Joplin is a free and open-source desktop and mobile note-taking and to-do list application written for Unix-like (including macOS and Linux) and Microsoft Windows operating systems, as well as iOS, Android, and Linux/Windows terminals, written in JavaScript. The desktop app is made using Electron, while the mobile app uses React Native.
The server part of the app is provided under the noncommercial Joplin Server Personal Use License.
Contents
History
Joplin is named after the ragtime composer and pianist, Scott Joplin.
Laurent Cozic started work on Joplin in 2016, and the first CLI version was released on 12 July 2017, followed by the Android version on 28 July 2017.
The first public desktop application release was version 0.10.19, on 20 November 2017.
A Web Clipper for Chrome was introduced in December 2017 and the Firefox extension was released in May 2018.
A new Joplin Cloud service was introduced in 2021, along with an on-premises Joplin Server application. Both products can be used to sync notes, to-dos, notebooks and note data across devices, as well as share notes or notebooks with other Joplin users, or even publish content to the web.
Features
Notes in markdown format
To-do list which loosely implements Getting Things Done methodology
Markdown extension plug-ins
Storage in a SQLite database
Optional client-side encryption
Organisation in notebooks and sub-notebooks
Tagging system
"Offline-first", notes are always accessible locally, and can be synced on demand
Web clipper for Firefox and Chrome
Note synchronization with Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, or (networked) file system
Joplin's workflow and featureset is most often compared to Evernote.