Business and creative people need the opportunity to constantly record and store plans, ideas and thoughts, and significant facts. Previously, this was done in paper notebooks and diaries. Such creation of notes had problems – placement, storage, disposal of old media, transfer of important records to new sources. They were taking up more and more space.
Modern services in integration with computers and especially with mobile devices solve these tasks. There are no problems with the location at all, instant access to records of any age, compatibility with different editors and databases, any formats. The ability to quickly send notes and files to all of your contacts via messengers, networks, email, and mobile communication. The article discusses popular and interesting note-taking programs.
Google Keep
Keep has been running for free since its creation by Google in 2013. He creates, edits, and stores colorful notes and hashtags (labels), imitating paper stickers. Outlines shopping plans and schedules. Adds photos, graphics, and audio. Draws with your own hands. They work with him in the following forms:
- In applications for compatible browsers.
- In the module (plug-in) to the Google Chrome browser.
- In applications that work with Android and iOS devices.
With basic unity, each version of this service has its own characteristics.:
Web version
It is equipped with only basic tasks: to remind, change the color of notes, insert different image formats, open new pages, move notes through the list. When managing work tasks, it performs automatic saving with each change, so it does not have a special command for this. It works without downloads.
The program in Android
It is installed in Android with versions from 4.0.3 and later. It is important that after saving the changes automatically, the previous version disappears, without going back and restoring it. Now Keep has an interactive widget where you can mark checkboxes in the lists directly on the main screen.
For all versions of Chrome
In addition to basic features, he creates and edits comments, adds images offline and offline.
Notion
It works on five types of platforms: Windows and Android, iOS and Mac, as well as in the cloud. Free of charge, and extended in paid rates – starting from $ 8 per month and above.
With its help, knowledge bases are created, task lists are managed, and tables are generated. Taking notes is a list, or in a kanban board with moving up and down according to the current relevance. Managing OKR – strategic priorities.
Notion works with almost any content – audio and video, all text photo formats, graphics, links. Provides ready-made templates.
The service performs note management and automatic synchronization on all specified devices of users with an account. You can send the board to your contacts, and export files to HTML or PDF.
Zoho Notebook
The service is for those who put their affairs in order. It functions for free and from $20 per annual subscription, in cloud environments, Android and Windows, Mac and iOS, as well as in Linux.
After creating the notes, notepad distributes them into notebooks – various beautiful folders with unique names in unlimited numbers. Formats and aligns texts, checklists, and lists. Inserts tables, images, links, citations, and program code into them in parts. Selects the background color. Follows links and Email addresses, shares the contents of the notes with them. In addition to a single window, it works with a kanban board. Synchronizes meeting management and cloud-based work with applications.
Simplenote
This service is free, for text notes without web work, on devices running Linux, Windows, Android, Ma, iOS. The interface type is a two–part screen. On the left is a list of current notes with the first words in the line. On the right, the selected note opens, which is being viewed or filled in. Enabling the creation of a new note is indicated by a separate clickable icon at the top left.
The set of functions is elementary: writing texts, inserting lists, pinning notes at the top, adding tags, formatting with markup language. Media formats are not accepted. Recordings can be downloaded and vice versa, uploaded to the service environment.
The service synchronizes all devices, and also invites an additional user to work together. The number of entries is unlimited, and internal links are used to navigate between them. Notes can be published on the Internet, and you can receive an open link to invite everyone.
Joplin
This service provides wide freedoms for working with information in the cloud, on Windows and Android, on Linux, with Mac or iOS. The notes in this application are created in open source code. Recordings with inserts of audio and video, pictures and photos, text and PDF files. Working with mathematical formulas.
The editor performs formatting, adding links, code, and lists, and assigning tags to them. The mobile app will take note of the photo you just took on your smartphone. Through the cloud network – providing records to users from their contacts. An official publication is implemented via the Internet, after which a public link is created.
It is important that records are kept using end-to-end encryption. Therefore, notes with an open format and permanent access are safely visible only to the owner.
