farmerbb/notepad

A simple, bare-bones, no-frills note taking app for Android.

View my Android apps on Google Play

notepad's Issues

Dark mode visibility "Type to add text"

In dark mode, if one want to add a new note, the screen coming up is dark grey and the message "Type to add text" is black and not or nearly not visible. Please can you change this text to white or another bright colour? Thank you

Sugestion: Can you please add OLED Black as theme

Hello,
Like the title said, if you have the time and you add a black theme (suitable for oled)?

Migrate to androidx.preference

We're currently using android.preference to manage our settings. But since this package is deprecated we should migrate to use androidx.preference.

The "add" floating button on the main page displays wrong after getting to the export page

• I have searched the history bug list, and have not found a similar bug.

• The bug was found on the latest version 2.3.5 on google play (can be reproduced on an Android emulator 6.0 and a Redmi Note 4X phone )

• Bug: I install the version 2.3.5 and start the app, create a new note "Test1", then long click "Test1" in the main page, click the "export" icon in the action bar. It get to the export page and I click back instead of saving it, which returns to the main page but the "add" floating button now displays wrong.
  It can get the button display correctly by

1. click the button and click BACK

2. click "Test1" and click BACK

3. long click "Test1", click "delete" icon in the action bar and click CANCEL(as shown in the video)

• Reproducing video:https://youtu.be/3ykAB3j96VU

It would be really appreciated to get your concern on this. Thanks

'Back Arrow' button should have 'Save changes' prompt even if 'Ask before saving' setting is OFF

Hi,

'Back Arrow' button should have 'Save changes' prompt when changes are made, even if 'Ask before saving' setting is OFF.

So that user will have a way to undo all the (accidental/unwanted) changes after the previous save.

Regards.

Is it possible to change the title of your note?

The app usually names the note according to what's on the first line of my file, but I don't always want that.

Will it automatically sync to google drive or not Will it automatically sync to google drive or not?

I remember that notepad app in use is not synchronized to device backups on google drive. Why is it now displayed in google drive backups, instead of being synchronized to a new phone?

Where notes are saved

Could you tell me in what location are saved notes?

Export note to storage where note already exists

App version:
2.3.3

OS version:
Android 8.1 (Lineage 15.1)

Expected behaviour:
When exporting a note to a storage location where a file with the same name already exists, tapping the Save button should prompt the user with a dialog to confirm overwriting the existing file.

Actual behaviour:
Despite the note having the same as an existing file, tapping the Save button proceeds to export the note without any prompts, appending a number to the filename (e.g. saved_note (1).txt; saved_note (2).txt; etc.). The only way to export a note to overwrite an existing file is to scroll and tap the filename from the file chooser/explorer list.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Import text file from storage (e.g. example_note.txt)
2. Edit note as desired (optional)
3. Tap to export note
4. Leave filename unchanged and tap Save button
5. Browse storage location in a file explorer and notice that the file is not overwritten but is instead duplicated

Repeating steps 1 - 4 will therefore export the note multiple times. Is this the desired behaviour? It seems to perform contrary to most applications and operating systems.

Feature Request: Add a Reminder Functionality

Creating little notes and using them as reminders is one of my main use cases with a note taking app. I think it's a really useful feature that this app should have as well.

Feature request : encrypted, password and fingerprint

It could be cool to have an encrypted storage for this app with fingerprint needed each time I want to access notes

Versioned frequent backups (since typed text gets erased)

This is actually two issues:

1. A bug;
2. A proposed workaround.

1. The bug,

which just happened to me, is that -- sometimes -- when switching between the app and other apps...
... some of the text I typed is "rewound" back to my initial input, and it "loses" more recent text.
.
Reproduce attempt:
i.) Type some form-text in a DIFFERENT app (not notepad),,
then
ii.) highlight & use the android "Share..." clipboard/context menu
to send it to the Notepad app.
iii.) This creates a brand-new Note, w/ the relevant text.
iv.) In this new Note, type some more additional text.
v.) Without exiting, Switch out of the app back to first (unrelated) app.
...
From that point, I dont remember the exact steps.
.
But somehow (maybe by re-Sharing the same text again?? Not clear)...
... When I went back into Notepad,
it "reset" my Note to just its initially-shared text.
.
Last 10 minutes of typing gone.
.
Yes, auto-save was enabled.

