Every new year is the ideal time to introduce new habits in your personal life, which include new digital tools. It is also a great time for me to publish this third article on my blog. This is an opportunity to share a selection of my favourite apps as of 2026. Those could be relevant to any reader. There is a bit of everything (and also Everything 😉), including online tools, desktop and mobile apps, big and small utilities, more or less recent, paid and free or even open-source (which will also imply free here). Although they are useful for me and my use cases, they may not necessarily be for you. I hope that you can at least discover some that could improve your digital life by skimming through. I tried to classify the apps by type of device (mobile, desktop or cross-platform, online tools or browser add-ons). This post was inspired by Kathy Reid own attempts at sharing her “toolchain” on her blog. Good discovery!

Cross-platform (desktop, mobile, or online services)

Obsidian

Personal knowledge note manager – freeware

I extensively wrote about it in a previous blog post.

Firefox

Web browser – open-source

It has been my browser of choice for many years (probably more than ten years now). It still performs very well compared to its competitors. In my opinion, it makes even more sense to use Firefox now that Chrome is trying to reduce the power of add-ons, which has consequences on very reliable ad and tracker blockers like uBlock Origin (see below). I generally trust Mozilla better regarding privacy.

On desktop, I would sometimes use Microsoft Edge (the recent Chromium-based version) to manipulate online office documents because it is less buggy than with Firefox. I also discovered that it has a nice and non-robotic sounding voice synthesizer (text-to-speech) function to read articles out loud. I would like to use it more during household chores to have a sort of podcast experience.

Anki

Spaced repetition and flashcards manager – open-source

If there are some things you keep on forgetting, then you should train yourself using flashcards. This is probably the most famous “spaced repetition” learning app today. It helps me to remember any kind of things, though my most important usage today is for leaning English words. It can sync across devices, on desktop and mobile. Although, you should not rely on your physical brain too much.

DeepL

Translator – limited free usage

It is fantastic at translating idioms and technical jargon, something that Google Translate often fails at. The free version is sufficient for me, I do not translate huge chunks of text or files. It was trained using Linguee.com data, which is also good website for short expressions translations, where you get to compare the original text and its translation in context.

LanguageTool

Spell and grammar checker – limited free usage or subscription

I like this corrector because it is cross-platform, it works in the email client, on the web and in Word (but still not the other Office apps). It supports many languages, so it is particularly relevant if you speak several languages. I have a subscription for unlocking the rephrasing capabilities.

TIDAL

Music streaming service – subscription

I used to have Deezer until January, but I just switched to TIDAL, which is much better in terms of artists remuneration while still having just about all tracks I have tried to look for.

Generative artificial intelligence chatbots, LLMs

AI chatbots have definitely taken a prominent place in many services sector jobs, and it is clearly the case for research. I refrain from using AI, and specifically LLMs, as much as possible. They can have a considerable cost in terms of environmental and social impacts, but also on the learning process. Despite this, they have become a valuable tool and I do not avoid them completely. One of the key advantage is that they are more effective at dealing with concepts and are less restrictive to the words used. Indeed, sometimes I cannot find what I am looking for due to the use of improper terms, I may lack of knowledge on the topic which makes it difficult to express my demand properly.

In fact, I generally use the following, depending on the context:

ChatGPT:

I would use it mostly for text adjustments, like reformulating a self written text to make it more straightforward, while keeping its essence. I would not generate content from scratch but refine things, I want to stay in control.

Perplexity:

When a Google or DuckDuckGo search fails, it can be a practical alternative. Perplexity is interesting because it gives references automatically, but it can hallucinate, so always check the references. I just have to check the general relevance of the given references and verify if they actually contain the information I am looking for.

Consensus:

Similar use case to Perplexity but used in situations where scholarly articles are required as references. I would use it to get an overview of the current consensus around a niche question (though it is certainly biased by the AI).

Claude:

It has been good for code related questions. I used to do it with ChatGPT before, but this one felt more accurate, that is to be confirmed with more experience.

NotebookLM:

My favourite AI discovery of 2025. Sometimes a simple search via the PDF viewer is not sufficient, maybe synonyms are used and it would not be return any results for another term. NotebookLM can be great for quickly screening one or multiple large articles or books. It answers to the questions based on the input documents. More importantly, it tells which pages supposedly contain the information so you remain in control.

