How to use Standard Notes on Chrome OS
Are you searching for a reliable note-taking app that prioritizes privacy and security on your Chromebook? Look no further than Standard Notes. With its user-friendly interface, privacy features, and ease of use, it’s an excellent choice for managing your notes. Here are the steps to install and set it up on your Chromebook.
Note: you must have a Standard Notes account to use the software on your Chromebook. For more information, click here.
How to enable Linux on your Chromebook
To use the Standard Notes application on your Chromebook, you need to enable Linux support. Here are the steps to do so. First, click on the Chrome OS clock and select the gear icon to access the Chrome OS settings area. Then, go to the “Advanced” section and click on it to reveal its options. Look for “Developers” and select it to access the Chrome OS Developers area.
Inside the Chrome OS Developers area, locate “Linux development environment” and click on it to download and install the Linux container onto your Chrome OS device. This process should be quick. Once the container is installed, a terminal window will automatically launch.
In the terminal window, find “Penguin” and select it to load up the Chrome OS Linux container terminal interface. To ensure that the Linux container is up to date with the latest patches, use the commands “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade” in the Chrome OS terminal.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
After updating everything, Linux will be ready to use on your Chromebook, and you can start using the Standard Notes application.
How to install Standard Notes – Flatpak
The recommended method for installing and using Standard Notes on Chrome OS is through Flatpak. The advantage of using Flatpak on a Chromebook is that Standard Notes receives frequent updates via the Flathub app store, and Flatpak implements sandboxing for enhanced security.
To install Standard Notes via Flatpak on your Chromebook, you first need to enable the Flatpak runtime. Open the Chrome OS terminal and select “Penguin.” Then, use the apt install command to install the Flatpak package.
sudo apt install flatpak
Once you have installed the Flatpak package, you can add the Flathub app store by executing the following flatpak remote-add command:
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
With the Flathub repository added to Chrome OS, you can use the flatpak install command to download and install Standard Notes on your Chromebook.
How to install Standard Notes – DEB
While we don’t recommend it, it is also possible to install Standard Notes as a DEB package on your Chromebook. The reason we don’t recommend it is that if you’re interested in security on your Chromebook, Flatpaks are sandboxed and DEB packages are not.
If you wish to use the Standard Notes, DEB, start the Chrome OS terminal on the desktop by launching it from the app menu. Select “Penguin” to access the Linux terminal interface.
wget https://github.com/standardnotes/app/releases/download/%40standardnotes%2Fdesktop%403.153.11/standard-notes-3.153.11-linux-amd64.deb
After downloading the Standard Notes DEB package, you can install it on your Chrome OS Linux container by using the following apt install command below.
sudo apt install ./standard-notes-3.153.11-linux-amd64.deb
How to use Standard Notes on Chrome OS
To use Standard Notes on Chrome OS, start by launching the app. Once it is open, you’ll see a pop-up in the bottom left-hand corner. This notification says “You’re offline. Sign in to sync your notes and preferences across all your devices and enable end-to-end encryption.”
Find the “Create free account” button, and click on it with the mouse. Upon selecting this button, you will be prompted to create a new account to use with Standard Notes. Alternatively, if you already have an account, click on the “Sign in” to log in.
Once you’ve logged in to the app, Standard Notes will show you a blank notebook. To create a new note in the Standard Notes app, find the blue “+” button, and click on it with the mouse.
Upon selecting the “+” button, you’ll instantly create a new note. From here, you can start writing your thoughts, ideas, and even programming code. It will automatically save everything to Standard Note’s server via your user account.
