Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organized into notebooks. The notes are searchable, can be copied, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. The notes are in Markdown format. Notes exported from Evernote via .enex files can be imported into Joplin, including the formatted content (which is converted to Markdown), resources (images, attachments, etc.) and complete metadata (geolocation, updated time, created time, etc.). Plain Markdown files can also be imported. The notes can be synchronized with various cloud services including Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV or the file system (for example with a network directory). When synchronising the notes, notebooks, tags and other metadata are saved to plain text files which can be easily inspected, backed up and moved around. The application is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS.
Learn more
Markdown Journal
Markdown Journal is a simple journal that uses Dropbox as back end storage and saves your entries as Markdown files. You are in full control of your journal. All the entries are stored in your personal Dropbox forever. If at some point you decide to stop using Markdown Journal you get to keep all your entries. There is no export function, because your work is always going to be in your Dropbox, as plain text files. You don't need to sign up. If you have a Dropbox account you can hit Write and begin to take notes immediately. If you haven't logged in in a while Markdown Journal will ask to connect with your Dropbox account. A new file is started each month. You can edit any of these files directly with a text editor if you wish. You can delete or rename them at any time. Markdown Journal won't care and will continue working regardless of what you do with the files. When the entry is saved to your Dropbox folder it retains that same Markdown formatting.
Learn more
TaskNote
TaskNote is a note-taking app with a kanban board and reminders, built for one person rather than a team. Notes have rich formatting (headings, checklists, tables, columns, images, highlights) and are stored as Markdown, so they open anywhere. Any note can be turned into a task or attached to a kanban card; reminders fire desktop notifications at the time you set. Full-text search, a command palette, version history, trash, split view with up to six notes side by side, and built-in templates (shopping list, daily plan, brain dump, meeting notes and more). Import from Evernote, Google Keep, Notion, Simplenote and Markdown; a Chrome extension clips web pages into notes. The Windows app keeps everything in a local file, runs without an account and works fully offline. The web version syncs with end-to-end encryption: the key never leaves your device and the server stores only ciphertext. Free plan with no time limit; a one-time Lifetime licence on Windows instead of a subscription.
Learn more
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. The human brain is non-linear: we jump from idea to idea, all the time. Your second brain should work the same. In Obsidian, making and following "connections" is frictionless. Tend to your notes like a gardener; at the end of the day, sit back and marvel at your own knowledge graph. Note-taking is incredibly personal. Tried every app, but there's always something not quite right? You deserve better. Obsidian is built to be extensible. With 22 core plugins and 149 community plugins, set up your own toolkit and get running in minutes. You'll even be able to install third party plugins or build your own once Obsidian reaches v1.0. Sky's the limit. In our age when cloud services can shut down, get bought, or change privacy policy any day, the last thing you want is proprietary formats and data lock-in. With Obsidian, your data sits in a local folder.
Learn more