Idea Notebook

Idea Notebook

Idea Notebook is a free, open-source note taking app for capturing thoughts, ideas, and to-do lists. It has basic formatting options and organizational features to take notes quickly.
Idea Notebook image
notes ideas todo-lists open-source

Idea Notebook: Free Note Taking App

A simple note taking app for capturing thoughts, ideas, and to-do lists with basic formatting options and organizational features.

What is Idea Notebook?

Idea Notebook is a free, open-source note taking application designed for easily capturing thoughts, ideas, and to-do lists. It provides a simple, clean interface for writing notes without distracting formatting options.

With Idea Notebook, you can create text notes with basic formatting like bold, italics, highlights, and URLs. It also allows you to organize your notes by tagging them or putting them into notebooks. This makes it easy to search and filter your notes to find what you need.

Unlike more complex note apps, Idea Notebook focuses on speed and simplicity. You can open a blank note and start typing right away. The notes auto-save so you'll never lose your work. It's perfect for quickly jotting down ideas, things to remember, meeting notes, and stream-of-consciousness writing.

As an open-source app, Idea Notebook places no limits on your usage. You can use it completely free forever without ads or subscriptions. It also stores all data locally on your device so your notes remain private.

If you want a basic but effective note taking app for capturing thoughts and ideas without the complexity, Idea Notebook is a great choice to consider.

Idea Notebook Features

Features

  1. Quick note taking
  2. Basic text formatting (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough)
  3. Markdown support
  4. Tags and notebooks for organization
  5. Search notes
  6. Dark mode
  7. Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Free and open source

Simple and easy to use interface

Good for capturing thoughts and ideas quickly

Syncs between devices

Customizable tags and notebooks

Cons

Limited formatting compared to more robust note apps

No collaboration features

No image insertion

No auto-save - easy to lose unsaved notes


The Best Idea Notebook Alternatives

Top Office & Productivity and Note Taking and other similar apps like Idea Notebook


DEVONthink icon

DEVONthink

DEVONthink is a document and information management application developed by DEVONtechnologies for macOS. It serves as a central database for organizing documents, notes, bookmarks, email messages, and other data in one searchable and automated system.Some key features and capabilities of DEVONthink include:AI-based classification and tagging of documents using natural language...
DEVONthink image
CherryTree icon

CherryTree

CherryTree is a versatile open-source note taking and organization application. It allows users to store information in a hierarchical tree structure, allowing for easy categorization and navigation of notes.Some key features of CherryTree include:Rich text support - Notes can be formatted using bold, italics, lists, etc.Syntax highlighting - Code snippets...
CherryTree image
TiddlyWiki icon

TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is a unique wiki application that sets itself apart in a few key ways:It is designed to run fully within a web browser rather than requiring a server. All content is stored locally in an HTML file.It places emphasis on modularity and non-linear organization of content into small pieces...
TiddlyWiki image
TagSpaces icon

TagSpaces

TagSpaces is an open-source, offline-first file manager and organizer software. It allows users to visually organize files and folders by adding colors, tags, ratings or descriptions to them. The unique tag-oriented approach helps to categorize and find files and folders in a very efficient way.Some key features of TagSpaces include:Works...
TagSpaces image
Trilium Notes icon

Trilium Notes

Trilium Notes is an open-source, hierarchical note taking application designed for building large personal knowledge bases. It uses a tree structure for organizing notes, allowing users to create nested topics and subtopics for easy linkage of related ideas.Some key features of Trilium Notes include:Tree-structured notes - Notes are organized in...
Trilium Notes image
Simple Doc Organizer icon

Simple Doc Organizer

Simple Doc Organizer is a user-friendly document management application for Windows. It makes organizing files, photos, notes and other documents on your computer easy with its intuitive interface.With Simple Doc Organizer, you can:Drag-and-drop files and folders to the software to add them to your libraryTag documents with custom labels so...
Simple Doc Organizer image
Nimbus Note icon

Nimbus Note

Nimbus Note is a cross-platform note-taking and organization application developed by Nimbus Web Inc. It is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android operating systems as a free app with premium subscription options.Nimbus Note provides a variety of powerful note-taking tools to help users organize information and ideas. Users can...
Nimbus Note image
Tomboy icon

