Joplin is a simple and easy to use note-taking application in Markdown

Interface

Joplin looks very simple - you won't get confused in it. The developers did not come up with anything extraordinary. The appearance is quite familiar for a note-taking: on the left is a switchable panel with notebooks and tags, a little to the right is a list of notes in an open notebook and an editor area.

By clicking on the view button, you can switch between editing, reading and dual-pane mode. Joplin's settings have a dark theme for those who want to work with text at night.

And for geeks, there is a special version of the application that runs right in the terminal.

Text editor

Joplin supports Markdown markup - we've already written about this syntax. Plain, bold and italic text, headings, tables and images - everything is there to create easy-to-read notes.

You can format the text manually by inserting characters from Markdown, or use the convenient toolbar at the top. Any note, if desired, can be opened in a third-party editor that supports the MD format. To do this, you just need to click on the Edit in external editor button.

In addition to simple formatting, there are a couple of goodies in the editor. Firstly, these are links to other notes - a useful thing if you are creating something like a filing cabinet. Secondly, there is support for mathematical symbols, which is useful for students taking notes.

Organizing notes

You can organize notes in Joplin through notebooks and tags - just like in the same Evernote. But in Joplin, notebooks have an unlimited nesting level.

For those who keep so many notes that they cannot figure them out, the built-in search will come in handy. It searches for words and phrases both by the titles of the notes and by their content. Unless it does not recognize text in pictures.

Finally, Joplin lets you create to-do lists and reminders. Add to any note the date and time when you need to complete it, and the program will show you a notification. Reminders work in both desktop and mobile versions, so Joplin can also be used as a task manager.

Web clipper

It's nice that Joplin has a web clipper similar to Evernote and OneNote. And I must say that it works quite well. The clipper can make copies of web pages in four different ways: save only the text by formatting it in Markdown, save the entire page, grab a selection, or take a screenshot.

When Joplin makes a copy of a web page to a Markdown text file, it completely retains its formatting - font, links, headings, and even images. The notes obtained in this way look very good and are easy to read.

Clipper is available for Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Import and export

Joplin supports importing notes from Evernote. To do this, save your database in ENEX format, and then open the menu File → Import → ENEX - Evernote Export File in the application. When importing, notes, tags, attachments, tables, even geodata and metadata (time of creation, saving, editing of a note) are saved.

Using export to ENEX, you can transfer note collections not only from Evernote, but also from all applications that support this format. For example, OneNote, Tomboy and NixNote.

Joplin also has an import of notes from Markdown text files, and you can transfer both individual files and entire folders. And copied elements can be quickly saved in both MD and PDF format.

Mobile applications

Joplin has mobile versions for Android and iOS. They sync with the desktop client via the clouds, and with their help it is quite convenient to create both small to-do lists and voluminous notes.

Mobile clients, like the desktop application, support the insertion of photos, images and attachments. Joplin Notes can be synced across platforms via Dropbox, OneDrive, NextCloud, and WebDAV.