Top 68 Apps to Take Digital Notes (2022)

[@GaelyneGasson]

Kudos to your research team! This was one of the best quick look videos on the note taking apps out there. So many new ones! I even saw one I'll go back and make a point of checking out. Thanks, Tiago!

[@margareth_wagner]

Please, I beg you to keep updating the stats about the most used or most popular note taking apps. I am truly interested on knowing which apps are more popular. You are the only one I know that has surveyed people on this topic, so I ask you to please keep on updating those stats over time.

[@guilhermeferrao5968]

I also find that using a private chat just with yourself is a very good way to take the snappiest sort of notes. One liners, random screenshots and images, etc. The messaging app Signal already comes with this as a feature called Note to Self. Highly recommend.

[@invictuz4803]

True, Microsoft Teams recently implemented this feature as well. A chat channel with yourself that's pinned at the top of your conversations for taking some notes like you said.

[@yahya-s-ahmed]

Yes..I do that too

[@apparentlydesign7712]

I use this feature in Discord Nitro

[@guilhermeferrao5968]

@Productive Elf Either try to create a chat with yourself and it'll suggest it, or look for it under your contacts. Nice username

[@rosanah.9089]

i do this on whatssapp lol

[@baskettofeggs]

I would love to see this updated for 2023. Apps associated with the Archetypes is awesome! It helps with creating an ecosystem and there are so many apps to make sense of. Thank you and your team for all your hard work and for bringing these concepts into consciousness!🙏

[@unotoli]

I believe this list should be reviewed and updated on its own. And of course latest AppleNotes changes would push it to top of the charts.

[@imperius1490]

Hey! Amazing content as always, I’d just advise you guys to divide the video in sections to make it easier for us viewers to navigate. Besides that, it’s perfect!

[@DalCecilRuno]

Craft has become the best for me, with the capacity to add colorful pages and text, it is what I need. I can barely see anything (partial blindness) but I can see colors. Having an organization tool that lets me add colors to whatever I want is the best thing I’ve found lately.

[@mirashova]

If anyone here lawyer/attorney or law student i would recommend Milanote as an attorney myself its amazing for your current cases document etc.

[@jonnyc3884]

I’m a librarian type with student needs. I take notes and need to search both the pdf and my own handwritten notes. I’m a big fan of goodnotes and although I’ve tried Evernote, one note, apple notes, notion, notability and others, none work nearly as well as goodnotes and I always come back to it. The OCR is rock solid and the pdf search is better than any other I’ve tried. I’ve recently PARA’d all my notes and it’s working brilliantly!

[@forexplug1957]

Little confused..what do you mean by PARA'd... So you write all notes by ApplePen in GoodNotes..and than you transferred it to OneNote?

[@jonnyc3884]

@@forexplug1957 no I meant I put everything in folders in goodnotes as per the second brain para format. As an aside I've recently moved to onenote, as I needed something multi platform and although the moving process was tricky that's working better overall. Goodnotes is still the king of pdf and handwriting recognition though.

[@forexplug1957]

@@jonnyc3884 I see..I do also use GoodNotes... And I use RemNote also too for flash cards.. spaced repetition...as I am doing many courses...so I need to remember various things... I did use OneNote and Evernote...both are interesting app... what was the reason to select OneNote and not say Notion or EverNote? I agree excellent search facility in GoodNotes, even able to search little messy handwriting...amazing.. but at times my hand feel tired hand writing...just seeing what other options available..

[@jonnyc3884]

@@forexplug1957 notion I really liked, but I came across some videos around their security/privacy. I'll let you decide. Evernote for me was too slow to he usable, also doesn't support handwriting. I realised that I didn't really need handwriting searching and onenote takes web clips, pictures, text better than goodnotes and I can see it on my android phone and my mac and my work pc

[@mariebeth]

An important one for the Student type is missing: Samsung notes. It is only available on Samsung devices and therefore especially apple users tend to completely forget about it, but like OneNote it is already on so many devices and easy to start using. It is also really good with handwritten notes which is why I as an actual student started using it. And apparently it syncs with OneNote too, haven't tried that though.

