Sticky Notes - Freeware Roundup

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

 From the recent threads and the NoteZilla review we have seen that two products understandably generate the most interest.

NoteZilla - ConceptWorld - Shareware
http://www.conceptworld.com/NoteZilla/

Stickies  - Zhorn - Freeware
http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/

Yet there are many others to consider. First, the freeware. However, most of these freeware products do not have what I consider the two most significant features  -

1) Auto-See & Auto-Hide (opening programs, documents, webpages)
2) Functional data repository for all the notes (sorting, searching)

Yet, not all might consider these requirements, especially those looking for simple sticky capabilities and little more.  (btw .. what other Note software has these features ?  Perhaps one or two of the other commercial apps ? )

Thus, this post is the freeware review, the listing of currently available with a spot of info and urls.  After chopping out a few for various reasons there were about 20+ that were interesting.

===========================================

This site has some pics of a lot of the freeware software.

Free Sticky Notes
http://www.freepims.com/id445.html
(Crawler should be avoided, Desktop 3D Notes is commercial)

===================================

FREEWARE (& Donationware)

PrestoNotes
http://users.telenet.be/cr41007/Overview.html

Note-It - Veign
http://www.veign.com/application.php?appid=102

Shock Sticker - (Freeware Genius likes this)
http://www.docs.kr/entry/Products-Shock-Sticker-en
FreewareGenius
http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/10/01/shock-sticker/

PNotes
http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/

KNot - update of "Akatanomasto" by Cylog -   Kostas Symeonidis
http://www.cylog.org/utilities/knot.jsp

PaperNotes - Open Source
http://www.vbrocks.net/downloads/PaperNotes.htm

StickIt - Singer's Creations
http://www.singerscreations.com/StickIt.asp
Webforum
http://www.singerscreations.com/StickIt.asp

NetNotes6  (server edition is commercial)
http://www.alshare.com/

FreeNote - mgshareware  (toolbar to decline on install)
http://www.mgshareware.com/fnmain.shtml

Hott Notes (updated 2007 - forum active)
http://www.hottnotes.com/
Lifehacker
http://lifehacker.com/358564/make-and-take-your-sticky-notes-with-hott-notes

StickyPad - Green Eclipse (updated 2007)
http://www.greeneclipse.com/stickypad.html

Stickypaper - (from Japan)
http://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/products.html#stickypaper

Scribble-it
http://www.korbeeck.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=4&Itemid=4

Sheer Notes - Solway's Software
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/#sheernotes

Two Notes - Softjournal
http://www.softjournal.com/desktop_sticky_notes/index.php

TK8 Easy Notes
http://www.tk8.com/easynotes/

iQ-Notes
http://www.paresi.net/iqnotes/

Efficient Sticky Notes (related to "Efficient PIM")
http://www.efficientstickynotes.com/index.htm

Simple Sticky Notes - Simnet
http://www.simplestickynotes.com/

Simple Notes Organizer
http://www.newfreedownloads.com/download-Simple-Notes-Organizer.html

WireNote (2005) - PIM'ish capabilities
http://www.wiredplane.com/en/wpt-wirenote/about.php

Shirusu Pad (2005)
http://hem.bredband.net/danielc/

Fast Note (2005)
http://software.kirys.it/downloads.php

==========================

COMPANIES WITH FREE AND PAID VERSIONS

Freebie Notes - PowerSoft (Also Dynamic Notes $17 and Power Notes $22)
http://www.pw-soft.com/stick-notes/index.html
Comparison
http://www.pw-soft.com/desktop-notes/index.html

Stickler Lite    (MoRUN has about five Note softwares, these two are the freewares)
http://www.sticky-notes.net/
Free Sticky Notes
http://www.freestickynotes.com/

NotesHolder - (Pro - $20)
http://notes.aklabs.com/

=============================================

Notes: Online stickies are not included here.  Efficient (above) .. a bit of an Essential PIM knockoff .. is the only regular PIM I know that has separately broken out the sticky notes as its own app.

Exstora and Exstora Pro
http://www.exstora.com/
is a PIM application with a sticky note feature and note manager.