.

2. Proposed workaround fix:

Create a 'version' automatic feature,
which saves changes every X frequency -- either time-based, or bytediff-based, or...
... Maybe could simply store the last 5 Save states
?
Like,
My note WAS auto-saved, several times.
.
Maybe that could have kept it
?

2b.

Add a button to restore X saved version,
in case of:
user's latest save (automatic or not)
failed and corrupted/deleted text.

Feature Request: Add a checklist functionality

Add a checklist functionality.
It'd be really nice if I can store notes and also "shopping lists" that I can make a list of items where each line be "checked" and "unchecked".

Expand note

A feature I would like to have in Notepad is to expand a note in the list view by a short tap on it to see the whole note, instead of having to go to a new window.
Another tap and it will shrink to normal.
A small edit button on each list entry (maybe just above or beside date/time) to enter a new window for editing. Or maybe a toolbar button beside delete/export buttons when a note entry is selected (only when one is selected).

I don't know if this is possible to implement in your app (I am no programmer), so just close this issue if it's not possible or you don't want it.

Is this project dead, abandonware?

I looked and there don't seem to be any commits in the last twelve months, compared to mutiple-per-year commits prior to that.
No worries, just would be nice to know.

Suggestion For Notepad : Improvement Features On The Page Write Notes And add details from the note

Components

The components (Features) I want to suggest is:

Feature Name	Points
Improvement Features On The Page Write Notes	Add Title, Add Image, Add Voice, Add Tag
Details from the note	Created and Updated

Proposal Description

Notepad is an application writes very simple and interesting notes. Honestly, I like the simple concept. This is very easy for users who don't like something complicated. But, for some reason I think Notepad is too simple for a note application.

I am one of the users who really needs an notes application, almost every day I use the note application in my office work. So many assignments I faced at my job. So that I don't forget it, I always write it on the note application on my smartphone. For myself, I need a note application that not only can write text, I need a note application that can insert images and so on. I needed that so I could add some details to my notes.

While the Notepad application, I think the developer still needs to do feature development in the Notepad application. This is useful to make it more attractive to users and can compete with similar applications. The problem now is, if Notepad developers only maintain their simplicity, I think Notepad will lose competitiveness with other applications. Because for the latest smartphones at the moment, I think it already has a default note application. Therefore, developers must present applications that are superior in quality than the default application on smartphones so that users are more interested.

In this contribution, I want to help developers share ideas to make the Notepad application even more interesting. There are some features that I want to recommend for developers, and in my opinion the features that I recommend really have very good benefits for users later.

1. Improvement Features On The Page Write Notes

• Add Title
  This is the first feature I want to recommend, and I have seen several times in the Github issue that users recommend that this feature be added. And at this time, I tried to suggest again in more detail so that developers could consider if this feature was very important. This "Add Title" feature serves to describe the topic of the note. Users can easily search their notes through titles without having to open the contents of the note again.

• Add Image
  By being able to add images to the contents of the note, this certainly helps users to write notes in more detail by adding images.

• Add Voice
  This is a very important feature if added to the Notepad application. Sometimes, users do not have time to write notes quickly, and by being able to add voice recordings in notes, this helps users save long records in voice recordings in the Notepad application.

• Add tag
  By being able to add tags to notes, this certainly helps users in sorting notes. Users can sort their records according to certain categories so that all user records can be arranged neatly. And users can also find their notes easily if sorted by tags.

2. Details from the note

I also want to advise developers to add details to notes in Notepad such as "Created and Updated". This is useful for users to be able to find out when the record was created and updated last time. I suggest that in (Created and Update), not only display the day of note-taking but also added what time the note was made.

Note : To see the location of features and examples of features display, developers can see them in the points below.

