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good free application for taking notes in class?

C

canada eh

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 22, 2009
117
0
Barrie, Ontario
I saw some old posts on this but they are out dates by at least 2 years.

I am a high school student and I take notes in class and I wanted to start using an organizer to keep them all in place than using NeoOffice and word docs for everything.

I would really want the application to be free/open source if possible.
 
Word has a notes/notebook view for this purpose

Any of the free word processors would work I suppose, like Bean
Or even Text Edit

For a little cost you can get Circus Ponies Notebook
Or MacJournal

You can even still download the free version of MacJournal here
 
I do not use word at all, and I find NeoOffice take a long time to load on my machine, I use a dell mini 10v hackintosh netbook at school.

I should have specified a little more, I would like an organizer kind of thing. Thanks for all of the replies!
 
Besides the above mentioned solutions I would recommend pen and paper. In college I never found a more efficient solution for note taking. Since most teachers revisit parts of topics during lecture it is quicker to jump back in your notes to add to a prior point of lecture, drawing and keeping diagrams in line with notes is also much easier on paper. The only time I ever found typing to be more efficient was for teachers that followed an outline precisely and provided no diagrams.
 
@Buzz Bumble
I do have a Macbook Pro 13" 2.26 ghz, I like Mac OS X software much better than windows so I put it on my netbook. I do have it posted on my profile, I just haven't gotten around to putting it in my sig.

as for every one else I will defiantly look into those programs! Thanks for the help! now that I think about it, text edit would be good for taking simple notes in class.
 
canada eh said:
@Buzz Bumble
I do have a Macbook Pro 13" 2.26 ghz, I like Mac OS X software much better than windows so I put it on my netbook. I do have it posted on my profile, I just haven't gotten around to putting it in my sig.

as for every one else I will defiantly look into those programs! Thanks for the help! now that I think about it, text edit would be good for taking simple notes in class.
Click to expand...

If you do consider pen and paper evernote is a good way of organising it (or even your text edit files) as you can search through your typed and even hand-written notes.

And don't feed the troll.

Good luck :)
 
illy123 said:
If you do consider pen and paper evernote is a good way of organising it (or even your text edit files) as you can search through your typed and even hand-written notes.

And don't feed the troll.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...



Thanks I was just trying to proove a point, just because I use a hackintosh doesn't mean I don't own a real mac ;)

im looking in to evernote, and they have a iPod touch/iPhone app, which is good.
 
canada eh said:
I saw some old posts on this but they are out dates by at least 2 years.

I am a high school student and I take notes in class and I wanted to start using an organizer to keep them all in place than using NeoOffice and word docs for everything.

I would really want the application to be free/open source if possible.
Click to expand...


This: http://notational.net
 
Free trial of VoodooPad

I really don't think you will find anything better than VoodooPad for what you want to do. There is an excellent free trial which allows you unlimited numbers of documents with no time limit, the only restriction being a maximum of 15 pages. For the time being you could make one per class or week or whatever depending on the volume of notes you take. Then if you love it you could either save up for it (well worth the very low cost), or use the free version, which, however, does not allow linkbacks and therefore makes the trial or paid versions far superior. The company that makes it is called 'Flying Meat software'. You should be able to find it easily, otherwise ask and I can tell you the link. Also, if you search sites such as studyhacks or use a search engine there are a number of excellent posts on how to use a wiki in this fashion which you might find really helpful.

Good luck!
 
You've not only gotten some good pointers on software that will handle what you need, but also good advice on using the old-and-tried pen-and-paper method. The latter is far more versatile and besides loosing the pad/notebook with your notes (which can also happen with a laptop) there is no other chance of loosing your info (unless you have a cat which will spill your coffee...but that's another story :))

My method while in college was to use pen and paper and then later transcribe my notes into my laptop...it was a great way to review the class and study.

I would suggest you check this Action Notebooks for taking notes with a pen

www.creativeoutfitter.com/Products/Action-Book/4

They where not available when I was in college, but they are my bread and butter today for my business.

JC

PD - BTW, don't pay attention to Buzz Bumble's comments which are totally out of place...unfortunately there's always a moron like him in every forum.
 
Scylax said:
I really don't think you will find anything better than VoodooPad for what you want to do. There is an excellent free trial which allows you unlimited numbers of documents with no time limit, the only restriction being a maximum of 15 pages. For the time being you could make one per class or week or whatever depending on the volume of notes you take. Then if you love it you could either save up for it (well worth the very low cost), or use the free version, which, however, does not allow linkbacks and therefore makes the trial or paid versions far superior. The company that makes it is called 'Flying Meat software'. You should be able to find it easily, otherwise ask and I can tell you the link. Also, if you search sites such as studyhacks or use a search engine there are a number of excellent posts on how to use a wiki in this fashion which you might find really helpful.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

+1 about voodoopad

You might also want to consider Bean or AbiWord.

Bean is beautiful and light. I use it for most of my text purposes.
 
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