Migrated from Joplin to Org Attach
==================================
Joplin runs on Linux and MacOS, but is harder to install on
BSD, if possible at all. So, for some time I wanted to move
away from it.
I had some positive experiences with Org Attach, and decided
to see if a migration from Joplin to Org Attach is doable.
Joplin notes
------------
My notes in Joplin have a long history.
In 2012 I got an iPad Mini at work. In order to be able to
share notes between that iPad and my laptop, I installed
Evernote.
After some time I added a notebook for private notes in
Evernote and used that to store PDF files from invoices,
receipts, and stuff like that.
Some years later I abandoned the iPad Mini and stopped
using Evernote, except for the invoices.
When Joplin became available, I exported my private notebook
and imported that into Joplin. After this, I stopped using
Evernote. When we buy something at a store and I want to
keep the receipt, I still put that in Joplin.
Currently, most Joplin notes are just imported PDF files,
and photos of receipts. Also, I have kept notes that I made
before the conversion to Joplin, during some workshops I
attended.
I run a FreeBSD jail with a small webdav daemon, to
let Joplin synchronize the data.
Org Attach
----------
Org Attach is method to link attachments to org mode files.
Org Attach supports several ways to link and store the
attachments. I prefer the default method, which creates a
local data directory and copies the attachments into this
data directory. The big advantage of this method is, that it
creates a completely portable set, consisting of the org
mode text file and the data directory.
When you copy this as a complete set to another system, the
links on that system still work and can be opened from the
org mode text file.
Automatic commit to Git
-----------------------
Org Attach can commit the attachments automatic to Git.
To set this up, you have to do two things:
* Add a line to $HOME/.emacs:
(require 'org-attach-git)
* Create a Git repository in the data directory:
git init
After this, new attachments will be committed to Git.
Export from Joplin
------------------
Choose a notebook in Joplin and export all notes to a
directory. This creates a lot of files with the extension
"md", and creates a subdirectory called "resources", with
the PDF files and image files.
The file names of the export are in the format
"checksum.extension", like:
"199d72f2161d4d5fba1b73ac8a89722d.md".
I tried some scripting to get a more meaningful filename.
I started with "ls > filelist" in the resource directory, and with
some ed foo I created a file that looks like this:
Create org text file
--------------------
In Emacs I created a new directory in my $HOME and
opened a new org mode file in that directory.
I created a new header, something like:
* Invoices and receipts
and put the point (a.k.a. cursor) below it.
With "C-x 3" I opened a new window, and in it opened
in Dired the resources directory. This directory now
contains only useful files, with reasonable meaningful
file names.
I marked all the files, and with the command "C-c C-x a" let
Org Attach attach all the files to the org file. It created an
PROPERTIES drawer with an ID, to link the attachments
to the org mode header..
Next, I issued the command "C-c C-l" a lot of times, once
for each attached file. This command creates the
links to the attachments.
When all the links are created, save the org mode file.
Markdown notes
--------------
For the workshop notes I created a new header in the
org mode text file and moved point below it.
The workshop notes where among the markdown files, with
the format "checksum.md". I grepped to find the specific
files, and opened those in Emacs.
At the bottom of the buffer I removed the lines that had
been added by either Evernote or Joplin (don't know), and
used "C-c C-a b" to create an attacment file from the
buffer, using another brilliant feature from Org Attach.
Result
------
The result is a directory, containing a org mode text file,
and a data subdirectory, together in a Git repository.
This is a portable set, that can be copied to other systems.
So now my invoices and receipts, and my workshop notes, are
in an OS-independent system (unless you want to call Emacs
an OS :), and I don't have to keep a VM running Linux just
for Joplin anymore.
Hindsight, or lessons learned
-----------------------------
In hindsight it was smarter to insert the individual
links with some scripting, and not type many times "C-c C-l"
for each link. It is all plain text after all, the links have
the format:
[[attachment:filename][readable name]]
First I created a Git repo in the data directory. It is
better to do that one level higher, so the org mode text
file is in the same repository.