Tomboy

Tomboy is a free, open-source note-taking and information organizing application for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It provides a simple yet powerful interface for creating, editing, tagging, searching, and linking notes.Some key features of Tomboy include:Clean and intuitive user interface for easily capturing ideas, thoughts, to-do lists, and moreWiki-style linking between...
Tomboy image
QOwnNotes icon

QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is a free, open source note taking and todo list application for Windows, Linux and macOS. It uses plain text files for storing notes, so there is no vendor lock in or proprietary file formats to worry about.Key features include:Markdown formatting support for notes along with a markdown previewTodo...
QOwnNotes image
Turtl icon

Turtl

Turtl is an open-source, encrypted note-taking and knowledge base application. It allows users to create a secure personal database to store notes, bookmarks, documents and more. Turtl utilizes end-to-end encryption to ensure all user data stored on their servers is encrypted and cannot be accessed by anyone else, including Turtl...
Turtl image
Cryptee icon

Cryptee

Cryptee is an privacy-focused online service for securely storing, sharing and viewing photos and videos. It employs end-to-end encryption to ensure only you can access your content.When you upload content to Cryptee, it is encrypted on your device before being sent to Cryptee's servers. The encryption keys remain solely in...
Cryptee image
Inkflow Visual Notebook icon

Inkflow Visual Notebook

Inkflow Visual Notebook is an innovative digital notebook app designed for visual thinkers. It brings the flexibility and creativity of paper note-taking to the digital space, allowing you to combine handwriting, drawing, typing, photos, file attachments and more into visually rich interactive notebooks.With Inkflow, you can take notes, sketch ideas,...
Inkflow Visual Notebook image
Scrible icon

Scrible

Scrible is a free online note taking and writing application designed for research and academic writing. It provides users with an infinite canvas where they can collect, organize and connect their research visually. Some key features of Scrible include:Web annotation - Scrible allows you to highlight portions of webpages and...
Scrible image
Geeknote icon

Geeknote

Geeknote is a free, open-source Evernote client that provides native access to Evernote on Linux, Windows, and Mac operating systems. Developed in Python, Geeknote connects to the Evernote cloud allowing users to create, edit, organize, search, and share notes from their Evernote account.As an unofficial Evernote client, Geeknote provides similar...
Geeknote image
PaperMaster icon

PaperMaster

PaperMaster is a user-friendly document management solution built to help solopreneurs, small teams, and busy professionals store, organize, search, share, and collaborate on files and documents from one unified platform.Core features include:Cloud storage and backup for all your filesPowerful search to instantly find any documentOCR for making scanned papers searchableCustom...
Monkkee icon

Monkkee

Monkkee is a task and time management application designed specifically for solo entrepreneurs and small business owners. Its intuitive interface and variety of tools aim to help users organize their work, manage their schedule, and improve productivity.At the core of Monkkee is an integrated calendar system that allows users to...
Monkkee image
TopNotes icon

TopNotes

TopNotes is a free, open-source note taking and organization app for Windows. It provides a fast and easy way to take notes, organize information, and access it quickly when needed.Some key features of TopNotes:Simple, clean interface for quickly creating typed notes or clipping content from the webOrganize notes into user-defined...
EDoc Organizer icon

EDoc Organizer

eDoc Organizer is a feature-rich document management application designed to help businesses and teams organize, manage, and share documents efficiently. Here are some of the key capabilities of eDoc Organizer:Centralized document repository - Store all your business documents, including Office files, PDFs, images etc. in a single, searchable location.Version control...
EDoc Organizer image
WritePad icon

WritePad

WritePad is a lightweight yet full-featured text editor and word processor for Windows. Developed by PhatWare, WritePad provides users with the basic tools needed for writing documents, letters, notes, and more.Some key features of WritePad include:Text formatting options like bold, italics, underline, font type and size, text color, bullet points,...
Flava icon

Flava

Flava is a visual programming app built for creating interactive web-based content like games, quizzes, animations, and more without needing to write code. It utilizes a node-graph architecture where users connect together prebuilt blocks of JavaScript graphics, animations, logic, and data to construct complex interactions.Some key features of Flava include:Drag-and-drop...
Trunk Notes icon

