Notion’s offline mode might just make me ditch Obsidian

Notion is one among 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 change to Obsidian. That’s largely due to Notion’s one deadly flaw. The second you lose web, the app successfully turns into ineffective.

I’ve discovered that the arduous approach on flights, cafes with rocky Wi-Fi, even when desirous to examine a washer’s upkeep schedule in my basement laundry with no mobile sign. It’s what pushed me in the direction of Obsidian, a local-first markdown-based app that has by no means failed me after I just wanted entry to my notes. For a really very long time now, Obsidian has been my security internet. But now that Notion has lastly mounted that deadly flaw by rolling out offline mode, it might be time for a rethink. Perhaps it’s time to ditch Obsidian and return to Notion. Here’s why.

For anybody who has used Notion lengthy sufficient, the shortage 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 whenever you misplaced entry to the web, you additionally misplaced the app’s utility. You may very well be staring on the prettiest dashboard on the earth, however when you wished to examine your notes throughout a flight or in an space with no sign, it was successfully ineffective.

For me, that was the hole Obsidian stepped into so neatly. With its markdown-based recordsdata residing in your native storage, it by no means mattered if the web was on or off. I might take my laptop computer on a long-haul flight or my telephone right into a low-signal zone, and my notes had been at all times there. Obviously, I couldn’t sync recordsdata 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 instances I’ve been mid-thought on a flight and wished so as to add one thing to my mission tracker, solely to stare at a clean Notion display screen. 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 approach wherever, it feels just like the stability is bridging the hole within the characteristic set. As somebody who’s ceaselessly on the go, I wanted that sort of reliability, and Obsidian has been the place the place I hold something vital.

Of course, Obsidian and Notion are very completely different in how they method note-taking. Obsidian leans into extensibility with plugins for nearly every thing, and the truth that all notes are just easy markdown recordsdata means they’re as moveable because it will get. But the app isn’t excellent. Even the best duties can take just a bit an excessive amount of time to perform.

Notion, however, is extra polished and collaborative. Building a database takes solely a few clicks. It rapidly allows you to hyperlink initiatives, create aesthetic and practical pages, share them to the web with one click on, and extra. Features like Notion Forms are unimaginable for fast knowledge entry on the go. Suffice it to say, Notion has at all times felt like the higher instrument for managing greater initiatives, whereas Obsidian is extra geared in the direction of private initiatives 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 with no need the web. Everything syncs again when you reconnect, much like Obsidian. On paper, meaning I now not want two separate instruments. My use case is best served by Notion, and getting access to offline mode means I ought to have the ability to ditch Obsidian. Well, as is at all times 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 computerized. Any web page that you simply need to entry offline should be marked for offline use on every gadget you intend to make use of. If you overlook to do this, you’re out of luck. Premium plans do ease issues by mechanically 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 boundaries. Databases are capped at 50 rows for offline entry with no option to drive a full obtain. If you might have a sophisticated setup utilizing a number of subpages, you’ll should manually toggle every one for offline entry. Subpages don’t mechanically tag alongside whenever you mark a guardian web page offline. On high of that, embedded content material, buttons, and varieties cease working with no connection. None of those points are dealbreakers individually, however collectively they make offline mode really feel extra like a workaround than a seamless characteristic. While I’m glad the characteristic exists, it’s clear that Notion was constructed from the bottom up as a cloud-first instrument.

Despite the numerous 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 instrument resulting from its extra outlined schema of getting issues achieved. Obsidian affords extra freedom and has by no means let me down with offline entry, however all too usually you need to soar by means of hoops for easy duties. Sometimes you even want to put in third-party plugins for what ought to be primary performance. That isn’t ideally suited for a way I take advantage of apps.

With offline mode, Notion has lastly earned again a few of that belief. Offline mode will not be excellent, however it now not collapses the second Wi-Fi drops. That is sufficient for me to think about shifting again.

At the identical time, I don’t see myself deleting Obsidian any time quickly. Markdown recordsdata saved regionally are nonetheless unmatched for permanence. If one thing goes improper, 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. But the fact is that I don’t need to dwell in two worlds anymore. Splitting notes between apps provides friction I now not want. If Notion can do sufficient for me day after day, then Obsidian begins to really feel like a security internet I don’t have to examine fairly as usually.

For now, I’ll most likely combine Notion extra into my day by day workflow whereas conserving important entry paperwork on Obsidian. I nonetheless have to see how nicely offline syncing holds up in real-world use. How nicely does Notion deal with conflicts? Will Notion enhance the database restrict? These are questions that solely long-term use can reply. But offline mode, even in its present type, is sufficient for me to significantly think about ditching Obsidian. And it might just be for you as nicely.