Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, can be copied, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. The notes are in [Markdown format](#markdown).
Notes exported from Evernote via .enex files [can be imported](#importing) into Joplin, including the formatted content (which is converted to Markdown), resources (images, attachments, etc.) and complete metadata (geolocation, updated time, created time, etc.). Plain Markdown files can also be imported.
The notes can be [synchronised](#synchronisation) with various cloud services including [Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/), Dropbox, OneDrive or the file system (for example with a network directory). When synchronising the notes, notebooks, tags and other metadata are saved to plain text files which can be easily inspected, backed up and moved around.
The UI of the terminal client is built on top of the great [terminal-kit](https://github.com/cronvel/terminal-kit) library, the desktop client using [Electron](https://electronjs.org/), and the Android client front end is done using [React Native](https://facebook.github.io/react-native/).
Three types of applications are available: for the **desktop** (Windows, macOS and Linux), for **mobile** (Android and iOS) and for **terminal** (Windows, macOS and Linux). All applications have similar user interfaces and can synchronise with each others.
Windows (64-bit only) | <ahref='https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/download/v1.0.83/Joplin-Setup-1.0.83.exe'><imgalt='Get it on Windows'height="40px"src='https://joplin.cozic.net/images/BadgeWindows.png'/></a>
macOS | <ahref='https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/download/v1.0.83/Joplin-1.0.83.dmg'><imgalt='Get it on macOS'height="40px"src='https://joplin.cozic.net/images/BadgeMacOS.png'/></a>
Linux | <ahref='https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/download/v1.0.83/Joplin-1.0.83-x86_64.AppImage'><imgalt='Get it on Linux'height="40px"src='https://joplin.cozic.net/images/BadgeLinux.png'/></a>
Android | <ahref='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.cozic.joplin&utm_source=GitHub&utm_campaign=README&pcampaignid=MKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1'><imgalt='Get it on Google Play'height="40px"src='https://joplin.cozic.net/images/BadgeAndroid.png'/></a> | or [Download APK File](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin-android/releases/download/android-v1.0.116/joplin-v1.0.116.apk)
iOS | <ahref='https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joplin/id1315599797'><imgalt='Get it on the App Store'height="40px"src='https://joplin.cozic.net/images/BadgeIOS.png'/></a> | -
**Important:** First, [install Node 8+](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/). Node 8 is LTS but not yet available everywhere so you might need to manually install it.
By default, the application binary will be installed under `~/.joplin-bin`. You may change this directory if needed. Alternatively, if your npm permissions are setup as described [here](https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/fixing-npm-permissions#option-2-change-npms-default-directory-to-another-directory) (Option 2) then simply running `npm -g install joplin` would work.
- Markdown notes, which are rendered with images and formatting in the desktop and mobile applications. Support for extra features such as math notation and checkboxes.
- File attachment support - images are displayed, and other files are linked and can be opened in the relevant application.
Joplin was designed as a replacement for Evernote and so can import complete Evernote notebooks, as well as notes, tags, resources (attached files) and note metadata (such as author, geo-location, etc.) via ENEX files. In terms of data, the only two things that might slightly differ are:
- Recognition data - Evernote images, in particular scanned (or photographed) documents have [recognition data](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition) associated with them. It is the text that Evernote has been able to recognise in the document. This data is not preserved when the note are imported into Joplin. However, should it become supported in the search tool or other parts of Joplin, it should be possible to regenerate this recognition data since the actual image would still be available.
- Colour, font sizes and faces - Evernote text is stored as HTML and this is converted to Markdown during the import process. For notes that are mostly plain text or with basic formatting (bold, italic, bullet points, links, etc.) this is a lossless conversion, and the note, once rendered back to HTML should be very similar. Tables are also imported and converted to Markdown tables. For very complex notes, some formatting data might be lost - in particular colours, font sizes and font faces will not be imported. The text itself however is always imported in full regardless of formatting.
To import Evernote data, first export your Evernote notebooks to ENEX files as described [here](https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005557-How-to-back-up-export-and-restore-import-notes-and-notebooks). Then follow these steps:
On the **desktop application**, open File > Import > ENEX and select your file. The notes will be imported into a new separate notebook. If needed they can then be moved to a different notebook, or the notebook can be renamed, etc.
