Taking notes with pen and paper works just fine for some, but if you have a smartphone or tablet, using an app designed for note-taking can truly change the way you get things done. The best note-taking app for Windows is Evernote.Â. Your notes stay in sync with all of your devices for free. The pioneer of note-taking apps is Microsoft WordPad. Google Keep is the best note-taking application for those who enjoy Google-based applications. Organizing your notes in Google Keep is simple and straightforward. PCWorld Whenever the talk of the best note-taking apps, Evernote app is pop up in your mind. Standard Notes has promised that your notes have AES-256 encryption. It doesn’t support media files, web clippings, or email integration. Harking back to a time “when a text editor was just a text editor,” this free app gives you a spacious white canvas on which to write and a simple toolbar. Typr is a simple and easy to use note-taking app, which is somewhat similar to OneNote, but still different. I think the best note-taking app for Windows and especially for Surface users is Microsoft OneNote. Being able to access or create valuable notes pertaining to the phone call you are taking may be a selling feature of one application over another.Â. Just remember you must have Microsoft Windows 7 or newer to be able to download both of these! The good news about Microsoft OneNote is that you can use it in a couple of different ways without having to pay a dime for the app. Different types of notes should be treated differently. The good news about this application is that it is free, so you can at least download it and add it to your repertoire of note-taking applications if need-be. The utility is excellent because it allows users to take notes from anywhere. It is completely free and works with Windows 7 operating systems or newer. Notes 4U is a free, ad-supported Windows Phone title and a nice option to consider if you are looking for a simple note taking app. Where this free app improves on handwritten notes is in its organizational features. You can write, draw, edit, and delete (rub) on your screen as you would do on … As long as you are signed into your Microsoft account, all your Microsoft OneNote files will sync, and you will be able to access them on any desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone that uses the application. But if you're curious about what else is out there, here's a look at some of the best iPad note-taking apps of 2021. Jot some text and combine different types of notes in a Text Card. Google Keep is the simplest note-taking app on our list, both visually and how it operates. Note Cards. Typr makes note-taking easy with its elegant and minimalistic interface. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and this note-taking application has lived up to the test. Microsoft WordPad has evolved since Windows 95, but it has still retained its basic interface. Basics, Installation and First Impressions. You can organize your notes according to how you label them. Microsoft OneNote saves your notes into your “Notebook” for you to access from any Microsoft-based application. Sticky Note is a note-taking app that comes built-in on Windows operating system. Copyright text 2019 by Authority Website Income. Beyond basic note taking, you can import images and PDFs for annotating. Here’s what’s new in version 1.1.0: You can now filter notes by tag in the search box, including multiple tags. The markdown editor formats text as you type, making note-taking quicker and more effective. Identify the reason why you need to be using the best note-taking app.Â, One of the features I have found that is worth its weight in gold is being able to access the app while I’m not online. You may need the same feature in your line of work. The paid version is still affordable at $2.48/month. Evernote is perhaps the most popular note taking software, Google Keep and Microsoft OneNote are both equally good. Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, lists, ideas, and more. You can also create a to-do list with the Evernote Basic version.Â. There is one setback to this app – once you create a note, you have to save it as a document to your computer. However, Microsoft barely paid attention to the default note-taking utility of Windows. Microsoft WordPad first debuted on Windows 95 and it is still going strong today. Like Simplenote, NotePad has minimal features, but the difference is that it lets you do stuff like Find, Replace, and even inserting date and time. Evernote has something for everyone, and you don’t have to pay for the app if you don’t want to. Maybe there are basic text-only notes you need to take and organize? Though only available on Apple products, Bear is a note taking app to be reckoned with. Michael Ansaldo is a veteran consumer and small-business technology journalist. This is when I would use Typora. Which is the best Note Taking App for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux? I don’t need to add audio files, pictures, and attachments to every note I take which is what makes Simplenote so appealing to me, but this may not be enough of an application you need.