[@PeteReborn]

**iA Writer** has an awesome feature where it highlights parts of speech like a code editor. It allows you to take out adjectives and verbs if you’re writing for a technical audience. It also has features to highlight cliches and reduce repetition.

[@GaryMeacher]

Also worth mentioning they’ve just added wiki linking capabilities

[@danielhaven]

I would put it more under the category of a "Writing" app (like Ulysses) instead of a note-taking app. I've tried it out, and it definitely has knowledge management capabilities.

[@id46451]

Thank you! That is super cool video for procrastination)) But what I like about second brain - is that you can define your own rules about your processes. I define myself as a librarian but I do my stuff in notion. That's because I had my lesson - it's better to do things done rather than to spend the whole life trying to find perfect system to track your life!

[@ThaidUp]

This is the best note app overview ever! Thanks for all the research that this took.

[@TiagoForte]

Thank you!

[@Qetesh777]

So many apps! I like notion but I dislike the lack of offline accessibility. Not sure if I have the energy or brain space to uproot to another app that does. I appreciate how everything is presented here.

[@ChrisMatallana]

Thank you for your work, Tiago! It has truly been transformational for me. Quick question: why place Apple Notes under the Student category instead of Librarian? Apple Notes has grown to become a deceptively simple looking app that can hold its own with the likes of something like Evernote. While the capture methods aren’t as robust as Evernote, in the Apple ecosystem, it’s as frictionless as can be. After realizing I was a Librarian, I tried out Evernote again for the first time in years. While it’s a great app, I ended up back at Apple Notes because of how little friction there is in using it. And, especially if Google Keep is a Librarian option, Apple Notes should be up there. Just saying. 😁 More importantly: thank you again for all you do!

[@urozzom]

thank you so much for this. im a notion user for years now and i've decided to "reset" or reboot my life and that includes revamping my second brain. your channel is a gold mine and this video is just proof that it is!

[@terryhatmaker]

Thanks for the great video! Since I moved away from Evernote, I have bounced between apps. This series made me realize that I fall more in the 'Student' category. I have used Apple Notes and Bear off an on for years. However, I have been using Agenda for the last few months and I think I am going to forge ahead and see what it really can do. Thanks again!

[@charlesbonfante9188]

Thanks for the video. Really well put together. I was a long time user of Evernote, however, like 1000s of users we left at v10 when it was super buggy and the pricing was ridiculous. Found a nice medium between Keep and Obsidian that really works well for me. I will never go back to Evernote.. the really disrespected their customer base.

[@charlesbonfante9188]

Forgot to mention, Notion... Great idea... No offline and android port is terrible.

[@acspicer]

The lesson I learned from Evernote was to make sure any notes app i use can export its data to other apps.

[@gautamj7450]

As a student (pursuing an engineering degree), I take my lecture notes in Notion. I would love Notion to have Offline support. If I'm not connected to the internet, I cannot make notes, nor review my previous notes. I do wanna switch to Evernote, but the lack of latex support is preventing me from doing so. I also use Obsidian as my zettelkasten.

[@AlexPlatte]

What a thoughtful overview and helpful supplement to your other material (which you’ve tried hard to keep tool-agnostic)! Thank you for the clear explanation and for your own impressions.

[@wynnebeers7352]

4:03 Highly recommend Zotero for anyone producing academic work in the humanities because it does sync with Word to create footnotes and bibliographies which will update as references are moved around inside a document. If you are using more than a few sources, you’ll immediately discover its utility. For serious scholars

[@YouTubeUser-gf7yu]

Thank you for the very informative video. I appreciate the work you put in to make these sorts of lessons. The video was thorough, simple and extensively informative.

[@laurazeller9134]

Wow - this video is so comprehensive and a great step toward getting myself in order! Thx.

[@DodonaWind]

I have been trying to figure out which type of program would be best suited for my needs with keeping my notes from my Board meetings more easily stored and be able to find similar topics from notes through the years, so these suggestions are great! I didn't even know that there were different styles for different ways of organizing! Thanks so much for all of these new options!

