While you could try global note taking programs like Stickies, IQ-Notes or PNotes for the task, you could also use Stick A Note to attach sticky notes directly to a program window.

The portable program is hotkey driven. You can show and hide sticky notes in program windows with the default Windows-n hotkey. Applications that use the hotkey for other tasks, or block the Windows key, are not compatible by default. You can however change the hotkey in the program settings to a different key combination to make them compatible.

Sticky notes can be attached to any program window. The note appears in the upper right corner next to the Windows controls.

A click on edit opens an editor window where information can be added, edited or deleted. The program uses window titles to hide or show notes which offers some versatility. It is for instance possible to display a note when a specific document is opened in Notepad, or when Notepad is opened regardless of the document. This can be achieved by editing the window title accordingly.

Notes move with the window. Resizing on the other hand may result in notes being displayed in other locations. Hiding and showing the notes using the shortcut resolves the issue.

Notes stay visible for as long as the program window remains open. They are hidden by default on consecutive starts. It is therefor necessary to show them using the keyboard shortcut.

This can be a issue for some users who’d prefer an option to always display notes when a window is opened.

Stick a Note is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The program can be downloaded from the developer website.

The tools that sat on the widget panel were not useless. To the contrary, they were extremely helpful applications that many users found appropriate to utilize. The panel just did not present them in the best possible way – you already had a clock, for example, on the toolbar.

Some of the features, however, were reaching their potential but were not available by other means at the time. A fine example of this would be the sticky note application, which was a fresh new idea to Windows users at the time. Unfortunately, the sticky note widget failed like most other options on the widget panel, and as such use of such digital notes on the desktop waned.

A free program called Stickies, however, aims to fill this void. The program is specially designed to take all the functionality provided by normal sticky note applications and make them better, utilizing other tools that make it more practical than past attempts at such programs. Users can do far more than simply make notes that disappear under layers of windows – they can actually make the sticky notes work for them. You can color code each note depending on its content, or even set a visual or sound alarm that reminds you of whatever you wrote on the note at a predetermined time.

You can try the program out by following this link and downloading the tiny program onto your computer. After walking through the installation process you will find an icon featuring an entire pad of stickies on the taskbar. To get started, left click on the icon and a brand new note window will pop up.

It starts out very small and expands only as necessary with the content you place in it. Once you get started making a few notes you can begin experimenting with the various features Stickies has for its notes by right clicking the various areas on the note. Clicking on the title bar brings up functions that affect the entire note, like the color of the stickie, sleep and alarm features, and opacity settings. Clicking on the content section of the note allows you to change element-specific things, changing the color of a particular section of text or changing the font.

Finally, right clicking on the icon on the taskbar brings up one more set of options that allow you to manage even more, grabbing stickies that have fallen off screen or pulling them all to the front of your desktop.

With Stickies, sticky notes really have come a long way from their old use on the troublesome widget panel. Enjoy the same sort of features with far more practical applications thanks to a full list of handy tools that come included.

This article will walk you through some of the features of Springpad that set it apart from Evernote and OneNote, so if you haven’t already, you may want to jump over to Springpad’s website and sign up.

The first time you log in you will see one of Springpad’s most visually attractive features – your ready-made home theme. Make a selection, upload a profile photo if you think you need one, and then click next. Springpad will walk you through its unique organization system, which centers on the usual notebooks but makes them available through a graphical interface that you may find friendlier than that of OneNote and Evernote.

Where Springpad takes a sharp turn away from its competition is when you add notes to your notebooks by “looking things up.” For example, let’s say that you’ve just heard of a new album but don’t have time to look into it right away. By clicking the plus sign near the top of the screen and selecting Look it up, you bring up a search field which will crawl select sites for more information. By typing in the album and selecting the Album tab, Springpad presents you with a list of possible matches for your search. Selecting one adds it to your general notebook, where you can now find information about not only where the album can be purchased and for how much, but also when it was released and where the artist has been touring lately. You can even “Like” the album to Facebook, straight from your Springpad.

There are other quirks Springpad has that its competition does not. The checklist feature found in other note taking applications is streamlined in Springpad, and alerts can be set up to remind you to do things on the lists you create. You can sync your Google Calendar to your Springpad account, leaving the Google side of your calendar untouched but automatically providing additional information on Springpad’s side.