Mockups / Examples

Below I will show examples of locations or illustrations if the features I recommend are implemented by the Developer.

---

Benefits

The benefits of the features above are as follows:

1. Improvement Features On The Page Write Notes (Add Title, Add Image, Add Voice, Add Tag)

I have explained the benefits of the features in the points above (Proposal Description). The benefits of all these enhancements will be to help users write notes in more detail such as adding images, adding sound recordings, and can add tags that are used to sort notes according to certain categories.

2. Details from the note (Created and Updated)

By adding details to the notes such as (Created and Update), the user can see when the note was last Created and updated. This is useful for users to remember something that might be forgotten through the details of that time.

Conclusion

To implement the features above, developers may need to make major improvements to the Notepad application. And in my opinion, it doesn't matter because it will have a good effect later for users and developers.

And The features that I recommend are certainly very useful for users and developers because will improve user experience later. And this will add value to the Notepad Application. And I hope, the Notepad Application developer will soon be able to implement this suggestion.

Thank You :)

Hyperlink text too dark to be legible in Dark Theme Markdown View mode

Hi,

As per subject heading and images below.

Markdown View mode:

Normal View mode:

Regards.

Unexpected behaviours after a screen orientation change (reported by activity)

I developed an automatic test case generation tool and it detected these problems in your app.
I would like to know if you consider them as failures and, if not, why. Thanks for your collaboration.

1. When I change the orientation of the device screen, the TextView disappears in VideoActivity
   
   

2. When I change the orientation of the device screen, RecordActivity changes its state. Below there are different examples: the screenshots were taken before and after the screen orientation change and they are paired (before, after), (before, after) ...

-- first case --
"Paste, Select All" option disappear

-- second case --
The TextView disappears

3. When I change the orientation of the device screen, the Dialog disappears in PictureActivity
   
   

4. When I change the orientation of the device screen, MainActivity changes its state. Below there are different examples: the screenshots were taken before and after the screen orientation change and they are paired (before, after), (before, after) ...

-- first case --
The items appear

-- second case --
The two items switch their order

-- third case --
The dialog disappears

5. When I change the orientation of the device screen, the TextView disappears in FolderActivity
   
   

6. When I change the orientation of the device screen, The Dialog disappears in BuyActivity
   
   

7. When I change the orientation of the device screen, the Dialog in AddActivity disappears in AddActivity
   
   

Enhancement suggestion: remember cursor position when re-opening existing note

Thanks for the great app.

I think it'd be even greater if opening a saved note returned the cursor to the position it was in when the note was saved.

Keep up the good work!

It gets to the open file page when there are more than one note selected to export

Hello, I really appreciate it for your amazing app

• I have searched the history bug list, and have not found a similar bug.

• The bug was found on the latest version 2.3.5 on google play (can be reproduced on an Android emulator 6.0 and a Redmi Note 4X phone )

• Bug:I install the version 2.3.5 and start the app,
  create a new note "Test1", and long click "Test1", click the "export" icon in the action bar, it get to the export file page accordingly.

But I create another note called "Test2", long click both "Test1" and "Test2", and click the "export" icon in the action bar. It get to the open file page unexpectedly. This can be a little bit confusing since it is a export operation after all.
It could also get to the export file page accordingly and save the two note in a folder separately or as a compressed file alone(just my own view) or pop up an friendly alert.

It would be really appreciated to get your concern on this. Thanks

Feature Request: Change theme depending on system theme (automatic dark mode)

