Mar 24, 2019 When looking at the best note-taking app for the Mac, the factors that are important for me are: ability to organize in folders/tags, speed of search, and ease of adding new notes from other apps. May 19, 2020 To really maximize the ability of the Surface Pen and Slim Pen, there are some essential apps you should check out. We've rounded up the best right here for a variety of purposes. May 14, 2018 In our previous article, we saw some of the best note taking apps for Windows, and in this one, we have got you covered with our list of the best note taking apps for Mac. Best Note Taking Apps for Mac 1. The stock Notes app that comes with Mac OS itself, is actually not that bad.
From that random idea that needs to be jotted down, to making complex notes and mind maps, in today’s day and age, it’s better to stick to a note taking application, rather than relying on physical pen and paper.
Jul 26, 2017 Top 15 Best Free Notepad Apps For Android And iOS. InkPad is one of the best free notepad apps for android and iOS users. Is is simple, easy to use and elegant app which allows you to keep your notes on your smartphone or on web. You can also use this app as a To-do list app to keep your work list on your smartphone. Nov 10, 2019 While there are many text editors for macOS, there are only a few that offer the simplicity of Notepad. There are inbuilt apps, apps you can download and even a way to actually use the original Notepad on your Mac without any fuss. In the sections down below, we are going to discuss the details of the best Notepad alternatives for Mac.
In our previous article, we saw some of the best note taking apps for Windows, and in this one, we have got you covered with our list of the best note taking apps for Mac.
Best Note Taking Apps for Mac
1. Apple Notes
The stock Notes app that comes with Mac OS itself, is actually not that bad. It comes with basic note taking functionalities like formatting, lists, checkboxes, drag and dropping pictures/files. While it doesn’t offer anything out of the box, where Apple Notes shines is how fast it is to open and get started with a new note. Also it syncs immediately and effortlessly with the Notes app on your iPhone and iPad. We highly suggest you first checking out this app which already comes with your Mac, before buying or installing another note taking app.
Pros:
– Very fast and simple to use
– Comes pre-installed
– Sync with notes app on iPhone and iPad
– Very fast and simple to use
– Comes pre-installed
– Sync with notes app on iPhone and iPad
Cons:
– Not ideal for handwritten notes or drawings
– No charts, graph support
– Works only within the Apple Ecosystem
– Not ideal for handwritten notes or drawings
– No charts, graph support
– Works only within the Apple Ecosystem
Bottom Line: If you are someone who needs to take notes on your computer very rarely, might be for a grocery list or quick information, you’ll get by easily using the stock Notes app. Apple Notes does offer all the basic functionalities you might need and best of all, you don’t even need to install another app.
Price: Free
Link: Use Apple Notes on iCloud here
2. Evernote
Chances are you have heard of Evernote, as it is one of the most popular note taking apps available on almost all platforms. Evernote offers some great ways to keep all your notes perfectly organised. You start off your note by creating/selecting a particular notebook and all your notes are kept organised in these notebooks. You also have a tags to classify all your stuff, and it basically works like a File Cabinet.
In terms of features, it is a beast and it has almost any and every feature you’d want in a note taking app including pie charts and bar graphs to searching text in a picture. We also strongly recommend trying Evernote with its Web-clipper companion which makes taking notes/clips form the web so easy, you can never go back. But all this does come at a price, which makes Evernote a little on the bulkier and slower side.
Pros:
– Feature packed to the brim
– Available on all platforms
– Easy organisation of notes
– Feature packed to the brim
– Available on all platforms
– Easy organisation of notes
Cons:
– Heavy app and takes time to start up
– Costly
– Heavy app and takes time to start up
– Costly
Read: Don’t Like Their New Pricing, Try These 8 Best Free Evernote Alternatives
Bottom Line: Well, if you are someone who has to take loads of notes and are also looking to keep them organised in the best way possible, Evernote is a really good investment.