In conclusion, it is easy to see that Springpad is different from Evernote and OneNote is some distinct ways. These differences will not be right for everyone by any stretch of the imagination. Students will probably still find OneNote the best choice available, and computer users who are just trying to keep track of the bulky information they pull from the internet will still probably prefer Evernote. Yet if you are looking to add more organization to your life, if you are less interested in the information you are getting and more interested in putting it into arrangements that are more meaningful to you, then you may find Springpad the best possible option.

I usually do that on a small notebook that I carry around with me all the time and transfer the writings every now and then to the PC.

Wunderlist is a versatile application that aids users in their task management. It actually offers more than just task management but more about that later. Users need to create an account on the first run of the software before they can use it. This is done by submitting an email address and password to company servers.

The main interface is displayed afterwards which lists tasks on the left side and folders on the right. Folders are used to group tasks for easier access and management.

Tasks are added with a click of the mouse or with one of the available hotkeys (Ctrl-T or Ctrl-N). Tasks are marked as complete with a click on the square at the front and marked as important with a click on the star.

It is also possible to add notes to tasks to add more information and to delete tasks.

Folders are added as easily and it is possible to move tasks around using drag and drop.

The search at the top finds matching tasks in all folders and displays them together in the main interface.

The footer bar offers several filtering options, for instance to display only completed tasks or those that have been marked as important, or filter tasks by time.

Tasks are automatically synced with the user’s account which makes it possible to log into the software from another computer to access the same data.

Lists can be printed or send by email to friends. It is further possible to share tasks and notes with other users of the service.

Wunderlist is not only available for Windows but also for Mac and iPhone. An Android version is in the works as well. Wunderlist is a handy, very responsive task management software that’s ideal for users who work on different computer systems and devices regularly.

IQ-Notes, is a free feature rich application for Windows to manage the note taking process. It is that feature rich that it may look as overkill to some users.

The program places an icon in the system tray upon startup that controls the note taking. A double-click on the icon creates a new note, a right-click displays the context menu with additional options.

New notes are taken in a simple text editor that offers plain text editing and some additional features such as bullet lists. IQ-Notes supports only textual information, it is not possible to add images or files to the program.

sticky notes for windows

Each note can be customized with a title and background color. In addition to that, it is possible to define additional options in the Note Properties. Here it is possible to configure a note alarm, that will display the note to the user at the scheduled time, add password protection to prevent unauthorized access to the note and configure when and how the note should be opened in general (for instance at system startup or when all notes are opened.

note taking for windows

Notes are not pinned to the desktop or always on top by default. They can be set to be always on top in the note taking window. Another interesting option is to attach notes to specific programs on the computer. Attached notes are opened automatically when either the program is started and iQ-Notes open, or the program is running and iQ-Notes is started. There is however no option to bring notes to the front if the application it was attached to was minimized and is brought to the front at a later time.

The sticky notes program supports several hotkeys, that allow the user to create, open, find and hide / unhide notes easily.

The features do not end here, as iQ-Notes offers extensive backup, synchronization and export options. The application creates automatic backups of notes, which can be restored at anytime. The data directory for those internal backups is configurable in the User Options. Manual backups and restores can be started from those options as well.

In terms of synchronization, it offers options to synchronize the notes with a ftp server. That makes it possible to use the same set of notes on multiple Windows computer systems.

Sticky Notes software / “Post-It Notes” for Windows feature set

• Unlimited Notes can be created and resized.
• Archive Notes, Print Notes, Encrypt Notes and Sort Notes.
• Notes are not stored in a text or ini file that are easy to read or hack from other people touching your computer.
• You can also protect certain notes with a password.
  Synchronize notes with a server when using multiple computers.
• Expense and Time Tracking functionality on each note with Start/Stop Timer and time-sheet tracking.
• Set an alarm on the note so it pops up at a certain date and time.
• Attach notes to webpages, spreadsheets, applications, anything and have them automatically open.
• Clipboard Manager remembers everything you placed on your Windows clipboard and easily create a note from something you’ve previously placed on the clipboard.
• Network send option that can securely send notes to other iQ-Notes users on the network or through the internet. Other “Sticky Note” applications blindly send notes in an unsecure way (open and readable) as well as without any security that the receiver is actually the intended receiver. iQ-Notes uses 128-bit encryption to securely transfer your note from one iQ-Notes user to another as well as verifies that the agreed password matches between users.
• Automatic saving of notes with nine automatic backups behind the scenes.
• Support for English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch languages

As you see, there is more to explore that I have not mentioned yet. The program supports sending notes over a network to another user, a clipboard manager to easily add clipboard contents to notes and expense and time tracking functionality for individual notes.

