“Notion has capable mobile apps, but its strengths are more apparent when organising information than when capturing something in a hurry.”
“Best for structured workspaces”
“Notion has made substantial improvements to offline functionality.”
“For capturing a passing thought, it can feel heavier than OneNote or Obsidian.”
“Individual pages need to be downloaded for offline access.”
“Evernote — capable desktop, less convincing mobile offline experience”
“Best for document capture”
“On Windows, synced notebooks are stored in a local database, making them accessible offline.”
“On mobile, however, full note contents aren't necessarily downloaded automatically.”
“For your requirements, I would concentrate on Microsoft OneNote, Obsidian and Joplin, with Notion as a fourth option if you want more of a structured workspace.”
“OneNote is particularly good at capturing different kinds of information:”
“Windows: Very good offline functionality.”
“It is probably the easiest application to adopt.”
“Mobile: You need to ensure your notebooks and relevant attachments have synchronised.”
“Obsidian is my strongest recommendation if offline reliability is a major priority.”
“Obsidian is my strongest recommendation if offline reliability is a major priority.”
“Your notes are stored as files on your computer.”
“Obsidian — excellent for text-based capture”
“The disadvantage: You need to configure synchronisation between your Windows computer and phone.”
“Joplin is also designed around local storage.”
“Joplin's documentation explicitly describes it as offline-first.”
“Best open-source alternative | Joplin”
“End-to-end encryption is supported.”
“The disadvantage: Its interface and editing experience are less sophisticated than Obsidian's.”
“Its mobile interface is less polished than OneNote's or Obsidian's, but it is perfectly capable for ordinary note-taking.”
“Another alternative with Windows, Android and iOS applications.”
“Its emphasis is encrypted note storage, privacy and reliable synchronisation.”
“UpNote deserves consideration if you want something simpler and more immediately pleasant to use than Obsidian.”
“Attractive, uncluttered interface.”
“Offline note access.”
“It is less extensible than Obsidian and doesn't offer the same degree of control over your underlying files.”