PIM-Software

8 Best Free and Open Source Linux Personal Information Managers

A personal information manager (often known as a PIM tool) is a type of collaborative software that can help you manage your life by offering personal organizing functionality. This type of software enables you to more efficiently manage and plan your business and personal life by keeping track of contact information, appointments, tasks, diaries, to-do lists, and birthdays.

Some PIM tools offer additional functionality including project management features, email, and RSS feeds, offering a more integrated solution to your needs and requirements.

A good PIM is a valuable aid in planning. Computers are ideal for manipulating information as they allow modifications to be made without erasing or rewriting. As plans are subject to frequent modification, planning software can be very desirable. PIMs allow users to centrally collate different types of data, and to have access to that data much more easily than traditional methods.

Linux has a large number of PIM tools available, some of which offer innovative ways to consolidate information both for private and business use.

To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 8 of our favorite PIM tools. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for anyone who wants to manage and track their personal information, and to help add some structure to their daily life.

Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart.

Ratings chart for the best free and open source PIMs

Click the links in the table below to learn more about each PIM.

Personal Information Managers
KontactUnites mature and proven applications
EvolutionIntegrated mail, addressbook and calendaring functionality
LightningAdds calendar and scheduling functionality to the Mozilla Thunderbird
Org modeMode for the Emacs text editor
OsmoIncludes calendar, task manager and address book modules
TagSpacesOffline, open source, personal data manager
MakagigaTo-do manager, RSS reader, notepad, widgets, image viewer
TreeLineStores almost any kind of information

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Friar Tux
Friar Tux
3 years ago

I’m surprised that you mention TreeLine but fail to mention Cherrytree by Giuseppe Penone, which is by far a better product than TreeLine.

Friar Tux
Friar Tux
11 months ago

While TreeLine is OK, I think you should try Cherrytree by by Giuseppe Penone. It does far more than TreeLine, and does it better. I use Cherrytree for all my writing needs – not just notes.

Friar Tux
Friar Tux
11 months ago
Reply to  Friar Tux

Haha, sorry, folks. It appears I made a similar comment, here, two years ago.