidian begins to really feel like a security web I don’t must verify fairly as typically.

For now, I’ll in all probability combine Notion extra into my day by day workflow whereas protecting important entry paperwork on Obsidian. I nonetheless must see how properly offline syncing holds up in real-world use. How properly does Notion deal with conflicts? Will Notion enhance the database restrict? These are questions that solely long-term use can reply. However offline mode, even in its present type, is sufficient for me to significantly contemplate ditching Obsidian. And it would simply be for you as properly.