Use a different markdown renderer

Always loved this app! but only for quick notes, I have always needed a second app for markdown as this one doesnt render it as well as others. Example:

| example | example |
---|---
example | example

should render a table as it does in Github etc.
code blocks also do not render, others can and also include syntax highlighting when started as so:

```bash

Please consider changing the mardown renderer to another.
Opensource apps (found here on Github) that render markdown beautifully are:

• turtl
• markor
• joplin
• viper edit

I have tested EVERY open source markdown viewer/editor available since 2014, the four apps above are by far the best.
I read about this is a "low" priority project compared to the rest of your apps (I totally get that, considering you make amazing apps like 'Taskbar' etc, that must take up a lot of time) I am not fluent in Java or Kotlin unfortunately, but more than capable of finding the libs these great markdown apps are using if that is help? or saves you some time? I just think if this app includes markdown, it should do it well, if not it should be removed and be just a text editor (no markdown)

allow:backup false in Android manifest

Hi there, can we turn the above mentioned flag off in manifest. It lets google backup the app preferences and db meaning taking your content to cloud.

Markdown

I think that it would be a useful addition if the app could open and save text files with a .md extension for use with Markdown.

Suggestion to disable auto-save note by going back to view-all-notes menu thingy

Before all, I wish to thank you all for creating such a wonderful app.

When "Ask before saving" option is unchecked, I believe there is a minor problem.

Without the setting option "Ask before saving", one should still be able to restore previous state of a modified note if they haven't saved its modified version. However, there is no way - at least no intuitive way that I could find - to go back. The modified note gets saved automatically even when you wish to undo the changes, as simply closing the note with the back button auto-saves it.
As it is intuitively possible that one presses the back button to restore to last saved state(or be it an accident), this behavior should be fixed, or at least be available as an option.
I think this is a viable choice since I wouldn't press back button to save; I would press home button instead, which still saves it as a draft.
One more thing. Even if you would like to keep the auto-save function, I think asking when saving through the save button and asking when saving through auto-save should be separated, possibly through another option.

tldr: option for "asking to save before going back to view-all-notes menu thingy" should be added, or either it should by default ask to save before going back to view-all-notes menu, possibly with an option to enable auto save.
If auto-save is kept, please consider another option for asking when auto-saving.

Note title

Hello !

Your app is very cool <3

So, when we create note, the title is automatically the first line of the note and it's very boring because for example the title of my wifi keys note is "<u> Clés WI-FI </u>". It's ugly ! Please let we change the title without affect the note and modify the first line !

Sorry for my english I'm french. Have a good day !

Importing notes from other apps

I'm trying to import notes over from an ancient "Notes" app from the early days for android which exports notes as sqlite or as text on the following format

[title note1]
content1

[title note2]
content2

( the title of each note in [] and each note separated by a blank line)

But this Notepad-app interprets the text import-file as a single note.

1. Is there a way I can import this text format? Or a sqlite?
2. What are the formats required to import in a sensible way? Can I import with timestamps?

I have all my notes back to 2009 in a sqllite from the same app, so if I could somehow import them over here with timestamps I would be willing to put some effort :-)

window leak in MainActivity

Reproduction Steps

1. long click 'More options'
2. press back

Expected Result

back without error

Actual Result

stack trace:
E/WindowManager: android.view.WindowLeaked: Activity com.farmerbb.notepad.activity.MainActivity has leaked window android.widget.LinearLayout{529516e4 V.E..... ......I. 0,0-264,96} that was originally added here
at android.view.ViewRootImpl.(ViewRootImpl.java:346)
at android.view.WindowManagerGlobal.addView(WindowManagerGlobal.java:248)
at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:69)
at android.support.v7.widget.TooltipPopup.show(TooltipPopup.java:85)
at android.support.v7.widget.TooltipCompatHandler.show(TooltipCompatHandler.java:168)
at android.support.v7.widget.TooltipCompatHandler.onLongClick(TooltipCompatHandler.java:116)
at android.view.View.performLongClick(View.java:4474)
at android.view.View$CheckForLongPress.run(View.java:18401)
at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:733)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5001)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