[@Abaumanii]

I capture my thoughts and tasks with todo app from microsoft and then use notion for different areas in my life. I still use onenote for my virtual clinic. This is a great video!

[@waleed0243]

Great video, explained in simplest form possible. Thank you so much for taking out this much effort for people like us. THANK YOU

[@trietsaigon]

Brilliant ! Thank for your landscape!

[@GoodMorningButch]

I’m a Notion user personally! I just have not found any other app that has the database functionalities as straightforward to understand as Notion for me

[@jonathanmertens6762]

Wow that's such an amazing video! Thanks a lot!

[@ayushbansal9341]

Thank You for such good information in this series, I am a student and really able what I was looking for i.e. Notion. Really Appreciated

[@umeanumair]

Insightful and very handy video to select note taking app :)

[@michelleadams5609]

I’m in the legal field, but I also manage my household, develop recipes, write songs. Definitely the librarian type. My only concern is loving an app, or twelve, and then they don’t last very long. What is the contingency for moving your information? I remember you talked about your apps with Francesco and how they were comprised of long standing ones and that really resonates with me. For all its flaws, which don’t affect me as I’m such a light user of tech, Evernote is great. I love Amplenote for GTD tho.

[@georgejetson9801]

I'm a natural systems thinker and the only one of these tools that has made sense to me so far, is TheBrain. I've tried Notion several times and it is just too hierarchical/linear for me. I like google docs/samsung notes for quickly copy pasting stuff into to integrate later. I used to like notability and paid for it as I liked writing on it with the apple pencil but since they went to subscription mode, I moved to collanote for the handwriting, coloring, stickers,drawing aspect and notebooks. I could then grab the drawings, rich pictures, or things I hand wrote and put them into TheBrain. If TheBrain had an endless whiteboard like Miro to draw, write, etc. that would be even better. I haven't tried Obsidian yet so I might try that. I don't think there will be any one tool for me.

[@eugenmalatov5470]

Hey, I find your comment really interesting. I have learned and used TheBrain about 15 years ago. And it has not really gained in popularity. Now I see that with Obsidian this graph like approach has become popular. Really weird. Maybe it was the subscription policy of The Brain that killed it.

[@ttyy3541]

You videos are more advanced each time 👍👍👍 Thank you for your sharing💖💖💖

[@etienneguerou2016]

You are amazing man! ... So good!

[@ericl3441]

Where have you been all my life!!!!!!! Great videos!

[@edwinabuga]

I'm really glad Google Keep made it to your top three recommendations cause it's my preferred capture app. Then if I need to flesh out the notes, I move them to Evernote.

[@Tybourne1991]

Thanks for the thorough overview! I have now switched back from OneNote to Evernote for its search features. Which would you recommend for librarian types who prefer handwriting to keyboard input?

[@d4nhumphr3y93]

Onenote

[@jonnyc3884]

Goodnotes. I’ve found onenote’s search just doesn’t work as supposed to, at least with pdfs

[@Tybourne1991]

@@d4nhumphr3y93 I tried OneNote for several years. But, like @Jonny C, I find the search unreliable and notebooks seem to corrupt over time, unlike Evernote.

[@fsagaer]

Many thanks for this amazing summary of all of those amazing apps... So confusing to pick the right one... I'm curious to see where you'll add those promising new comers like "Anytype", "Capacities", "Tana" and "Affine" in your futures updates...

[@DataTechFlow]

Thanks a lot. That is what i was looking for a while.

[@cabrerabywaters]

Thank you for this! Such a comprehensive list. But I wonder, why is Coda not on the list, such a great note taking app.

[@TiagoForte]

It’s interesting, we viewed Coda as more like ClickUp or Monday - team project management vs. notetaking. Do you use it as your primary notes app or team notes app vs. logistics?

[@cabrerabywaters]

@@TiagoForte Yes, I use it as my personal note taking app. Probably it is not the main focus of Coda, but if you list the features, it is as good as Notion. If you have the time to configure it a bit, you can build tiny apps. Also, whenever I want to add a quick diagram I combine it with Excalidraw, and import the PNG to Coda

[@ThomasAT86]

This was fantastic, thanks a ton!

