What is a good note taking software on Linux?
(It would be great if it was open source and self-host)
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In this context, good is relative ā¦
Start here List of applications/Documents - ArchWiki
And check here https://www.slant.co/topics/6303/~note-taking-apps-for-linux
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Hi @seele,
I personally use Boostnote, so perhaps that works for you as well. There are 2 versions: local and cloud. I use the local one, because, you guessed it, itās local. Another cool thing , according to me, it stores your notes in dead simple .json files.
I have looked at Joplin, but stuck to Boostnote, purely because Boostnote uses simple, easy to understand and use JSON files, which makes it, in my opinion, easier to backup.
Also Comparison of note-taking software - Wikipedia
Personally, i use the default text editor, and i save my ānotesā in an appropriate folder. Simple is nice.
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I currently use ZIM. Not sure it corresponds to your idea of a note taking app, but I like it because itās simple.
Lately Iāve been thinking in trying KJots. Looks interesting.
feathernotes from the repo perhaps ā¦
I use my default text editor Kate for editing/writing and glow for reading.
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I like Basket Note Pads, it is in the official repositories. You can add text, pictures, website links to the program.
For local note-taking, I just have text files on the Desktop for that. (Iām messy)
For cloud, I sometimes use simplenote: itās clients on Linux and Android are open-source.
There are two which I would say are OUTSTANDING at the moment.
The first is Joplin - which keeps notes synchronised and organised and is my favourite for a couple of reasons.
- It is a simple text editor which supports Markdown.
- It has a single click to open a note to edit in (MarkText) whatever editor you like.
The second is Obsidian.
This works from folders - so you could just start up a new āvaultā which is basically a folder ~/Dropbox/Notes. Your first note āStartā is saved there as an .md
Obsidian is stunning due to itās superb linking and zettelkasten. You can start typing a [[link]]. in your āStart.mdā file. Once you click that link, it instantly creates a new file ālink.mdā. Thus all your links become actual files which are organised in folders.
Browsing notes in your file manager reflects the experience in Obsidian, but in Obisidan you can get around by clicking the links.
So my tip is to install Joplin (I use the appimage - works well and thereās no update delay) and Obsidian, then grab some āfavourite Markdown editorsā starting by looking at Mark Text (replaces Typora which sadly isnāt FOSS) , ghostwriter is also awesome as itās easy to switch between Markdown styles (for the preview - cmark-gfm, or Multimarkdown, or plain cmark).
Itās worth noting that, when learning Markdown, it doesnāt always pay to stick to one appā¦ as they do vary.
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SiYuan, though itās not entirely open source.
It is a local-first note taking software that supports end-to-end encrypted synchronization.
It supports all platforms, desktop and mobile, as well as docker.
This is highly subjective. You can basically use one of the following:-
- A word processor
- Text note-taking apps like Joplin
- Drawing-based note-taking apps like
rnote - org mode in Emacs
- vimwiki in vim
I looked for many note-taking apps for Linux back when I started my PhD. I wanted them to be synced across multiple devices, be editable and shareable. Most apps do parts of these very well. But I couldnāt find something that satisfied me completely. I tried Joplin, cherrytree, simplenote, qownotes etc. In the end, I found the following setup to be pretty much perfect for me.
I use a private gitlab repo and sync my markdown notes to it. The same git folder is also synced to my owncloud. This allows me to edit my notes from any device that can access my owncloud (auto-sync across laptop, 2 desktops and mobile). Markdown files are text files and very easy to edit.
And sharing my notes with other people simply becomes a matter of sharing my repo with them and granting them access.
Personally, I donāt use any special note-taking app. If anything, I use a simple text editor for notes. Still, I find it an interesting topic. After all, you never know what previously unknown gems there are yet to be discovered. 
Since I came across the following article today, I donāt want to deprive you of the app UpNote. The app would certainly not be the first choice for many users, but since it has not been mentioned here yet, I would like to make up for it.
Iāve been using Joplin. Itās good, but feels a bit heavy. Recently I came across Clipto, tried it. Itās lighter, and I like the feature of directly taking from clipboard. But the concern is itās not open source and the project has not been updated since late 2021.
I guess it all depends on how youāre going to organise notes. I like Joplin, and used it exclusively for a year or so until I tried Obsidian.
Obsidian has the benefit of storing itās notes as Markdown files in a Notes folder - so it works not only as an organiser, but the notes work on their own merit as simple files in local foldersā¦ so I can directly open notes via my menu using Marktext or Ghostwriter and also use MarkDownload extension to download and edit a webpage as Markdown.
Boostnote is open-source and is great for developers working with programming notes/code snippets. I havenāt used it, but it is FOSS which is a bonus (Obsidian is notā¦).
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pamac-manager search=notes
For those who prefer apps using the QT toolkit - there is two lesser know gems feather-pad and feather-notes in the repo.
- feather-notes
- notepadqq
- gnome-notes
- notes-up
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