Comparison of notetaking software

The table below compares features of Notetaking software.

Name	Licence	Platforms	Tabbed Sections	Synchronization	Annotate and save PDF	White boarding	Enter text with the keyboard	Write notes with pen and ink	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, but requires AutoInk plugin to get smooth ink	Yes	PDF, with proprietary extension
BasKet Note Pads	GPL	Linux	No	?	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	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/Windows 7	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	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.	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes, but you can't mix ink with text	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	No	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	No	Yes	?	Yes	Web-based; export to ODF, Microsoft Word, PDF etc. via Google Docs	no longer maintained
Gournal	GPL	Linux	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	SVG
Knowledge NoteBook	30 day trial and commercial.	Window XP / Vista / 7	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	?	Yes	Text, image, pdf or other multimedia file	Knowledge Capture, Organization and Comprehension. Ideal users include college and high school students.
Jarnal	GPL	Any Java capable platform, including Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, but no pressure sensitivity	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	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	?	No	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	proprietary
Microsoft Office OneNote	proprietary	Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile	Yes	Yes	Requires a plugin to be installed, then it can export to PDF.	Yes (Office One Note Version)	Yes	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.
NoteCase Pro	free and paid versions	Cross-platform	?	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Html and Sqlite based	Features rich text formatting, spellchecker, attachments, tagging, tasks, Lua scripting, printing etc. Built for big number of platforms including Windows, Linux, OS X, Nokia Maemo, Solaris, FreeBSD.
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	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.
RightNote	Proprietary (with free trial)	Windows (2K/XP/2K3/Vista)	?	No	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	Proprietary (sqlite); import and export of txt, csv, html (webclips) & xls	Tabbed interface, outline tree interface, multiple pages, fast search, tagging, attachments and hyperlinks, portable (can run from dropbox)
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, Windows	No	?	Yes. Save notes in a separate file.	No	yes (recent versions)	Yes	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	Tabbed Sections	Synchronisation	Annotate and save PDF	Whiteboarding	Enter text with the keyboard	Write notes with pen and ink	Printing	Formats	Remarks