Trunk Notes

Trunk Notes is a collaborative note-taking and project management application designed for teams. It provides a central workspace for teams to manage notes, tasks, documents, and wikis together in real-time.Some key features of Trunk Notes include:Real-time synchronization - Edits and updates made by team members are instantly reflected for everyone.Robust...
AceText icon

AceText

AceText is a free and open source text editor for Windows that can serve as an alternative to Notepad or other basic text editors. It comes with a variety of useful features for text editing, including:Syntax highlighting for over 80 languages and file typesCustomizable themes to change editor's look and...
AceText image
Alinof Archives icon

Alinof Archives

Alinof Archives is a file archiving and compression software for Windows operating systems. It provides an easy-to-use interface for creating and extracting archive files in formats like ZIP, 7Z, RAR, ISO, and more.Some key features of Alinof Archives include:Intuitive interface for fast archiving and extraction of filesSupport for multiple archive...
Alinof Archives image
ShoveBox icon

ShoveBox

ShoveBox is a free personal information manager software for Windows. It provides a single place to capture, organize and manage all kinds of digital content including:Text snippets and notesWeb links and bookmarksImages and screenshotsFiles and documentsKey features:Intuitive drag-and-drop interface to quickly capture contentTagging and color coding for flexible organizationSearch and...
ShoveBox image
Channelkit icon

Channelkit

Channelkit is an open-source messaging platform that allows developers to easily add chat and messaging features into their web and mobile applications. It provides APIs and UI components to handle core messaging capabilities like contacts, conversations, read receipts and more out-of-the-box.Some key features of Channelkit include:APIs for user management, contacts,...
Channelkit image
BrainStormWFO icon

BrainStormWFO

BrainStormWFO is a cloud-based work force optimization software specifically designed for call centers and help desks. It provides a suite of tools to improve efficiency and performance, driving higher productivity and customer satisfaction.Some key capabilities include:Call volume forecasting based on historical data to predict staffing needsAutomated shift scheduling and swap...
BrainStormWFO image
MyShelf icon

MyShelf

MyShelf is a free, open-source personal library software designed to help users organize and manage their book, music, movie, and video game collections. Developed by a small team of developers and designers, MyShelf provides an intuitive and customizable platform to catalog and track various media.Key features of MyShelf include:Barcode scanning...
Dossier icon

Dossier

Dossier is a note taking and project management application designed specifically for creative professionals like writers, designers, researchers, and more. It provides a simple yet powerful platform to collect, organize and access all your project information in one central place.At the core of Dossier is an infinite canvas where users...
Everpad icon

Everpad

Everpad is a free and open-source note taking application designed for convenient note taking and organization. It supports rich text formatting, tagging, and works across all major desktop and mobile platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.Key features of Everpad include:Rich text editor for bold, italics, lists, etc.Tagging notes...
Everpad image
EXtrigo icon

EXtrigo

eXtrigo is a no-code automation platform that enables anyone in an organization to build workflow automations and bots without writing any code. It features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to design workflows that connect various applications, data sources, and services.With eXtrigo, users can automate repetitive manual processes, integrate siloed systems, schedule...
JustAnote icon

JustAnote

justAnote is a free, open-source note taking application for Windows. It provides a fast and easy way to create, organize, and search all your notes.With its clean and simple interface, you can quickly write down your thoughts, ideas, to-do lists, and any other notes you need to save for later....
JustAnote image
SyReach Notes icon

SyReach Notes

SyReach Notes is a free note taking and organization software application designed for the Windows operating system. It provides users with an easy way to create unlimited personal and work notes, organize them into color-coded notebooks, and sync all data across devices for access anywhere.With SyReach Notes, users can quickly...
Memosaic icon

Memosaic

Memosaic is a free, open-source photo management and viewing application. It allows you to easily browse, organize, tag and view your personal photo collection.Some key features of Memosaic:Fast searching and filtering of your photos by date, camera, tags, filenames, etc.Support for all major image formats like JPG, RAW, PNG, GIF,...
Pangurpad icon

Pangurpad

Pangurpad is a free and open-source text editor application built with Electron for Windows platforms. It offers a simple yet customizable interface for writing code, notes, and documents.Some key features of Pangurpad include:Minimalist and distraction-free interfaceSupport for multiple tabs and split window editingSyntax highlighting for many programming languagesCustom themes and...
Letterspace icon

