After several months of increasingly intensive usage, I have identified the specific features that are missing to make Anytype my “everything app” and replace all of my knowledge and data management tools. This isn’t about “features I’d like to have” but about “features or improvements that I must have in order to migrate”.
I hope this is helpful to the Anytype team to understand use cases and what is missing to allow both large-scale and in-depth adoption.
Phase 1: import all basic notes or notes in very basic databases
- This is about personal notes from Standard Notes and Notion that aren’t part of sophisticated databases or collections.
- Current blockers preventing me from completing this phase:
- Apostrophe bug (which basically makes it impossible to create text-based objects on mobile)
- Full mobile support for views on sets and collections (without which sets and collections are very hard to use on mobile)
Phase 2: Import sophisticated databases from Notion
- This is about more sophisticated notes organized in large sets and collections, including workout trackers, databases of personal documents, personal knowledge bases, etc.
- Current blockers preventing me from completing this phase:
- Publish to web (having all of this knowledge and documents in Anytype without the option to share some of it with family, friends, or colleagues when needed is a no-go)
- Apply template to existing objects (critical to keep consistent structures across entire sets and collections after making changes to existing types or templates)
- Bi-directional linking (critical for easy discovery of related objects like organizations<=>humans or meetings<=>humans(who are participating in the meetings))
Phase 3: Import contact book (Google Contacts) and book project (Notion)
- This is about making Anytype my contact book and also moving my most sophisticated and sensitive database (my book project).
- Current blockers preventing me from completing this phase:
- Deeplinking to be able to quickly access / create shortcuts to specific objects (to be able to quickly access my contactbook or specific parts of the book project)
- Automatic backup (because data is too sensitive to risk losing access)
Phase 4: Import team and collaborative projects from Asana and Slite
- This is about tasks and projects and basic knowledge bases across my different teams and collaborative projects (especially at work).
- Current blockers preventing me from completing this phase:
- Of course, team collaboration features (shared spaces, roles with varrying permission levels, in-line comments + object-wide comments, email + in-app notifications, “suggestion mode”, etc)
- Simplified terminology, organization, and structure (the learning curve on the current UX would be too steep for colleagues who aren’t tech savvy).
- Calendar and timeline view for sets and collections
- Robust conflict resolution mechanism (given that conflicts will become much more common when many people work on the same objects offline)
Phase 5: Import all documents that require intense collaboration from Google Docs
- This is about the documents where my teams need to review and suggest changes.
- Current blockers preventing me from completing this phase:
- “Suggestion mode” similar to Google Docs (interestingly, Notion and competitors have all decided that this is not a needed feature, even though it’s one of the most important collaboration features used in my team and the main reason why we haven’t moved to a Google Docs alternative).