Submitted 2 weeks ago by oldany@lemmy.world to selfhosted@lemmy.world
I’ve been struggling with something that sounds simple but is surprisingly annoying:
capturing content quickly across devices in a self-hosted environment.
On Android there’s share, on iOS shortcuts, on desktop copy/paste… but everything feels fragmented.
I often end up losing things or postponing them just because capturing isn’t frictionless.
Curious how others handle this.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Readeck. I use Readeck for those ‘read it later’ articles, etc. It has a Firefox extension. I’ve found it works very well. You can highlight a paragraph of an article, and save that to Readeck as well. In fact, when I consult with AI, I’ll highlight the entire page and shoot it to my Readeck instance, otherwise it will just link the AI platform and not the content.
Syncthing functions as a sort of decentralized Dropbox or Google drive, by keeping folder content synchronized across any number of devices. I haven’t tried the iOS clients, but android, Linux, and windows work great.
Yeah Syncthing solves the “where does the data live” part really well.
What I kept struggling with is the step before that — actually capturing something in the moment, from whatever context you’re in.
Even with sync in place, I always felt like I still had to decide where to put things and which tool to use.
That’s where it starts to break down for me.
What I kept struggling with is the step before that — actually capturing something in the moment, from whatever context you’re in.
Even with sync in place, I always felt like I still had to decide where to put things and which tool to use.
Pictures go in the pictures folder. Videos go in the videos folder. Documents go in the documents folder. Etc, etc…
All of these folders live in your $USER folder.
On my phone, my Screenshot folder is syncthing’d to my desktop, so most of the time, capturing something in the moment is as simple as dragging three fingers down my screen. My Camera and default Download folders are also syncthing’d, so just taking a picture or saving something from a browser has it captured across my devices.
I also use Tududi, which has Telegram integration, for the quick note. Taking the note is just a matter of sending a message in Telegram, which is available on all my devices. Signal’s “Note To Self” feature is also useful; I trust it more than Telegram for sensitive data. In Firefox on my desktop, I have “Automatic Tab Opener” (Browser extension) pulling up my Tududi inbox every hour, reminding me to actually deal with the notes I have previously taken.
I use silverbullet for that. Its like Obsidian but completely online/in browser. Also very much expendable with plugins and scripts
Only thing missing is file sharing.
Lowest common denominator: Plaintext / Markdown files?
They’ll work with Logseq, web browsers, notepad, your phone… and maybe sync it all via syncthing?
That’s what I use.
I also write up my system notes in Logseq with the intention that I’ll just sync in my ansible files too… one day…
This, in combination with ‘copyparty’ as a Docker container with a volume mapping to my files. Edit locally, and edit from anywhere.
If it’s text, I move everything to obsidian which is installed on multiple devices and uses my self hosted minio server to sync.
Files, I tend to use minio directly to drag and drop. If it’s genuinely use and throw, like moving memes, I use Tailscale Drop (or Send, or whatever it’s called) to move between devices.
Yeah that makes sense — I ended up with similar setups at some point.
What always bothered me a bit is exactly that fragmentation: different tools depending on what you’re capturing and from where.
It works, but it feels like you’re constantly switching “mode” depending on context.
I keep wondering if capturing should really depend on the destination at all, or if it should be something more uniform.
The problem with that to me at least, is that there’s no one uniform way to capture things. Notes and videos and images and files all need different contexts and views. I hate Pocket and similar services for this reason - it feels too “media” friendly, too focused on videos and links and PDF files. When most of my read later is text - articles and such.
Self hosted Standard Notes?
I think a second brain service, like maybe Trilium that you can host, could be a solution. Capture, tag, link, analyse, find back
Yeah I tried going the “second brain” route too (Trilium, Obsidian, etc.)
What I kept running into is that they’re great once something is already in the system — but capturing still feels like a separate step where you have to think about where it belongs.
I started wondering if capturing should be completely independent from organization, and almost “context-free”.
More like a thin layer you can hit instantly from anywhere, without deciding anything upfront.
@oldany @frongt second linkwarden for the links. I'd suggest note discovery for the quick note. https://github.com/gamosoft/NoteDiscovery
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| DNS | Domain Name Service/System |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol, most often over IP |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol, for real-time communications |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
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I have linkwarden set up for this.
On Android I share to the linkwarden app to save, on pc i use the Firefox addon.
Sure it’s fragmented but I’m already used to doing things different between mobile and pc anyways.
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I dunno if it would help, but between my my phone and my computers (and one of my local servers) I use KDE Connect. Read about whatever I’m working on with the phone, share > kde > device, boom the clipboard is filled with whatever, or the link is automatically opened. Then proceed with the thing on my computer. Need to think or read about something but need to step away from the computer? Just copy it on the desktop, and again the clipboard is filled on the phone.
And of course sharing tabs on Firefox/derivatives.
oldany@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah KDE Connect is great for device-to-device flow, I’ve used it too.
What I always found tricky is that it works really well once you’re already “in the flow”, but not so much as a quick capture entry point.
Like, it helps moving things around — but not necessarily deciding to capture something instantly in the first place.
That’s where I always felt something was missing.
Lemmchen@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
What exactly do you mean by “capture”?