[@peterschmidt9942]

Cheers. I'll be checking out a few of these as recently switched over to Android and trying to find something simple to replace AppleNotes. I don't generally need something convoluted to write quick To-Do, Wish and shopping lists but I need the note easy to find when I want it.

[@khadidja.polyglotte]

Great video 😍 Thank you Tiago 🌷 I use Obsidian especially for my research and academic projects and notion for task management and others

[@AL-vc9xc]

It's Elon Muskkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!! 🤯🤯🤯🤯

[@b4ck5tr33t]

Exactly!

[@DivSharp]

No

[@zollingerellison1998]

I thought the same

[@Japan00000]

Lol I thought the same too! My man got an entrepreneur face.

[@guirob]

Lol !!! 🤣 now you say it, I see it 🤣

[@JohnGalt9285]

Great video Tiago. My congrats. I personally use obsidian form my pkm/sb it’s amazing.

[@hurmaes]

You are amazing. Thank you so much for this!

[@robindabank6711]

Thank you so much, it was so helpful

[@bblwd4401]

Dear Tiago, Thank you very much for this excellent overview. A question for you or for others here. What are your tips for integrating an inventory of documents (pdf, txt, ppt, word) already existing on my computer? I'm probably not the only one: we've been working for years, we've accumulated knowledge for many we've classified the information in folders simply. Is there a solution that can screen my documents and classify them, even extract keywords and key concepts?

[@DavidMatterall]

Major point missing - how easy is it to write and select it. Notion, craft and. Others are hard to write in, compared to drafts or notes. Also - app called Author is really good.

[@messvsn]

🎯 Key points for quick navigation: 00:00:00 *📚 Librarian Style Apps Introduction* - Overview of librarian style apps and their practical use, - Emphasis on collecting, referencing, and documenting information for pragmatic note-takers, - Introduction to apps like Evernote, OneNote, and Google Keep, discussing their specific integrations and audience. 00:02:19 *🔧 Advanced Librarian Apps* - Exploration of specialized and cutting-edge apps like Ample Note, DevonThink, and Super Notes, - Focus on enhanced features such as bi-directional linking and task management, - Targeting specific audiences like students and software developers. 00:04:12 *🏛️ Architect Style Apps* - Apps catering to systems-minded users like Notion and Craft, - Emphasis on visually organizing and formatting notes, - Mention of diverse utilities like databases and galleries, with added details on various alternative apps. 00:07:01 *🌱 Gardener Style Apps* - Introduction to apps like Roam Research and Obsidian focusing on networked note-taking, - Features include bi-directional links for creating connections between notes, - Additional alternatives like Logseq, Mem, and Reflect suggested for various needs among gardener style users. 00:11:30 *🎓 Student Archetype Apps* - Apps like Apple Notes and Google Docs recommended for straightforward note-taking needs, - Ideal for users seeking simplicity without complexity in their note-taking systems, - Overview of both ecosystem-specific and cross-platform options for students.

[@martinmijovski]

Awesome video. I really enjoyed it!. One question, why Todoist wasn't involved in any category?

[@ogdanem]

Impressive video! I admit I have never used the right app for me. I use partially many apps. Totally frustrated with note apps.

[@ionutboss1266]

15:23 workflowy si dynalist pt notes cu subpuncte fara backlinking ca la roam 16:07 nota minimalist tasks notes

[@CardboardVault]

The Librarian archetype resonates with me and how I known I store and use knowledge on a day to day basis, however I think I've realised that I wish I had more of the systems mindset of the Architect to develop that solid framework with a place for everything even though that's not how my brain naturally works. As a result I've tried and failed to use Notion reliably over the past few months, I wish it worked for my brain because in theory I love the frameworks you can build but in practice it overwhelms me instead of helping me. Is there an app you'd recommend in particular for a librarian who wishes (a little) that they're an architect?

