CherryTree
A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.
- Free • Open Source
- Note-taking Tool
- Todo List Manager
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- PortableApps.com
What is CherryTree?
A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.
- Rich text
- Syntax highlighting
- Images handling
- Embedded files handling
- Multi-level lists handling
- Simple tables handling
- Codeboxes handling
- Execution of the code for code nodes and codeboxes
- Alignment of text, images, tables and codeboxes
- Hyperlinks associated to text and images
- Spell check
- Intra application copy/paste
- Cross application copy/paste
- Copying a list of files from the file manager and pasting in cherrytree will create a list of links to files, images are recognized and inserted in the text
- Print & save as pdf file of a selection / node / node and subnodes / the whole tree
- Export to html of a selection / node / node and subnodes / the whole tree
- Export to plain text of a selection / node / node and subnodes / the whole tree
- TOC generation for a node / node and subnodes / the whole tree, based on headers h1, h2 and h3
- Find a node, find in selected node, find in selected node and subnodes, find in all nodes
- Replace in nodes names, replace in selected node, replace in selected node and subnodes, replace in all nodes
- Iteration of the latest find, iteration of the latest replace, iteration of the latest applied text formatting
- Import from html file, import from folder of html files
- Import from plain text file, import from folder of plain text files
- Import from basket, cherrytree, epim html, gnote, keepnote, keynote, knowit, mempad, notecase, rednotebook, tomboy, treepad lite, tuxcards, zim
- Export to cherrytree file of a selection / node / node and subnodes / the whole tree
- Password protection
- Tree nodes drag and drop
- Automatic link to web page if writing the URL
- Automatic link to node if writing node name either with no spaces and camelcase or surrounded by [[node name]]
CherryTree Screenshots
CherryTree Features
- Tree structure
- Infinite hierarchical depth
- Includes images in notes
- Outliner
- Tree view
- Text-manipulation
- Internal linking
- Tree-style
- Customizable
- Export to HTML
- Tagging
- Rich text editing
- Outline folding
- Active Development
- Outline organization
- Outline mode
- Protected by Password
- Multiple languages
- Export to PDF
- Support for Android Things
- Notebook
- German
- Password encryption
- Folder Tree
- Data portability
- Integrated Search
- Tablet support
CherryTree information
- Developed byGiuseppe Penone
- LicensingOpen Source and Free product.
- Written in
- RatingAverage rating of 3.8
- Alternatives29 alternatives listed
Supported Languages
- English
GitHub repository
- 3,076 Stars
- 442 Forks
- 858 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Note-taking
- Encryption
- Todo List Manager
- tree
- rich-text
Recent user activities on CherryTree
- marandatrillz321 liked CherryTreema
Paul added CherryTree as alternative(s) to Orgzly Revived
Paul added CherryTree as alternative(s) to Rocketnotes
I have a hobby of making huge archives of data and stuff that I come across while I crawl through the internet, reading and learning. This archive, as of writing this, is about 5 GB in size, 2000 files filled with information, images, videos, and whatnot, hand processed in LibreOffice, GIMP, and other stuff. This archive is just a whole bunch of folder and files on my local disk. I spent a long time finding something that could potentially hold all this data in just one space, in one file. No, a simple tar.gz file wasn't going to cut it, and that is because I also wanted to be able to search each of these files' contents for certain words in the future. Just having them as folders and files wasn't good enough. Sure, I could search the file names themselves using FSearch, but what if I wanted to search for a certain idea within one of my odt files, not just searching for the names of the files? FSearch couldn't do that.
Enter CherryTree. Its hierarchical approach to note-taking is similar enough to my current archive's structure. It has a serviceable text editor, with highlighting, lists, and headings. It can attach files to the database you are working on. Most important of all to me, it can search through the contents of each "node" in the hierarchical structure. All I have to do now is to copy and paste all the contents of each file I've created into CherryTree. Voila! I can now search to find whatever key phrase I want! (Well...that's the plan. It's going to take time to make this goal a reality. That I know it is possible with this software, however, makes me glad.)
That's enough about my personal usage of it. Users will find that there are quite a few options in the preferences to tinker with to make your note taking experience just how you want it. You can also password-protect your notes in either an SQLite or XML file if you wish.
My only gripe is that dragging and dropping files into CherryTree doesn't really work the way you might want it to. Doing this will give you only the file's path, not embed the file itself into the database. You'll have to attach files the old-fashioned way by navigating to the file when prompted to do so.
Nevertheless, I think if you are the type of person who likes to keep their ideas and notes organized in a single file, then CherryTree is a good...pick.
[Edited by TerrifiedTyphlosion, December 04] (typo)
I was looking for an open source alternative to Workflowy. This is about as close as I could get. The UI isn't all that modern, but it is fairly configurable. You can change the fonts used and their sizes. The size of the toolbar items can be changed, you can actually make them really big. In my case I disabled the toolbar; the icons mix badly with a dark theme.
The other thing that is a bit annoying is the icons. They are tiny and quite dated too. Maybe a nitpick on my part? Still, at least you can change the default entry icon from the cherry to any of the options they provide, such as a dot, like in a bullet list.
I'm happy with this application. It does everything I need it to do well, without subscriptions or needless cloud dependency.
I agree about the icons.. there's a bunch that look similar making function tough to distinguish.
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Used for more than one year and I'm going back to Zim. If you won't use images, than CT is great. If yes, you'll use images, then use anything else. CherryTree unfortunately lacks image resize on its interface. So if you are working with many text and images and just need the thumb view it will resize the file itself, not the shown picture. I opened a feature request on its page almost 2 years ago but didn't got any reply either.
Only text => Go with CherryTree Using images on your notes => Go for Zim, OneNote and many others.
[Edited by joelfabiani, October 28]
Resizing images is very easy now
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Love it! Only I wish the developer would allow to turn bold on before typing and not only after text was selected. An irritating but crucial point.
Simple , stable and efficient
It's something unreliable to be faithful and to keep by your side and use continuously. Many features are too outdated, especially for a rich text editor. Tables, for example, don't have a theme applied, and many things need to be done as manipulations like numerical input. And if I remember right, it's pretty hard to insert media content inside a table. Various options of the image must also be adjusted directly through the numerical window rather than the mouse.
Like Google Keep, it seems to be good for quick note taking, but I think it is not suitable for archiving or main use.
The program instantly adds links to web if clipping supplies it.. so does Obsidian, but a number of other programs don't. I don't see Obsidian as able to import articles the way CherryTree does. Thank you for making me aware that Google Keep is still active (though I typically try to stay away from the tentacles of Google)
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I don't see a way to import articles in Google Keep like I do with CherryTree import Complete html
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This app has not evolved at all in years. The updates do not add anything. It has no dark mode for windows. The creators clearly do not care about this program. They still do not have word wrapping for images.
Do not waste your time if you want a program that the creators still care about.
This program is active with the last update being on July 2023 (currently Aug 2023) It instantly started in dark mode.. I had to seek light mode.
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