Open Data Format for GoodNotes
I’ve just had a bad experience with NotesPlus in which the app has had a series of really bad software problems.
In looking for replacements, I am extremely worried about vendor lock in where the editable version of my data is locked away inside a black box.
My notes are just that, my notes, and reflect many hours of my life’s work.
Fortunately NotesPlus uses an open data format - a directory structure which includes document names and a tree of sub folders that hold each page of handwritten text as an SVG scalable vector graphics file which I can access and modify using other tools if I wish.
There is as such no lock-in to a proprietary closed database format.
With Goodnotes, the .notes files are encrypted binary and you cannot read them. All your notes are locked away.
Is it possible for Goodnotes to EITHER publish its file format as an open standard OR create an export option where open readable data formats are used (eg json and SVG ) ?
Note that PDF’s don’t go the full distance to what I’d like to see because the handwriting is not easily editable.
RMLNZ
shared this idea
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M M commented
I not only would see this topic from a perspective of vendor locking. Sometimes you want to change a document with another tool (e.g. PDF Writer). So it would be nice if you could do this parallel. And afterwards go on working with this document within Goodnotes.
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Alexander
commented
Good idea. Vendor locking is bad. And I know a lot of people who would use the app if they had assurances, that they will be able to open and read their notes 10-20-30 years from now. And if file format specification is open, anyone can make 3rd party viewers/editors in the event if goodnotes will cease to exist.
This will also allow other developers to build integrations with goodnotes into their own apps. For example, I only recently started to use the app, so I have a ton of notes on paper, that I want to see a editable notes in app. And so happens that I with friends making scanner tool for notes and books that output vector pages. But if you try to import it as pdf notes will be uneditable. If we would know file format specification, we would be able to generate editable notes for import.