I recently came across the announcement that the note-taking app Springpad is shutting down in June. As this was my favorite data storing and virtual memory solution, this will have quite an impact on my workflows and I am now to find as suitable successor.
This is the official announcement that a Springpad user should not ignore in order to save their data:
Dear <User>,
We are very sorry to announce that Springpad will be shutting down on June 25th. At that point, Springpad.com will no longer be available and all online and sync features of the mobile apps will stop working. Read more about this announcement
It’s our top priority to help you during this transition. We have created multiple ways for you to take next steps with your Springpad data including a full Evernote migration option, a viewable html data backup and an importable file for other services to use. Please visit https://springpad.com/
savemystuff before June 25th to export your data. Thank you to our loyal users – We hope that you have enjoyed using Springpad as much as we enjoyed building it for you!
Export Your Data Now
We understand that this transition may be difficult for many of you and we will try to help as much as possible. If you have questions or need help, please visit the Springpad Shutdown FAQ
Sincerely,
The Springpad Team
In my pursuit of a suitable alternative I have come across 3 note-taking apps that I would like to share with you today. Key considerations for me are:
- Offline availability of data
- Cross platform availability
- Privacy and share functions
- Browser-based read and write access
Evernote
Evernote might just be the most popular solution and has been through long years of development and improving the user experience. They integrate in many other apps in consumer areas and recently have been trying to get more and more into the enterprise world with integrations into tools like Salesforce.
Microsoft OneNote
OneNote has been around as part of the Microsoft Office Suite for a while, but only since the free Windows 8 app was released it got interesting for me. OneNote is now also available for non-Windows smartphones along with other free Microsoft Office apps and syncs all the way up. Unlike other solutions I found OneNote to be very intuitive and allows for a lot of creative input. It goes without saying that it integrates fantastically into native Microsoft environments for both personal and business usage.
Google Keep
Keep natively integrates into the Google Now environment and is the only contender that allows for voice input to record information. The smartphone app state is a little ahead of the browser app but I genuinely believe in the approach here and it might need some more time for further polishing to give it a consistent look and feel.
Do you have any favorites on note-taking solutions that I overlooked? Share them with us and add your feedback to the comments section below the article. I hope for some good contributions. Perhaps there are good startups around the corner that don’t possess of a heavy marketing but are still a great solution. Let us know of those! And RIP to Springpad – You did a good job!
Summary
While Evernote is suitable for large data sets and possibly even aid in professional project management, Google Keep is currently more targeted at very lean and simple task management and setting up reminders – they might not be direct competition. Microsoft OneNote is in the middle of these two and both capable of more complex organisation of information as well as keeping simple notes without much administrative work around it.
Photo credit: Evernote, Microsoft, Google, Pekka Nikrus
YouTube: Google Keep Introduction
