SilentNotes is an open source note-taking tool, to-do list app that can sync the content between your Windows 10 and Android devices

What do you use for note-taking and to-do lists? I use SimpleNote and Markor/Todour for Todo.Txt. Not many programs offer a way to manage both notes and tod-do lists, but SilentNotes does.

It is available for Windows 10 and Android, and we will be discussing the desktop version here, though the features of the mobile app are fairly similar.

SilentNotes has a clean interface, with a background wallpaper and a few starter notes. To add your own, click the + button in the bottom right corner, and the first option that pops up. The app will switch to its editor mode, where you can enter the text content of your notes.

The editor's toolbar has basic formatting options like Bold, Italics, Underline, Strike-through, Numbered and Bulleted lists. In addition to this it supports Windows 10 emojis, which you can access using Windows + Period. And, it supports Windows' spell-check tool.

Go back to the main screen of SilentNotes and add a new To-do list. Give your list a name, and start entering the items one at a time. Each task has a checkbox next to it, which you can click to mark as completed or strike it out. The to-do list editor toolbar has different options, for managing the items in the list.

You may move items to the top or bottom using the arrow icons. The no-keyboard button, is for Shopping mode, and prevents the content from being edited.

Click the menu button in the editor, to change the note color. You may optionally add a header (choose from 3 sizes), a code block, quote some text, and URLs which are clickable links. SilentNotes supports auto-save, so all changes that you make are saved automatically and instantly.

Drag a note by clicking on its double-arrow button and organize your notes. The search bar at the top helps find notes quickly, and it can look inside the contents too. The trash can icon next to a note deletes it, but if you deleted something accidentally, you can recover it from the recycle bin.

If you want to store sensitive information in your notes, you can lock them with a password. Your protected notes are end-to-end encrypted, and SilentNotes supports three algorithms: AES 256-GCM, TwoFish 256-GCM, and XChaCha20-Poly1305. Set the encryption type from the settings, then click on Open Safe from the menu. The program will ask you to set the password for the lock. Once you have done that, a lock icon will appear over your notes. Click on it to secure the content. Unprotected notes are obviously not encrypted.

There are a few themes, i.e. backgrounds, that you can choose from. Find the wallpaper distracting? You can switch to a solid color instead. The app can export the notes as an HTML document, with the formatting intact.

SilentNotes works offline, but if you want it to sync the data between your computer and your phone, you can do so by selecting one of the Cloud sync options. It supports FTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, NextCloud and GMX.

Authorize the cloud storage account on one of your devices PC or Android, and SilentNotes will display a transfer code. Login to your other device, and sign in to the same cloud sync service, and the note-taking program will ask you to enter the transfer code that you got earlier. That's it, your notes will be synchronized across your computer and phone.

Download SilentNotes from the Windows Store and the Google Play Store. The program is open source. The only things that are missing in the app are reminders and scheduled tasks.

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