The best note taking software on Linux
The amount of information we process every day is enormous and memorizing everything is simply impossible. This is where Note-taking software can help us. So, what options of note-taking software do we have on Linux? Hello everyone! It’s Average Linux User and in this video, I will share with you my note taking experience on Linux. The first option is pretty obvious – Evernote. It is not the best in my opinion, but it is the most popular note-taking program.
And it was the first note taking program I tried. Unfortunately, there is no native client for Linux. Yes, there are some third-party Evernote clients developed for Linux, but from my experience, they do not work very well. However, Evernote has a decent web client, and Linux users can use it with no problems. In my view, Evernote is an excellent program for general-purpose note-taking. You can quickly make basic text formatting, insert tables, images, links, create lists and attach files. The main drawback for me is there is no option to paste programming code with syntax highlighting. The only way to designate code is to use it as a plain text with some mono font style. Another annoying thing – there is no option to export notes from the web client. Finally, it is proprietary software, and you have to pay for premium if you want to use Evernote offline. So, I dropped out Evernote pretty quickly. My second note-taking program was Zim. Zim is very simple software designed to make wiki pages, and it perfectly meets many requirements of a note-taking program.
It is native on Linux, and probably it is the most popular note-taking software among Linux users. All the notes you create in Zim are saved as plain text and can be read by any text editor. Synchronization can be made through any cloud service like Dropbox. There are not many options in Zim, and this is rather a positive side. You can do the basic font formatting, insert links, tables, images, attach files and create lists. Taking notes in Zim is extremely fast process thanks to the set of keyboard shortcuts. For example, you type a title and then press Ctrl+1, and the header of level 1 is ready. If you type some code, highlight it and press Ctrl+T, it will be formatted with a mono font style.
But unfortunately, there is also no syntax highlighting. You can also extend the functionality of Zim with a set of useful plugins. Spell Checker and Tray Icon are probably the ones you would activate first. Zim has been my favorite note-taking program for several years, and I still think it is the best note-taking software on Linux to make many simple notes. However, when my notes became more complex, I started to look for something more sophisticated. And I found Cherrytree. Cherrytree is my current note-taking software. It is the most comprehensive note-taking program available on Linux. The amount of features in this program extends far beyond my needs. But three of them make me love this program the most. 1. It is open-source and native on Linux. 2. It has code boxes with syntax highlighting for almost all programming languages. 3. It is extremely efficient thanks to a powerful set of keyboard shortcuts. Cherrytree stores its notes in a single file that can be password protected. Synchronization across devices can be easily made through Dropbox or any other cloud service.
The interface of the program is very convenient by default. If you want, you can change a lot of setting using preferences. If it is not enough for you, some extra configuration can be achieved by editing the config file. I also like the tree structure of notes on the left panel. But the killing feature of Cherrytree is its code boxes with syntax highlights. It makes code reading much easier.
And the code can be stored in a box that takes only a few lines. And if needed, this box can be expanded with the shortcuts Ctrl+, or shrunk with Ctrl+Alt+, One more feature that I like in Cherrytree is its ability to make several automatic backup copies of the notes’ database. If you removed a note, you could restore it with no problem from a backup. If you have never used Cherrytree, I highly recommend you to give it a try. Cherrytree can bring your note-taking experience to an entirely different level. And if you are on Linux, this is the most comprehensive note-taking program you can get. If you do not like neither Zim nor Cherrytree, here some other note-taking options available for Linux. Simplenote Simplenote is probably even simpler than Zim.
If there was no Zim, I would recommend Simplenote. It is very good program if your notes contain only text. For all other type of notes like images, links, codeboxes, you need to format your notes with Markdown. The basic instructions are provided within the program. NixNote NixNote is an unofficial client of Evernote for Linux. But you can also use it independently of Evernote. It is a very promising note-taking program. You can create text notes, make tables, attach files and images. But as in Evernote, there is no syntax highlighting for programming code. Paper from DropBox DropBox Paper is the best option for note-taking if you do not mind that it is available online only.
It is way better than Evernote online client. You can take all possible note types: text, tables, images, links, attachments, programming code. The interface is very responsive and effective. DropBox provides all the necessary instructions on how to use DropBox Paper. For me, DropBox Paper is the best option for collaborative notes. And I highly recommend it.
Please, let me know in the comment section what is your favorite note-taking program on Linux. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this channel, if you haven’t subscribed yet. I will definitely make detailed videos about each of these note-taking programs in the future.
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