Openote

Open source

What the maker publishes

Canvas

Its canvas lets users place content anywhere and pan and zoom in every direction. source

Canvas and notes

It offers a freeform canvas with a notebook, section, page and subpage hierarchy. source

Development status

Openote is under active development, updates may temporarily break features, and the maker says macOS is largely untested. source

File format

Its documented, versioned file format is designed to remain readable without Openote. source

Flashcards

It can turn tagged lines in notes into flashcards scheduled for spaced repetition. source

Handwriting and maths

It supports pressure-sensitive handwriting and maths that builds into notation as users type. source

Licensing

The project repository identifies the app as AGPL-3.0 licensed. source

Linux support

The site offers .deb packages for Ubuntu, Debian, and Mint and .rpm packages for Fedora and openSUSE. source

Local storage and account

The maker says notes stay on the user's machine and no account is required. source

macOS support

The macOS download is a universal disk image for Apple Silicon and Intel, and the site describes this build as the least tested. source

Maker identity

The linked public source repository is owned by the GitHub account icmric. source

Maturity

Openote is under active development, and the homepage warns that an update may break a feature until a later update fixes it. source

Offline access

Yes source

OneNote import

It imports OneNote notebooks, including pages, images, ink, tables and tags from .one files. source

OneNote import

It imports OneNote notebooks from .one files, including pages, images, ink, tables, and tags. source

Organization

It supports notebooks, section groups, sections, pages, and subpages. source

Planner

It includes a planner for exam dates, deadlines, reminders and university timetables. source

Supported platforms

Windows,macOS,Linux source

Privacy and storage

The homepage says notes stay on the user's machine in an open, documented format. source

Product

Openote is an open-source alternative to Microsoft OneNote with a freeform canvas, handwriting, maths, and a documented file format. source

Purpose

Openote is an open-source alternative to Microsoft OneNote. source

Real-time collaboration

No source

Release security

The maker says Openote is not code-signed and that downloads are built by a public workflow from a tagged commit. source

Security caveat

Openote is not code-signed, and the site explains that operating systems may show warnings when it is installed. source

Checked against the maker's pages on 13 Oct 2026.