How to install Standard Notes on Ubuntu 20.04

Note-taking apps today restrict us into too rigid a structure. Standard Notes is an easy-to-use encrypted note-taking app for digitalists and professionals. Capture your notes, documents, and life’s work all in one place.

It is completely open-source and of course it’s an cross-platform application available for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Web Version. The core application is completely free to use and comes with a free account that syncs your data across all the platforms without any limit on the data capacity.

You can also use web application of Standard Notes if you don’t have the desktop application installed yet.

Standard Notes puts particular importance on privacy & security. To create a vault-like environment, Two-Factor Authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account, which requires a time-based token to access your account. Even you can Protect individual notes with an extra layer of security by requiring a passcode to access.

Preserve your valuable notes for periods to come with a one-click export option. Your entire dataset in one simple text file. This file can later be imported at any time, or converted into formats for other services.

Key Features of Standard Notes

• Open-Source
• Cross-platform application. Available for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Web Version.
• End-to-end AES-256 encryption
• Unique passcode can be set to require authentication anytime the app is launched.
• Sync your notes without any limitations
• Use it as task editor
• Online and Offline access
• Customizable UI with available themes
• Supports 2FA Tokens
• Vim key bindings supported
• Advanced Markdown support
• Extended features via Subscription
• Switch between minimal markdown editor and full editor

This article explains two methods of installing Standard Notes on Ubuntu 20.04. Choose the installation method that is most appropriate for your environment.

Method 1: Installing Standard Notes as a Snap Package

The easiest way to install Standard Notes on Ubuntu 20.04 is by using the snap packaging system.

A snap package is a type of universal Linux package that you can enjoy irrespective of the distro. Its an self-contained software packages that include the binary all dependencies needed to run the application.

All you need is the snap service pre-configured, In the case of Ubuntu 20.04, it comes with snap pre-installed.

If snapd package is not already installed then you can install it by running following command.

$ sudo apt install snapd

Note: Snap packages can be installed from either the command-line or via the Ubuntu Software application.

This is actually the Snap version of the Standard Notes. It can be used on any Linux distribution that has Snap support.

Open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type the following command to install the Standard Notes package.

$ sudo snap install standard-notes

At this step, you have successfully installed Standard Notes on Ubuntu 20.04 system.

Type the following command to update Standard Notes package.

$ sudo snap refresh --list

Method 2: Installing Standard Notes via AppImage

Before installation let’s understand what is AppImage.

What is AppImage?

We have .deb packages for Debian/Ubuntu based Linux distributions and .rpm for Fedora/SUSE based Linux distributions.

While these packages provide a convenient way of installing software to their respective distribution users, it is not the most convenient for the application developer.

The developers have to create multiple packages for multiple distributions. This is where AppImage comes into picture. AppImage is a universal software package format.

By packaging the software in AppImage, the developer provides just one file to rule them all. End user can use it in most modern Linux distributions.

Step #1

Click on following button to download the latest stable version of Standard Notes AppImage executable file for Linux.

Step #2

The downloaded file name would be something like: standard-notes-3.9.10-linux-x86_64.AppImage

By default, the downloaded AppImage file won’t have the execution permission. You will have to change the permission on the file to make it executable and You don’t need root privilege to do that.

Now type the following command to make the AppImage executable.

$ chmod u+x standard-notes-3.9.10-linux-x86_64.AppImage

Step #3

Once you have made the AppImage file executable, just double click on it to run it Or run the following command to install through terminal.

$ ./standard-notes-3.9.10-linux-x86_64.AppImage

That’s It.

Starting Standard Notes

Standard Notes can be launched from the command line by typing standard-notes or In the Activities search bar type “Standard Notes” and click on the icon.

Standard Notes User Interface:

How to Uninstall Standard Notes from Ubuntu 20.04

For some reason, If you want to uninstall Standard Notes application, refer following methods.

Method #1

If you have installed Standard Notes via Snap type the following command:

$ sudo snap remove standard-notes

Method #2

If you have installed the application via AppImage:

Since the software is never installed, there is no need of uninstalling it. Just delete the associated Standard Notes file and your software is removed from the system.

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a good understanding of How to install Standard Notes on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.

If anyone does have any questions about what we covered in this guide then feel free to ask in the comment section below and I will do my best to answer those.