IQ-Notes is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. Interested users can download the application from the developer’s website at paresi.net.

When that is the case, you need something like http://xournal.sourceforge.net/. Xournal is a “note taking” application that can be used for just about anything: school notes, random sketching, journals, etc. It’s very easy to use and, although in its early stages of development, seems to be rather stable and fun to use. In this article I am going to show you how to install and start using Xournal.

Installation

As you have grown to expect, the installation of Xournal is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “xournal” (no quotes).
3. Mark Xournal for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.
5. When the installation is complete, close the Add/Remove Software tool.

Once installed you are ready to begin taking copious notes.

Usage

Figure 1

To start Xournal click Applications > Accessories > Xournal. When the application window opens you will know exactly what you are in for (see Figure 1). Once the main window is open you are ready to start taking notes.

By default the tool selected is the pencil. You can jot down your notes with that tool or you can switch to a standard keyboard entry by clicking the “T” icon. After you have entered (or scribbled) notes you can go back and highlight notes using the highlighter tool, you can add basic shapes, you can change paper color or even paper style (lined, unlined, graph, etc).

Button mapping

A really nice feature of Xournal is that while the left button is your pencil (or highlighter), the left button acts as an erase. With this you don’t have to go back to the toolbar and switch tools. You can just click and hold the right button and erase.

You can switch the button mapping by clicking Options and then selecting either Button 2 Mapping or Button 3 Mapping. Within these sub menus you can select exactly what that button will do. NOTE: Remember, if you do not have a scroll wheel, button 3 on a Linux machine is buttons 1 and 2 pressed simultaneously.

Other features

Another nice feature of Xournal is the ability to export to PDF format. This allows you to easily share or print your notes. To do this click File > Export to PDF.

If you have a tablet input device you can also set Xournal to use pressure sensitivity. Without the tablet input, pressure sensitivity is pretty much worthless.

Final thoughts

If you are a student or anyone else that needs a tool for fast note taking, sketching, or even journaling, Xournal is a great tool to get this job done. With plenty of options, you should be able to keep any type of notes you need.

Chrome Cuts is a basic note taking application for the Google Chrome browser. It adds the typical icon in the main toolbar after installation which offers access to the extension’s features.

Notes are accessed by left-clicking the icon int the toolbar. Each note is made up of a label and the actual note. The order of notes can be changed at anytime and it is furthermore possible to hide or delete specific notes as well as edit them if needed.

It takes two clicks to add a new note. The text of existing notes can be copied and pasted as usual which means the extension can also be used to store often used phrases or data.

An experimental synchronization feature has been added recently by the developer. It uses chrome’s sync functionality to share notes between multiple computer systems.

The width of the popup window containing the notes as well as its color can be changed in the extension’s options.

Chrome Cuts is a helpful extension for the Google Chrome browser. It misses keyboard shortcuts to optimize the workflow of copying and pasting notes as well as options to copy and paste notes from the right-click menu.

The extension is available at Google’s Chrome extensions gallery.

Update: The extension is no longer available. Alternatives are Quick Note and Notes.

Linked Notes is a desktop note taking software for the Windows operating system that combines rich text editing with a wiki style interface.

Information are divided on pages in the software program. Each page is listed in the program’s sidebar for fast access. The note taking software provides access to basic text formatting controls such as changing the font, font weight or adding lists to pages. It is not as sophisticated as a word processing software like Microsoft Word but it makes up for it with speed and accessibility, two features that are usually more important for note taking applications.

It is possible to create a page hierarchy by right-clicking on available pages and selecting the outline option to link pages with each other.

Most of the program’s features can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts. This includes creating, printing or saving new notes, applying formatting or searching through the notes. Notes can be exported as plain text or rich text documents.

A pro version of Linked Notes is available as well which adds encryption, screen capturing, identities that are allowed to access the application and multi-page exports into a single rtf file.

Linked Notes is an interesting option for users who want an organized note taking application with basic text formatting features. The program can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It should run on most Windows operating system and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.

RedNotebook has been designed to provide a better and more comfortable experience for regular note taking tasks. The program is available for multiple language and the operating systems Windows and Linux.

The main interface is divided into three columns. The left sidebar displays the calendar, the word cloud and search, the right sidebar tags and categories and the main column the current journal entry.

Each journal entry consists of a date, tags, categories and the information that the user wants to record.

RedNotebook supports not only textual information but also pictures, files and links but unfortunately no videos.

