Hey guys, I could use some help.
I’ve been switching between different note-taking and knowledge-management systems for a while, and I feel like I’ve tried almost everything.
What I’m looking for is actually pretty simple: one place where I can save basically everything and reliably search it later.
Ideally, the tool should have:
OCR for images and scanned documents
Full-text search inside PDFs
The ability to save web links/pages and search the actual content, not just the title or URL
Good organization for notes, documents, images, links, references, etc.
Fast and reliable search across everything
A modern interface
Minimal setup and maintenance
Because I haven’t found one tool I’m completely happy with, my information is currently scattered across several different apps, which is exactly what I’m trying to avoid.
After searching Reddit, YouTube, blogs, and reviews, even in 2026 I keep coming back to the same conclusion: Evernote still seems to be one of the best overall options for this particular use case.
But before I move everything back to Evernote, I’d love to hear what other people are using.
Is there anything that genuinely does all of this well without requiring a lot of tinkering and setup like Obsidian?
And ideally something with a more modern interface than DEVONthink. I know DEVONthink is extremely powerful, but visually it just isn’t for me.
Basically, I want a “save everything now, find anything later” system.
What would you recommend?

Hi everyone, I'm looking for advice on PKMS and want to run by my thinking with you in case you have related experiences or you have other recommendations. I'm thinking of buying SiYuan as a base level PKMS - just for text, pdf annotation, and ai capabilities.

Main Wish  List
- My main needs are PDF annotation - I read a lot of books. I also do a lot of things with other multimedia, including videos and e-books.  If anyone offered EPUB, that would be the ultimate flex for me.

- Visual graph / whiteboard / canvas

- Backlinks with visual graphs to see it

- Lifetime (No ongoing costs)

- Easy to sync. I found Obsidian a little too onerous and complicated with that

- Ideally, the ability for me to share a whiteboard or content with my family.  I really need to get my kids on some structured routines. Same with my wife. We need to better collaborate.

- Intuitive

- Ideally Notion like functionality, including the ability to track calculations across tables (this is really a minor wish)

Software I've tried / am trying

SiYuan - A little bit different call to understand some of the Chinese aspects.I love the AI integration capabilities and the fact that I can buy all in sync. I'm debating using this for most of my notes, and then when I want to do projects, I pull in notes in Noteey or another tool to do the organization on a whiteboard.

Noteey - Syncing issues / power outages have left me missing notes, and I'm wary of putting everything in it.  To be fair, synch is new, and I think part of the issue was I didn't understand how to reset the sync after a power outage. I don't really think there's a problem with the product, although I miss backlinks, It's just that I worry about my own idiocy, hitting the wrong sych button or deleting my own notes.  I think it's a fantastic system, but I really feel it's limited to one computer for me.  

Affine. I really like Affine, I've installed it on my NAS, but I don't like the fact it doesn't have PDF capabilities. I hear the AI capabilities are not as strong in the whiteboard / graph area.

Upnote - No PDF annotation and no visual graph. Otherwise, I love Upnote. I do wish there were capabilities though, because I have a ton of notes and it'd be useful to be able to summarize them. This is why I'm thinking about SiYuan.

Obsidian - I've tried it in the past, I found it requires a lot of discipline to organize and run it as a system & it has a steep learning curve.  Unfortunately that's not me.

Thoughts?

Abstract

This is my attempt to get closer to a block-reference architecture (SiYuan, Logseq) inside Obsidian – without any extra vibe-coding.

Please leave a comment if you like the material. Right now I specifically want feedback from people who use the same Obsidian features I do – to hear suggestions and questions, and figure out what could be improved. Thanks.

How it works?

In day note creation simulation

Features

• Automatic note creation from a template
• Capturing and adding a note to the Daily Journal page
• Collapsing and expanding callouts
• Capturing the active page onto the Daily Journal

Context

I really love the block-references approach in editors like SiYuan or Logseq.

The Problem

• Obsidian has a page-based architecture, so I had to adapt (with block references everything is far more convenient).
  • If Obsidian only has pages, then the page becomes the minimal block.

Three things remained fundamental

1. Daily Journal
   1. Because I like the idea of a "single window". I have almost no folders – everything works through backlinks. So the Daily Journal is not just a feature. It's the heart of the vault.
2. Outline formatting
   1. Since my WorkFlowy days I've understood that taking notes – and especially working and thinking – is, for me personally, more comfortable in "nested bullets" format. That's what sold me on Logseq in the beginning.
3. Frontmatter properties
   1. Following from point 1, everything rests on links, so I stick to the rule – the more links, the better. Yes, the Graph becomes less pretty, but the practical benefit – namely the number of points through which I can reach information – grows, raising the chances of actually finding the note I need.

And Bases too: more properties = more flexibility, even with the Better Properties plugin.

Here is the main template of a content unit inside the vault.

---
aliases:
date: '[[05-10-2026]]'
related:
type: "[[{{fixed by template}}]]"
note-type:
  - "[[{{fixed by template}}]]"
note-related:
  - "[[{{enter from suggestions}}]]"
note-about:
  - "[[{{enter from suggestions}}]]"
---

Over 3 years of working in Obsidian, I've split all my notes along several axes

• note-type – the type of note. Answers "What is the note?". All of them are baked into QuickAdd.
  • Bookmark
  • Observation
  • Idea
  • Knowledge
  • ... and so on
• note-related – the context of the note. Answers "In what context did this note come about?". This will be unique for everyone; mine are verbs.
  • Working
  • Thinkings
  • Walking
  • ... and so on
• note-about – the topic of the note. Answers "What is the note about?". Also unique; mine are nouns.
  • Family
  • Mind
  • Sport
  • Money
  • ... and so on

And there's one more note, just "Note", with no pre-filled properties. It's for when I can't determine the note-type of the information.

This is already the second version. It mostly differs in CSS – the standard callout rendering is turned off so the page looks more uniform.

>Few words about type: This property sets a category above note-type. If note-type answers the question "What is the note?", then type answers the question "What is it?" – for example: Note, Flashcards, Task, Project.

What next?

Right now I'm testing a version where these embedded callouts live comfortably inside nested outline bullets.

System requirements

• Daily Journal
• QuickAdd
• Templater
• Outliner

Inspired by

• https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/feed-bases
• SiYuan, Logseq

I'm a solo implementation consultant in Minneapolis, mostly Obsidian for client work. Capture honestly feels solved for me lately. Hallway chats, scope calls, random phone stuff lands somewhere now.

Retrieval is where I keep eating it. Dumped maybe 35 project notes in September and still couldnt explain why we picked vendor B on a Tuesday call three weeks ago. Search keeps surfacing six notes titled "client sync" or "scope check-in" and none of them say the actual fork.

I tried phone voice memos first (notifications killed half of them). Zoom gets Otter. Everything else I run through PLAUD Note and still dump into the vault when I remember. The words are there. I just dont have a habit that ties them to the project decision.

Torn between a fixed decision log block at the top of each project MOC, atomic "decision" notes with rigid titles, or slowing down to retitle before I file anything. When capture is fine but retrieval keeps failing, which fork did you actually stick with?