Raindrop

Bookmark manager – freeware

I relied on Firefox default bookmark manager for years before switching to Raindrop in 2024. The main reasons were its more powerful capabilities for bulk editing bookmarks, it allows you to add a description and searching across bookmarks is also more efficient. My main usage is to maintain a reading list of web content. When I come across some potentially interesting article or online media, I would bookmark it for future consultation when I have time. To do so, I press the save button, tag the bookmark with “#0-to-read” (0 at the beginning makes it appears at the top of the list) and add another tag to specify the type of resource (e.g., video, article, PDF). The bookmarks are synchronized across my devices. At some point in the future I would check my reading list for something that suits me best (e.g., a short article if I am in public transport without my headphones). This is the same logic as the “inbox” concept introduced in my article about maintaining a second brain.

Notion

Note-taking and project/task management app – subscription based

Very ergonomic, I use it as a general productivity app to manage my PhD notes and task. I create rich tasks, which are pages containing content I am currently working on, and organize them in a database with custom properties like priority, reminders, and task type. This is the same for meeting minutes and other notes.

Quire

Task manager – subscription based

Contrary to Notion, I use this more “to-do” type of application for personal reasons, like listing weekend or administrative tasks, book reading list and films to watch. I love the way everything can be nested (infinite subtask level). I have a list of typical stuff I may need for travelling (i.e., packing checklist) as things to be recurring but not on top of my mind. I would make a copy of this list and go over each item to make sure I didn’t forget anything for any work or personal travel occasion.

Desktop

CopyQ

Advanced clipboard manager – open-source

After using a clipboard manager like this, it is difficult for me to go back. On macOS I was using Maccy and on KDE it was Klipper. Windows 10 and 11 have their own alternative also (shortcut: Win + V), though they are very basic. Maccy was especially powerful with many options. But using a cross-platform tool like CopyQ is even better. It also allows extensive customization through its scripting engine, based on the JavaScript language.

KeepassXC

Password manager – open-source

It looks much more modern than KeePass, while still being interoperable as it uses KeePass files (.kdbx) to store password data. It comes with a practical browser extension for online login forms automatic filling, which I find more secure that copy-pasting passwords. I switched away from KeeWeb in 2025, after many years of service, as I lost hope in it being (actually) maintained.

Windows 11

Operating system (OS) should I really specify? 🙂

This is not really a recommendation for Microsoft Windows, it is just currently part of my toolchain, with which I am happy for now.

Yes, for those who know me, it may sound surprising. GNU/Linux OS used to be my main OS, which I have been using for many years. Currently, I barely use it as a proper OS, except sometimes on my personal laptop which still runs Kubuntu, which I rarely use. My previous position involved using macOS, which surprised me in terms of UI/UX (2021-2023) compared to the past, and it still allowed me to use bash commands in a terminal. Since I started my PhD in December 2023, I had to switch to Windows. The first experience was really bitter, but thankfully my IT service allowed me to gain administrator privilege on my laptop. I could get all the bad Windows (anti)features out, like all the apps I did not need and distracting information, instead I installed useful productivity software. One that really worth mentioning is PowerToys (see below). I upgraded to Windows 11 in late 2024, which truly introduced a much better experience over Windows 10 in my opinion. Also, my experience with Windows would not be the same without access to the Linux subsystem, WSL (see below). This is how I solved a tradeoff between productivity, complying with conventions (i.e., the particular importance of Microsoft Office suite) and ethics.

PowerToys

Set of utilities for Windows – open-source

This is an official Microsoft project. There are numerous utilities in this toolbox that is PowerToys, I am only going to talk about my favourites. Note that the shortcut to trigger each utility is customizable.

Screenshot to text:

It allows you to copy any recognizable text visible on the screen, no matter if it was possible to select it with the cursor or not (e.g., it could be an image, a video). This utility basically brings a sort of selection tool, like the “Snipping Tool” for screenshots, where you also draw a rectangle around the text you want to copy, release and voilà! You can now paste the text anywhere. This is especially useful in the context of watching online presentations, where I can easily copy the text content of a slide. The advantages over a screenshot are that the text is searchable and more lightweight than an image, and sometimes text is the only accepted format.