maybe can be resolved like this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2850573/activity-has-leaked-window-that-was-originally-added

Debug info

Android Version = 4.4.4

Not running application !

Hi, first of all Thanks for this project, but when running application on my phone, not running and show me this error : (please see error image)

My android studio version is 2.1.3 and this version has lasted version! How can I fix this?

Sort order & locale

So sorting by name/title doesn't seem to work in the Chinese locale.

In contrast, the Contacts app sorts names correctly, i.e. by the pinyin of the characters. If LC_COLLATE is respected this should just work... I can't figure out what order Notepad is putting those in right now...

Edit: actually, the sort order Notepad is currently using is the same as when LC_COLLATE is C. For example,

$ printf '%s\n' 中 国|LC_COLLATE=zh_CN sort 
国
中
$ printf '%s\n' 中 国|LC_COLLATE=C sort          
中
国

The former is in pinyin order, while the latter is the same order Notepad is producing.

Edit: To clarify, the above wasn't produced in the shell on the phone, but a separate PC. I have now tried it in the shell launched via adb shell, and to my surprise, not only is there no locale command, but setting LC_COLLATE doesn't do anything; it produces the order as if LC_COLLATE is C or just unset. Don't know if this is relevant... I guess this adb shell is probably restricted in some way.

Proposed Changes to Enable Custom Titles for Notes

Hi, this is my first little "contribution" so I apologize in advance if I submitted this wrong.

My proposed changes refer to the way the notes are stored on the phone. If we add a title property to the NoteListItem class and store each note as an object we can easily edit the title independently of the actual content of the note.

I attached some examples I cooked up in Kotlin to demonstrate what I mean. If you have any question about anything please feel free to contact me :)

// this is a singleton class with two static methods that handle the saving and loading of notes to and from storage

object InternalStorage {
    @Throws(IOException::class)
    fun writeObject(context: Context, filename: String, note: Note) {
        val fos: FileOutputStream = context.openFileOutput(filename, Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
        val oos = ObjectOutputStream(fos)
        oos.writeObject(note)
        oos.close()
        fos.close()
    }

    @Throws(IOException::class, ClassNotFoundException::class)
    fun readObject(context: Context, filename: String): Note {
        val fis: FileInputStream = context.openFileInput(filename)
        val ois = ObjectInputStream(fis)
        return ois.readObject() as Note
    }
}


class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // these are example notes, they are commented out because I only needed to store them once and 
        // don't want to save them every time I open the app
        // val notes = listOf(Note("stop right there", "stop"), Note("go on ahead", "ahead"), Note("leave without me", "w/o"))
        // notes.forEach { InternalStorage.writeObject(this, it.hashCode().toString(), it) }

        var files: Array<String> = fileList() // this returns every file in storage
        var titles: List<String> = files.map { InternalStorage.readObject(this, it).title } // get title from every entry

        // the code below is for displaying the notes in a list view, this is very similar to the already existing code inside the app
        val adapter: ArrayAdapter<String> = ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, titles)
        val listView = findViewById<ListView>(R.id.list_view)
        listView.adapter = adapter
    }
}

navigation between notes

#enhancement

First of all, thanks for this neat and robust app!

It would be great to use markdown feature to navigate between the files.

Or maybe you could integrate Google Drive to the app, so if I've made a link like this
[link to drive](gdrive://[email protected]/someFileName.md)
it would open my file from the cloud?

Trying to save a note to custom location by rotating the screen crashes the app

Expected behavior

The app must be stable on trying to save a text note to custom location after rotating the screen.

Actual behavior

But the app crashes when I rotate the screen just before saving the note.

How to reproduce

1. Install the app from fdroid.
   
2. Launch the app.
   
3. Click on + icon from bottom right corner of the app and create and save a note.
   
4. Now long press on any created note and click on sd card icon from top bar of the app.
   
5. Choose any custom location to save the note.
   
6. Now change the orientation of the screen to landscape mode.
   
7. Click on save option to save the note.
   
   The app crashes.
   

• App Version: 2.3
  
• Device: Samsung Galaxy J5
  
• Operating System: Android 6.0.1
  

Recording Of The Bug

https://youtu.be/lMcPX5IcVlo

Separate font type and theme selection in settings

Instead of choosing "light / sans" or "light / monospace" we should have two different categories, one for the theme and for the font type. That way users can change the font and theme indepently.

