Trilium Notes - Open Source, Self Hosted Notes with nth level Hierarchy and Power!

=== Links ===
Show Notes
wiki.opensourceisawesome.com/...
Trilium Notes Github
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=== Timestamps ===
00:00 Beginning
00:09 Introduction to Trilium Notes
00:40 Thank you to my Patrons at Patreon and my Subscribers on KZbin.
01:17 Installing the Desktop App
04:20 Installing the Syncing Server
08:55 Creating the Docker Structure
11:45 Running our Docker Compose File
13:10 User interface of Trilium Notes
20:42 The Desktop Interface Comparison to Web UI
23:50 Setting Up the Sync between Server and Desktop
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=== Attributions ===
Intro and Outro music provided by www.bensound.com

[@user8921]

I really like how patient you are, and how peacefully you explain it's very much beginner-friendly and trust me I have no other words than Thank You so much keep up the good work....

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I appreciate it, and glad you like the content!

[@SavageEnglish]

Thank you so much for uploading this! Finally found the ONE I was looking for, Outliner + Notes + Attachments + mapping. I've tried most of the note taking apps, but this is exactly how I've imagined what a note app I dreamed of.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You're very welcome!

[@alexwhite3271]

I was just looking into setting up Trillium Notes! I am so appreciative of all the work you do.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad to be of help.

[@stagetelephone]

Fantastic, I always watch your channel however I think this was one of your best. Just installed Trilium (following your video) and it looks perfect for what I want. Keep up the good work :-)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it's working for you! Thanks for watching.

[@BrianThomas]

Wow!! This is exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you for doing this video.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You're very welcome!

[@NineKeysDown]

If you scroll down, flathub has a command you can copy & paste right into the terminal. Saves some key strokes :D

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great Tip.

[@melchor2514]

Hi Brian, great work and superb useful, please continue making more videos related with all Open Source solutions 👍👍👍

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Never fear, I’m on it.

[@USBTux]

Installed Trilliun in docker via a stack a couple of months ago works well. Well done highlighting it.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thanks, and glad you're enjoying it.

[@christopherklein3829]

This project is so underrated.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I agree. Super glad someone pointed it out to me. Another amazingly awesome open source notes option.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Agree 100%

[@louchitchat]

it looks very nice, I will give it a try, thank you for sharing this, and thank you for the awesome and detailed tutorial too

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure 😊

[@dbilliions]

I really like it, so amazing app, open source, full control and very fast, i moved all my notes from onenote to Trilium.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

That is awesome!

[@jim7smith]

Excellently done. I am setting up a new desktop and looking forward to trying this out. I have been using cherrytree for years and years, but AFAIK it is local only, I have not been keeping up with any new development. What I really like about it is the plethora of keystroke shortcuts, since I detest having to always "mouse around".

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I understand, I"m a huge keyboard user myself.

[@Glatze603]

Hi Brian, that's a really great open source documentation solution for all my stuff and getting rid of my text files 👍 Thanks one more time for your fantastic videos and content!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure! Hope it’s useful for you.

[@Glatze603]

@@AwesomeOpenSource We will see next week when I have migrated all my stuff to Trilium 😜

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

So, how did it go?

[@Glatze603]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I'll tackle this week, since I'm on vacation now :-) Will report!

[@Glatze603]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Hi Brian, Trilium is realy great and it´s feature set is fantastic for all kind of documentations! It´s exactly what I have been looking for! A good feature is the automatic Sync of Desktop-App and Server (it is no good idea to save a docu for a server-recovery on the server!), so I always have all docus offline on my client and saved on my server! More god features are full text search, export of all docus (in case the app does not start any more) and so on... A missing option is highlighting in note blocks and the missing "copy button" for note blocks, what would be very usefull, too. I hope this will be implemented in the future. Thanks for this very good content Brian 🙂

[@SpojlerSSJ]

Wow that is awsome... i can create my own notes in one place :)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Indeed!

[@kson2659]

I started with Trilium like 1.5 years ago, but the lack of a mobile app made me switch to Obsidian. Even if its not 100% Open Source. Notes are stored as md in the filesystem, you can take care of sync yourself or pay for their syncservice embedded in the desktop/mobile app.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If it works for you, then that's a good thing. Always good to know there are alternatives if you need them.

[@kim15742]

I am also an Obsidian user. One symptom of its closed-sourceness is that there are many open feature requests and no one can do anything about it. When an app is open source, anyone can submit a pull request; at the very worst you end up using a fork

[@PatrickBulteel]

I like watching your videos and how you advocate for Open Source. One thing I am really curious about is your backup strategy. What do you use, where do you backup to, etc. I don't think I have seen a video on that subject yet. This becomes important when you start using things like NextCloud and all of these tools as business or even essential tools. If you were to lose data, would you still be able to continue working? What about testing those backups? What about securing them? Keep up the good work, I'll keep pointing more people to your videos.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm working on a video about backups and strategies I use, as well as just good options in general. It should be out in a couple of weeks.

