Duly Noted

Despite the proliferation of Markdown-based and regular note-taking tools and services, Simplenote remains a popular choice for note-keeping. There are many reasons for its enduring success. Although the service is continuously being improved and tweaked, it manages to maintain a delicate balance of functionality and simplicity. In addition to essential features like tagging, Markdown support, and search, Simplenote also makes it possible to collaborate on notes, as well as to publish them on the web. And creature comforts like word count and versioning make Simplenote an ideal writing tool. In short, you'll be hard pressed to find a service or software that offers a similar level of functionality free of charge.

Although Simplenote offers desktop applications, they are basically web apps disguised as desktop tools. Fortunately, the service provides an API, so there are several third-party solutions for integrating Simplenote into your preferred editor. For example, if you happen to use Emacs, you'll be pleased to learn that there is a plugin that lets you work with your Simplenote notes without leaving the convenience of your favorite text editor.

But if you are looking for a standalone client that allows you to sync Simplenote notes as well as manage and edit them using any text editor, sncli [1] might be right up your alley. This handy Python-based tool allows you to work with Simplenote notes online and offline, providing synchronization functionality and a wide range of useful features (Figure 1).

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