The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data

1

Evernote

That being said, the paid version of Evernote still does what it does well, especially if you’re one of those users who has stuck with it for a while. The basic look and feel of the web app hasn’t changed much, although the homepage now shows recent notes, a scratch pad, and recently captured websites. (The homepage can be personalized with other widgets if you have a paid account.) There are several ways to organize your notes: they can be tagged and / or assigned to folders, and folders can be grouped into named “stacks.” You can create to-do notes. You can search within all your notes, clip webpages in a variety of ways, and sync up to two devices. You can upload up to 60MB of data a month with a maximum note size of 25MB. And Evernote has been adding AI features such as AI Note Cleanup, currently in beta, which uses AI to “tidy up” your notes.

#Note Taking #Todos #Personal Productivity 63 social mentions

2

OneNote

In fact, like Evernote, OneNote has had so many different abilities added that it can become a bit overwhelming. For example, when I wanted to find out whether I could extract text from a photo, I went to OneNote’s “Tell me” icon, which, if it can’t find an immediate answer to your question, offers a smart lookup link. When “extract text” didn’t come up with anything, I clicked it and was offered (via a side column) a Wikipedia definition of a text file and links to several third-party apps. (A simple “we don’t do that” would have been nice.)

#Note Taking #Todos #Personal Productivity

3

Notion

In fact, its lack of limitations may be a problem for some users. If you like to really get into the workings of a complex app and screw around with it until it does everything you want it to do — and then some — then you may want to check out Notion and play a bit with its features. (For example, I currently use Notion to track my various workflows and upcoming tasks.) However, if all you want to do is write down your thoughts with maybe a few extra options, you might want to go with something a bit simpler.

#Productivity #Work Collaboration #Note Taking 438 social mentions

4

Google Keep

Google Keep started out as a fairly simple note-taking app, and while it has added a few features since it began, it’s still a good, straightforward way to record your thoughts. Because it is so interconnected with other Google apps (for example, you can access it directly from Google Calendar, and you can convert a Keep note to a Google Doc), it works especially well if you’re invested in the Google ecosystem.

#Note Taking #Personal Notes #Notes

5

Bear

Bear Markdown Notes is an app for macOS and iOS devices with an excellent interface and selection of features that could make me regret my faithfulness to Android. Even the free version offers a number of tweaks — for example, the header can either be the first sentence of the note or the date and time (or you can leave it empty and put in anything you want). You have a wide choice of fonts and various formatting options.

#Office & Productivity #Word #Lifestyle 49 social mentions

6

Joplin

In order to synchronize Joplin among your devices, you need to set it up with one of several existing cloud services (such as Dropbox or OneDrive). You can also use Joplin Cloud, which is available in Joplin’s paid plans: Basic, which includes 2GB storage space and 10MB per note or attachment, and Pro, which offers 30GB storage space, 200MB per note or attachment, and other features.

#Note Taking #Notes #Todos 350 social mentions

7

UpNote

UpNote is a good-looking, relatively simple to master app that looks to be an attractive alternative to Evernote. It has approximately the same look, with notebooks listed on the left, the notes in a highlighted notebook listed next to it, and then a main window showing the contents of each note. It offers the ability to create checklists, insert images and tables, nest notebooks, and (if you have the Premium version) lock specific notebooks. And it imports a variety of formats — including Evernote.

#Android #iPhone #iPad 84 social mentions

8

Obsidian.md

This app is the kind of thing that, if you’re into it, will have you exploring its various ins, outs, and add-ons for days and weeks on end. Obsidian uses the Markdown format for its notes (which means they can be used on a variety of other apps). Your notes and other media are kept locally in a Vault (in other words, a main folder). There are ways to sync between devices for free — depending on which devices you want to sync. Or you can use one of Obsidian’s paid plans: Standard, which lets you use Obsidian’s service to sync the data in one vault and store up to 1GB of data, and Plus, which lets you sync up to 10 vaults and store up to 10GB of data. There is a charge as well if you want to publish your notes to the web.

#Knowledge Management #Knowledge Base #Markdown Editor 1454 social mentions

9

Apple Notes

Notes is Apple’s version of Google Keep (or Keep is Google’s version of Apple Notes). It’s a free, built-in, simple way to take notes, save photos, scan documents, and make sketches, provided you are using an Apple device.

#Note Taking #Task Management #Project Management

10

Simplenote

Simplenote is a text-only app that offers straightforward note-taking for anyone who just wants to, well, take notes.

#Note Taking #Task Management #Project Management 78 social mentions

11

Workflowy

Workflowy is an online app that uses an outline format and is actually more flexible than it looks at first.

#Task Management #Note Taking #Project Management 2 social mentions

12

Anytype.io

Anytype, which is still in beta, is an interesting and complex app that, like Obsidian, can be fun for those who really like to investigate how to personalize their applications.

#Task Management #Personal Notes #Bookmarks 53 social mentions

13

Zoho Notebook

Zoho Notebook is a free app that organizes your notes by dividing them into separate notebooks; each notebook can also contain audio files, photos, or other attachments.

#Note Taking #Task Management #Notes