[@hugbearsx4]

Nice app and review, thanks for the effort! A lightter-weight option would be Zim Desktop Wiki, maybe check that out, too,

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Used it in the past. Not bad.

[@jeroboam4486]

FYI you can copy the commands to install and run a Flatpak at the bottom of its description page instead of using the URL.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great tip. A few others pointed that out as well. I don't know why I always seem to find the hard way to do things.

[@zoranaw7964]

Logseq is also interesting efective note taking tool - and much more with 150 plugins (open s.)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I've been looking at it. Haven't gotten a video ready yet, but one coming in the future on it.

[@brianabston1801]

Thanks for the review.. I had a question as well.. You talked about running your backup script that zips up everything and copied off. I would like more details of that and how you are doing it.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sure thing. I use a simple script to 7zip my entire docker folder. So I setup my containers in the following way. home - docker - different containers each in their own folder Then I zip the docker folder which contains all of my container folders. I setup my containers to have their mapped volumes inside their folder. So everything is in one location. When I zip it up, I then take that zipped file, and rsync it to my NAS. This is all done in a script, and run on a cron schedule. Caution: Zipping up directories with mapped databases could cause corruption if you try to copy during a write. I do my backups in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep so the likelihood of that is extremely low. The best practice is to stop the containers, zip them up, and then start them again after (which could also be scripted). Hope that helps,

[@GregVasquez777]

Awesome. Can this be installed on a standard hosting site through cpanel?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

This is really a desktop app, but the sync server may can be installed through CPanel, if it can do docker it should work. I don't know for sure though.

[@yourpcmd]

Thanks for this. Question though, what are Ntoes?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Me and my typos. Anytime you want auto-correct to help out, it doesn't. Thanks for letting me know.

[@BreetaiZentradi]

Here is a protip: If you run your own sync server, you have to be on the same version of the sync server and the note app. That will also mean upgrading at the same time. You can't run version 0.54 of the server and version 0.55 of the app. This is something you have to keep in mind of you run the sever as a docker container and use watchtower to automatically upgrade you docker containers.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great tip! Thanks for that.

[@BreetaiZentradi]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Don's ask me how I know :)

[@andrewdatar9880]

@@BreetaiZentradi What happens when there is version mismatch? No sync? Data lost? Other?

[@BreetaiZentradi]

@@andrewdatar9880 When setting up if the versions don't match you can't even pair up for a sync. I am not sure if syncing stops, or even if that is version dependent, as in V54 client can sync with v50-v54 server, and the v55, v56 clients can sync v55 and v56 servers.

[@venopsis]

Does this support any idp for SSO and related? Like Authelia or Azure AD via SAML, etc.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not that I’m aware of.

[@venopsis]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks for the reply. I'll keep an eye on it.

[@MichaelSharpTechniSmart]

Where did you get the version 3.3 in the yml file. docker-compose I found in Dockerhub is tagged at 2.21.0 You did not explain it in the show notes or the tutorial.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sorry for the lack of explanation. The version in the .yml file is the version of the configuration layout. This will differ from the version of Docker Compose you have installed. Each version of Docker Compose will have support for varying versions of the configuration files. As time progresses, no versions are made and adapted to try and make things easier, and keep up with changes in Docker itself.

[@H1kari_1]

Thank you so much! I installed it via docker on my webserver and it works but the UI update just doesnt work. Creating, Deleting, Renaming notes only appears when completely refreshing the page.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hmmmm. Odd. Not sure why, mine updates when I make changes.

[@H1kari_1]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I just solved it. Plesk + Docker is a little quirky. In the Github Trilium Repo there is a issue where amI explained my approach for fixing it. Websockets was the culprit :)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you got it.

[@mackiebthatsme7287]

how do i View the notes in 'Snippet View' instead of 'Card View'? ie.. how do i view the notes in rows?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not sure you can do it that way, but you can click into each note for a better view of it.

[@mackiebthatsme7287]

ok, thanks @@AwesomeOpenSource

[@gabrielferrer2400]

Can I import the Joplin notebook to Trilium Notes ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yep, in Joplin there is an export, and in Trilium there is an import. Just use the JSON format for each.

[@SYMBIOTGAMINGsid]

Can we use multiple users login different notes

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not that I could find, no. Really meant for a user alone.

[@StephanLiebenberg]

Is the browser interface mobile friendly?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I have found it to scale well for my iPhone 11.