Â. The iPad's built-in Apple Notes app has some new features, including, scanning, attachments, and photos. If you believe technology has never bettered the simple effectiveness of the Post-It Note, then this app is for you. As for myself, I like options. You can tag notes, pin them for easy access, and publish them with their own URLs. Simplenote review. My name is Jon Gillham I am a 36 year old, husband, father of 3, engineer, doer of dumb things on bikes or skis and huge geek when it to comes to systematizing and outsourcing any business. You can be sitting at your desk updating a note and then grab your phone for a meeting and continue adding to the note when the meeting starts. PCWorld helps you navigate the PC ecosystem to find the products you want and the advice you need to get the job done. Evernote Basic is the free version of this notes app, and it doesn’t cut any corners. A favorite among Mac/iOS users, this veteran app was recently made available for Windows. Find notes quickly with instant searching and simple tags. Download 64 bit Play Your Cards Right Notebook has dedicated note cards for specific note-taking purposes. If you have a Microsoft account (Hotmail, Windows Live, Outlook), you can access Microsoft OneNote directly from the application you are in. Scrble is a great note taking tool for touchscreens. For a complete list of cloud project management software checkout this guide.Â, I think the best feature of Dropbox Paper is its immediate integration with the Dropbox application that allows every file I have uploaded to Dropbox to be accessed and attached to the document on Dropbox Paper if need be.Â. I will also include which I feel is the best note taking app Windows has to offer.Â, The Sticky Notes app comes standard on PCs with Windows 10 or higher. Features are minimal—Find, Replace, time stamping, and a line and column readout are about it—reminding that Notepad was the original distraction free writing tool. Notion comes in different tiered plans. Note taking apps can help you gather much information, jot down your thought, or simply keep your memos, documents, important files, and a note can be anything you want it to be. If you are a visual person like me, you respond to titles, headings, and specific formatting of text. Capture your notes (in text or images) on individual stickies just as you would on their paper counterparts. Open it, jot down some thoughts, and you're done. Some can even turn your handwritten notes, no matter how sloppy, into text that others can read. Google Keep has three preset labels that you can use to organize your notes, or you can remove them completely and make your own. This third-party app brings Microsoft’s popular text editor to Windows’ “modern” environment—and makes note taking delightfully retro. What is the Best Note-Taking App for Windows? Simplenotes’ unembellished interface is the next best thing to a paper notepad. Why You Need the Best Note Taking App for YOU, Best Autoptimize WordPress Plugin Configuration Tutorial for 2020, Best Investment for an Entrepreneur in 2021, How to Come Up With SAAS Ideas – Already Validated but Not Solved, ECommerce Intern Case Study – Month 3 – Stamps.com Review Learnings and Growth, Paid Link Magnet Idea – How to make money online, Multiple IP Host I Use For Expired Domains, 7 Best Niche for Amazon Affiliate Marketing 2020, Introducing the Ecommerce Intern Case Study. There are times when I need to immediately access a note, which is why I recommend the Sticky Notes application. The Best Note-Taking Apps. This means that only you can read the notes you create and no one else. This note-taking app has been used on Windows for a long time, and it lets you write your notes on a simple canvas, with a simple toolbar to go with it. In 2018, CEO Chris O’Neill announced he was stepping down from the company. Evernote is an incredibly powerful tool built for creating notes and organizing them in an efficient manner. Dropbox Paper gives me exactly what I need when needing to share information with others. Add PDFs, documents, and more as unique File Cards.. Google Keep has that same Google feel you get in other Google applications. For example, if you are in your free Hotmail email account and need to create notes, calendar events, or organize information, you can do it directly from the Microsoft OneNote add-in that is included.