Note Index
A book-style index for physical notes — built for people who write on paper before they write anywhere else.
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macOS isn't supported yet — Note Index currently ships for Windows and Linux only.All downloads
Add Entry — diary, page, tags, Zettelkasten ID
Report — the book-style index, A–Z
Why this exists
I write physical notes first — page numbers and tags noted by hand on every entry — and keep a separate digital library for anything software-related. The problem was never the writing. It was finding it again.
I tried keeping the index in Notion. It didn't work — not because Notion is bad software, but because a database of pages doesn't read the way a real book index reads. A book index is a flat, alphabetical list of terms, each one pointing to a page number. That's a specific shape, and general-purpose note apps aren't built around it. Note Index is: type a term, page number, and diary name in, and it comes back out grouped exactly like the index at the back of any book — a letter rail down the side, terms underneath, page numbers next to each one.
The second problem was specific to the
Zettelkasten method: writing IDs like Psychology/20260908-1 across multiple
A6 cards and notebooks means constantly losing track of what the last
ID under a category was. Note Index gives every note a dedicated,
required Zettelkasten ID field, so that identifier is never just
floating on paper somewhere you'll forget to check.
Who this is for
Zettelkasten practitioners
Track ID sequences and cross-references across multiple physical notebooks without losing where you left off.
Commonplace book keepers
Turn scattered quotes, ideas, and page references from a commonplace book into one searchable index.
Students annotating textbooks
Log page numbers and topics as you read, then search across an entire term's worth of notes at once.
Researchers and writers
Keep a physical-first workflow — sketchbooks, index cards, field notebooks — while still being able to retrieve anything by keyword later.
Journal and diary keepers
Index recurring themes across multiple physical diaries without re-reading every volume to find where something was written.
Hybrid physical + digital note-takers
Attach an optional web link to any entry that also exists as a digital record, bridging paper notes and online references.
What it does
- Book-style report view — alphabetically grouped index with an A–Z letter rail, live search, and expandable entries showing full context.
- Multiple diaries, one index — log entries across as many physical notebooks as you use; the index spans all of them.
- Zettelkasten ID field — a required, dedicated field so your ID scheme never depends on remembering what you last wrote elsewhere.
- Optional web record linking — attach a URL to any entry that also has a digital counterpart.
- Fully offline — a single local SQLite database file, no account, no cloud sync, no telemetry.
- Free for Windows and Linux — installers published automatically with every release.
Is it safe to download?
The source code for Note Index is kept private. Rather than ask you to simply trust that, every release is independently verifiable through evidence you can check yourself:
View the full VirusTotal scan report →
- Each release's file hash (SHA256) is published on its GitHub release page, so you can confirm your download hasn't been tampered with in transit.
- The app makes no network calls — you can verify this yourself with any firewall or network monitor while it runs.
- Note: this scan is tied to version 1.0.1's specific build. Future versions will have new hashes and new scan links, published with each release.
Frequently asked questions
What is Note Index?
A free desktop app for Windows and Linux that turns the diary name, page number, and tags you write in physical notebooks into a searchable, alphabetically-grouped index — the same structure as the index at the back of a book.
Why not just use Notion or Evernote for this?
Those tools organize notes as pages and databases. A book index is a different shape entirely — a flat, alphabetical list of terms each pointing to page numbers — and that mismatch is exactly why this was built as a separate, purpose-made app.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Yes. Everything is stored in one local SQLite file on your own computer. No account, no sync, no internet required at any point.
Why is the source code private if the app itself is free?
That's a deliberate choice by the developer. Trust is established through independently checkable evidence instead — public virus-scan reports, published checksums for every release, and a testable "no network calls" claim — rather than by publishing the source itself.
Does Note Index support macOS?
Not yet. Only Windows and Linux builds are available right now.
What is a Zettelkasten ID?
A unique identifier — for example
Psychology/20260908-1 — used in the Zettelkasten
note-taking method to link and retrieve notes across a collection.
Note Index has a dedicated, required field for it on every entry.