[@Goghahahahahaeej]

My thoughts also. Just installed EverNote and so far it's promissing tho

[@demancey]

Evernote Amplenote and surprisingly, Tana

[@Tests]

Evernote works altho it's slow

[@michelleadams5609]

In the same boat , I’ve been using Amplenote. Tried obsidian.

[@TheOfficialABHS]

A comment on Nimbus Note. I have used it for about a year in parallel with Evernote (I'm a librarian type). I feel Nimbus is more concerned with how a note looks than anything else. I do like separate workspaces and nested notebooks. I'm still leaning towards keeping Evernote as my main app.

[@dsuthapong]

Whoa! This is comprehensive and mind blowing 🧠💣💥

[@Praveen-or5ce]

I’m impressed. I didn’t know I was an architect type but my three favourite apps and two of them are being currently used are in that type. Craft, Notion. I’m even impressed that you found Bundled notes because it’s an app most people never heard of.

[@pumasocks]

tysm, i finally found multiple suitable note apps for me

[@ThePathOfEudaimonia]

I am already excited for and looking forward to the first future virtual reality/augmented brain mods as a Gardener-Librarian!

[@wj9949]

Great video, thank you. In which category would you place SideNotes? I use it every day to take quick notes. I also keep here handy useful information such as keyboard shortcuts, text snippets, links, and shortcuts to most used files (and really much more :).

[@hirodaryanani]

Wow what a list - has what I'm currently using and familiar with which is Workflowy Logseq and Onenote. However my teenage STUDENT son is starting on digital notes and seems to have gravitated Anki which is NOT on your list. It is specialised for flash cards but isn't it still a Digital notes tool?

[@Equinoxus]

Are you planning to produce the 2023 version?

[@ReubenNathaniel]

Do you think Notion's bidirectional linking feature will ever be good enough for full-blown networked thinking in the future? And is it within their plans or priorities to develop it for this use case? Or should we just leave this to Roam Research and the likes as the current forerunners in working on this idea of note-taking. Great video btw! Thanks for sharing.

[@Justgoodvids]

No

[@ReubenNathaniel]

@@Justgoodvids no? 😅

[@sasivarnan36]

@@Justgoodvids could you please elaborate your answer?

[@khalidsaifullahfuad]

Didn't know there is this much note taking application 🤯

[@antinocr]

What a nice video! Thank you 😊

[@uneekfun]

Come on Tiago, that video is absolutely stunning! When I'll be able to buy Building Second Brain for my Kindle App, please?!

[@TiagoForte]

Wow, thank you! The kindle version will be released on the 14th of June 2022!

[@wealth1ness]

You missed the best outliner, Omnioutliner. For me nothing beats a dedicated outliner for very deep hierarchal notes. I use rich GUI apps for breadth notes but the information density of an outliner is unmatched.

[@digitalsublime]

Great research, but, for many including me, the security of files in terms of transferability and safe format storage is a crucial part. Worst nightmare is to loose all your notes, or the organization of them.

[@piano4928]

Any idea where I can view my notes interchangeably from my iPhone to my Windows laptop that has the same features of Remnote? I love the simple UI Design of Remnote and its features, thus, it is not yet available in iOS. What I especially love in RN is I can create a new page note from my current note. Notion has that kind of feature but they do not have offline features.

[@minaquatorze]

THANKS YOU FOR THIS VIDEO 💫🔥

[@danielrupprecht7038]

To the OneNote-users out there: how are you working with links in PARA & in outlines? Sadly, OneNote changes the links as soon as you move your notes to another notebook or section within a notebook. That makes moving notes between projects and areas hard to use

[@silverstar501]

Clover note looks interesting but they seems to be closing by the end of 2023 :(

[@Iris_Bohemica]

I'm shocked how few mentions OneNote got. Not even among apps for Student type?

[@jbenk07]

Thanks Tiago! This is a great list. Although, I was pretty surprised you never mentioned Coda at any time. I am very curious on your thoughts about a this second brain app, from my research it is difficult to learn but so much more powerful than Notion in its capabilities.

