[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah I used that too for a while — it works surprisingly well, but I always felt it’s more of a workaround than something designed for capturing.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Sure 🙂

What I ended up building is basically a very minimal “capture layer”.

The idea is simple: no matter where you are (phone, browser, desktop), capturing something should always be the same action.

In practice:

  • Android → share
  • iOS → shortcut
  • browser → bookmarklet
  • desktop → just paste

Everything goes into the same place instantly, without deciding upfront what it is or where it belongs.

No tags, no structure, no “mode switching”.

Just capture first, decide later (or never).

I built it mainly because I was tired of stitching together different tools depending on context.

If you want to take a look: https://github.com/oldany/dropmind

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Yeah — that’s exactly the feeling I kept running into.

At some point I stopped trying to adapt existing tools and ended up building something around this idea of “uniform capture”.

It’s basically a very minimal layer where you can send anything (text, links, quick notes, etc.) from any device in one step — without worrying about where it goes or how it’s structured.

Still early, but it’s been working surprisingly well for me in daily use.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

Good question — I don’t mean organizing or saving things long-term.

I mean that moment when you see or think something and don’t want to lose it.

Like:

  • a link you want to check later
  • a sentence you read
  • a quick thought
  • something you copied
  • a small piece of info you might need

The problem for me is that if capturing that takes more than a second, I often just don’t do it — or I postpone it and forget.

So “capture” is really just that instant: taking something from wherever you are and storing it somewhere with zero friction.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Yeah KDE Connect is great for device-to-device flow, I’ve used it too.

What I always found tricky is that it works really well once you're already “in the flow”, but not so much as a quick capture entry point.

Like, it helps moving things around — but not necessarily deciding to capture something instantly in the first place.

That’s where I always felt something was missing.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Yeah that makes sense — I ended up with similar setups at some point.

What always bothered me a bit is exactly that fragmentation: different tools depending on what you're capturing and from where.

It works, but it feels like you're constantly switching “mode” depending on context.

I keep wondering if capturing should really depend on the destination at all, or if it should be something more uniform.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Pretty much everything 😄

  • links from browser
  • selected text
  • quick notes / thoughts
  • sometimes even just a sentence I don’t want to lose

The problem (for me) wasn’t what to capture, but how fast and from where.

I tried things like Linkwarden too — great tool, but still feels tied to specific entry points (browser extension, app, etc.).

What I kept missing was something more “universal”, where capturing is always one step away regardless of device or context.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Yeah that’s actually what I tried at some point too 😄

But I always felt it’s still a workaround — you’re adapting a tool that wasn’t really built for capturing.

The friction is lower, but it’s still there.

I keep thinking there should be something more “native” to this use case, something that sits between devices and apps rather than inside one of them.

[-] oldany@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Yeah I tried similar approaches too (notes to self, chat apps etc.)

They kind of work, but I always felt they weren’t really designed for this use case — more like a workaround.

What I was missing was something more “frictionless”, where capturing is basically instant and doesn’t depend on context.

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submitted 13 hours ago by oldany@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

I’ve been struggling with something that sounds simple but is surprisingly annoying:

capturing content quickly across devices in a self-hosted environment.

On Android there’s share, on iOS shortcuts, on desktop copy/paste… but everything feels fragmented.

I often end up losing things or postponing them just because capturing isn’t frictionless.

Curious how others handle this.

oldany

joined 13 hours ago