[@AcidiFy574]

How does it fair against Obsidian ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I've never used Obsidian, so I can't say. The best part is it's free to try, so download the desktop app and try it, then if you like it, setup the sync server as well.

[@christopherklein3829]

As already written in another video post: Its a shame that there isn't a android app for mobile use/sync. And i am missing local ai support. Somehow I have the feeling that obsidian or logseq are developing faster. But primarily, I miss a mobile app. I hope that the developer reads this somehow. Does anyone else use trilium? I'm having a really hard time migrating away from trilium.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yeah, I'd love Trilium to get some native apps, or at least have someone put a native wrapper around the web app to make it a bit easier to use on the mobile, but the mobile web experience is actually pretty good.

[@peterbond12]

If I’ve got to install from the command line,forget it !!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Depends on the distro you use. Fedora, some Ubuntu based spins, Pop_OS for instance, just have the flatpak repo in their graphical software centers. You might see if you see it in the software center.

[@EYESxRxOPEN]

Bro cmd not working its saying flatpak not recognised

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hmmm. You have flatpak installed on your system right? And setup the flathub repo for flatpak to search in?

[@MichaelBransonCoach]

Be super careful to backup notes regularly. I lost Everything with an inadvertent docker script. I no longer use Trilium.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Backups are always super important.

[@andrewdatar9880]

How did it happen, please provide more details

[@MichaelBransonCoach]

@@andrewdatar9880 I rebuilt the container during an auto upgrade and it destroyed the custom volume.

[@andrewdatar9880]

@@MichaelBransonCoach That's bad. What about notes on other machines? Did they survive or they were lost too after sync resuming?

[@MichaelBransonCoach]

@@andrewdatar9880 It was a stand alone server as a test of the product. I'd brain dumped about a month of research notes and expected, like every other docker container I work with, that the volume would remain unchanged. I've moved to Obsidian as I prefer file based data for critical notes over unknown format db's.

and cheaper than obsidian xD

[@WebmediArt]

But does it support graph view, links etc? 👀 Queries like dataview does?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I've heard good things about Obsidian, never used it though.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

There are several ways to show graphs and charts in Trilium, and then it does have the networked notes view, which is pretty awesome as well.

[@sirrobertdowneysenior8080]

Another electron app. 🥺

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't understand why people dislike electron so much. It seems to work just fine for me, and it makes the switch from desktop to web seamless.

[@sirrobertdowneysenior8080]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Just once for God sake try using that Electron app on older hardware. It takes atleast 20 seconds for any electron apps to launch while any other c/c++/rust application starts withing 1-5 seconds. Beside once electron app starts i hear humming voice in my headphone (There's nothing installed on my front panel neither it's connected to motherboard) headphone connected to back pannel port only. Whenever I move mouse or scroll something it makes screeching noise. They says it's based off chromium i used every chromium based browser. Chromium brave edge nothing else causes this. Beside even after such suffering the response time of apps degrades as system uptime is increasing.

[@sirrobertdowneysenior8080]

@@AwesomeOpenSource TBH it's become a general practice for me to go on electron showcase and check if application is listed there. If yes I have no other option than looking for some alternatives. Some applications like note taking with Joplin i failed to find an alternative am looking for Emacs sync and Encryption on Android.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@sirrobertdowneysenior8080 now that seems like a reason to dislike Electron for sure. You did see that they are actively releasing new versions in Qt (C++)? Right?

[@sirrobertdowneysenior8080]

Sorry am unaware of it.

[@JaysonGriggs]

Obsidian is better

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If a tool works well for you, then definitely use it. I just love to provide open source options as much as I can.

[@icyhotonmynuts]

I am almost sold on this to replace OneNote. I tried searching for an Android application but I didn't see one. Id say 80% of my OneNote access in via mobile but I see a lot more useful features in Trillium app. Any ideas how the web interface handles or looks on mobile?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I have a couple of mobile screenshots on my shownotes for this video. From an iPhone, but should give you and idea anyway. Show notes link is in the description.

[@icyhotonmynuts]

@@AwesomeOpenSource wow, that looks almost identical, albeit more compact view of the desktop/web app. I see you have info on reverse proxy allowance to sync over the web. Do you have any experience with Authentik? I may dabble in the coming weeks. So far this app is promising! Thank you

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I want to cover Authentik in the future. I'm still learning about it, and it seems pretty robust. I found a nice channel called the @cooptonian . It's a great channel, and he really covers a lot in some fairly short videos. I still have questions, but it's a good place to start for sure. Make sure to follow him, and give his videos a like as well.

[@icyhotonmynuts]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks. I'll check out that channel. I learned about Authentik from Ibracorp's Unraid tutorials.