This listing collects desktop notes applications including sticky notes that we recommend for Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat. We included here KNotes, which are well-known and full-featured, and also Affiche.app which just works but less-known, among others in order to promote them to more users (and open the opportunity for more people to get involved in the project). All applications are available in the official repository and no third-party sources required. Now, let's start exploring them!
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Table of Contents
- Affiche.app
- Gnote
- Knotes
- GNOME Notes (Bijiben)
- XFCE4 Notes
- Rhinote
- Tomboy NG
- Zim Desktop Wiki
Affiche.app
Affiche.app is a note taking application from GNUStep. Once installed, you run the program by a special command line $ openapp Affiche.app (notice that it is case-sensitive) and it will run. It works fine on Ubuntu GNOME the same way any other GNUStep application works. Official website.
New Knowledge!
For your information, GNUStep is "another world" of desktop environment to both user and developer on GNU/Linux platform, because GNUStep is (in programming terms) a free software implementation of Apple NextStep (OpenStep/Cocoa) libraries, the original graphical user interface libraries of Mac OS X.
Gnote
Gnote (not to be confused with GNOME Notes) is one of two successors to the original GNOME notes taking application called Tomboy which is now discontinued. The difference is that Gnote is written in C++ while Tomboy is written in C# (with Mono Framework). Features including basic note taking and linking between notes. Unique part of it is, among others, it does not appear as sticky notes but more of plain text editor. Official website.
GNOME Notes
Notes (formerly Bijiben, first released 2012) is a sticky note application from GNOME, the desktop environment technology that builds Ubuntu. Features including basic note taking as well as ability to read notes created by other GNOME note taking application. However, when we run it, the window appears but when we want to create one, the application crashes and this is an already-known case (see bug report above). We hope this issue will be fixed soon. Official webpage.
KNotes
KNotes is a sticky note application from KDE, the desktop environment technology that builds Kubuntu. KNotes, even though it is a KDE application, can be installed and run on Ubuntu GNOME just fine. Once started, it will show on the top panel (system tray). On first launch, you will be asked about which folder to save the notes, then under "Notes" create a new folder named "KNotes" then below it make sure the selected folder is pointing to "Notes/KNotes". Use "Show All Notes" to view notes you have made. Features including basic note taking, basic text formatting, and colors. Its looks resemble real sticky notes. Official website.
Rhinote
Rhinote is a small but fast, handy, keyboard-friendly program that provides virtual sticky notes. It is simple enough to run as a small window without any menu or toolbar, without system tray functionality too. Because it is designed to hold down quickly your temporary text whenever you need, it does not automatically save your notes so when it is closed, all unsaved text will lose. To use it, one beautiful advice is to press Ctrl+H to show its list of commands useful for you. Official website.
Tomboy NG
Tomboy NG (New Generation) is the successor to the classic Tomboy Notes other than Gnote. Speaking about comparison, while Gnote is written in C++, Tomboy NG is written in Pascal programming language instead. Features including basic note taking, linking between notes, text formatting, menu, system tray icon, even exporting as PDF and many others. It works well! Official website (GitHub).
XFCE4 Notes
Xfce4 Notes is a sticky note application from Xfce, the desktop environment technology that builds Xubuntu. It is simple enough to give a yellow note on desktop with icon on its top-left corner as a clickable menu to access more functionalities. However, unfortunately we found it crashes when running for a while so we lost all text written on it every time we started it. We reported it to Ubuntu Developers (see above) and we hoped that this issue will be solved soon. Official webpage.
Xpad
Xpad is a simple sticky notes application from GNOME (not to be confused with XApps from The Linux Mint Project) written in its standard language C/GTK+. It works with its basic note taking features, basic text formatting, color scheme and configurations. Official webpage.
Zim
Zim is a note taking application in Wiki style and powered with its own web server. Meaning, you can create memos just fine but as an addition, you can make your memos interlinked with each others and you can browse it as a local website using your web browser. To try it out, simply open the Help which also written in Zim own style and go to Tools -> Start web server -> Start. Interesting, isn't it? Features including basic note taking, text formatting, inserting images, using templates and is extensible via plugins. Official website.
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See Also
Free Software Desktop Systems, this catalog explains briefly the desktop technologies behind GNU/Linux operating systems especially the Ubuntu family like Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (Xfce), Lubuntu (LXDE) and so on.
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