Picture this. Your favorite notes app sends a nice email and a sad deadline. The export is a file no one else understands. Your history starts to feel fragile. Plain text never has this problem.
A library that never closes
Mara kept five years of ideas inside a tool that looked like a friendly garden. One morning the link to her account turned into a blog post about sunsets and new directions. She downloaded a backup and stared at a bundle of JSON that made her computer get loud.
When she moved to plain text, the feeling changed. A note was a file. A folder was a project. Every editor could read her work. Nothing stood between her and her sentences.
Why plain text wins for the long run
- Portability. Open notes in any editor. If you like graphs, use Obsidian. If you like search, use your terminal. If you like quiet, use any text editor.
- Longevity. Formats come and go. Plain text is older than your laptop and will outlast it. Ten years from now the file will still open.
- Privacy. The files live in your iCloud account, not our database. You hold the keys.
Markdown gives you structure while keeping the source readable. You get headers and lists without locking your work in a cage.
A simple way to prove it to yourself
Make a folder on your desktop. Create three small notes in plain text. Open them in three different editors. Then move that folder onto a USB drive and plug it into a different machine. Your notes will not care. That is the point.
But I like features
You can have them. Brain Dump writes Markdown. You can keep headings, lists, and links. If you want version history, add Git. A private repo gives you diffs, branches, and time travel. See the quick guide: Back up with Git.
Migration when you switch tools
Switching is simple because the notes are files. Point your new tool at the same folder. Or copy the folder somewhere else. No exports to untangle. No tables to fix. No surprise field names.
A plain privacy promise
Transcription runs on device by default. Optional polish is off until you turn it on. If you do, only the content you choose will be sent for polish. Full details: How we handle privacy.
If you want a test drive, write your next three entries in Brain Dump. Then open the folder in Files or Obsidian and see how it feels to hold your work.