Notational Velocity-inspired notes with Ulauncher on Linux

Back in my MacOS days, I swore by a Notational Velocity fork called nvALT for all my text-based note taking needs. After switching to Linux as my daily driver, I couldn't find a replacement that I liked. One aspect of NV that I found really important was efficiency of the search. With a global shortcut, I could press one key combo, be dropped into NV's input field and immediately start fuzzy-searching my notes or creating a new one, no fumbling with apps or browser tabs whatsoever.

I've since given up searching for a NV replacement on Linux and made my own hybrid solution: it's an extension for the Ulauncher application launcher that lets you search and create notes very quickly. It opens the notes using whatever text editor you have configured as your default.

If you are a Ulauncher user, check out my Notes NV extension.

P.S. I can't say enough good things about using plain text or Markdown files for storing notes on my own devices. This approach is the only reason why I can still access notes going back more than a decade. I've tried Evernote and a myriad other note taking apps on Windows, MacOS and iOS, but none of them stuck, some disappeared, some can no longer be installed.