Â. Maybe I want to spend a little money on an application if it’s worth it, or maybe I can be perfectly happy with a free version; at least give me the option, and that is exactly what Evernote does. The Simplenote experience is all about speed and efficiency. Simple Notepad is a notepad app that gives you a quick and easy note taking experience. Google has become my go-to for docs, sheets, and cloud photo storage or organization, so I was excited when I discovered Google Keep. By Michael Ansaldo, Evernote is too big, has too many features. While the bar for okay is set very low, the bar for a great note taking app is much higher Notion can be used individually or in an office or group setting. Share a list, post some instructions, or publish your thoughts. It provides an easy way to maintain notes, lists and ideas. Today we’ve released a new update for the Simplenote Windows and Linux apps. As its name would have you believe, Simplenote is perhaps the simplest note-taking app out on the market. Scrble. One … Download this app from Microsoft Store for Windows 10, Windows 8.1. All your notes stay synced across devices thanks to Microsoft’s cloud and there are good apps for Android and iOS too. Find notes quickly with instant searching and simple tags. Evernote is hard to beat with all of the features, both free and paid, that are offered in the app, but Microsoft OneNote is a close second.Â. Experience the beautifully simple note-taking app on Windows today. Evernote comes with the feature to attach the pages of a website as well as … On the flipside, Dropbox Paper is great for me to go into to see what my colleagues have added so that I can stay up-to-speed on the latest project. Evernote Premium is $7.99/month, and I would recommend it if you needed daily organization in your life. As its name makes clear, Simplenote is designed for uncomplicated note taking. You can make any note in any format you choose. You will not want to choose an application with a monthly upload cap or a storage limit.Â. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Visit Simple Note (Free). You can pin your notes to the Windows 10 Start screen and sync them to OneDrive for access on all your devices. MacWorld If you want a truly distraction-free environment then you can’t do better than Simplenote for your note-taking needs. Read our, Learn more about PCWorld's Digital Editions. Perfect Note is, as you would guess, a Windows Phone app for recording and managing notes or tasks. If using a Microsoft Surface Pro, you can write notes directly on the area of the Sticky Note using a stylus pen. Evernote was founded in 2000 and has been evolving ever since. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews, and compare ratings for Poe. Perhaps the best feature of Evernote Premium is the access you have when you are offline. Simplenote is one of the most famous note taking apps and I have been using it since last month for a full Simplenote Review. As you approach the right page margin, the screen auto-scrolls so you can continue to write uninterrupted. The number of notes you write each month may determine the application you choose. As you can see, I made mention of Evernote multiple times throughout this article. Then, there are times when I need to create detailed and organized notes that I may not frequently access yet I need them on standby. Notation is a simple, practice and lightweight app to take notes from anywhere in Windows. Simplenote is available for web, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux and MacOS. It has a simple left to right interface with a main menu, a note snippet display of your most recent notes, and then the actual note taking area. The app provides three sticky sizes—small, large, and wide—and a variety of colors to help you keep things neat and organized. When searching for the best note-taking app for Microsoft Windows, a Microsoft product is hard to beat. If you’re looking for a cross-platform note-taking tool with just enough frills, it’s hard to look beyond Simplenote. Typora is extremely customizable. The best part is that the free version of Standard Notes offers you more features than some of its competition’s paid versions.Â, For example, in the free version of Standard Notes, you can edit documents while offline, there is no data limit, and the notes you create are automatically synced and available to access.Â. Choose from a lined-paper, blackboard, or whiteboard background and write out your notes with your finger or stylus. Sticky Notes is available in an ad-supported free version, which you can upgrade for $2. Applications that have both desktop and mobile app versions make it so much easier to access notes on-the-go. The tool does come with cloud space of 60 MB for uploading the notes online for instant access. Scrble provides a familiar setting in which to do it. Simplenote is perfect for organizing text-only notes which is what makes it one of the 10 best. Simple Note being the easiest of all note-taking apps delivers a productive way of taking notes, maintaining lists, and penning down ideas. Available on: … You can also change the color of each note and add images in addition to text. Keep notes on the web, your mobile device, and your computer. The paid version is affordable, and you do get a few more options, but I like the features I receive from the free version.Â, I also like that Evernote can transcribe handwriting. You can even create a table of contents to look at specific headers, titles, and outlines.