If a Note-Taking Software Company Shuts Down, Can You Still Use Your Notes?

Let’s examine the security of your note data and the implications for choosing note-taking tools.

Questions

On my Knowledge Planet, a user named Liu Jie asked:

For the notes and related content we record in various tools, is there a chance that we won’t be able to view or access them anymore for some reason (e.g. the company behind the tool goes out of business)? If so, what might be the reasons? Thank you.

It’s great that he has data security awareness. We’ve recorded so many notes and organized them carefully. If we were to lose them all due to some special circumstance, it could seriously impede important work goals and research progress.

I think the question user Liu Jie raised is very important and generalizable, so I’m writing this article in response and sharing it with you as well.

In this article, let’s not limit ourselves to the scenario posed (the “company going out of business” problem), nor only discuss possible causes of notes becoming “unable to be viewed or accessed”. Instead, let’s look at your note data security and the implications for choosing note-taking tools from a more comprehensive perspective.