Letterspace

Letterspace is an open-source, cross-platform word processor application designed specifically for writers. With its clean and minimalistic interface, Letterspace aims to provide a distraction-free writing environment to help authors focus on their work.Unlike general office suites like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, Letterspace is purpose-built for long-form writing and creative...
Letterspace image
JournalCat icon

JournalCat

JournalCat is a free and open-source reference management software designed for researchers to organize, manage, read, annotate, share, discuss and cite research papers and sources.Key features of JournalCat:Store, organize, search and manage citations/references for books, journal articles, conference papers etc.Import papers and metadata from files like PDFs to auto-generate citationsAnnotate...
NotePlex icon

NotePlex

NotePlex is a free, open-source note taking and organization application for Windows. It provides a simple yet powerful platform for creating, organizing, and sharing notes across devices.With NotePlex, users can create rich text notes with images, lists, hyperlinks, and more. Notes can be organized into customized notebooks, tagged for easy...
NotePlex image
PryNotes icon

PryNotes

PryNotes is a free, open source note taking application for Windows. It provides a simple yet effective way to create, organize and manage all your notes in one place.Some of the key features of PryNotes include:Rich text editing - Format your notes using different fonts, sizes, colors, bullets, etc.Tagging -...
NoteSuite icon

NoteSuite

NoteSuite is a free and open-source note taking and organization software for Windows. It provides a simple yet powerful way to create, organize and find notes quickly.With NoteSuite, users can create rich text notes using formatting options like bold, italics, highlighting, hyperlinks, bullet points etc. Notes can be categorized into...
XNotes icon

XNotes

XNotes is a free and open-source note taking application available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides a simple yet effective way to create, organize and manage all your text notes.Some of the key features of XNotes include:Intuitive and minimal interface for quickly jotting down notesSupport for formatting options like...
Thoughtback icon

Thoughtback

Thoughtback is an open-source personal knowledge management and note taking application. It provides a flexible platform for organizing your thoughts, ideas, notes, and other information.Some key features of Thoughtback include:Notebook-style layout for organizing notes into sectionsRich text editor for formatting notesTagging of notes for later search and retrievalWiki-style links between...
Thoughtback image
Indicator Stickynotes icon

Indicator Stickynotes

Indicator Stickynotes is an open-source sticky notes application designed for Linux operating systems using desktop environments such as Unity, GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and others. It provides users with the ability to quickly jot down notes, lists, reminders, and other short bits of text in a convenient graphical interface.When launched, Indicator...
Indicator Stickynotes image
Local Read Later icon

Local Read Later

Local Read Later is an open source alternative to apps like Pocket and Instapaper. It allows you to save web pages, articles, videos, and more for later offline viewing. The key features include:Open source browser extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. They make it easy to save pages with...
Pinoteo icon

Pinoteo

Pinoteo is an open-source note taking and organization software. It is designed to be simple, intuitive, and efficient for creating, organizing, and accessing personal notes.Some key features of Pinoteo include:Clean, minimal interface to reduce distractionsSupport for formatting notes using Markdown syntaxTagging and filtering systems to easily organize notes and find...
AnnotateIt icon

AnnotateIt

AnnotateIt is a powerful yet easy-to-use online annotation software. With AnnotateIt, users can annotate images, PDFs, and webpages by adding text comments, highlighting, underlining, drawing shapes, etc. It's completely free to use with no signup required.Some of the key features of AnnotateIt include:Annotate images, PDFs and webpagesReal-time collaboration allowing multiple...
Notespark icon

Notespark

Notespark is a free note taking and organizing app for Windows. It provides a simple yet powerful way to create documents, notebooks, notes, checklists and more. With Notespark, users can easily capture ideas, organize information, plan projects, track tasks or keep a journal.Some key features of Notespark include:Intuitive and clean...
NexusPad icon

NexusPad

NexusPad is a revolutionary no-code platform for building native mobile and progressive web apps. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows anyone to build fully-featured apps for iOS, Android, and the web without writing any code.Some key features of NexusPad include:Cross-platform app development - Build an app once and deploy it across...
NexusPad image
Nimblebox icon

Nimblebox

Nimblebox is a cloud-based project management and collaboration software designed for agile teams. It provides a variety of tools to help plan, organize, and track work across projects.Some of the key features of Nimblebox include:Kanban boards for visualizing work and workflowsInteractive Gantt charts for scheduling projects and tasksCustomizable dashboard to...
Camnote icon

