AppFlowy

What AppFlowy is

AppFlowy is a program for notes, tasks and simple databases. You write in regular documents, but can add a table at any time where each row is a task, with an owner, deadline and status. The same table can then be shown as a board with columns, roughly like sticky notes on a wall.

What sets AppFlowy apart from most similar services is that everything is saved on your own computer by default. No login is required to start, and no server sits between you and your notes. The program is available for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS.

Install on Windows

1. Go to appflowy.com and choose the download for Windows, or get the file ending in .exe from the project's releases page on GitHub.
2. Double-click the file. If Windows warns about an unknown publisher, choose More info and then Run anyway.
3. Start AppFlowy. Choose to continue without an account if you only want to work locally.

Install on Linux Mint

Download the file ending in .deb, for example AppFlowy-0.14.3-linux-x86_64.deb. The numbers change when a new version comes out, the rest looks the same.

1. Double-click the deb file in the File Manager.
2. Mint opens the package installer. Click Install package and enter your password.
3. Search for AppFlowy in the menu at the bottom left.

There is also an AppImage for anyone who would rather avoid installing. You must first mark it as executable: right-click, select Properties, go to Permissions and check the box that allows the file to run as a program.

Three things to do first

1. Build a to-do table for the week. Type / in a document, choose Grid, and add the columns Owner, Due by and Status. It takes two minutes; it replaces three group chats.
2. Switch the same table to Board. The button is above the table. The same tasks, but as cards in columns. Before a deadline, that view is usually the one you actually look at.
3. Decide what should not be here. Passwords and customer data belong in a password vault, not in a note. Write down that rule in the first document so you avoid the discussion later.

The most common trap

That everything is stored locally is both the best and the most dangerous thing about AppFlowy. The notes sit in a folder on the computer where you installed the program, and that folder does not move on its own, is not copied to any cloud service, does not come along when you log in on another computer, and is not with a provider that can send it back to you if disaster strikes. If the computer breaks, is reformatted, or is replaced without anyone copying the folder first, there is no copy anywhere that can save you.

Two things fix that. Open the settings and check where the data folder is, then put that folder in a cloud folder that syncs, or copy it to a USB drive after every work session. Alternatively, you create an account in AppFlowy Cloud and let the service sync for you.

The second common mistake is tied to the first: the company assumes everyone sees the same thing. You do not until sync is turned on. Without an account, AppFlowy is a program for one person at a time, and then one person should own the document and hand out exports to the rest.