Daily App: ColorNote Notepad, The Notepad's Notepad

Android comes with a basic notepad, but for people who would forget to eat without making a note of it, there's ColorNote Notepad for Android. This free Android-only tool is so intuitive and easy to use, it's no wonder that it has been a top 10 productivity app in the United States since its release two years ago.

ColorNote is a specialist. It does just a few things really well, and chief among them, of course, is creating and displaying notes, reminders and to-do lists. Launching the app displays a list of existing notes and a plus sign for creating new ones. While in list mode, the menu button accesses color scheme, sort, view, search, backup and app settings. Tapping on the plus sign displays a prompt to create a text note or checklist. Hitting Text displays a blank lined page akin to a legal pad of unlimited size and pops up Android's soft keyboard. A dedicated button here switches to eight other color schemes.

While displaying or editing a note, the menu button displays commands to revert, lock, send, reminder, archive and delete the current note. Notes can be sorted alphabetically by name, by time created or modified, color or the time of a reminder. Notes can be viewed as a list (the default), a list with details, grid or large grid. The grid view looks like a bunch of sticky notes.

Creating checklists or to-dos also is as easy as typing into the text bar at the top of the screen and hitting enter. The "Add Item" dialog appears with a prompt to Cancel, Next (add item and create another) and OK (finish). Plus signs appear above and below existing items to allow additions to the top or bottom of a list. Existing items can be moved up and down using drag and drop, and we know this because each has an up/down arrow next to it. Tapping on a list item puts a check mark at the far right of the list and styles its text to gray strikethrough. It really doesn't get any easier than that.

What makes ColorNote really special is its built-in calendar, which allows checklists to be created in advance and displayed on the appropriate day. The monthly calendar can be invoked from the main app menu or by swiping from right to left. Tapping on a day creates a new list or text note for that day; days with notes are indicated on the calendar. A widget displays the current day's note on the Android Lock Screen. This is the only notepad you'll ever need.

PUBLISHED JAN. 13, 2015