Camnote

Camnote is a free and open-source screen recorder and video annotator software for Windows. It provides an easy way for users to record their screen, webcam, add annotations like text, arrows, shapes, highlights, etc. and export the recordings as video files.Some of the key features of Camnote include:Intuitive and minimalistic...
Memit icon

Memit

Memit is a free, open-source screenshot annotation tool for Windows. It provides a simple but powerful set of tools for taking screenshots, making annotations and edits, and exporting the final image.Some of the key features of Memit include:Quickly capture full screenshots, selected regions, active windows, or scrolling webpagesDraw with a...
Handy diary icon

Handy diary

Handy diary is a free and open-source diary and journaling app for Android devices. It provides an easy way for users to record their daily events, thoughts, feelings, and memories in a private digital journal.Some key features of Handy diary include:Add unlimited diary entries with titles, text, photos, location data,...
Handy diary image
Jottinx icon

Jottinx

Jottinx is a free, open-source note taking and organization app available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, Android and iOS. It makes it easy for users to write, access, and organize notes from any device.Some of the standout features of Jottinx include:Rich-text editor - Supports text styling, checklists, code blocks, images,...
Jottinx image
Thinkery icon

Thinkery

Thinkery is an innovative mind mapping and brainstorming software designed to help users organize their thoughts, ideas, and plans more efficiently. With an easy-to-use interface, Thinkery allows users to create colorful and visually engaging mind maps that bring ideas to life.One of the key features of Thinkery is its flexibility....
Thinkery image
OpenText Capture Center icon

OpenText Capture Center

OpenText Capture Center is an intelligent capture and content management solution from OpenText. It enables organizations to digitize information from multiple sources including paper, fax, email, desktop documents, and enterprise content systems.With advanced capture capabilities like OCR, barcode recognition, and automated classification, Capture Center can intelligently extract information and route...
OpenText Capture Center image
MyLogbook icon

MyLogbook

myLogbook is comprehensive, easy-to-use logbook software for general aviation pilots. It enables pilots to efficiently log details of each of their flights, aircraft, flight times, expenses, passenger information, and more in an intuitive interface.Key features of myLogbook include:Logbook with detailed flight logging - Log date, routes, duration, landings, approaches, conditions...
Canvas Collaborative Notes icon

Canvas Collaborative Notes

Canvas Collaborative Notes is a cloud-based team productivity software that facilitates real-time collaborative note-taking, task management, and team communication. It enables teams to create digital workspaces to capture meeting notes, brainstorm ideas, organize project tasks, and have discussions.Key features of Canvas Collaborative Notes include:Real-time co-editing - Multiple team members can...
UbikFocus icon

UbikFocus

UbikFocus is a productivity and focus app designed to help users minimize distractions and stay on task while working, studying, or trying to complete important projects. It works across devices, allowing users to set goals, track time, block distracting websites and apps, and manage tasks from their computer, phone, or...
OnePunch Notes icon

OnePunch Notes

OnePunch Notes is a free and open-source note taking application designed to make taking notes quick and easy. It has a simple and intuitive user interface that allows you to quickly create new notes, categorize them with tags, link notes together, and search through all your notes in one place.Some...
SideWriter icon

SideWriter

SideWriter is a free software application for Windows designed for note taking, writing and organizing information. Some of the key features of SideWriter include:Simple and intuitive interface for quickly jotting down notes, lists, ideas, journal entries and moreTabbed documents for working on multiple writing projectsFull-text search to easily find information...
SideWriter image
WD Officepad icon

WD Officepad

WD Officepad is a free office and productivity software suite developed by WPS Office. It includes a word processor (WD Writer), spreadsheet program (WD Sheet), and presentation application (WD Slides).As a lightweight alternative to Microsoft Office, WD Officepad provides basic editing and formatting features for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It...
WD Officepad image
NoteBox icon

NoteBox

NoteBox is a free, open-source note taking application for Windows. It provides a simple yet powerful way to create, organize, and search all your notes in one place.With NoteBox, users can quickly jot down ideas, thoughts, to-do lists, meeting minutes, and more. Notes support rich formatting options like bold, italics,...