NoteForge

Encrypted, offline notes for Windows.

Notebooks, sections and pages, like OneNote, kept on your own PC and encrypted with a master password. Give any notebook its own password too. No account, no cloud, no tracking.

Download for Windows installer Portable version Source on GitHub

Free and open source (MIT). Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. All releases

NoteForge in the dark theme: notebooks and sections on the left, the pages of the Home lab section in the middle, and a note with a checklist, a table, highlighted text and a code block

Private notes that stay on your PC

Encrypted on disk

AES-256-GCM, with the key derived from your master password by scrypt. The password itself is never stored, and the key is wiped from memory when NoteForge locks.

A password per notebook

Lock a notebook with its own password and its pages stay encrypted, even while the rest of NoteForge is open. Re-lock it whenever you like.

Nothing leaves your PC

No account and no cloud. Fonts and scripts are built in; the only connection NoteForge makes is the update check, and you can turn that off.

Organized like a binder

Notebooks, sections and pages, with search across every note, pinned pages, and a trash for pages you delete.

A real editor

Headings, lists, to-do checklists, tables, code blocks, links, highlights and pasted images. Find and replace, with match case. Print and export.

Built not to lose notes

Crash-safe saves and encrypted backups you can restore. With a master password, the last three versions are kept and NoteForge locks itself when you step away.

Dark and light

NoteForge in the dark theme, showing a note with a checklist and a table
Dark theme: a checklist, a table, a highlight and a code block.
NoteForge in the light theme, showing a recipe with a bulleted and a numbered list
Light theme: lists and a quote.

How your notes are protected

  • Your password is the key. The master password goes through scrypt (N=65536, r=8, p=1) to make a 256-bit AES-GCM key. GCM authenticates what it decrypts, so a wrong password or a tampered file is refused outright rather than opening as garbled notes.
  • There is no recovery. That's the point: nobody, including the author, can open your notes without your password. NoteForge insists on a strong one, because against a copied data file the password's strength is all that counts.
  • Notebook passwords are separate. A protected notebook has its own salt and key; its pages are never written to disk in plain text, even while it's open.
  • The app is locked down. Note content is sanitized, the window runs in Chromium's sandbox with a strict Content Security Policy, and nothing remote can load or run inside a note.
  • Open to inspection. The code is on GitHub, and SECURITY.md lists the details and how to report a problem.
The Unlock Notebook dialog asking for the password of the Finance notebook

Install

Installer (recommended)

Download the installer and run it; no administrator rights needed. NoteForge checks for updates when it starts and installs them when you say so.

Portable

Download the portable exe and run it from any folder or a USB stick. It keeps its notes in a NoteForge Data folder next to it, so they travel with it. To update, put the new exe in the same folder.

NoteForge isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first run: choose More info, then Run anyway. The source and the build workflow are public.

Feedback

Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue on GitHub. Security problems: please follow SECURITY.md instead of a public issue.