[@sajjadabouei6721]

helpful, thank you man

[@anishamoudi3185]

Just brilliant !!!

[@dredhead6974]

wow Devonthink footage out of the last century (Devonthink previouse Mainversion :) - mate it looks and is so much better with the Version 3 out of July '21. but Great Video...

[@artsime]

Agreed, the excerpt is not giving a fair shot at DT, version 3 Pro is powerful and with a clean interface, native app with strong automation capabilities. Plus, it goes in the right direction for power users.. looking at you Evernote.

[@kamalking8885]

Great research based video.

[@xelandera]

Hey Tiago! Love your videos!! Your videos have been very informative and have me wanting to build a second brain to help structure my life and my notes. I think I am more of an architect type so Notion has me very interested. But I am someone who is very concerned about security and privacy and while looking into Notion, they don’t utilize End to End Encryption which has me concerned. Do you or anyone in the community have any suggestions in alternatives for an architect type that provide more security? Or even could help ease my concerns? Thank you! And keep up the great work!

[@diazluiseduardo]

Qué increíble explicación. Buenísimo video

[@74Bagas]

this heaven for my nerd brain ahah.. thank you

[@diamonddrop]

Interesting to see Microsoft getting in on the Notion crowd with Loop. I wonder if they have a networked-notes solution in the works.

[@MrTerry2287]

Which app is best for mobile note taking? Excluding Apple notes and bear.

[@Bruno_Jalis]

I use an iPad Pro 12.9 for productivity, but mainstream PKM apps run terribly on this tablet; they simply aren't customized to function well enough. Any suggestions, please?

[@Justgoodvids]

NotePlan is good for students as well

[@seanaguayo]

Is there a gardener app where I can write with my stylus on my S22 ultra? I like the handwriting and drawing, but i like the layout of gardener apps that can link things together and being able to input tags in the middle of pages

[@AbdelrahmanAnany]

I would choose NotePlan

[@jamestheredd]

Logseq is the most clunky sounding name for a notes app (maybe I'm missing a reference here). However, Tiddlywiki has got to be the best. 😂

[@NeoChromer]

Is there a reason there is no Joplin?

[@cordellriley8555]

Has your team researched Taskade?

[@lucabaga29]

Is there an app like google document/Wps to edit text documents with a formatting copy function, but which groups things into notebooks like evernote. I have problems formatting on evernote (few colours, no formatting copy fn, word correction only in the pc system language and therefore not in English). What do you suggest? 🙏🏽☺

[@apparentlydesign7712]

Can you explain differnt type of note takers? I didn't even know there such thing

[@lucasvargasrm]

Thanks, Thiago. Only missing ticktick u.u

[@jayrangani]

Really really useful video, thanks a lot sir, sad it has very low views.

[@TiagoForte]

Thanks! Good view count for our channel, but we can already see of ways to make this kind of content more interesting and easy to watch :)

[@messvsn]

Tiago I can use Obsidian for architect and librarian style?

[@Justgoodvids]

Do you have to give credit for each clip that’s used?

[@effortcivilengineersinteri3784]

Im looking for a specific notes tool. I forgot the name of this free notes website ive used in the past. Here's how it works: the website lets me insert a website with my study resources and i can i add a slider line which hides the bottom part. I can slide that line down so it only shows the question and i will try to recall the answer. And slide that line down to reveal the answer. If anyone know, please tell me the name of this website. I searched rly hard and can't find it.

[@beowolf4572]

Hey Tiago, do you still recommend PARA? I keep hearing that it's too outdated for current apps like Notion and Obsidian.

[@hawaii3199]

Where is Zoho Notebook? Free, has many Evernote features, and did I say free?

[@shaycray7662]

The correct answer is Obsidian.

[@b4ck5tr33t]

Because of plugins/themes and privacy, i have to agree with you

[@ojl3021]

obsidian doesn't have SRS flashcard and you can customize little

[@SebastianCristanchoYT]

I tried obsidian and I have trouble getting into it

[@jamescloud6967]

Love Obsidian!!

[@spesterwecial]

“The best camera is the one you take with you.”