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Former ConnectedText users, what software did you switch to?
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Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 7, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Hello, former CT users,
What software have you ended up using after CT and how easy or hard was to import your data?
I bought a new Windows 11 laptop, and I’m wondering what software I should switch to, as I’m not sure I can install CT on it or if it’s worth it.
Not having the CT forum any more I lost access to lots of useful knowledge about tricks and solutions to CT issues, such as how to move CT painlessly to a new machine.
I’ve been considering Obsidian, as I like the basic interface (haven’t tried any plugins yet), but I’m a bit daunted by the task of having to modify my CT data to be sufficiently useful (readable, given all the CT syntax in there, links to image files etc).
I haven’t had to deal with regex for years, not looking forward to having to re-learn all that stuff, or to messing around for days with thousands of text files.
Any advice on how to migrate out of CT and where to, relatively painlessly?
Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 7, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Maybe I should add that my main need is to have a knowledge base, Zettlekasten, if you like, where I can have discrete notes with some annotations (tags, categories, images) and wiki links, and good search function.
Basically a personal wiki, and it’s a plus if it also has a nice distraction-free writing environment (which I find Obsidian does).
Obsidian in many respects fits the bill, it’s just this importing of the CT data that is holding me back.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Oct 8, 2025 at 01:50 AM
Hi !
Paul J. Miller (also a contributor to this forum) switched to InfoQube a few years ago…
https://infoqubeim.com/drupal5/node/4481
https://pauljmiller.wordpress.com/2018/10/23/a-comparative-review-of-four-note-taking-programs/
https://welcometosherwood.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/outlining-in-connectedtext/#:~:text=You%20can%20manually%20link%20the,of%20headings%20within%20individual%20topics.
HTH !
Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer
Posted by Graham Rhind
Oct 8, 2025 at 08:30 AM
I may not be able to help much, but just for the record, when CT stopped working I couldn’t find a way to get the data from the CT files. Fortunately I had exported my CT files weekly to html files, so I could use those instead. I needed a program which would allow me to export my data as a website, so I replaced CT with RightNote. The import from html wasn’t seamless and I needed to work on the layouts, but at least the data was saved.
Graham
Posted by Lucas
Oct 8, 2025 at 09:34 AM
Bear in mind that you can always keep running older programs through virtualization (e.g., running Windows 7 on VirtualBox, VMWare, Parallels, or QEMU/UTM). I run ConnectedText that way when I need it.
If you get CT running in a virtual environment, you could then experiment with export options.
If conversion is needed, that would presumably apply to most other programs that you would be importing into (unless, as per what Graham wrote, you import HTML). Anyway, bear in mind that using RegEx or even running Python scripts is a lot easier now with the help of LLMs.
As for alternatives, Obsidian is a strong contender, but I prefer InfoQube, which I appreciate for its robust outlining features. Also, InfoQube tags, like CT categories, can have multi-parent hierarchies.