25 Note taking software

An outliner is a specialized type of text editor used to create and edit outlines, which are text files which have a tree structure, for organization. Textual information is contained in discrete sections called "nodes", which are arranged according to their topic–subtopic (parent–child) relationships, sort of like the members of a family tree. When loaded into an outliner, an outline may be collapsed or expanded to display as few or as many levels as desired.

BasKet Note Pads is a program based on Qt and KDE libraries for organizing, sharing, and taking notes. It can manage various types of information such as to-do lists, links, pictures, and other types, similar to a scrapbook.

CintaNotes is a freemium Microsoft Windows notetaking program. It provides a way to store and retrieve text collected from other documents or websites. Since version 3.0 CintaNotes supports attaching files and images to notes.

Coggle is a freeware mind mapping web application. Coggle produces hierarchically structured documents, like a branching tree. This contrasts with other collaborative editors, like Google Docs, which provide either linear, or tabular (spreadsheet) document formats.

Compendium is a computer program and social science tool that facilitates the mapping and management of ideas and arguments. The software provides a visual environment that allows people to structure and record collaboration as they discuss and work through "wicked problems".

Diigo is a social bookmarking website that allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag Web pages. Additionally, it allows users to highlight any part of a webpage and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page. These annotations can be kept private, shared with a group within Diigo, or be forwarded to someone else via a special link. The name "Diigo" is an acronym from "Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff".

Ecco Pro was a personal information manager software based on an outliner, and supporting folders similar to spreadsheet columns that allow filtering and sorting of information based upon user defined criteria.

Freeplane is a free, open source software application for creating mind maps, and electronic outlines. Written in Java, Freeplane is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, and is licensed under the GNU GPL version "2 or later".

Google Keep is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, and Google Sites. Google Keep is available as a web application as well as mobile app for Android and iOS. The app offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including text, lists, images, and audio. Text from images can be extracted using optical character recognition, and voice recordings can be transcribed. The interface allows for a single-column view or a multi-column view. Notes can be color-coded, and labels can be applied for organization. Later updates have added functionality to pin notes, and to collaborate on notes with other Keep users in real-time.

I Done This is a simple collaboration tool for teams and personal users that turns the information you log into reports without extra work. The application is available through the website and through an email-based system motivating users to track their accomplishments and to-do lists as an alternative to using paper lists.

KeyNote is the name of a free notetaking and outlining text editor produced by Tranglos Software for the Windows operating system.

Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking program for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users' notes, drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote is available as part of the Microsoft Office suite, it is also available as a free, standalone app via the official website, the app stores of Windows 10, macOS, iOS and Android. Microsoft also provides a web-based version of OneNote as part of OneDrive and Office for the web.

Mindomo is a versatile freemium collaborative mind mapping, concept mapping and outlining tool developed by Expert Software Applications. It can be used to develop ideas and interactively brainstorm, with features including sharing, collaboration, task management, presentation and interactive web publication.

Nimbus Note is a note-taking app designed by Nimbus Web company in Cleveland, Ohio. The app is cross-platform, for Android, iOS, macOS, and Microsoft Windows.

Notational Velocity is a computer program for Mac OS X used for notetaking. It allows users to create notes using solely a computer keyboard and search them using incremental find. Other features include database encryption, basic text formatting, tags and spellcheck. In addition, users can synchronize notes with Simplenote and export to a variety of formats, including plain text, HTML and rich text. It has been recommended along with Simplenote as a solution for taking and syncing notes by both Wired and Lifehacker.

Paperpile is a web-based commercial reference management software, with special emphasis on integration with Google Docs and Google Scholar. Parts of Paperpile are implemented as a Google Chrome browser extension. It was founded in 2012, and is produced by Paperpile LLC.

Prezi is a video and visual communications software company founded in 2009 in Hungary, with offices in San Francisco, Budapest and Riga. Prezi built a community of more than 100 million users worldwide who have created over 400 million visual stories. In 2019 they launched Prezi Video, which was the first widely available tool on the market that allows for virtual presentations within the video screen of a live or recorded video. The word "Prezi" is the short form of "presentation" in Hungarian.

Qiqqa is a freeware and freemium reference management software that allows researchers to work with thousands of PDFs. It combines PDF reference management tools, a citation manager, and a mind map brainstorming tool. It integrates with Microsoft Word XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 and BibTeX/LaTeX to automatically produce citations and bibliographies in thousands of styles.

QOwnNotes is a free open source (GPL) plain-text notepad with markdown support and to-do list manager for Linux, MacOS and Windows, that (optionally) works together with the Notes application of ownCloud or Nextcloud.

Simplenote is a note-taking application with Markdown support. In addition to being accessible via most web browsers, cross-platform apps are available on Android, Linux, Windows, iOS, and macOS.

TagSpaces is an open-source data manager and file navigator. It helps organize files on local drives by adding tags to files. Users get the same user interface to manage their files on different platforms. TagSpaces is compatible with Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone, Firefox and Chrome. The application requires neither internet connection, nor user's registration to run both on desktop and portable devices.

TiddlyWiki is a personal wiki and a non-linear notebook for organising and sharing complex information. It is an open-source single page application wiki in the form of a single HTML file that includes CSS, JavaScript, and the content. It is designed to be easy to customize and re-shape depending on application. It facilitates re-use of content by dividing it into small pieces called Tiddlers.

TopXNotes is a hybrid personal note and information organizer and password protector for Macintosh computers which allows notes to be entered and organized. It syncs notes to mobile devices — iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Windows Journal is a discontinued notetaking application, created by Microsoft and included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition as well as select editions of Windows Vista and later. It allowed the user to create and organize handwritten notes and drawings, and to save them in a .JNT file, or export them in TIFF format. It can use an ordinary computer mouse to compose a handwritten note, as well as a graphics tablet or a Tablet PC.

Zim is a graphical text editor designed to maintain a collection of locally stored wiki-pages, a personal wiki. Each wiki-page can contain things like text with simple formatting, links to other pages, attachments, and images. Additional plugins, such as an equation editor and spell-checker, are also available. The wiki-pages are stored in a folder structure in plain text files with wiki formatting.