Some here might have experiences with these freewares.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  If so .. please share away.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[PhilB66]

Stickypaper (page in Japanese, application in English, portable)

[rjbull]

NotesHolder - (Pro - $20)
http://www.alshare.com/

That appears to be NetNote.  NotesHolder is by A!K Research Labs.  It isn't a conventional sticky notes program in the traditional 3M style, but it's an interesting and potentially useful alternative.  E.g., recent versions have a convenient feature that a hotkey will copy the clipboard contents into a new note, and if your clip came from a browser, will automatically include the URL.  Recent versions of the payware version - $19.95, but offers have been known, including a recent one on Bits du Jour - are mislabelled false positives in Trend OfficeScan AV.  The current free version isn't so treated.

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Thanks. Changes above duly made.

Added Stickypaper.  (or is that ricepaper ?  or stickyrice ? )

Notesholder given right name. NetNote is higher up, different company.  Those are two of the more interesting of the group.  The section is so packed that it is hard to find the ones that have special features and utility.

There are cases where the line between a general simple note program and an official "Sticky Note" program is thin.  Any program that allows for light and quick notetaking and storage and remembrance can be considered in the roundup, however I tried to find the ones that either looked like Sticky Notes in a picture or used the metaphor for their software.

Including the browser url from the clipboard is interesting.  Is it getting the last focused screen page ? If so you would have to be careful not to open a new page before clipping to NotesHolder.  Any other strong features come to mind ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[rjbull]

Notesholder:

Including the browser url from the clipboard is interesting.  Is it getting the last focused screen page ? If so you would have to be careful not to open a new page before clipping to NotesHolder.  Any other strong features come to mind ?

I think you have to mark some text and immediately hit the Notesholder hotkey.  If you change browser tabs or Alt-Tab to another application first, nothing seems to happen.

I'm not sure about "strong features."  I dislike its reminder system because it displays all expired notes, which I don't always want for routine reminders, and I can't see a way of turning that off.  Notesholder can be portable, which is nice.  You can activate it by hotkey and/or by "bumping" a thin vertical line at the edge of the screen.  The Lite version works well and is small, so there's no reason not to try it.  It has a very different look-and-feel from normal sticky notes programs, more like a continuous ribbon of paper.  Sticky notes are often better if you want something at a particular screen location, which you can't do with Notesholder.

[muntealb]

There is also PNotes, which is completely compatible with Unicode, a feature encountered in very few of the sticky notes applications. It is free and open source. Also portable.

http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Thanks muntealb.  PNote is actually a major player, with a webforum and the open source aspect and portableapss aspects and I am adding it above.  When an Aussie site looked for the six best they included it along with others that we put near the top.

The Free Software Store
http://www.ausmall.com.au/freesoft/sticky_notes.php

Stickies, PNotes, PrestoNotes, NetNote Client, iQ-Notes and NoteIt (Veign) are referenced.

Shalom,
Steven

[mouser]

Useful list, thanks for compiling it. 

[CleverCat]

I love ShirusPad - pity it's never been developed further, although it's fine as it is! Forum's a bust though...

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

ShirusPad has a lot of fans on the net, even with the dormant 2005 version.

Here are some of the main players in the commercial note area .. the five after NoteZilla have freeware softwares.

==================

NoteZilla - $30 
http://www.conceptworld.com/NoteZilla/

==================

Dynamic Notes $17 and Power Notes $22 - PowerSoft (Freebie Notes)
http://www.pw-soft.com/stick-notes/index.html
Comparison
http://www.pw-soft.com/desktop-notes/index.html

NotesPP - Notes Plus Plus - $20
Sticker - $15
Secure Reminder - $25
(MoRUN has 2 freewares - these are current prices after a discount)
http://www.morun.net/

NotesHolder Pro - $20
http://notes.aklabs.com/

NetNote Server (Client is free and can be used standalone)
http://www.alshare.com/purchase.html  - (up to 5 $75)

Exstora Pro  (PIM with Sticky Notes feature) $16
http://www.exstora.com/notes-manager-exstora.html

==================================

TurboNote+ - $30
http://turbonote.com/

Magic Notes - $15
http://www.magicnotes.com/
Forum
http://www.magicnotes.com/forum/

Desktop Notes - $15
http://www.intelore.com/desktop_notes.php

Desktop 3D-Notes - $30
http://www.desktop-it-notes.com/

Stickypad - $5 (uses .Net)
http://www.kamban.com.au/stickypad.html

Post-it Digital Notes - $20
http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/digital/digital_notes.html
'
Cute Reminder - $30
http://www.cutereminder.com/

Note Wonder - $30
http://www.ariesoft.com/note_wonder_overview.htm
http://www.forty.com/

e-Ticky - $14
http://www.freewebs.com/eticky/

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Simple Notes Organizer added to freeware list. And Exstora url.

