1. RedNotebook - A free note-taking software for
documentation purposes
Fayçal ALAMI HASSANI
alami[at]globaltech-translations.com
https://globaltech-translations.com
8th September 2019
Abstract: Note-taking and storing relevant information for later use play a major role in
documentation projects and writing activities.
Using a lightweight application such as RedNotebook1 enables the user to archive his notes in a
structured manner and retrieve them in an uncomplicated way.
Keeping important notes stored locally in a centralized place
During your research tasks, you may want to take a bunch of notes that you would like to refer to at a later
time. Whenever such a situation arises, it is better to store such notes in a central location on your system.
RedNotebook is a free tool that allows you to accomplish this task in an organized way thanks to a number of
features including:
Easy-to-use syntax for formatting text
The easy syntax in RedNotebbok enables you to write everything in plain-text and control the layout
through appropriate syntax elements. See example below:
Example template in Edit mode “plain-text”
1. Download link: https://rednotebook.sourceforge.io/
2. Example template in Preview mode
Instantaneous retrieval through hashtags
Tagging the most relevant words in your entries allows you to recover the target entries later on by just
typing the corresponding hashtags (e.g. Start #MySQL #Workbench).
Word clouds
In the same line with what has been stated above, the word cloud that appears on the left pane of the
interface displays the most frequently used terms in the journal entries.
Backup and export options
RedNotebook allows you to backup your entries and restore them in case of a system crash or data
loss. You can store your backup as a zip file in a safe place. To recover the entries, all you need is to
navigate to the folder containing the extracted zip file and select Open from the navigation menu.
Alternatively, you can also use the Export Assistant to export all the entries into one of the available
formats: Plain Text, HTML, Latex or PDF.
How to contribute?
Whenever you use free software, keep in mind that the piece of software you are running would not exist
without the engagement of several people who have been sacrificing their valuable time to make things work.
In this regard, contributing to free software projects not only represents an intellectually rewarding task, but is
also a way of saying “Thank you” to all these people.
To find out about how you can help, please check the relevant section under the following link:
https://rednotebook.sourceforge.io/participate.html