Notes worth organising and finding again
Notebooks, tags and checklists, pinned to a freeform corkboard you drag notes around on - or a searchable list when browsing beats pinning. Free, with no account. Notebook Pro adds templates, reminders, print and PDF, linked notes and note history.
A note from the Site visit template, with a due date and a reminder (Pro)
The list - search, sort and filter, here sorted by due date in the dark theme
Linked notes - type [[Note name]] and see which notes link back (Pro)
Drag any note to any (x, y) position and resize it with a corner handle - a genuine pinboard, not the card mosaic used by Business Asset Register or a fixed grid layout.
Prefer browsing to pinning? Toggle to a searchable, filterable, sortable table - title, notebook, tags, checklist progress and last-updated at a glance.
Write "- [ ] pick up parts" and it renders as a real, clickable checkbox - on the corkboard card, in the list, and while editing. No separate to-do list to keep in sync.
Create as many notebooks as you like, assign any note to one (or none), and filter the whole app to a single notebook from the sidebar - with a live note count on each.
Every note can carry any number of tags. The sidebar's tag cloud lets you narrow the whole app to one tag with a single click, combined freely with notebook and search.
One search box matches title, body and tags at once, live as you type, and combines with the notebook filter, tag filter and sort control.
Archive notes you don't need day to day without deleting them, copy a note in one click, and jump back to the notes you opened last from the "Recently viewed" strip.
Bold, italic, bullet lists and checklists - with a toolbar in the edit screen so you never have to remember the markdown syntax. Deliberately kept simple.
"Load sample" fills the corkboard and list with a small-business set or a freelancer set - several notebooks, tags and checklist items, real content immediately.
A single click switches theme, and it sticks between sessions - consistent with every other Metre2 desktop app.
Everything lives in local storage on your device - no account, no server, no internet connection required to use it day to day.
Notes, notebooks, tags, checklists, the corkboard and export stay free. Notebook Pro is a one-off £3.99 upgrade inside the app for notes you work from every day, bought through the Microsoft Store - no subscription, no account.
Start a note from Meeting notes, Site visit, To-do list or Ideas, with today's date filled in - or save any note as your own template.
Give a note a due date and get a Windows notification before it - even when Notebook is closed. Due notes show on the cards and sort to the top.
Print or save a note, a notebook or any filtered view as a tidy PDF - one after another or a page each - or export it as Markdown.
Type [[Note name]] to link notes together and see which notes link back. Go back to any of the last 20 versions of a note.
| FEATURE | FREE | PRO £3.99 |
|---|---|---|
| Corkboard and list views, notebooks and tags | Yes | Yes |
| Checklists inside notes | Yes | Yes |
| Archive, search, HTML and CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Templates | No | Yes |
| Due dates with Windows reminders | No | Yes |
| Print or save as PDF, and Markdown export | No | Yes |
| Linked notes | No | Yes |
| Note history | No | Yes |
Most note-taking tools sit at one of two extremes: a plain sticky-notes app with no structure, or a heavyweight notebook suite with sync, sharing and a learning curve you didn't ask for. Here's how a focused, corkboard-first app compares.
| Feature | Metre2 Notebook | A bare sticky-notes app | A full notebook suite (OneNote/Evernote-style) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free. Optional Pro, £3.99 one-off | Usually free, ad-supported or very limited | Often a monthly subscription for full features/storage |
| Works fully offline | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ (built around cloud sync) |
| Freeform corkboard - drag and resize any note | ✓ | ✕ (usually a stacked list) | ✕ (page/section hierarchy, not freeform) |
| Notebooks, tags and a filterable list view | ✓ | ✕ (little to no structure) | ✓ (often more than you need) |
| Inline checklists inside the note body | ✓ | ✕ (usually plain text only) | ✓ |
| Templates and reminders | ✓ (Pro) | ✕ | ✓ |
| No account required to set up, no per-user seats | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
General comparison as of October 2026 - features and pricing vary by sticky-notes app and by notebook suite. Not sponsored by or affiliated with any note-taking software vendor.
Yes - notes, notebooks, tags, checklists, the corkboard and list views, archive, search and HTML and CSV export are all free, with no account. Notebook Pro is an optional one-off upgrade (£3.99) bought inside the app through the Microsoft Store. If you bought Notebook before it went free, Pro is already unlocked for you.
Templates (meeting notes, site visits, to-do lists, ideas and your own), due dates with Windows reminders even when Notebook is closed, print or save as PDF, Markdown export, linked notes with [[Note name]], and note history - the last 20 versions of every note.
The headline view - a freeform pinboard where every note is a colour-coded card you can drag to any position and resize with a corner handle. It's genuinely freeform, not a fixed grid, and every card's position and size is remembered. Tidy up lines them all up again in one click.
Yes - one click switches to a searchable, filterable, sortable table, for when browsing beats pinning.
Write a line starting "- [ ] " and it becomes a real checkbox right inside the note - on the corkboard card, in the list and while editing. Tick it off anywhere and it saves straight away.
Yes - notebooks work as folders. Create as many as you like, put any note in one (or none), and filter the whole app to a single notebook from the sidebar, which shows a live count for each.
Every note can have any number of tags, shown as a cloud in the sidebar you can filter by. One search box matches titles, notes and tags at once, and works together with the notebook and tag filters and the sort.
Yes, with Notebook Pro. Give a note a due date (and a time if you like) and choose when to be reminded - at the time, an hour before, a day before or at 9am on the day. Reminders arrive as Windows notifications even when Notebook is closed.
On your PC. Notebook works fully offline with no server and no account, and your notes don't leave your computer. It doesn't sync between PCs.
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