A quiet note-taking app for Windows. Your notes stay plain files in your own folder; NotNote adds a folder tree, tabs, fast search and themes. Free, no account, no internet needed.
Download the latest release · notnote.ru
Windows 10/11 · portable, nothing to install · NotNote.exe is 5.6 MB, the zip 2.8 MB · about 1 second from launch to ready.
- Catch a thought. Ctrl+Alt+N brings the window up over any app. Type a line in Inbox, press Enter, go back to work.
- Vault. A vault is a folder of notes. Folder tree on the left, tabs on top, pin with a star,
#tagswith autocomplete, checklists. A slash inserts a heading, list, quote, code block, date or link. - Search. Ctrl+P jumps to a note by any part of its name. Ctrl+Shift+F searches the text of every note. Ctrl+F and Ctrl+H find and replace inside the open one.
- History. A version on every save; you choose how many to keep: 10, 50 or 200 per note. History lives next to the program, not in your notes folder.
- Focus. Ctrl+\ hides the tree, toolbar and status bar. Esc brings them back. Always on top keeps the window in sight.
- Notepad. Double-click a .md or .txt in File Explorer and it opens in a tab. No vault needed.
- Your files. Every note is an ordinary .md or .txt. Deleted notes go to the Windows Recycle Bin; Ctrl+Shift+T reopens a closed tab. If an open note changes in another app, NotNote asks which version to keep.
- Sync your own way. Keep the notes folder in Syncthing, Dropbox or Yandex Disk; NotNote recognizes their conflict copies. Built-in sync is planned.
- Print and export. Ctrl+Shift+P prints or saves a PDF. All notes export to a ZIP in one go.
- Look. Light, dark or follow Windows; 9 accents, 4 fonts, zoom, text column width.
- Move in & out. Imports an Obsidian vault (folder), a Notion export ("Markdown & CSV" zip) or a Simplenote export (zip) into a separate "Import ..." folder. The original stays untouched. To go back, export a ZIP for Obsidian. Turn on: Settings > Plugins.
- English and Russian. The interface follows your Windows language by default. Change: Settings > Appearance > Interface language.
- Backups with images. The ZIP backup now includes images and attachments along with your notes.
- Obsidian-style preview. Preview shows note properties (frontmatter) and Obsidian callouts like
> [!note].
Search across the vault, Ctrl+Shift+F.
Version history: pick a version and get yesterday's text back.
Focus mode, Ctrl+: only the tabs and the text remain.
Inbox: write the thought first, sort it into folders later.
- Download the zip from Releases and unzip the folder anywhere.
- Run
NotNote.exe. Nothing to install. - On first launch, pick a folder for your notes or keep the suggested one.
NotNote needs WebView2, which Windows 10 and 11 usually already have. Show or hide the window from anywhere with Ctrl+Alt+N.
- Notes stay in the folder you picked (.md and .txt).
- Settings, open tabs, version history and the search index live in the
datafolder next toNotNote.exe. Copying the program folder takes everything with it. On another computer, pick the notes folder again. - If the program folder is read-only, data goes to
%APPDATA%\com.notnote.appinstead. - The window cache (WebView2) is in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\com.notnote.app.
To remove: Settings > System > "Remove NotNote from the system" clears the "Open with" entries and autostart. Then delete the program folder and, if you like, %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.notnote.app. Your notes stay where they are.
A plugin is a part of the program with its own switch in Settings > Plugins. All plugins ship inside NotNote.exe, so there is nothing to download, and all are off by default. A plugin that is off does not load, create files or use memory.
- Quick search. Indexes all your notes, so Ctrl+Shift+F finds text anywhere in the vault.
- Inbox. Write a thought down as a card right away, sort it into folders later. On disk it is one file,
Inbox.md. - Snippets. Shortcuts that expand into text:
;datecan turn into today's date. Make your own. - Move in & out. Copies notes from Obsidian, Notion or Simplenote into a separate folder; exports a ZIP for Obsidian.
Planned: installable plugins, serverless sync and a password vault. No dates yet.
The program is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn you on first launch. Compare the SHA-256 with the one in NotNote.exe.sha256.txt (also in Settings > About):
certutil -hashfile NotNote.exe SHA256
If the hashes match, click "More info" > "Run anyway".
No telemetry. The program sends nothing and never downloads updates on its own. No account, no network needed.
Telegram bot @NotNotehelpbot: messages reach the author. Website: notnote.ru.
Freeware. Source code is not published.