Price: Free(Basic), $34.99/Year(Plus), $69.99/Year(Premium)
Link: Download Evernote from here
3. Unclutter
Unclutter is a neat tool which can increase your productivity by many folds. The app works almost like Sticky Notes; you can access it very quickly from any window you are working on. Just go to the top of your screen and scroll down, Unclutter should appear with its three windows: the first being the Clipboard, second being Files and the last being the Notes section.
Creating a note is pretty fast, just make Unclutter appear and start with your new note or even copy directly from the clipboard or even a file. Click on the ‘+’ to take another note and you can also see all your notes or search through them.
But do keep in mind that the notes you can take are pretty limited to text only and the absence of formatting and checkbox lists might be. Ideal breaker for some.
Pros:
– Easy access, one swipe away
– Pretty fast
– Comes with a Clipboard as well as a file holder
– Easy access, one swipe away
– Pretty fast
– Comes with a Clipboard as well as a file holder
Cons:
– Supports only text notes
– No organisation
– No sync, only on Mac OS
– Supports only text notes
– No organisation
– No sync, only on Mac OS
Bottom Line: Unclutter is a very cool app where you can take notes in a jiffy, so we’d recommend this app for someone who is looking to take some quick text notes while working on their computer and doesn’t need any fancy formatting or feature.
Price: $9.99 (Free Trial available)
Link: Get Unclutter here
4. BoostNote
Next on our list, we have a note taking app specifically designed for programmers. BoostNote started out as a open source project and has gained a lot of popularity among the programming community over the years.
What this app basically allows you to do is store your code or code snippets as notes. You can access quickly or even take notes in markdown. Once you open the app, you can select if you want to create a markdown note or create a code snippet. And when I said it is meant for developers, I meant it. BoostNote supports code syntax highlighting in more than a hundred languages and it is also very easy to keep all your notes organised.
Pros:
– Supports markdown notes
– Code highlighting
– Plenty of syntax and UI themes
– Open source
– Available on all platforms
– Supports markdown notes
– Code highlighting
– Plenty of syntax and UI themes
– Open source
– Available on all platforms
Cons:
– Bulky
– Takes time to startup
– Bulky
– Takes time to startup
Bottom Line: Well the answer is obvious, this app is a blessing for programmers as they can now manage all their code snippets and keep them organised while also not losing on the ability to take notes in markdown.
Price: Free
Link: Download Boostnote from here
5. OneNote
OneNote is a full blown note taking application from Microsoft, which has been here for a while now. And over all these years, it feels like Microsoft has almost perfected the note-taking experience.
What separates OneNote its competitors is that it using the app feels very close to taking notes on a real notebook; you can write, draw, add pictures literally anywhere on the page at any orientation, just like on a paper notebook. It also comes with a ton of features, the biggest selling point would be built in OCR reader. While you can get it for free for almost all platforms, the Mac app is huge in size and a little slow to use.
Pros:
– Feature-rich note taking app
– Office integration
– Notebook like experience
– Completely free
– Feature-rich note taking app
– Office integration
– Notebook like experience
– Completely free
Cons:
– Huge size
– Can be sluggish at times
– Huge size
– Can be sluggish at times
Bottom Line: If you are invested even a little in the Microsoft space, OneNote is a no brainer and even if you are not and looking for a great digital notebook, OneNote won’t disappoint.
Price: Free
Link: OneNote is available here
6. Notability
Notability is our pick as the best note taking app for students. It works exceptionally well with the Apple Pencil on the iPad to create beautiful hand-written notes and sketches. You can rotate, scale, and recolour your ideas and sketches until your notes are just how you want them. You can even markup photos and annotate PDFs and once you’re done you can easily share them through Airdrop or any other storage service.
Notability keeps all your notes neatly organised and also syncs them up between your iPad, iPhone and Mac, so you can access them anytime anywhere.