On the **terminal application**, in [command-line mode](https://joplin.cozic.net/terminal#command-line-mode), type `import /path/to/file.enex`. This will import the notes into a new notebook named after the filename.
On the **terminal application**, in [command-line mode](https://joplin.cozic.net/terminal#command-line-mode), type `import --format md /path/to/file.md` or `import --format md /path/to/directory/`.
In general the way to import notes from any application into Joplin is to convert the notes to ENEX files (Evernote format) and to import these ENEX files into Joplin using the method above. Most note-taking applications support ENEX files so it should be relatively straightforward. For help about specific applications, see below:
* Standard Notes: Please see [this tutorial](https://programadorwebvalencia.com/migrate-notes-from-standard-notes-to-joplin/)
* Tomboy Notes: Export the notes to ENEX files [as described here](https://askubuntu.com/questions/243691/how-can-i-export-my-tomboy-notes-into-evernote/608551) for example, and import these ENEX files into Joplin.
* OneNote: First [import the notes from OneNote into Evernote](https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/107736-is-there-a-way-to-import-from-onenote-into-evernote-on-the-mac/). Then export the ENEX file from Evernote and import it into Joplin.
Joplin can export to the JEX format (Joplin Export file), which is a tar file that can contain multiple notes, notebooks, etc. This is a lossless format in that all the notes, but also metadata such as geo-location, updated time, tags, etc. are preserved. This format is convenient for backup purposes and can be re-imported into Joplin. A "raw" format is also available. This is the same as the JEX format except that the data is saved to a directory and each item represented by a single file.
One of the goals of Joplin was to avoid being tied to any particular company or service, whether it is Evernote, Google or Microsoft. As such the synchronisation is designed without any hard dependency to any particular service. Most of the synchronisation process is done at an abstract level and access to external services, such as Nextcloud or Dropbox, is done via lightweight drivers. It is easy to support new services by creating simple drivers that provide a filesystem-like interface, i.e. the ability to read, write, delete and list items. It is also simple to switch from one service to another or to even sync to multiple services at once. Each note, notebook, tags, as well as the relation between items is transmitted as plain text files during synchronisation, which means the data can also be moved to a different application, can be easily backed up, inspected, etc.
Currently, synchronisation is possible with Nextcloud, Dropbox (by default) or the local filesystem. To setup synchronisation please follow the instructions below. After that, the application will synchronise in the background whenever it is running, or you can click on "Synchronise" to start a synchronisation manually.
<imgsrc="https://joplin.cozic.net/images/nextcloud-logo-background.png"width="100"align="left"><ahref="https://nextcloud.com/">Nextcloud</a> is a self-hosted, private cloud solution. It can store documents, images and videos but also calendars, passwords and countless other things and can sync them to your laptop or phone. As you can host your own Nextcloud server, you own both the data on your device and infrastructure used for synchronisation. As such it is a good fit for Joplin. The platform is also well supported and with a strong community, so it is likely to be around for a while - since it's open source anyway, it is not a service that can be closed, it can exist on a server for as long as one chooses.
On the **desktop application** or **mobile application**, go to the config screen and select Nextcloud as the synchronisation target. Then input the WebDAV URL (to get it, click on Settings in the bottom left corner of the page, in Nextcloud), this is normally `https://example.com/nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/Joplin` (**make sure to create the "Joplin" directory in Nextcloud**), and set the username and password. If it does not work, please [see this explanation](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/61#issuecomment-373282608) for more details.
On the **terminal application**, you will need to set the `sync.target` config variable and all the `sync.5.path`, `sync.5.username` and `sync.5.password` config variables to, respectively the Nextcloud WebDAV URL, your username and your password. This can be done from the command line mode using:
If synchronisation does not work, please consult the logs in the app profile directory - it is often due to a misconfigured URL or password. The log should indicate what the exact issue is.
When syncing with Dropbox, Joplin creates a sub-directory in Dropbox, in /Apps/Joplin and read/write the notes and notebooks from it. The application does not have access to anything outside this directory.