This also makes adding differents fonts or themes easier in the future.

Submit to F-Droid?

Hi @farmerbb your Notepad app is the best of its class, but it took me a while to find it.

I searched through F-Droid and all the note/text editor apps are either unmaintained, buggy, ugly, bloated, inadequate or just generally suck.
And in the Play Store your app didn't turn up too high for the search terms I used... It's a pita to sift through the "free" "lite" adware.
Finally out of sheer luck, I found your app on /r/Android/wiki/apps

So can we have your Notepad in F-Droid?
I recognize their policies are pretty strict... but... can we, possibly?

Enhancement suggestion: reverse sort order

Thanks for the great app.

I think it'd be even greater if there was a settings option to reverse the sort order of saved notes. For example, the user could be presented with the option for sorting notes by date or name as follows:
-DATE; oldest first
-DATE; newest first
-NAME; A-Z
-NAME; Z-A

Keep up the good work!

Notepad to open .log files

As said in the object, no more to add except for my best regards. :)

Proposal to create FAQ and about us

Hello farmerbb, I am mayowa, a github promoter, I would love to create FAQ and ABOUT US for this beautiful project.
Gracias!

after selecting the note and when rotating the screen into landscape mode the user has to select the note again

Improved Export and Import

Hi, I've noticed when it comes to exporting and importing notes that you have to do each note at a time, which gets cumbersome pretty fast when you have a lot of notes. Requesting an Export/Import all feature. Thanks for your work on this App' it's my go to Note Keeper on Android.

Logo/Icon Proposal

Hi Sir @farmerbb , I am a graphics designer and I want to contribute by proposing an icon/logo design . If you will permit me I will start doing it.

thanks and best regards!

Last modification timestamp for exported notes

Exported note files do not preserve last modification timestamp. With a large number of notes, it would be really helpful to have the timestamp data for organizing exported note files.

The problem is that during export operation, Storage Access Framework creates a new DocumentFile for each note and file timestamps are set for that instant.
I have already done some analysis for possible implementations:

1. Use ContentResolver update query to set DocumentsContract.Document.COLUMN_LAST_MODIFIED column with the document URI for the output file returned by SAF. But this is not allowed: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35744654/storage-access-framework-set-last-modified-date-of-local-documentfile

2. Get the path of the output file from Document URI, then use File::setLastModified() to set the timestamp. But it seems that File::setLastModified() doesn't work on some Android devices: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/36930892

3. Add the modification timestamp as a prefix/suffix in the output file names. Currently, the output name is based on the first line of the note's content; we can prepend/append it with the last modification date-time string. We can also provide a setting item, to enable this for only users who need this feature.

Considering the caveats, approach 3 should be work on all devices. If it is acceptable, then I can make the changes and create a pull request. I will wait for your response.

optional pin

Very good app. Thank you.
What about putting an (optional) pin for protecting the app against to noisy people?

Feature request: add a search button

Adding important guideline documents

Hi,
May I contribute some interesting documentation for this project, like setup documentation, code of conduct, code contribution and Bug reports guidelines.

Missing German translation

Missing German translation.
I missed the German translation in this nice program. So I translated the string.xml file, but I don't know how to insert it in github.
So I attach it here.
strings-de.zip

Double tap behaviour

1. Right now, in view mode, double tapping the text is exactly the same as pushing the pencil button, i.e.
   enter edit mode; the cursor is put at the very end of the text.
   I think this can be improved, so that the cursor is put at the point of tapping.
   This should be easy to implement for plain text mode. Not sure about Markdown/HTML.
2. Right now the user must double tap inside the text region for it to register.
   I think the user would expect to be able to do it anywhere inside the main frame.
   If the case where the tap is outside the actual text region, put the cursor at the end of the text, or perhaps "last position".
3. Could it be single tap instead?

Title for notes

Please put the title for notes shared by web browsers, like when a webpage is shared. See this other opensource project:
https://github.com/DOOMer/qnotez

Intended 'line feed' behavior for 'normal text' in Markdown View mode?

Hi,

As per screenshot below:
Edit mode:

View mode:

Regards.

How to move a note to trash bin?

Sometimes I need to restore some notes.