Joplin received 6 Contributor Projects for GSoC 2022!

Sun, 22 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

We are glad to announce that Google allocated us six projects this year for Google Summer of Code! So this is six contributors who will be working on various parts of the apps, both desktop and mobile, over the summer.

Over the next few weeks, till 13 June, will be the Community Bonding Period during which GSoC contributors get to know mentors, read documentation, and get up to speed to begin working on their projects.

Here's the full list of projects, contributors and mentors.

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@

https://joplinapp.org/changelog_android/

https://joplinapp.org/changelog_ios/

https://joplinapp.org/changelog_cli/

Potential breaking change in next Joplin Server update (2.5.10)

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 12:03:24 GMT

Just a head up that the next Joplin Server update could potentially include a breaking change, depending on your data.

Potential breaking change in next Joplin Server update (2.5.10)

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Just a head up that the next Joplin Server update could potentially include a breaking change, depending on your data.

One of the database migration is going to add an "owner_id" column to the "items" table (where all notes, notebooks, etc. are stored), and automatically populate it. Normally that shouldn't take too long but you might want to make sure you won't need the server right away when you process this.

The second database migration will add a unique constraint on items.name and items.owner_id and that's where the breaking change might be. Normally this data is already unique because that's enforced by the application but in some rare cases, due a race condition, there could be duplicate data in there. If that happens the migration will fail and the server will not start.

If that happens, you'll need to decide what to do with the data, as it's not possible to automatically decide. You can find all duplicates using this query:

@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@

Or, just delete the data directly in the database. You'll want to delete the corresponding item_id from the user_items table too.

But really in most cases you should be fine. Especially if you don't have that many notes it's unlikely you have duplicates.

Joplin v2.5 is available for desktop and mobile!

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:04:03 GMT

Joplin v2.5 is now available for desktop, mobile and CLI! Here's an overview of the changes:

Joplin v2.5 is available for desktop and mobile!

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Joplin v2.5 is now available for desktop, mobile and CLI! Here's an overview of the changes:

Support for Markdown + Front Matter🔗

Markdown + Front Matter is a format that allows attaching metadata, such as tags, creation date, or geolocation to a Markdown file. This is done by adding a block of YAML code (a "front matter") at the top of the file.

Thansk to Caleb John's efforts the Joplin desktop and CLI applications now support importing and exporting these files. When exporting, we try to preserve as much metadata as possible, while still keeping it the formatting user friendly.

@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@

As always the mobile apps (to be released soon) benefit from several of the above changes since they share the same codebase as the desktop app.

Specific to the mobile version 2.5 are some improvements to the beta editor - in particular the layout has been cleaned up, and the first word of sentences is now automatically capitalised, which makes typing notes easier. If you haven't tried the beta editor yet, you can enable it from the Configuration screen.

The full changelog is available there: https://joplinapp.org/changelog/

"Certificate has expired" error with Joplin Cloud, and workaround

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 11:52:15 GMT

Some of you might be experiencing an error "Certificate has expired" when synchronising with Joplin Cloud (and possibly other services) when using the desktop application.

"Certificate has expired" error with Joplin Cloud, and workaround

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Some of you might be experiencing an error "Certificate has expired" when synchronising with Joplin Cloud (and possibly other services) when using the desktop application.

This is due to Let's Encrypt root certificate that expired on 30 September, and the new method they are using is not compatible with the Joplin desktop application.

This actually affects thousands of applications, not just Joplin, so various solutions are being considered right now and hopefully a fix will be available relatively soon.

For now, as a workaround, you can simply check "Ignore TLS certificate errors" in Configuration > Synchronisation > Advanced Options

@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@

- Issue with Electron and expired root on Let's Encrypt

- Let's Encrypt root CA isn't working properly on Electron GitHub repository

Update: I have implemented a temporary fix on Joplin Cloud which should solve the issue for now. If you're still having some issues please let me know. An updated desktop app will be available later on with a more permanent fix.

Joplin 2.4 is available!