On the **desktop application** or **mobile application**, select "Dropbox" as the synchronisation target in the config screen (it is selected by default). Then, to initiate the synchronisation process, click on the "Synchronise" button in the sidebar and follow the instructions.
On the **terminal application**, to initiate the synchronisation process, type `:sync`. You will be asked to follow a link to authorise the application. It is possible to also synchronise outside of the user interface by typing `joplin sync` from the terminal. This can be used to setup a cron script to synchronise at regular interval. For example, this would do it every 30 minutes:
When syncing with OneDrive, Joplin creates a sub-directory in OneDrive, in /Apps/Joplin and read/write the notes and notebooks from it. The application does not have access to anything outside this directory.
On the **desktop application** or **mobile application**, select "OneDrive" as the synchronisation target in the config screen. Then, to initiate the synchronisation process, click on the "Synchronise" button in the sidebar and follow the instructions.
On the **terminal application**, to initiate the synchronisation process, type `:sync`. You will be asked to follow a link to authorise the application (simply input your Microsoft credentials - you do not need to register with OneDrive).
Joplin supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on all the applications. E2EE is a system where only the owner of the notes, notebooks, tags or resources can read them. It prevents potential eavesdroppers - including telecom providers, internet providers, and even the developers of Joplin from being able to access the data. Please see the [End-To-End Encryption Tutorial](https://joplin.cozic.net/e2ee) for more information about this feature and how to enable it.
For a more technical description, mostly relevant for development or to review the method being used, please see the [Encryption specification](https://joplin.cozic.net/spec).
Any kind of file can be attached to a note. In Markdown, links to these files are represented as a simple ID to the resource. In the note viewer, these files, if they are images, will be displayed or, if they are other files (PDF, text files, etc.) they will be displayed as links. Clicking on this link will open the file in the default application.
On the desktop and mobile apps, an alarm can be associated with any to-do. It will be triggered at the given time by displaying a notification. How the notification will be displayed depends on the operating system since each has a different way to handle this. Please see below for the requirements for the desktop applications:
- **Windows**: >= 8. Make sure the Action Center is enabled on Windows. Task bar balloon for Windows <8.Growlasfallback.GrowltakesprecedenceoverWindowsballoons.
- **macOS**: >= 10.8 or Growl if earlier.
- **Linux**: `notify-osd` or `libnotify-bin` installed (Ubuntu should have this by default). Growl otherwise
Joplin uses and renders [Github-flavoured Markdown](https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet) with a few variations and additions. In particular:
Math expressions can be added using the [Katex notation](https://khan.github.io/KaTeX/). To add an inline equation, wrap the expression in `$EXPRESSION$`, eg. `$\sqrt{3x-1}+(1+x)^2$`. To create an expression block, wrap it as follow:
Donations to Joplin support the development of the project. Developing quality applications mostly takes time, but there are also some expenses, such as digital certificates to sign the applications, app store fees, hosting, etc. Most of all, your donation will make it possible to keep up the current development standard.
Please see the guide for information on how to contribute to the development of Joplin: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
Joplin is currently available in the languages below. If you would like to contribute a **new translation**, it is quite straightforward, please follow these steps:
- [Download Poedit](https://poedit.net/), the translation editor, and install it.
- [Download the file to be translated](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laurent22/joplin/master/CliClient/locales/joplin.pot).
- In Poedit, open this .pot file, go into the Catalog menu and click Configuration. Change "Country" and "Language" to your own country and language.
- From then you can translate the file. Once it is done, please either [open a pull request](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/pulls) or send the file to [this address](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laurent22/joplin/master/Assets/Adresse.png).
This translation will apply to the three applications - desktop, mobile and terminal.
To **update a translation**, follow the same steps as above but instead of getting the .pot file, get the .po file for your language from the table below.
- Non-alphabetical characters such as Chinese or Arabic might create glitches in the terminal on Windows. This is a limitation of the current Windows console.
- It is only possible to upload files of up to 4MB to OneDrive due to a limitation of [the API](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/onedrive/developer/rest-api/api/driveitem_put_content) being currently used. There is currently no plan to support OneDrive "large file" API.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
