What kinds of notes and data can you collect in BasKet Note Pads?

Updated

BasKet Note Pads is a multi-purpose note-taking application that accepts far more than plain text. According to the project's own description, you can type styled text directly into a basket, paste in images, links, email addresses, files, application launchers, and colors, grab a screen zone, or pick a color from the screen. You can also attach tags to any note, including multi-state tags that turn notes into checkboxes, progress bars, or priority meters.

Text and styled notes

The basic unit is a note you create by clicking and typing, so ideas can be written down as they occur. The project notes that there is "more than styled text," meaning formatting is supported but is only the starting point.

Pasted and collected data

Beyond typing, BasKet lets you collect a range of data types by pasting or dropping them into a basket:

  • Images
  • Links
  • Email addresses
  • Files
  • Application launchers
  • Colors

This makes it usable for gathering research results and project data in one place rather than scattering them across folders.

Screen capture and color picking

Two capture tools are described on the site:

  • Grab a screen zone — capture a region of the screen as a note.
  • Pick a color from screen — sample a color directly from whatever is displayed.

These are useful when the information you need exists visually rather than as text you can copy.

Tags and multi-state notes

Any note can carry tags such as "Important," "Information," "Idea," "Work," or "Personal." Tags change how notes look, and multi-state tags go further: they can produce checkboxes for to-do lists, progress bars, and priority meters. In practice, a single tag system covers labeling, task tracking, and status display.

Organization and retrieval

Notes live in a hierarchy of baskets organized by topic or project. Within a basket you can group notes, collapse unimportant groups, let the application auto-layout notes in columns, or place them manually. You can find notes instantly by word or by tag as you type, regardless of where they sit in the hierarchy. The application also runs in the background minimized to a system-tray icon, so adding a note is one click or keyboard shortcut away, and you can drop items onto the icon.

Data safety and protection

Notes save automatically as soon as you modify them, so there is no manual save step. The project also states you can back up and restore your entire basket collection, and protect some or all of your data with a password.

Practical fit

If your note-taking involves mixed media — a screenshot next to a file link next to a to-do checkbox — BasKet's model of pasting anything into a basket and tagging it is a direct match. If you only need plain text synced across devices, the feature set here is broader than necessary. The download page lists Version 2.11 Beta sources for KDE and distribution-specific packages, plus an unstable development version (2.49a), so check that a build exists for your platform before committing.