Microsoft OneNote is described as 'Part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot, is a digital notebook application that gives people one place to gather notes and information. It also offers shared notebooks, syncing between multiple computers and devices via Windows' and is a leading Note-taking tool in the office & productivity category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Microsoft OneNote for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Web-based, Android and iPhone apps. The best Microsoft OneNote alternative is Obsidian, which is free. Other great apps like Microsoft OneNote are Zim, Joplin, NoteLedge and sNotes – Students Notes.
Open-source note-taking tool offering AI-enhanced retrieval with RAG technology, secure self-hosted data storage, Markdown support, and transparent community collaboration on GitHub for efficient, private, and effortless note management.
Dynalist is a web app that lets you break down and organize your thoughts in the format of lists.
Protects your private notes with a password. Notebook PEA is a self-decrypting archive, that will never store unencrypted text on your disk.
Collaborative platform for real-time note-taking, documentation, and wikis, featuring offline editing, granular permissions, AI-assisted writing, multiple export formats, user-friendly formatting, scalable team support, customizable templates, and open-source licensing.
Lightweight, self-hosted app for managing personal checklists and notes with drag and drop, progress bars, Kanban boards, Markdown WYSIWYG editor, file-based data, user management, sharing options, themes, open source, and API access.
Reor is an AI-powered desktop note-taking app: it automatically links related ideas, answers questions on your notes and provides semantic search. Everything is stored locally and you can edit your notes with an Obsidian-like markdown editor.
OpenBoard is a cross-platform (Linux / Windows / macOS) interactive whiteboard application. It is currently maintained by the Education Department (DIP) of the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland.
Rnote aims to be a simple but functional note taking application for freehand drawing or annotating pictures or documents. It eventually should be able to import / export various media file formats.
It's insanely fast (and written in Rust). Pen support. Pages and Folder support. Open-Source. Saves everything as file and thus can be used in a cloud sync. Has basic Textediting functionality (but not very good for structured Texts, more made for freeform drawing and handwritten notes). PDF insertion (no real annotation though)!
Provides end-to-end encrypted note-taking, file storage, and sketching with syncing across platforms, zero data collection, no personal info or passwords required, open-source code for transparency, and optional premium storage, all via native and CLI tools.
Craft offers document creation with stunning visuals, seamless navigation, and effortless sharing. Nest notes, use AI for summaries, and export in multiple formats.
Offline-first, self-hostable note app supporting rich text formatting, tag-based organization, customizable backgrounds, pinning, search, archiving, admin management, trash recovery, mobile and web access, sync, privacy safeguards, and dark or light themes.
Microsoft Loop is an app designed for co-creation that brings your team and ideas together in one place. With Loop components that sync across apps in real-time, you can stay in sync without switching apps and get more done right where you are.
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The most important feature in OneNote, for me, is the "free-hand" writing feature on any PDF file. OpenBoard allows you to do so. It is also set up to take the whole screen with little distraction on it, so you can work and explain things to your students and collaborators.