Efficient Notes Free

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on October 13, 2010

Since so many of us spend so much time on our computers now, it makes sense to have a quick and easy way to take notes there, whether we're recording a great idea or just a reminder to buy milk. Efficient Notes Free gives peoplea way to write themselves notes, but it's not as useful as some similar programs we've seen.

The program's interface reminds us very much of Microsoft Outlook. The screen is split horizontally into two panes, with the top pane displaying each note's title and the bottom pane displaying the selected note's body. The program actually functions kind of like a mini word processor; notes have plenty of options for formatting text, and users can insert images and emoticons. The search feature is surprisingly versatile, allowing people to search for words in particular fields, such as the title or content, in each note. A built-in Help file is well-written and surprisingly thorough. But that's pretty much the extent of Efficient Notes Free's features. The Pro version of the software lets people create desktop notes and attach documents to notes, two features with the potential to be very useful, but they're not available here. And users who are looking for a program that will remind them of upcoming events should look elsewhere; this program has no scheduling or time-sensitive features. Overall, Efficient Notes Free works just fine, but its limited features put it at a disadvantage compared with other similar programs.

Efficient Notes Free installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this program to people who need a very basic note program.