Pros:
– Great for hand-written notes and sketches
– Support for pressure sensitive strokes of the Apple Pencil
– Great for hand-written notes and sketches
– Support for pressure sensitive strokes of the Apple Pencil
Cons:
– No search tags
– No support for shapes
– Pricey
– No search tags
– No support for shapes
– Pricey
Bottom Line: If you have an iPad which you use to take or sketch notes, Notability works really well with the Apple Pencil and if you have the money to spend, just go for it.
A great alternative to Notability would be ZoomNotes which comes at a lower price, but offers almost all the features of Notability.
Price: $9.99
Link: Buy Notability from here
7. Journey
The next app on our list is Journey, which takes maintaining your daily notes to a whole new level. While Journey is aimed more to be a digital journal, you can still use the feature-packed text editor to take quick notes and Journey will keep them ordered by the date. You can also search through all your notes and even view them by locations. The app backs up and syncs all your notes using Google Drive and it should be imperative to say, it also does provide impressive security features to protect your privacy.
Pros:
– Keeps everything organised like a Diary
– Easy note taking
– Streamlined review of your notes
– Keeps everything organised like a Diary
– Easy note taking
– Streamlined review of your notes
Cons:
– Costly
– Requires Gmail/Google Drive account
– Costly
– Requires Gmail/Google Drive account
Bottom Line: Journey works best for noting down your everyday goals or writing something about your day. If you are looking to make the switch from a physical diary to a digital one, Journey might be your best bet.
Price: $16.99
Link: Download Journey from here
8. Manuscripts
With all the normal note taking apps or text editors, it gets really hard to note down or represent scientific equations, derivatives and mathematical graphs. Enter Manuscripts, a free note taking app made for scientists and scholarly writing. Describing it as just a note taking app would be an understatement as it is capable of much more from a writing a research article to penning down a book.
There are various templates which you can choose from and a plethora of import and export options including LaTeX.
There are various templates which you can choose from and a plethora of import and export options including LaTeX.
Pros:
– Scientific Notes/Writing
– Solid import and export formats
– Citation and bibliography formatting
– Scientific Notes/Writing
– Solid import and export formats
– Citation and bibliography formatting
Cons:
– Not quick for taking simple notes
– Not quick for taking simple notes
Bottom Line: Manuscripts is a capable and powerful app for when the going gets tough. Of course, it isn’t for the average Joe, but rather for taking scientific notes with equations and graphs. If you are looking for more of a digital laboratory notebook with support for experiment templates along with equations and graphs, check out Findings.
Price: Free
Link: Ger Manuscripts here
9. iThoughtsX
Last but definitely not least, we have iThoughtsX, a mind mapping tool that lets you organise your thoughts and at a glance see the whole project. Mind maps are ideal for brainstorming with means of keeping your ideas structured and nothing gets omitted out in the whole process.
Although it has a steep learning curve, it’s really easy once you get the hold of it. There are multiple templates and layouts from which you can start and there’s an impressive amount of built-in icons and clipart images.
Although it has a steep learning curve, it’s really easy once you get the hold of it. There are multiple templates and layouts from which you can start and there’s an impressive amount of built-in icons and clipart images.
Pros:
– Create perfect mind maps for summarising and meeting notes
– Task Management
– Hand-off feature(Start your min map on one device and finish on another device)
– Create perfect mind maps for summarising and meeting notes
– Task Management
– Hand-off feature(Start your min map on one device and finish on another device)
![Best Best](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126216655/720924401.jpg)
Cons:
– Steep learning curve
– Not good for other kind of notes
– Steep learning curve
– Not good for other kind of notes
Bottom Line: Mind maps are especially useful for managers and developers or anyone managing a large project. So if you know you need to create mind maps, this app is for you.
Price: $49.99
Link: Get iThoughtsX here
Wrapping Up: Best Note Taking Apps for Mac
We believe that there is an app for everyone with their own particular need. So whether you are a student or programmer or businessman, we really hope that you could find at least one note taking app from this list suitable to your own needs. And that concludes our list of the top note taking applications available for the Mac. Don’t forget to connect with us and tell us your favourite app from the list or if we missed yours.
