Joplin is a free and open-source note taking application that works on every platform. Joplin’s user interface isn’t as polished as some of its competitors — it feels more geeky, if that makes any sense — but the application is a favorite among privacy advocates and is recommended by Privacy Guides. Joplin stores notes on your local file system, provides end-to-end encryption, and allows you to synchronize files across devices by storing them on a service like Dropbox or Nextcloud. Or, you can subscribe to Joplin Cloud for syncing.
Joplin Markdown Support
Joplin provides support for the following Markdown elements.
| Element | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Headings | Yes | |
| Paragraphs | Yes | |
| Line Breaks | Yes | In addition to trailing whitespace, you can also use a trailing backslash or press the Return key once to achieve the same result. |
| Bold | Yes | |
| Italic | Yes | |
| Blockquotes | Yes | |
| Ordered Lists | Yes | |
| Unordered Lists | Yes | |
| Code | Yes | |
| Horizontal Rules | Yes | |
| Links | Yes | |
| Images | Yes | |
| Tables | Yes | |
| Fenced Code Blocks | Yes | |
| Syntax Highlighting | Yes | |
| Footnotes | Yes | |
| Heading IDs | Partial | Automatically generated. There’s no way to set custom heading IDs. |
| Definition Lists | Yes | Not enabled by default, but can be enabled in Preferences > Plugins. |
| Strikethrough | Yes | |
| Task Lists | Yes | |
| Emoji (copy and paste) | Yes | |
| Emoji (shortcodes) | Yes | Not enabled by default, but can be enabled in Preferences > Plugins. |
| Highlight | Yes | |
| Subscript | Yes | |
| Superscript | Yes | |
| Automatic URL Linking | Yes | |
| Disabling Automatic URL Linking | Yes | |
| HTML | Yes |
Support for Additional Syntax Elements
As an added bonus, Joplin provides support for several obscure elements.
Tip: Most of these elements are disabled by default. You can enable them in Preferences > Plugins.
| Element | Markdown | Rendered Output |
|---|---|---|
| Abbreviation | *[HTML]: Hyper Text Markup LanguageThe HTML specification is maintained by the W3C. |
The HTML specification is maintained by the W3C. |
| Insert | ++This text has been inserted++ |
This text has been inserted |