My main requirement is that I am using Syncthing to sync my notes from my Android phone, which uses Quillpad. Quillpad is amazing and looks super nice, and functional too, but all the notes are in one big folder rather than being subdivided by notebook. So I require a markdown editor that can create “notebooks” but don’t change the folder structure of the notes (I tested putting notes in subfolders, and quillpad thought the notes were deleted. Silly Quillpad!)
So the notebooks/similar organisation of notes needs to be specific to the app and should not change the folder structure. I would prefer if the app is open-source too, and something that fits with my desktop (KDE Plasma) would be cool too :D
This rules out Obsidian (which puts notes in a folder structure. Obsidian is great, but won’t sync well with Quillpad), Joplin won’t work either. Ghostwriter is pretty much a markdown notepad (quite good, but can’t see all my notes in one place)
I am using EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma
edit: To clarify, I want a markdown editor that is able to separate notes into different groups without using folders as Quillpad doesn’t like folders. I also need to have a way to view all the notes at once in each group
Using a code editor VSCodium wouldn’t really work as there isn’t really a way to organise notes, aside from putting them in folders (which I don’t want), and I am not yet ready to jump into the Vim rabbit hole of plugins and configuration
edit 2: Markdown editor to note organiser to satisfy the pedant
edit 3: Looks like Obsidian has tags, so I could use those to organise notes without folders. I will try that and see if it works!
edit 4: Obsidian does have tags, but it seems like you sort by tags by typing tag:#NAME, and you can’t use spaces for tags. So not Obsidian then unfortunately. Are there any other options that have a larger focus on tags or similar?
Logseq might be a good option for you. You create “graphs” for a topic. Markdown notes for that “graph” are separated into “pages” and “journals.” For example, if you created a project called “cider_making”, you could create the following Markdown page files and save them in the pages directory: “Fuji Apple.md”, “cider press.md”, and “pectic enzyme.md.” If prefer to track notes in a journal format, your Markdown file would use the following format and be saved in the journal directory: “2026-02-19.md.”
Logseq is not cloud based. All files are stored locally to the machine you installed the software on. There are options to use a code repository to sync to other devices, but Syncthing can also be used to sync your notes. I’m using an rsync script to send notes I write on my laptop to my phone, living room computer, and file server. If I’m on a trusted computer on my network, I can use SSH X11forwarding to open the Logseq UI remotely to create new notes. Otherwise I can create a new page or journal Markdown file via SSH and vi. I’d just need to save the Markdown file in the appropriate journal or page directory to keep things organized. You can also host a webUI for your notes if you are so inclined.
https:docs.logseq.com/
Best of luck!