Â. Scrble … If you have multiple meetings, deadlines, and projects, Evernote Premium may be worth the $7.99 each month. Sticky Notes defaults to a size of approximately 2×2 when opened on a PC, but the notepad can be expanded or condensed as needed. And its clean, lightweight design makes searches blazing fast. When you just want to jot down a few ideas and save them for later, you have simpler alternatives. Their free version is effective, and you don’t lose any of the operational features of the app. Scrble is a handwriting app that was built for Surface Pro tablet users. You cannot save it within the application and come back to it later to view it or organize it within the application. Drag images from your desktop right into Notebook, automatically creating a Photo Card. Evernote gives users the option to choose a free version or a paid plan. Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Scrble is free to try and $4 to upgrade to the full version. I like Simplenote because it is free, simple, and functional for the note-taking I do. Most of my notes are not required to be shared with others, but there are times when I have wanted an application that my colleagues and I could each access, edit, and publish. There is a free plan, a $4/month plan, and an $8/month plan.Â. Simplenote is an easy way to take notes, create to-do lists, capture ideas, and more. ClevNote is a fairly simple memo taking app which makes it easier to capture and store specific information. You do not have to download or install additional note-taking apps or note-taking software if you have a Windows 10 PC or higher. A basic note-taking application for you to add text, bullets, and outlines.Â. Microsoft OneNote is free, but if you need the full Microsoft Office 365, it costs $69.Â. There are a lot of great choices for backup (Cloud Storage) of your daily memos and share a note via Email, SMS, and Social Communication. It’s that simple, and it has stood the test of time. These four Windows 10-compatible apps combine the convenience of digitized notes with the old-fashioned simplicity of scribbling on a notepad. More About Me, Gone are the days where you needed a pen and paper to take notes, jot down your ideas, and write your to-do lists. Notepad Classic brings the long-standing text editor into the “modern” era. 6. Simplenote's core experience is all about speed and efficiency. For example, if you wanted to search for notes tagged ‘travel’ and ‘poetry’, you would enter ‘tag:travel tag:poetry’ in the search bar. You can create a label for work, personal, financials, sports, or as many or as little categories as you need. It focuses on the search feature so much that it doesn't encourage or make it immediately easy to organize your notes and thoughts. Verdict: Simple Note is ideal for those who need a cross-platform enabled note-taking app that retains the simplicity of the classic Windows notes app like Modern Notepad. Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, lists, ideas, and more. Note taking apps need absolutely clean interface to allow unobtrusive note taking and not a struggle to search for which buttons to click. He was replaced by current CEO Ian Small. Share a list, post some instructions, or publish your thoughts. +User-friendly+Powerful note-taking features+Free version Evernote is a well-respected and powerful productivity app. Now that I’ve given you my tried-and-true recommendations of note-taking apps that work, it’s time for the big reveal. Alright, now let’s check out some note-taking apps. Sticky Notes 8 replicates the simple convenience of Post-Its without the paper clutter. Its plainness makes it as close to pen-and-paper note taking as you’re likely to find in an app. Just launch the app, type some notes and you're done. Sticky Notes defaults to a size of approximately 2×2 when opened on a PC, but the notepad can be expanded or condensed as needed. If using a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet or a smartphone with the Evernote application installed, you can use your finger or stylus pen to write handwritten notes and Evernote will turn it into a document, organize your notes, and save it.Â, Everyone is different, so what may work for you may not work for another. Notepad has been a feature of Windows since version 1.0. Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, lists, ideas and more. Should You Get an SBA Loan to Buy Your First Online Business? 