Use Evernote on Linux with These Tools

Brief: Since Evernote doesn’t have an official client for Linux, we list the best unofficial Evernote clients for Linux.

Evernote is a popular note-taking app with online synchronization and backups. Users can create a note with text and images, audio clips or with attachments, which can be accessed anytime once you login to your account.

Evernote is cross-platform app available for almost all desktop and Mobile OS. However, there is no official Evernote Client for Linux.

You can use Evernote on Linux using the web browser but having an app that works even when there is no internet connection and syncs up with the Evernote servers when online is always better.

So, what can you do? Good thing is that since there is a web version of Evernote, it is easier to make a desktop application using Electron.

There are several unofficial Evernote Clients for Linux. Some use Electron while some are written in Qt or GTK. They work seamlessly with Evernote servers and provide almost all the features.

Let’s have a look at unofficial Evernote clients for Linux.

5 unofficial Evernote apps for Linux

Do note that I am talking about unofficial Evernote clients for desktop Linux. There are also alternatives to Evernote in Linux. There’s a difference between the alternative apps and unofficial apps.

The unofficial applications actually use Evernote and sync with your Evernote servers. However, the alternatives don’t use Evernote servers. They provide their own features similar to Evernote but you can’t use your existing Evernote account and sync the documents with them.

1. NixNote

NixNote is a free and open source application which supports synchronization with the Evernote servers and local data caching. You can create a text note, attach files or images and synchronize it with Evernote for a later access anytime.

Features

• Synchronization to the Evernote servers
• Support for multiple Evernote accounts
• Support Inking notes, merging them or setting a background color.
• Encryption of text, save searches
• Editing attachments, import/export of data
• Merging Tags, printing and emailing notes

You can grab a copy of NixNote from SourceForge.net Install with the GDebi or use the below command:

sudo dpkg -i nixnote*

Once installed, you can launch it from the application or dash search.

You can create a new note, and click on Sync to sync it to the Evernote. For the first time, it will ask the Evernote credentials. You can create a new account if you don’t have one.

Suggested readSimplenote: Best Open Source Note Taking App

2. ForeverNote

ForeverNote is another free and open source cross platform Evernote application that works seemingly well with Linux. It combines the user interface from the official Evernote Windows app and uses Evernote Web as backend. So basically you are running Evernote Web with a GUI similar to the official app.

Features

Most functionalities are available as compared to the official Windows client.
Stays in tray upon closing the application
Store credentials for the next time login
Support for viewing note history.

Installation

You can grab the latest copy of ForeverNote from its here. There is a .deb file to download and install.

3. Tusk

Tusk is a refined Evernote desktop app with lots of theme and customization and custom short keys. It is open source and free with a scalable interface and and provide different export options.

Features

• Availability of different themes which can be activated by shortcut keys.
  • Vibrant – dark : Ctrl + Alt + U
  • Vibrant – light : Ctrl + Alt + J
  • Sepia : Ctrl + G
  • Dark : Ctrl + D
  • Black : Ctrl + Alt + E
  • Focus : Ctrl + K
• Support for scaled mode.
• Support for custom shortcuts keys by navigating to ~/.tusk.json and modifying any shortcuts.
• Exporting and printing of notes
• Auto night mode to adjust your screen accordingly.

Installation

The latest version of tusk is 0.8.0 and there is a deb/rpm package available to download and install. It’s nice to see AppImage too there.

Grab a copy of installation from the release page.

Suggested readBoostnote: Open Source Note Taking App For Programmers

4. Whatever

Whatever is another lightweight unofficial Evernote client build on Electron and integrates smoothly with desktop such as dock and tray icons. It is a free and open source application licensed under MIT and provides a simple interface with all the features Evernote has.

Features

• Lightweight unofficial client for Evernote.
• Simple interface
• Desktop integration (Dock and tray icons).
• Background working mode

Installation

You can grab a copy of Whatever from Sourceforge.net. Use Gdebi installer or install the debian package in your system using command line.

5. Geeknote

If you are a terminal geek and loves VIM, Geeknote is for you. It’s a command line client for Evernote which supports searching the Evernote notes and outputs them to console in plain text.

The local directories and files are synced with Evernote servers, and Geeknote uploads all text file in your local directory as text to Evernote.

You can edit the notes with any console editor like nano, vi, vim etc. Save it, and Geeknote will automatically upload it to Evernote.

Features

• Synchronising local directories and files with Evernote
• Reading notes from the console
• Choice to select the default editor
• Create and edit lists

Installation

There are various dependencies which you need to install first.

$ sudo apt-get install git python-thrift python-bs4 python-oauth python-html2text python-sqlalchemy python-setuptools

Once done, clone the geeknote repository in your local.

$ git clone git clone git://github.com/pipakin/geeknote.git

Note : This is not the official repo since the official one has a bug related to two factor authentication.

$ cd geeknote
 $ sudo python setup.py install

To login, use the below command, press enter when it asks for two factor authentication code.

$ geeknote login

To create a new note, you can use the below command. The default editor is vim.

geeknote create --title <title>
 [--content <content>]
 [--tags <list of tags>]

And to logout,

geeknote logout

You can see your Evernote updated, once you logout from the geeknote.

You can check the complete command list here.

Final Words

Though there are various Evernote alternatives, people like me who keeps it open for a quick note and to access it anywhere can find these unofficial Evernote clients for Linux very useful.

Which note taking app you use, tell us in the comments.

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