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 16:34:58 GMT

Joplin 2.4 is now available on desktop, mobile and CLI. Here's what's new in this release:

Joplin 2.4 is available!

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Joplin 2.4 is now available on desktop, mobile and CLI. Here's what's new in this release:

Sync Wizard Dialog🔗

A new Sync Wizard Dialog has been added to simplify setting up sync on new clients.

The dialog shows the main sync targets, their differences, and makes it easy to choose one and start synchronising. This is mostly aimed at new users or those perhaps less technical. Those who are self hosting or using complex setups will still easily find what they need from a link on that dialog (or in Config > Synchronisation like before).

@@ -181,22 +181,22 @@

This release also includes about 30 various bug fixes and improvements.

A notable one is a fix for GotoAnything, which recently wasn't working on first try.

The plugin screen has also been improved so that search works even when GitHub is down or blocked, as it is in China in particular.

Introducing recommended plugins in the next Joplin version

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 14:40:36 GMT

A common request from new users is how to know which plugin is safe to install or not. In fact probably all of them are safe but as a new user that's not necessarily easy to know. So to help with this, the next version of Joplin will support recommended plugins - those will be plugins that meet our standards of quality and performance, and they will be indicated by a small crown tag inside the plugin box. Recommended plugins will also appear on top when searching.

Introducing recommended plugins in the next Joplin version

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

For now, since we don't have a review process, the recommended plugins are those developed by the Joplin team and frequent contributors, because we know those are safe to use.

Later we might have a review process and add more recommended plugins. That being said, in the meantime even if a plugin is not marked as recommended, there's a good chance it is still safe and have good performance too. Often you can search for it on the forum and if it's active with many users commenting, you're most likely good to go.

But if there's any doubt, the recommended tag is a good way to be sure.

Joplin Cloud is officially production ready!

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:34:15 GMT

Joplin Cloud has been out of beta for a few weeks now and since then it has been quietly running without any troubles. There is no known bugs and the service is running smoothly so it's now safe to say that it is production ready!

Joplin Cloud is officially production ready!

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

As a reminder, Joplin Cloud is meant to provide a more seamless Joplin experience - if you want to quickly get started, it's as easy as downloading the app and getting a Joplin Cloud account. Besides improved sync performance, that will give you the ability to collaborate on notebooks with others, as well as publishing and sharing notes.

Of course Joplin still supports other sync options such as Nextcloud, Dropbox and OneDrive or AWS S3. You can also self host using Joplin Server. The advantage of Joplin Cloud being that you don't need to maintain a server yourself - for a small fee you'll get that taken care of.

Additionally, subscribing to Joplin Cloud is a great way to support the project as a whole, including the open source applications. Such support is needed in the long term to provide bug and security fixes, add new features, and provide support.

At some level it is also an experiment, to see if such a service is financially viable and can allow me to work full time on the project. This is certainly something I would like, and perhaps Joplin Cloud combined with your donations will allow that.

How to start your subscription if you have a free Joplin Cloud Beta account

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 15:43:54 GMT

For anyone with a beta account, if you would like to keep using it after the end of the trial period, there is now a button to do this from the Joplin Cloud home page:

How to start your subscription if you have a free Joplin Cloud Beta account

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

For anyone with a beta account, if you would like to keep using it after the end of the trial period, there is now a button to do this from the Joplin Cloud home page:

If you click on it you will be sent to the Plans page via a special link. Then once you click on "Buy now" you will be sent to the Stripe page where you can start the subscription.

As mentioned in the message, the process takes into account your remaining beta trial days. So for example, if your beta account expires in 60 days, the subscription will have a free 60 days trial period. This is so you don't lose any of the beta trial days no matter when you start the subscription.

If you have any question about it, please let me know.

New beta editor for the mobile app

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 08:50:03 GMT

The latest Android pre-release 24 features an improved beta editor, which I hope could become a replacement for the very basic editor we have at the moment.

New beta editor for the mobile app

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The latest Android pre-release 24 features an improved beta editor, which I hope could become a replacement for the very basic editor we have at the moment.