Several formatting options are available including bullet lists, text formatting, titles and lines. It is not as sophisticated as the controls in Word but it is sufficient for this task.

Here are some of the additional features offered by RedNotebook:

• Enter text for individual days and navigate using a fancy calendar
• Add Categories to days and fill them with content
• Tag your entries
• Format your text bold, italic or underlined
• Insert Images, files and links to websites
• Links and mail addresses are recognized automatically
• (Live-) Search
• Automatic saving
• Backup to zip archive
• Word Clouds with most often used words and tags
• Templates for each weekday and arbitrarily named ones
• Export the journal to HTML, Latex or plain text
• Graphical preferences dialog
• You can have multiple journals

Some of the interesting features are the ability to maintain multiple journals, export the journals at any time into various formats either locally or remotely and to use templates to speed up the note taking.

RedNotebook can be downloaded from the project’s website over at Sourceforge where it is available for Linux and Windows.

That’s lots of choices which all vary in how convenient, accessible and speedy they are. Chromepad is an interesting extension for the Google Chrome web browser that can be used to take notes directly in the browser.

The extension places an icon in the Google Chrome address toolbar that, when clicked, will open a text form that can be used to enter notes.

The extension supports text notes; no BBcode, no HTML or any other formatting options. That’s a limitation as it would be more comfortable if there would be an option to format the text so that links become clickable or important text can be emphasized.

Text can either be copied and pasted into the text form or entered manually by the user. The text is saved by the extension so that it is available in future browsing sessions.

Chromepad can be helpful for users who regularly work with the Google browser. The extension does have a few limitations at the moment. This are synchronizing notes, exporting notes into a text document, tabs or another form of dividing notes and the already mentioned formatting options.

Update: The Chromepad extension has been removed from the Chrome Web Store by its developer. A solid alternative is the highly acclaimed Chrome extension Quick Note.

Several options are available to take notes in the software. If the window of CintaNotes is active then pressing the INS key will create a new note. Text can be copied from other applications with the global shortcut Ctrl F12 and it is also possible to paste information from the clipboard into the software either with a right-click and the selection of paste or by pressing the shortcut CTRL V if the window of the note taking application is active.

All notes that are taken are by default untagged. CintaNotes uses tags to group notes so that it is easier to keep an overview. Tags are by default displayed in a left sidebar while the notes of the selected tab are displayed in the larger main area of the application.

Each note can be edited with a double-click. This opens an editor where the title and text of the note as well as the tags and link can be edited. Content that is pasted from websites automatically contains the link and the title of the website as well as the selected text.

The changes become immediately visible in the main window of the program. A search form is provided at the top which can be used to perform a global or filtered search.

The options of the program contain several interesting features. It is for instance possible to define a hotkey to spawn a new note window globally or enable silent clipping which will not bring the note taking window to the front as long as the option is active.

Backups of the notes are performed automatically by the program and an import and export option makes it possible to synchronize notes on multiple computer systems.

CintaNotes is a resource friendly application that uses less than 8 Megabytes of computer memory while running. It is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. The note taking software can be downloaded from the developer’s website where it is available as a portable version and an installer.

The Thunderbird add-on tbNotes adds note taking capabilities to the email software. It’s current version is limited to Thunderbird 3 editions which are currently only available as beta versions (the official download version is still Thunderbird 2.x at the time of writing).

The add-on adds the capabilities to add, edit and remove notes in Thunderbird. The functionality becomes available after right-clicking an email message in Thunderbird. This opens the context menu with options to write, edit or remove notes.

It would be very confusing if there would not be an indicator if a note is available for an email. Users of the note taking add-on can add a new column to the email table layout in Thunderbird that indicates if notes are available.

This column is not available by default and needs to be added to the layout by clicking on the rightmost icon in the header display. It is furthermore possible to display all notes on a separate page in the email client. Filters are available on the page to reduce the amount of notes that are shown there. The page can be accessed at Tools > Notes.

The developer has lots of plans to extend the functionality of the add-on. Planned are a sidebar with notes categories or a special folder containing all the notes, adding notes to Thunderbird search and Lighting support so that notes can get automatically synced with the calendar add-on.

The tbNotes add-on can be downloaded from the Mozilla Thunderbird website. Keep in mind that it only works with Thunderbird 3.x clients.

Update: tbNotes has been discontinued. XNote is an excellent alternative that adds note taking again to the email client.

Update 2: XNote has been discontinued as well. An Alternative note taking extension for Thunderbird is QuickNote.