If you were a long-time Windows user and just switched to macOS, then the one thing you might find difficult to replace is the trusty Notepad. It’s is a free text editor that is very simple to use and it hardly eats up any resources. You can also get started on HTML on it. If you are looking for Notepad for Mac, then read on.
In this article, we are going to take a look at the different Notepad alternatives and how to install them. If you don’t want multi-file editing or colors or any of that jazz that Notepad++ offers, then this article is for you. Ready? Let’s get started.
Contents
- 2 5 Best Notepad Alternatives for Mac
Is Notepad Available for Macbook?
You won’t be getting the same Windows Notepad on your Mac. And it makes no sense to install a Parallel Windows on your Macbook just to use Notepad.
While there are many text editors for macOS, there are only a few that offer the simplicity of Notepad. There are inbuilt apps, apps you can download and even a way to actually use the original Notepad on your Mac without any fuss. In the sections down below, we are going to discuss the details of the best Notepad alternatives for Mac.
5 Best Notepad Alternatives for Mac
This list will give you the best Notepad alternatives. They are not ranked in any particular order and you can choose any of them. The links for these apps and installation processes will be given in the descriptions.
1. TextEdit
TextEdit is a neat stand-in for Notepad. It comes pre-installed in macOS and is completely free. It is a little more advanced than Notepad and you will notice at first that you will not be able to open some file formats. There are two methods you can use to correct this. You can add .txt extension to the files you want to open or you can select Format> then choose Plain Text. To make this setting the default, select Preferences> the select Format> and the choose Plain Text.
With this, you will able to enjoy TextEdit just like Notepad and have that familiar sense of simplicity.
2. Notepad – Simple TXT Editor
Notepad – Simple TXT Editor is a barebones text editor just like Notepad. There won’t be any formatting issues like TextEdit so you don’t have to change any settings or add any extensions. The name of the game here is simplicity. It also supports .TXT files created from Microsoft Windows in any character encodings.
Notepad costs 99 cents and is highly rated on the Mac App Store. You can check it out by clicking on this link.
3. Notepad Using Parallel’s Desktop 15
Best Notepad Apps For Mac Download
Okay, I am not saying that you should buy Parallel’s Desktop 15 just for Mac. But if you are used to Windows applications that have no macOS replacements, then Parallel’s Desktop 15 is definitely worth checking out. You can use the Windows version of Notepad (the original) without any issues.
In Coherence mode, this application lets you run Windows programs as if they were Mac apps. It is also very fast so you don’t have to worry about a performance hit. This is a great application that you should definitely consider if your work has a lot of Windows apps that are irreplaceable and it also lets you run Notepad.
Parallel’s Desktop 15 offers a 14- day free trial and the license costs $79.99 total for students and home users and $99.99/ year for testers and power users. You can buy it by clicking here.
4. Tincta
Tincta is a very reliable text editor. It is very simple to use and you can easily take notes but it is a lot more advanced than the Notepad. It comes with syntax color profiles for over 60 languages and supports basic programming. But all of this gets out of your way and you can easily use it as Notepad for Mac. The developers of Tincta have made sure that you enjoy its simplicity and you only have to see other features when you want.
Tincta is available for free on the Mac App Store and you can download it by clicking on this link.
5. Editra for Mac
Editra is another simple open-source text editor. It is advanced compared to Notepad but it is highly configurable so that you get the same simplicity the Notepad offers. It supports many programming languages like C, C++, Java, Python, and sixty other programming languages but it can all be ignored easily and just be used as a text editor.
Editra can be downloaded for free by clicking on this link.
Best Notepad App For Microsoft Surface
Final Take
That’s all there is to know about Notepad for Mac. Hopefully, this list was helpful and you have found the perfect Notepad replacement for you. If you have any more suggestions or doubts, please leave it in the comments section down below.