=================================

Online Stickies.

JJot
http://jjot.com/
"Jjot helps you take online notes Think of it as online sticky notes. They're simple, fast, and you can access them from any computer."

Sticky Notes Online
http://www.sharpra.com/notes.aspx
e.g. Gadget for Google Desktop
http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/sno_info.html?hl=en

Diigo
http://www.diigo.com/

Diigo: Web Highlighter and Sticky Notes 3.1.6.13 (Firefox Extension)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2792

This opens up a whole new area that probably has many other programs. Just wanted to touch base, not to forget the area.  

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[app103]

There is an older freeware version of 3M's Post-it Digital Notes (Post-it Software Notes Lite). The major differences is that you can't create memoboards with it (I think it has only 1 default board), I think you are limited to only yellow notes, and it is most likely not Vista compatible. (it is 9x compatible, however)

Some others I found while looking for a URL for that free version:

shareware:

Yellow Memo $29.95
http://www.yellowmemo.com/

Screen Notes $14.95 (older freeware version also available)
http://romexoft.com/screennotes.shtml

CS Desktop Notes $12.00
http://chissoft.com/desknote/

ndxCards $49.00 - $89.00
This one mimics 4x6 index cards, rather than sticky notes. Target user seems to be a bit more along the lines of lawyers, writers, businesses, and those that would use it to organize research info for writing academic papers (has features like outlining and automatic citation formatting)
http://www.ndxcards.com/features.asp

dtNotes $19.95
http://www.dtbits.com/

BrainStreamer $89.00
This one is a cross between sticky notes and mind mapping, and you can copy Excel tables to notes.
http://www.brainstreamer.com

StickyNote $19.95 $29.95
Site says one price, and buy one get one free, but order form has a higher price for a 2 user license. (that's the cheapest they offer)
http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/stickynote/index.php

free:

Sticky Notes
http://www.igorv.com/Content/Applications/StickyNotes.aspx

Portable Sticky Note Software
http://www.picofactory.com/free/software/sticky-note/

Note Mania
This one has some unusual features. You can subscribe to RSS feeds with it and the headlines will be converted into notes. It also supports a variety of linking options, allowing you to not only link to web pages and email addresses, you can also link to other notes, files, folders, and launch executables with optional command line parameters.
http://www.utilhaven.com/nm/index.htm

[cmpm]

This is a good one.
Simple and can be in the rightclick menu,
for a quick note.

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15329.0

[Dormouse]

Amongst its very many components, doOrganizer also has a sticky note module.

[surftwo]

Hey you all forgot Sync notes @ www.syncnotes.com
its also got a web sync feature.  You can also store note online and send notes to other sync notes users

[phitsc]

Concerning Stickies (Zhorn) and searching & sorting: I've been playing with the thought of making a FARR plugin for that (à la FarrMilk) as I'm using it myself. But I wasn't sure how useful it would really be (I don't have that many stickies), given the amount of work it would cause. And now that hamradio made a notes plugin for FARR that gap has been closed as well.

[Doppelganger]

Although not billed as a sticky note app, Windows PowerPro (http://powerpro.webeddie.com/) has a sticky note component.

It allows notes to stay on top of other windows (or not), rollup notes, note categories, custom colors, and more.

The memory usage for PowerPro is about the same as a dedicated sticky notes program, and also provides app launching, sys info, clipboard management, reminders, and more.

[rjbull]

Windows PowerPro (http://powerpro.webeddie.com/) has a sticky note component.

I run the excellent PowerPro and don't disagree with anything you say - but I started with a shareware sticky notes program (Magic Notes) before I had PowerPro, and have to say I found dedicated sticky notes programs easier to use than PowerPro's sticky notes feature.  If you want freeware, Zhorn Software's Stickies is hard to beat, and I most probably wouldn't have paid money if I'd found it first.

[crabby3]

Boy... I sure coulda used this page yesterday...  

No way I could even come close to matching this with a New Post!  

I wanted a scratch pad and the one I found elsewhere... PNotes... is just what I needed!      PNotes is also listed above and is freeware.