Hey! I use Cherrytree for journaling, but it has a few things I want to change, and lack a few things that I need. Plus, I’m worry about locking myself in one app, so I’m exploring the possibility of using Neovim or Emacs, but I’m aware there’s a learning curve, and before investing time, I wanted to know if I’m using the right tool.

I need to do the following in a quick way:

1- Encrypt a whole folder, and acces it. This folder will keep other folders with pictures and text files.

2- Set a number of columns for the page, like 80 or 100.

3- Have a tree-like explorer on the left, to navigate the files with the entries.

4- Do bold, italics, and different colors.

5- Make an index or a different way to navigate the entries, besides the tree explorer.

6- Export everything in case I want to change the program I use to read my entries.

7- Inserting an image from a folder, like a picture I took. It can be a miniature to click and open the original picture.

Can Emacs do that?

Thanks!

  • danderzei@alien.topBEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Great questions:

    1. Encryption using PGP
    2. Use auto-fill mode 3.Use the TreeMacs package
    3. Org mode does bold, italics etc.. Colours in Emacs have semantic meaning and are automated through a theme.
    4. Use a note-taking application, such as Denote or Org Roam
    5. Org mode can be exported to many formats. Your documents are in plain text, so conversion is trivial. Aesthetic colouring is managed through export templates if you build a website, book etc.
    6. Use Org mode

    My website Emacs Writing Studio explains most of what you like to achieve.

    • oantolin@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      You skipped a newline between points 2 and 3 and that screwed up the numbering of the remaining points.

    • Kinetic-Turtle@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thank you! I’ll check that later.

      I saw a few videos about Emacs, and holy cow! all the things it can do.

      • danderzei@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Emacs is not a text editor but a programming environment. So it can do anything, as long as it is plain text interface.

  • amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Emacs can do all these things, it just requires finding the right packages and creating your config. I recommended using epa to encrypt your files. However if your workflow involves decrypting the entire folder, operating on it / writing new notes, and then reencrypting, I would store everything in a veracrypt container.

  • 7890yuiop@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Note that Emacs can interface with tools for encrypting and decrypting (and can work seamlessly with encrypted files in many cases), but Emacs itself is not performing those activities. There are many ways of encrypting things, and a decision on which approach to use is probably not going to be entirely tied to Emacs (although you’ll want to be confident that the two things will work together).