It's still experimental because it's based on the equally experimental CodeMirror 6, however for simple editing tasks it seems to work fine. At the moment the improvements are:

- Syntax highlighting for various tags such as bold, italic and headings.

- List continuation for ordered and unordered lists (I didn't try checklists but I assume it doesn't work)

@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@

- Maybe better handling of large documents? CodeMirror 6 has a demo that loads a document with millions of lines, so maybe that will solve the performance issues that some users were having

If everything works well, later on we should be able to add things like a toolbar, spellchecking and other features that are impossible with the current editor.

If you find any bug, feel free to report here. Also make sure you backup your notes regularly in case there's an issue!

The Jopin Cloud beta is now closed

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 10:32:34 GMT

The beta program helped narrow down a few issues and should make Joplin Cloud (and Joplin Server) more reliable. More precisely:

The Jopin Cloud beta is now closed

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The beta program helped narrow down a few issues and should make Joplin Cloud (and Joplin Server) more reliable. More precisely:

About 7 bugs have been fixed, including two major ones regarding sharing, and one security issue.
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@
As promised if you have a beta account you can keep using it and it will remain free for the three months after the account was created. After that, you will receive a link to start the Stripe subscription if you wish to keep using the account.

If you have sent me an email before the end of the beta and I didn't reply yet, I will do so soon, and will send you the confirmation email.

Thanks everyone for participating!
-

New website is ready!

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 10:35:38 GMT

The new website is finally ready at https://joplinapp.org

New website is ready!

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The new website is finally ready at https://joplinapp.org

The previous website had been built organically over the past few years. It had a lot of useful content but finding your way was tricky and, for new users, it wasn't clear what Joplin was about. Finding out how to install the app wasn't obvious since the download buttons were lost in the clutter of information.

So the new website includes a front page with clear goals:

@@ -235,14 +235,14 @@

Also many thanks to everyone who voted and contributed to the tagline discussion! It helped narrow down what the tagline should be, along with the equally important description below. If you have any question or notice any issue with the website let me know!

Poll: What should Joplin tagline be?

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:56:26 GMT

Thanks everyone for your tagline suggestions - there were lots of good ideas in there. I've compiled a few of them and create a poll in the forum, so please cast your vote! And if you have any other suggestions on what would make a good tagline, feel free to post over there or here.

Poll: What should Joplin tagline be?

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/poll-what-should-joplin-tagline-be/18487

Any ideas for a Joplin tagline?

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 14:02:28 GMT

I'm going to update the website front page to better showcase the application. I have most of the sections right, but the part I'm still not sure about is the top tagline, so I'm wondering if anyone had any suggestion about it?

Any ideas for a Joplin tagline?

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

From what I can see on Google Keep or Evernote for example it should be something like "Use our app to get X or Y benefit", it should be a sentence that directly speaks to the user essentially.

So far I have "Your notes, anywhere you are" but I'm not certain that's particularly inspiring. Any other idea about what tagline could be used?

Poll: What's the size of your note collection?

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 09:42:47 GMT

Poll is on the forum:

Poll: What's the size of your note collection?

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Poll is on the forum:

https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/poll-whats-the-size-of-your-note-collection/18191

Share notebooks and collaborate on them using Joplin Server 2.0

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:18:44 GMT

Since a few versions Joplin Server includes a way to share notebooks between users and collaborate on them - i.e. any participant can view or modify notes in the shared notebook. It's been present since version 2.x and the feature is getting close to be stable.

Share notebooks and collaborate on them using Joplin Server 2.0

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

How does it work?

When connected to Joplin Server (or the upcoming Joplin Cloud service), a new "Share notebook" menu item is available when right-clicking on a notebook.

@@ -276,4 +276,4 @@

Another possible use, which has been requested many times, is to support multiple profiles. You could create a main profile that have access to all notes, and in there create a Work and Personal notebook. Then you would create a separate account for work. You can then share your Work notebook with that other account. That way the work account will only have access to the Work notebooks. You can use this technique in various ways to split your notebooks between multiple accounts and ensure strict separation between datasets.