Being a student today means juggling a million things at once: assignments, lectures, group projects, and revision for exams. Since education has become a bit easier due to digitalisation, you can use your laptop or smartphone to study using internet materials or even attend online classes. So today, I brought you a list of the best open source apps for students that can help you do a lot of things, like note-taking, research, and more, quickly and effortlessly.
Essential free apps every student needs for smarter studying. Zotero
Zotero is a must-have app for students who want to study or research digitally on the internet. This app is available for every OS and platform and lets you easily save and manage all the article links in one place. It runs with your default browser and automatically detects if you are researching something. It prompts you to save, and with just one click, the article will be saved in the app. There are a lot of features that make this app much more useful for research purposes.
Joplin
Joplin is a note-taking app, and you will find this app in more of my open source apps articles. What makes this unique is that it is open source and available on all devices. It supports markdown, has end-to-end encryption, and it syncs across devices. You can choose the service on your own from Dropbox, OneDrive, or WebDAV. Students can save lecture notes, to-do lists, and more on this open-source notes app.
LibreOffice
Students have to manage a lot of document files, whether they are notes, research material, or other documents related to studies. A solid office suite becomes essential at this point, and LibreOffice is a go-to open source alternative to paid software. It covers everything, including word processing, spreadsheets, and even presentations. It supports nearly all known file formats and regularly gets updated by a community of talented developers.
Anki
Flashcards are one of the most effective ways to memorise complicated concepts. And Anki is a powerful open-source flashcard app that uses spaced repetition to optimise your learning. It makes sure that you review topics before they slip away from your mind. This app is available on all devices despite the OS, so students can keep memorising the concepts wherever they are.
GIMP
Graphic design and image editing are very crucial for projects and presentations. GIMP is a feature-rich open source photo editor that competes with popular paid options. It offers you tools for everything from simple photo adjustments to complex compositions. It’s open source and available on multiple devices.
FocusWriter
Whether you are taking your notes or writing your essay, focus is really important. FocusWriter is an app that is designed to write with zero distractions. It offers a clean and minimalist interface that hides all unnecessary menus when you start writing to keep you focused on the task.
FreeMind
FreeMind is a lightweight open-source mind mapping tool that is straightforward and very effective. Perfect for students to plan essays, projects or even revision for exams. Mind mapping is a great way to brainstorm and organise these ideas visually. It is available on all devices for free from the official website.