The table below compares features of Notetaking software. | Name | Licence | Platforms | Synchronization | Annotate and save PDF | White boarding | Enter text with the keyboard | Printing | Formats | Remarks | | A.nnotate | free and paid versions | Web-based | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | PDF, .doc, .docx, images, web pages | Mostly oriented to including comments in PDF and Microsoft Word documents. | | Adobe Reader | Freeware, but needs Acrobat Professional (~600€) for enabling annotations | Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X | ? | Require someone to manually open the document in Acrobat Professional, allow comments, save. Then the PDF file can be annotated on any platform with Adobe Reader installed. | No | Yes | Yes | PDF, with proprietary extension | | | BasKet | GPL | Linux | ? | No | No | Yes | No | Plain text, html | Features adding, managing notes by category, importing text files, images, sounds, autosave. | | Bluebeam PDF Revu | proprietary | Windows XP, Windows Vista | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | save as PDF, export as BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, plain text | tabbed interface, pressure sensitive ink, auto recognize text in ink which is searchable, includes PDF printer, spell check | | DéjàClick | proprietary | Linux, Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | XML | Features ability to annotate live web pages via DéjàNotes and share scripts. Notes may include rich text or HTML and can be printed and saved as a normal web page via the Firefox browser. | | eNoteFile | Freeware | Windows XP/Vista | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | | One-click synchronisation, sharing, password protection, automatic backup, remote access, on/offline functionality, superfast filing system, visual/area search | | Evernote | Freeware and paid versions | Mac OS X, iPhone OS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, IMAP (read-only), WWW. | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | | Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. | | Exstora organiser | Freeware and paid versions | Windows 2000 - Vista | ? | No | No | Yes | yes (Pro version) | Plain text | Features adding, managing notes by category, importing text files, etc. | | Gnote | GPL 3 | Linux | Yes | Yes. Print to PDF. | No | Yes | Yes | NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF | Port of Tomboy to C++, wiki-style linked notes | | | Google Notebook | web service | Web-based | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Web-based; export to ODF, Microsoft Word, PDF etc. via Google Docs | no longer maintained | | Gournal | GPL | Linux | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | SVG | | | Knowledge NoteBook | 30 day trial and commercial. | Window XP, Windows Vista | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Text, image or html with a relational database backend | Requires Adobe ColdFusion and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express | | Jarnal | GPL | Any Java capable platform, including Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ad-hoc (zip compatible archive containing an SVG per page, a config file, optional background PDFs/images). Can export to txt, html, jpg, pdf. | Requires Java | | KeepNote | GPL | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | XHTML, XML, PNG, JPG, GIF | | | Linked Notes Basic | Freeware | Windows XP, Windows Vista | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Proprietary, Export as RTF and TXT | Enter, organise and format notes (rich text) in tree structure. Links between pages and with web pages are automatic. Encryption and full text searching available. | | MagicView | proprietary | Windows | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | HTML, RTF, TXT, HTA, XHTML, XML, PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, MHT, PDF, DjVu (Export to HTML, Import Microsoft Word (DOC)) | Enter, organise and format clips (web, screen, MS Word, Excel, others) & notes (rich text/html) in technical outline with complex tags (including date assignments) and concurrent context views. Outlines & RTF/HTML notes can be shared by online networking or offline sync. | | Microsoft Windows Journal | proprietary | Windows XP Tablet PC edition | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes | proprietary | | | Microsoft Office OneNote | proprietary | Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile | ? | Requires a plugin to be installed, then it can export to PDF.[1] | Yes (Office One Note Version) | Yes | Yes | proprietary | Supports audio and video-recording, screen clipping, importing from Web pages, and drawing; import from any Windows application by means of a simulated printer. Good integration with other applications from vendor's Office suite. Tabbed interface provides good features for organizing and re-organizing pages. When used with Tablet PC ink, can search ink for text across all notes or a subset. | | My Yellow Notepad | proprietary | Windows | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | XML, proprietary compressed | Enter, organise and format notes (rich text) in tree structure (with clones), includes standalone viewer, 30-day demo available | | Circus Ponies NoteBook | proprietary | Mac OS X | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | proprietary, export: html, opml, rtf, txt, doc, pdf | Features adding, managing note entries, outlining, tabs, tagging, automatic indexing, audio recording, screen clipping, importing files (text, audio & video), link or embed files, etc. | | NoteFinder | BSD, GPL | Cross-platform | ? | No | No | Yes | No | Plain text | Features adding, managing note entries, Wiki markup, tagging, smooth search, importing files, etc. | | NoteLab | GPL | Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X | ? | No | No | ? | Yes | save as SVG, export to many including PNG, JPG, BMP | | | NotePub | Free web service | Web-based | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Web-based, HTML | Supports privacy settings on a note by note basis, real time search of public and private notes, note to note links and back-links, drag and drop of images and files from web sites and from the desktop. | | NoteScribe | proprietary | Windows | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | save as .NSE (NoteScribe), export to .rtf | supports image, video, text, PDF, spreadsheet attachments, generate citations and bibliographies | | PDF Annotator | Proprietary, base licence for 50$ | Windows | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | save as SVG, export to many including PNG, JPG, BMP | | PDF Studio | proprietary | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X. Also available web-based. | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | PDF | Review and markup PDF documents. | | Personal Knowbase | proprietary | Windows | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | export to RTF, HTML, TXT, CSV | Supports tags, hypertext, attachments, passwords. Portable. | | Springnote | web service | Web-based | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Web-based; import Microsoft Word (DOC), OpenDocument text (ODT), Text files (TXT), HTML, and Hangul Word Processor (HWP) files,; export to blog. | supports image, video, text, file attachments, keyboard shortcuts, wiki markups, etc. | | Swarm Doc | Web-Based, GPL | Web-Based, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Web-based; Html, wiki, local storage in sqlite database | Wiki based note taking software on the desktop uses Adobe Air application and synchronises with notoair.com | | threetags.com | web service | Web-based, iPhone app | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | HTML | Notes are stored encrypted for extra security/privacy | | Tomboy | LGPL | cross-platform | Yes | Yes. Print to PDF. | No | Yes | Yes | NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF, wiki-formats | Reminders, todo-lists, formulae in LaTeX | | TreeDBNotes | shareware & freeware | Windows | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | save as .treedb export as html, doc, txt, rtf, rvf. | save notes in tree structure support formatted text, table, image, hyperlink | | xl Notes | free and paid versions | Windows | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | xls, xlsx formats | notetaking add-in for Microsoft Excel | | Xournal | GPL | Linux | ? | Yes. Save notes in a separate file. | No | yes (recent versions) | Yes | XML, export to PDF | Fast boot, smooth curves | | Zim | Artistic, GPL | Linux | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | wiki-format, export to HTML and Txt2Tags | Perl based, wiki markup, outlining, forumlae | | Name | Licence | Platforms | Synchronisation | Annotate and save PDF | Whiteboarding | Enter text with the keyboard | Printing | Formats | Remarks | [edit] References |