Dropbox Paper
A multifunctional service for creative works in notes, for free or starting from $ 10 per month, in the cloud and on four major operating systems, except Linux.
Here, each note is formatted as a separate document, with the addition of all multimedia files with images, files that are selected in the Dropbox cloud storage. They are supplemented with lists, tables, and blocks with ready-made code. The service shares numerous templates that can be conveniently integrated into quick recordings. All notes are placed in thematic categories for convenient structuring.
As in Google Docs, notes are shared with viewing rights or additionally editing rights. Based on the notes, presentations with animations and graphics, a variety of colors, and a wide range of templates are prepared. The templates set a variety of themes with their own color and general background, and header layout. Designers can integrate with programs for detailing and filling out templates. Presentations are prepared in image and PDF formats, exported and stored in them. They include teamwork through cloud technologies.
It is allowed to work with the service from any browser, with all materials hosted in its proprietary Dropbox cloud. They can sync with all devices and applications. By creating accounts in this cloud service, notes are compiled without payment.
Milanote
Like many similar services, this program also offers taking notes for free and for subscriptions with a fee of $ 10 per month. Milanote simulates pasting a variety of notes on a physical board for those who like it. But with a digital structure.
In this program, the thoughts presented with ideas are well visualized. The work takes place in the workspaces of the created boards. Media files, blocks of texts and lists are added to the boards, separately with comments and links. Various pictures and photos are added.
It is easy to manage the filling – all files and materials are dragged from one folder to another on the board, including between devices. The location of all information and files is selected independently by the user himself, without restrictions and limitations on the part of the service.
If necessary, the finished board is downloaded in formats such as documents or images. Their number is also not limited to the service, and for any of their paid tariffs. However, this limitation remains for users in the free mode.
Walling
This service will be useful for collegial work in order to implement team ideas by creating multi-format notes. It works in cloud mode, on Windows and Android, iOS and macOS, as well as with extensions in Google and Firefox browsers. In a free format, with monthly rates starting from $6.
The program translates multiple ideas into visualized ideas within a single board. They are placed in the form of lists, kanban boards and tables. Filling the content of a note with files, links, and images. The visual highlighting of personal note cards is realized by a variety of colored backgrounds. Using tags, they are convenient, easy to identify, and are found in local search.
Paid rates allow you to use any number of boards, each of which will correspond to a separate project. In the free mode, you can create a maximum of six boards. But in their internal spaces, the volume and number of components are not limited.
The account owner has the opportunity to share their boards with other users, inviting them to work together. In all modes, note data is synchronized to all devices used by the owner.
Slite
Those who need to create and maintain reference books and knowledge arrays will need the service. Taking notes is the second function. It creates documents with lists and checklists, handwritten drawings in an internal service, tables, files, and images. The main document can be accompanied by an additional one. Short descriptions and tags are attached to each file. For the most important, there is a category of favorites.
The functions are implemented in the cloud space and the Google Chrome extension, in macOS, iOS, Android, Windows operating systems. Both free and extended access cost $6 per month for each participant.
The program integrates with many services and networks, including YouTube and Figma, Google and Miro services. It is allowed to issue 50 documents without a subscription fee. The number of invited guests and participants is not limited for any tariffs, including free access.
Attractive features in the Chrome extension. On a separate tab, it transforms into an editor. Quick recordings of urgent memos are sent with one click for storage in the service’s own memory resources. Quick entries can be created using the editor tab and without saving documents. After writing, wipe the unnecessary ones. In fact, a browser-based whiteboard is being created. If you do not delete entries, they will always be stored even when the tab is closed.
Colornote
This service for creating notes is completely free, and only for the Android operating environment. It is a widget for mobile devices. The functions are also minimalistic. Notes are made in the service exclusively in text entries, in the margins with colored stickers.
You can work with texts and lists. All recordings are saved automatically. The lists can be transformed into a large or small tile. According to the settings, the screen can look like a calendar, with the necessary events and notes linked to specific days. You can change the color, font, and sorting method.
Use – without registration and with registration (opens the possibility to synchronize information with other devices, protect records with a password).
