3 Next-level Note-taking Apps That Will Change The Way You Work
3 next-level note-taking apps that'll change the way you work
Here is a comprehensive comparison of three standout tools that have the potential to fundamentally alter the way you think about notes — and much more.
Workflowy: An ostensibly straightforward bullet-based organizer
Ideal for: Multilayered, text-centric note organization and collaboration
If you're looking for a straightforward yet powerful solution for storing and organizing information, Workflowy may be the answer you've been looking for. The service is organized around expandable bullet points, each of which can be used independently as a document.
That sounds unusual, doesn't it? It is — but once you grasp the concept, you will realize that it is an incredibly clever and logical framework for note collection. And the service does an exceptional job of ensuring that you understand what's going on from the moment you log in.
Upon sign-in, a sample list — a node in Workflowy lingo — greets you and introduces you to the Workflowy way. Workflowy is described as a "infinite document." It's similar to a series of interconnected bullet points, except that in addition to expanding and collapsing the layers of information contained within each point, you can open any point and work within it as if it were a document by clicking the dot at its beginning.
The possibilities for utilizing the "infinite document" setup are virtually limitless. You can create quick 'n' simple notes as separate nodes or create multilayered lists for tasks, goals, or even meeting agendas. Alternatively, you can think through complex business projects and use Workflowy's bulleted layers to organize every detail of your various steps and phases.
Apart from the basic structure, Workflowy includes a slew of useful features, ranging from an integrated tagging system for additional organization to a series of smart shortcuts for quickly zipping around the apps. It even includes tools for mirroring items and allowing them to appear in multiple nodes simultaneously while remaining synced between them.
And then there's the area of collaboration and sharing: Workflowy allows you to export the entire bullet point — including any associated sublayers — with a single click on a menu alongside any bullet point for easy copying, pasting, or attaching (as an HTML file). Additionally, you can create public web links for an entire node or even a single bullet point within a node and share them with anyone for collaborative viewing or editing.
Workflowy is available as a web application and as native Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS applications. The service is free, but there is a monthly limit of 250 new lists and items. A Pro plan — which eliminates that restriction and also includes additional customization options, Dropbox backup, and premium support — costs $49 per year or $48 per user per year in a team arrangement, including administration capabilities.
Workflowy's straightforward structure and text-centric nature are distinguishing features that make the service both effective and manageable — but if you're looking for something more robust, keep reading.
Coda: The all-in-one document command center
Ideal for: Document-driven note-taking that brings lots of elements and data sources into a single spot
While Workflowy is structured around bullet points and includes expandable documents at each level, Coda takes a different approach and puts the documents front and center.
Indeed, you could use Coda as a Google Docs-like word processor, but that is only scratching the surface of the service's capabilities. Coda allows you to create everything from interactive spreadsheet-style tables to fully functional buttons for performing advanced actions within your workspace as part of any document. It's almost as if a service like Airtable was dropped into a larger document and surrounded by additional possibilities.
The items on the left represent the document's various pages, while the larger portion of the screen represents the currently active page. And the possibilities for what each page can contain are endless — because Coda's documents are all composed of blocks rather than documents in the traditional word processor sense. And those blocks can contain anything from plain text to formatted lists to calendars that sync with your Google account and enable you to view as well as edit your current agenda data.
For example, here we see an interactive task table followed by a live Google Calendar module and, below that, a series of expandable bullet lists (similar to the Workflowy style):
Furthermore, nothing in Coda is static. Hovering over the "Action items" table reveals commands for hiding columns, filtering and sorting the table's contents, and customizing the table's display in a variety of ways.
Coda truly shines on the mobile front, where the service transforms all of your creations into app-like interfaces — with pages automatically converted to bottom-bar-tab sections and the entire document taking on a native mobile feel.
Coda's collaboration capabilities aren't quite as granular as Workflowy's, but it does allow you to share entire documents with colleagues, clients, or anyone else in your orbit — either directly or via a private web link — and to control who can view, view and comment, or edit the information.
Coda is a web-based application that is also available on Android and iOS. The service is available for free with a variety of restrictions — up to 50 objects and 1,000 rows per document, for example — or for $120 per year for a more restricted Pro plan. The service costs $30 per month per "doc maker" (the person who actually creates new documents) in team scenarios and is free for any employees who simply view or edit existing documents.
Much like the service itself, Coda's pricing structure is a little complicated and takes some time to grasp. However, similar to the service, it is well-thought-out and brimming with potential. The true test is whether it makes sense for you.
Notion: The all-purpose knowledge machine
Ideal for: Visual note organization with a mix of documents and boards
If Coda is similar to having a taste of Workflowy within a broader document format, Notion is similar to a Bizzaro World version of Coda with less support for external data sources and a stronger emphasis on Trello-style board-based organization.
As with Coda, Notion is centered on the concept of rich content blocks within documents. As a result, you can create a document that contains a combination of text elements, interactive lists, and even separate subpages:
Alternatively, you could follow the service's "Roadmap" template's lead and use a card-based board view to organize your notes, tasks, and ideas into categories or even levels of completion.
While Coda offers a robust but complicated set of board view options, Notion takes it a step further by providing a polished, easily accessible, and simple-to-use Trello-like system for interacting with information in that card-based environment. By clicking on any card within a Notion board, you can access and edit detailed information based on your own custom fields and parameters. You can immediately begin dragging and dropping cards between columns and working with them entirely within that arrangement — either alone or with invited collaborators.
While Notion does allow for the embedding of certain types of external content — including functional Google Maps, scrolling web pages, and playable videos — the list of possible elements and their interactivity is significantly less extensive than what Coda offers. And, while the service may take some time to fully grasp and master, it comes with a plethora of templates that make getting started simple — everything from simple structures for single-page notepads to hubs for multi-paged note collections and spreadsheet-organized systems for things like team directories and research databases.
Notion is available as a web application and as native applications for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Additionally, it includes a Chrome or Firefox web clipper extension that enables you to save any page to the service with a single click from your desktop browser — and even add notes, tag team members, and create tasks directly on the page.
Notion is completely free for personal use, with the only real restrictions being a maximum file size of 5MB and a maximum of five "guests" for sharing and collaboration. A $48 annual Pro subscription eliminates these restrictions, while team plans
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