6 note-taking apps for Mac and PC I swear by after trying them all

Bear / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Stay organized with the right note-taking tool. Options range from simple, quick notes to advanced features. Free and paid choices make it easy to find the right fit. With the new year upon us, it's time to make the usual litany of resolutions. Maybe one of those resolutions could be to keep yourself better organized so your life doesn't spiral into the dark abyss that is entropy. Also: Have a lot of stuff to track? My 5 favorite home inventory apps can help As you probably expected, there are a lot of note-taking apps on the market, but not all of them are worth your time. I've narrowed down my list of the best desktop note-taking apps to six, one of which is sure to serve your needs to perfection. Let's not waste any more valuable time and get right to the list. After all, you have notes to take, keep, and organize. 1. Obsidian Obsidian Obsidian is more than likely one of the note-taking apps you've never heard of. You might be surprised to find out that Obsidian users are pretty fanatical about the app. With good reason. Obsidian works with Markdown (so your notes can easily be opened in other apps and still look the same). Obsidian keeps your notes within a Vault, which can be synced with any instance of the app on other devices (so long as you're signed into your Obsidian account). One of the primary reasons Obsidian made this list is because it has so many options, from folders, backlinks, a mind map-like canvas, a command palette, templates, daily notes, graph view, file recovery, thousands of plugins (both official and community), reading view, panes, export to PDF, and many others. On top of that, Obsidian is cross-platform, so you'll find a version for Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS. Also: Live and work by lists? I found two genius apps that make them even easier to create Obsidian is one of those apps that can serve you on a very basic level or can become quite advanced as you learn more about the app. You'll want to spend some time getting up to speed with Obsidian, but it's worth it. You can use Obsidian for free (for personal use). If you need commercial or priority support, you'll need to pay $50 per year per person for a commercial license. 2. Google Keep Google Keep Unlike Obsidian, Google Keep is fairly basic. For those who tend to be intimidated by too many options, Keep is a great choice because it peels away all of the complexity so all you have to do is concentrate on taking notes. Keep does have a few features, such as tags, background colors (and images), bulleted lists, drawing, collaboration, archiving, pinned notes, and even a Chrome extension. Keep doesn't include a folder option, but you can always tag your notes so they can be more easily located. Also: Waze vs. Google Maps: I tested two of the best navigation apps, and there's a clear winner I've been using Google Keep for a very long time, and it has served me well for those basic notes I need to quickly jot down. Although I don't generally use Keep for longer, more complex notes, it's my go-to for quick and simple notes. And because there's a mobile app version, I can create notes on the go, knowing they'll be easily accessible from my web browser. If you don't need complicated note-taking, with tons of features, and just want to hit the ground running, Keep is the way to go. Google Keep is free to use from a web browser or a mobile app (Android/iOS). 3. Bear Markdown Notes Bear Markdown Notes Bear Markdown Notes is only available for MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS, which is a shame because it's a fantastic app. The Bear Markdown Notes UI is one of the best on the list. The interface is fairly basic, and it includes a default note with all the help you'll need to get started. One of my favorite features of Bear Markdown Notes is the tagging system. Instead of having to manually tag notes, you simply add the tag anywhere within the note using the # character. For instance, if you want to add the tag "books" to your note, you would simply type #books anywhere in the note, and Bear will recognize it. When you add a tag to a note, you'll see the tag appear at the bottom of the left sidebar. Click a tag, and you'll see all notes that include the word you used for the tag. Also: 10 open-source apps I recommend every Windows user try - for free Bear can be used for free but has limited features. The Pro version ($2.99 per month) adds export to PDF, JPG, HTML, DOCX, and ePub, as well as more themes, sync with iCloud, and more. Bear Markdown Notes can be installed on MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS. 4. Joplin Joplin One of the coolest things about Joplin is that it has both a command line and GUI version. If you're a big fan of command line tools, Joplin is a great option. Of course, most users prefer a good GUI, and Joplin has that covered. Like Obsidian, Joplin does have a steeper learning curve than the other options on this list. It's not challenging, but to get the most out of this app, you'll want to know how to use Markdown. For instance, if you type a # symbol, whatever comes after that will be H1. ## is H2 and ### is H3. Bold text would look like **bold** and italicized text would look like *italics*. You can view a complete list of the Joplin Markdown on this cheat sheet. Using Markdown will make Joplin considerably more useful, so I highly recommend taking the time to learn at least the basics. Also: I always install these 5 free apps on every Windows PC - here's why they're essential The Joplin UI is broken into three parts: the sidebar (list of notes and tags), the Note List (your current list of notes), and the Note Editor (where you write your notes). One nice thing about the Joplin Markdown system is that it creates standard Markdown files (unlike Evernote, which uses a proprietary system), meaning you can open those notes in any app that supports Markdown. You can also configure Joplin for free cloud syncing to Dropbox or OneDrive, or you can use Joplin's cloud service, which requires a paid account. The paid accounts are Pro ($2.49 per month) or Teams ($6.94 per month). You can check out the features for each plan on this Joplin pricing matrix. Joplin can be installed on Linux, MacOS, Android, and iOS. 5. Notesnook Notesnook Notesnook is an open-source note-taking app that offers end-to-end encryption, so your notes are all encrypted when synced. You can also set up an app password so those notes remain private, even when on your desktop. Even when logging into your account (via a web browser), you must first retrieve a six-digit security code (via your associated email address) as well as your password. Notesnook is quite easy to use and includes features like notebooks, favorites, tags, reminders, monographs, dark mode, formatting, and more. I will say this: at first, I wasn't able to get the sync to work with the Linux app and my Notesnook account. After an upgrade, sync began to work. If you're using any version prior to 3.0.23-123705f, sync is probably broken. Also: 3 Android calendar apps that beat Google's default hands down - and they're all free With the App Lock, you must first verify it's you by typing your Notesnook password. Once you've done that, you can then add a password that will be required when starting the app. Notesnook can be used for free, or you can purchase a Pro plan ($4.17 per month) that adds unlimited storage, an advanced web clipper, export to PDF, HTML, or Markdown, reminders, and unlimited notebooks and tags. Notesnook can be installed on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. 6. Trilium Notes I use the Trilium note-taking app to help organize a very large project. Jack Wallen/ZDNET Trilium Notes has quickly become my favorite (and default) note-taking app, even if only for one reason. With this tool, I can install a server on my LAN and sync Trilium Notes from any machine on my network. By keeping everything local, I know my data is safe from scraping and other nasty habits of companies around the world. Also: My new favorite note-taking app for MacOS and Linux checks this crucial box - and it's free Trilium Notes also allows you to easily create password-protected notes for heightened security. When you add those two features, along with the standard options, Trilium Notes becomes a very powerful tool for note-taking. At the moment, there are only Trilium Notes apps for Linux and MacOS, but there is a Windows option on the horizon. Trilium also offers AI integration, but this feature is very much in beta, and I have yet to get it to work. When the AI component does finally work, it will allow you to use locally installed LLMs for even more security. Trilium is free to install and use.