10 Best Note Taking Apps for Windows in 2020, Best Standard Windows App – 3.9 out of 5 stars, Most Popular Overall – 4.2 out of 5 stars, Best App for Google Lovers – 4.5 out of 5 stars, Best App for Formatting – 4.3 out of 5 stars, Best Get-the-Job-Done App – 4 out of 5 stars, Best for Private Notes – 4 out of 5 stars, The All-in-One Note-Taking App – 3.4 out of 5 stars. He contributes regularly to TechHive and writes the Max Productivity column for PCWorld. Keep notes on the web, your mobile device, and your computer. Reach for one of these the next time you need to capture that thought. Sticky Notes is a basic, simple, and effective app for taking and saving notes and reminders. If you use a Microsoft Surface or touchscreen laptop, you have the option of taking notes free-hand. Notion has been described as the organizational note-taking application that can take all the information from Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other databases and combine them into one organizational app. Beyond basic note taking, you can import images and PDFs for annotating. The good news is that you can create quality, detailed notes with the Typora app and save them on your computer for quick and easy access whenever you need it. Stay on top of things with a dedicated Checklist Card. Freelance contributor, You can also attach emails, Microsoft Office and Google documents, PDFs, business cards, and handwritten notes with Evernote Premium making it a highly organizational note-taking application. Private notes should be private, and Standard Notes has ensured just that. You can access your notes from any device when you log in, you receive 60MB of file storage each month, and you can save a webpage directly into a note with the “Web Clipper” add-on. Sticky Notes 8 replicates the no-frills organization scheme of physical stickies minus the clutter. Don’t get me wrong, you can still use this surefire method if you prefer, but with today’s technology, you are doing yourself a disservice if you aren’t taking advantage of convenient note-taking applications and note-taking software.Â, One of the best note taking apps that entrepreneurs used to use was TreePad. The other way to use Microsoft OneNote is as an application on a phone or tablet. Sticky Notes is a basic, simple, and effective app for taking and saving notes and reminders. Microsoft OneNote. Perhaps you are on-call even when you are on vacation in remote areas where Wi-Fi service is non-existent. Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc. Sticky Notes can be pinned to the desktop or home screen, come in a variety of colors, and can sync with Microsoft OneNote.Â. Open it, write some thoughts, and you're done. Microsoft may have dumped its Cache experimental note-taking app, but Windows users have alternatives to the sometimes overwhelmingly complex Evernote, Google Keep, or Microsoft's own OneNote. With over 10 years in the online publisher/advertising space I try to provide my thoughts with the hope it helps people build their own business! Saving Time & Making More Money with the AMZ Image Plugin for WordPress, Ecommerce Intern Case Study – Month 4 – 76% Increase in Sales, Comes standard on Windows 10 or higher operating systems, Ability to sync with Microsoft OneNote and calendars, Easily access your notes by signing into your Microsoft account on any device, Syncs with Microsoft programs and other note files on your computer, You can add pages and sections to each noteÂ, You can create more than one “notebook” on OneNote, making organization easier, Basic (free) or Premium (paid) versions available, Large storage capacities each month with a cloud-based file system, Web Clipper add-on lets you save webpage information directly into a note, Multiple types of files can be saved in Evernote Premium, Connect the Evernote application to your smartphone to use voice commands to add notes (Hey Siri, Hey Google), Effective organization through colors and labels, Invite a collaborator to add and edit notes, Easy sign-in on computer or smartphone to access documents anytime anywhere, Dropbox files are synced and accessible to add to documents, All file types can be added to documentsÂ, Extremely organizational with titles, headers, and outlines, No mobile app version available – desktop only, Comes standard on all Windows operating systems, Limited customizing options; colors, font-size, bullets, and outlines only, Notes must be saved to the computer they are created on, Free plan includes 1000-block storage, 5MB upload limit, and bulk export of files, $4/month plan gives you unlimited block storage, no file upload limit, priority tech support, and bulk export of files, $8/month plan gives you unlimited block storage, no file upload limit, priority tech support, admin tools, and bulk export of files. This is what landed Typora on this list. The main types of information that you can store in ClevNote include bank accounts, groceries, birthdays, and website IDs. Not only is Notion used for creating notes and documents, but you can also assign tasks, create questions and answers, and record spreadsheets and databases. Google Keep allows you to add a collaborator, which is someone who can also edit the note. Another free note-taking app for Windows that I have tested is Simplenote. The tool is clean, light, and free with all components like syncing sharing, and backup. It's not only simple and easy to use but also comes with many features: checklist, widget, reminder, password protection, search, picture attachment, share, and more!