Taking notes is an intuitive process. All it takes is to either open an existing note to add or edit information or create a new note which can then be filled with information. Information in this regard means text that can be formatted in various ways. There is unfortunately no way to add other objects like images or multimedia files to the program.

A set of keyboard shortcuts is available to speed up the note taking process. It is for example possible to add data and time, jump around in a note or paste data from the clipboard into a note. A global serch is available in the note taking program that can be used to find information quickly and easily. Other elementary features like being able to password protect the notes, changing the interface language or skins are available as well.

AllMyNotes Organizer is compatible with all Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 onwards including Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website. Localized versions of AllMyNotes Organizer are available for download as well.

Update: The developer has updated the program several times since the review. The latest version of the software can be downloaded as a portable version and installer. It also makes use of a 1800-bit encryption key to prevent unauthorized access to the notes stored in the software.

Evernote

Everyone, it seems, has covered Evernote in the past, talking about how great it is, how to use it, and all of its wonderful features. You’d think it would have been done to death by now, right?

Nope. Here are six features of Evernote that are equally awesome and useful, that don’t get the press or coverage they deserve.

Saved Searches

One of the great features of Evernote is the ability to use Notebooks and tags to sort all of your notes – its organization features are among the reasons it’s so useful. Saved Searches add even more functionality to tags and notebooks, because it lets you weed out only exactly what you want. You can search for, say, everything in your “School” Notebook that doesn’t have a “History” tag, or only things that are tagged with “To Do” and are in either your “Home” or “Office” notebook. The more notes you have, the harder it can be to weed out exactly what you want – Saved Searches are a lifesaver.

To create a saved search, right-click on the left side of the Evernote client, and select “New Saved Search.” Then, enter your parameters, and you’re set!

Sub-Tags

Within a given tag, you can create sub-tags that will make it even easier to sort what you’re looking for. To do so, right-click on a given tag and click “Create tag in ___”. You can create as many tags as you want within a given tag.

I have a ton of tags within my Evernote, but sub-tags lets me put them all underneath the general topic of what I want. This isn’t so much a feature as it is a way to further organize your notes under umbrellas, to be able to access all the appropriate ones at the same time, in the same place.

Global Shortcuts

This is the single most-used thing in my Evernote workflow. From any window or application on your desktop, a particular keystroke (that you create) can create a new note in Evernote, clip a screenshot into Evernote, or paste selected text right into Evernote. This means getting information into Evernote is super fast and simple, and makes Evernote the easiest place on your desktop to put information.

HTML Export

One worry I hear from people, when I tell them to use Evernote, is “what if it goes away?” It’s a fair point, as Web apps are prone to up and disappear without any warning. With Evernote, though, there’s no worry. First, because the desktop app works offline, and will still function even if something happens to Evernote.

And second, there’s no worry because Evernote lets you export notes to HTML. Most other applications will read an HTML file, so exporting it that way makes it easy to import into another application, or even keep accessible on your hard drive. Thanks to this export, there’s no fear of ever losing your Evernote data – you just might, possibly, one day, have to move it around a bit.

To-Do Lists

Since Evernote is aiming to be your “second brain,” your place to keep everything in your head and in your life, it’s a natural place to keep a to-do list. All the information is there; why not have your action items there too? Evernote does a great job with this – you can easily, with a mouse-click or keyboard shortcut, create a checkbox next to any line of text.

You can also search for to-do items, and keep track of any number of lists within Evernote. It’s flexible, easy to add to and edit, and a perfect solution for to-do lists simple and complex.

Formatting Goodness

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Evernote actually works fantastically as a word processor. It’s not especially feature-rich, but it has all of the basics you’d need when you’re writing – font, color, size, bold, italics, underline, justifications, bulleted lists, and even tables can all be featured in your documents. They’re all saved automatically into Evernote; it’s great for writing everything from a journal to a novel.

What about Evernote works (or doesn’t work) for you?

I am not a huge fan of mobile computing (as in phones), but Evernote is one app I would use myself. Phones basically suck for surfing. I mean the biggest smartphones still have tiny screens, so, at least for me, mobile surfing is a long way away. However, I do frequently have the urge to jot down a few things, which I currently can’t really do. Evernote is a huge help in this, and now that you can take it with you on your BlackBerry everywhere (or you iPhone), taking notes are as easy as… well, taking notes should be.

The best part of the deal is obviously that you can sync fully with your PC version, and this is the selling point for me. I can write notes on the fly, view some in offline mode, take a pic right into the app, or create a quick voice note. This is an especially big help for me, since I usually drive places, which inhibits my texting capabilities.

