Hi, I am currently evaluating Inkdrop as my notes app. Overall I like the features and the look and feel.
I would like to use my new notes app for personal projects and learnings, but also for work, since my todo.md file is getting really long if I want to retain all past information for reference (e.g. meeting notes, …). My preferred way of doing things would be to sync my personal notebook to note generic things on work (e.g. “How to solve recurring problem X in language Y”). But my work notes would contain company secrets, so syncing them wouldn’t be allowed, since that would also sync them onto my private machine (even though the notes are end-to-end encrypted). I didn’t find any setting to only sync some notebooks. So my only option would be to completely disable sync on my work machine and just don’t have access to my personal notes. Though I could use my personal smartphone to quickly look something up, but that is not ideal.
Are there any other options? How do you guys tackle that problem?
PS: I am aware that there were some feature requests related to this, but I want to know what other Inkdrop users do
There is some merit to this, however, let me tell you how I handle it.
At the end of the day I end up having to keep track of two systems, my work (Jira), and then my personal notes for work (Inkdrop).
I don’t mention any company secrets in my notes and just document todos for the day/how I might go about getting a task completed (no API secrets, credentials, etc…). I think of it as a playground where unofficial notes can live that are just for me.
Then if I need to I can push some of those notes to Jira for company viewing.
If you keep meeting notes/large scale discussions about projects in your Inkdrop then at the end of the day you just have to keep them separate. I feel like thats a safe thing to do in general concerning work and personal life. Like I have a work phone and a personal phone to keep that separation.
I know thats not really an answer but maybe you could also look into hosting your own notes storage to keep it off others data centers and swap servers when you need?
Thanks for the insight. I might be able to jot down the generic stuff in Inkdrop that way.
How do you accomplish this separation? If I write the notes in Inkdrop and activate sync, they will inevitably end up on my private machine. The mentioned “company secrets” include all non-generic information, like project-related information (e.g. what we are working on) that would also be discussed in meetings.
My problem isn’t really that my notes are stored on external data centers, since they are end-to-end encrypted, and thus encrypted and decrypted locally. I just don’t want the data to sync onto my private machine for the reason mentioned above.
My question was more about the compliance aspect of my company, but the article was very helpful in another aspect nevertheless. I like the analogy to GitHub issues and never thought about it that way. Now the statuses and “x of y tasks done” overview make even more sense, thanks!
Ah sorry
Yeah, it makes sense that you are worried about compliance.
The best way to solve this is to simply have two accounts for private and work if your company would pay for one.
You might think it costs too much but I would make another plan like ‘Pro’ if I were to support selective sync or multiple vaults, so the cost would be eventually the same.
All good, I might have been a bit unclear Thanks also for the suggestion. That makes sense and I will keep it in mind.
Sadly, I found multiple bugs while testing and to be honest, it makes me feel like Inkdrop is a bit too fragile, which isn’t what I’d want for my note taking app. Don’t get me wrong, I like the general look and feel of the app and can definitely see that you worked really hard on making Inkdrop. But as much as I want to like Inkdrop (especially notebooks, task management and note status), those bugs and the missing links feature between notes make me think twice about it.
On a related note: On several occasions in this forum you said that links between notes aren’t a use case for a note taking app or that you don’t use it and thus won’t implement it. But following your analogy of issue-driven note-taking compared to GitHub, links between notes could actually make sense. You can link to other issues in a GitHub issue – for example when they depend on each other or even just to clarify something. I don’t want to push you into something, but maybe that is something to consider for the future
And thank you for taking the time to read my messages and respond. I really appreciate that!
Is it possible to share the bugs you found in the Support category? I am happy to look into them.
Yeah, I sometimes want backlinks myself recently. That’s a good point.
I don’t know everything. I always looking for better solutions and my mind can be changed.
So, your feedback is always appreciated.
There are sooooooo many alternative note apps, so please take your time to pick the best one for you!
Imagine this: I’m diving into Inkdrop, and I’m all excited about its features and sleek design. But then, reality hits. How do I juggle personal projects and work notes without risking leaking company secrets?
it all depends on your needed level of security and encryption plus determining the attack vectors you would define as critical.
there are indeed solutions that encrypt also locally at rest but then when you open that application it is potentially all decrypted in your ram. either way if your machine is compromised your data is at risk.
if you have harddrive encryption enabled and your machine gets locked on suspend then even if your machine got stolen, your data should be safe, even with inkdrop - if that is an attack vector you think about.
it is always a balance. you for sure should never put login details into inkdrop as those would get saved in clear text on your drive - but for that we have password managers, that encrypt those information at rest.
if you are like me and need to put critical information besides your tech notes (like API urls, code snippets of critical infra) then you might want to separate those information in another application (like secure notes in your password manager) and leave traces in inkdrop to those when it becomes critical.
and if the Inkdrop server as a sync target is an issue, you can always create your own couchdb server (that could sit in the infrastructure of your company)
Handling work-related notes can be a bit tricky, especially when it comes to syncing them securely. While Inkdrop seems like a solid choice for personal projects and learning, it’s understandable that syncing sensitive work notes isn’t an option.
One alternative you might consider is using a separate tool for your work notes, like Protected Text. It’s an online platform where notes vanish after reading, adding an extra layer of security for your company secrets.
Personally, I’ve found that keeping work and personal notes separate helps me stay organized and ensures that sensitive information remains secure. It might take a bit of juggling, but finding the right balance between convenience and security is key.
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