Anyway, Evernote is a great note taking app weather you use it on your PC, on you Phone, online or offline, so take a look!

The software program uses groups that can contain links to files, folders or web resources. Each group can be designed differently. The web resources could for instance display only the link text while the software applications display only the icon of the software. Icons and text can be combined as well and there are numerous ways to alter the appearance of practically any item in a group.

8start makes use of so called categories which can contain a number of groups each. Categories can be flipped like pages which means it is possible to create a smaller interface that is making use of pages to contain the same amount of information than a larger interface.

The status of each partition of the computer system can be displayed in the interface as well. It can be used to quickly access a drive. Each item displayed, be it application, web resource, folder or partition can be loaded with a single left-click of the computer mouse.

The note taking application uses a tree structure for the note taking. The main interface contains the keywords which when left-clicked will open a bigger Word-like document that can contain text and pictures that can be formatted using basic word processing controls.

A keyboard shortcut can be configured to bring the 8start interface up when needed so that it does not have to be visible on the desktop all the time.

8start is a sophisticated software applications launcher that is compatible to all Windows NT operating systems from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista.

I’m a university student and having spent a few weeks attempting to organise my notes with MS Word (Trial Edition) I was quite excited to discover this great note taking application. OneNote really is useful, but I just couldn’t help feel as though it was a little overkill for me and how I would use it.

OneNote is targeted more at people working in business of course, which is shame because Microsoft is really losing out on the student market. In fact there are two main reasons I couldn’t effectively use OneNote:

• Organisation: Like many students I’m very unorganised. In fact considering most students are, designing a note taking program with this in mind would be a good decision.
• Too much for too little: What other reason aside from lectures and tutorials would I use OneNote? Sure I tried using it for some other things as well, but really it just feels like too big an application for what I need it for.

Enter EverNote.

I had a beta invitation to EverNote months ago, however based on reports of bugginess and performance issues I waited till the service has improved a little.

After the latest version 3.0 update yesterday I have begun to use EverNote for all my notetaking needs. I quickly discovered it’s a fantastic application for what I need it for. Here is why:

• Synchronisation: EverNote is running a ‘freemium’ model for their service. What? Pay?! I’m quite glad of this as it means EverNote is very likely to stick around as they have an actual business model! You will get 40mb free data synchronisation each month between different computers and mobile devices.
• Organisation: Is far easier and simpler, Use notebooks, tags and attributes to organise all your content. It is much quicker to just get in and start working and easier later to locate what you wrote through the search focused toolbar.
• Search in Images: It could still do with a lot of improvements but the Image searching feature of EverNote is pretty impressive. It will locate any text within any image you paste into your notes. You can also take screen clippings like OneNote which is handy.

In essence EverNote is a killer note taking product I couldn’t recommend more.

Multiple notes can be created and placed on the desktop. Each note can have a different layout which includes window size, colors, transparency level and state. State refers to the state of the window which can be hidden, minimized or locked among other things. The first difference to most note taking applications is the rich text editor that can be used.

It supports most functions known from programs like Word that support different fonts, font sizes, colors and several other formats. A very nice feature is the ability to add pictures to the notes, have not seen that in other note taking applications yet. Let me know if others support that as well.

Drag and Drop is supported which means that it is not a problem to drag huge chunks of text into a Pinnotes windows. Copy and Paste works as well which I use exclusively. Think it’s faster than dragging and dropping text.

The little notes can be set to always be on top which is the most useful feature in my opinion. I like to be able to quickly add notes and this options guarantees that.

Another feature sounds interesting but I was not able to make it work. A time can be set after which the note appears in the foreground again. It can be set between 1 minute and 23 hours 59 minutes.

The essence of this web 2.0 app is the two pane layout it uses on each page to show your ideas. Ideas go on the left, and notes attached go on the right. This is a bit refreshing, since most apps actually force you to put in more info, assign tasks, navigate away to view notes and so on.

Pages can be used as categories, each having the layout above. You can actually pretty effectively manage projects if they require only a few tasks. I also found it of some use when I was developing ideas, it’s nice to be able to aggregate them in this form, I just like the way Wridea presents it, full stop.

There are also some advanced features available, but due to the limited use of the app, I am not sure these are of great importance. There the ability to have friends in the Wridea community, adding notes via email and so on. If you need a simple idea or task manager and you don’t want any added extras this app could be the one for you.