Quick accent:

It gives the ability to insert accentuated characters by holding a letter key on the keyboard and pressing space. It resembles the experience you get on a mobile keyboard, where long pressing a key display alternatives to a letter. In fact, even with a French AZERTY layout not all accents are available on the physical keyboard. In the past I used to search the letter on the web and copy-paste it where I needed it, which was pretty inconvenient. This utility is a must-have if you often type alphabets that have diacritics variations.

Command Palette:

It provides a command palette which can be triggered with a shortcut. On Linux I was using KDE Run, and Spotlight on macOS, which I guess popularized the concept. I missed this functionality on Windows, the default search menu is more limited and often has issues on my laptop. This utility can do many more things than just running a program, I especially like to do quick maths in it (e.g., typing 4/9*0.56 will result to 0.2488888889, that you can copy).

Color picker:

As the name suggests. It supports many colour formats and it has a zooming feature for precise colour picking on screen.

Always on top:

This allows to force an app to display on top of the others. It is especially useful when I want to use one window as a pop-up that remains visible on top of another displayed in full-screen for example.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Integrated Linux distribution on Windows – free

This almost like a Linux virtual machine that runs on Windows, but more integrated. It has access to the host machine’s file system, it can run programs on both the Windows host and Linux subsystem. You can interact with it via Windows Terminal. Sometimes, instructions or options are only be available for GNU/Linux environments for some libraries or programs, or I would simply be more familiar with the Linux approach. With WSL I am free from Windows specific limitations by using both operating systems at the same time. For example, I do all coding related work in WSL, through VS Code (see below) interface that is running on Windows and connected to WSL 🤯.

Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

Text editor and programming Integrated development environment (IDE) – open-source

VS Code is open-source and compared to its alternatives it has a big community, so I never struggled to get help from other colleagues or to finding tutorials online. It is also quite programming language agnostic, even though it has extensive web development and Python communities. Now that I evolve in academic research, I still have not found any IDE that seems to stand out in terms of community size (for Python it is especially split between VS Code, PyCharm, Spyder or directly coding with Jupyter, though it is an impression). If your colleagues use one software more than the others, you would probably benefit from using the same to exchange help.

I had been using Vim (especially NeoVim) text editor for several years. In the end, I switched to this common IDE for programming when I started a job in an IT company. Indeed, working together with colleagues was more complicated with Vim, which was not their typical IDE. Setting up workflows, live sharing code, getting advice or having someone using my computer directly for debugging was more difficult, especially if the other person was not familiar enough to Vim and my custom key bindings. I still recommend learning at least a bit of Vim, especially if you manipulate Linux machines from distant access (e.g. SSH) or if you have access to a terminal without the rights to install your favourite IDE. Indeed, there is a strong chance that Vim will be installed by default and it would provide better coding capabilities than any other preinstalled basic text editors.

Jupyter Notebook

Coping environment for data manipulation and visualizations – open-source

Like most researchers in my field (applied environmental sciences and industrial ecology), I am fond of coding in this environment. The cell-based structure is more flexible to get quick outputs and when it comes to sharing small reproducible programs. Moreover, it has good readability thanks to the integrated Markdown formatting and the possibility to directly show figures underneath the code that generates them. I prefer to use Jupyter directly within VS Code instead of the classic JupyterLab web interface. VS Code offers a much more comfortable environment and allows in depth debugging, which is especially relevant when I work with niche research libraries.

Everything

Fast and fuzzy file search utility – free

“Everything” is a Windows utility to search for a file, especially based on their name (including extension and location). This is probably going to be the discovery of 2025 for me. I let several years pass before finally giving it a try. Its big advantage is its superfast speed at showing search results across a considerable scope. Indeed, you can use it to search for petty much every file located on your computer, using only parts of the name and/or location that you remember. I do not understand why by default Windows cannot do this (maybe I missed something else, please let me know). I used to be relying on the “recent files” list available in software (e.g., Word, Inkscape). But I was missing a search bar and files in the list generally have a short lifetime if you edit several files each day or week.

ABBYY FineReader

Text recognition for PDF – subscription

This is a professional software for OCR (text recognition) that is powerful at making a PDF where text is not selectable into one where it is possible through automatic processing. It is also very efficient for extracting table data from PDFs. Note that it is a paid software.

Screen to GIF

Screen recording software – open-source

When reporting a potential bug in software, it is good practice to illustrate what it does and how to reproduce with images. Animated GIFs are still better supported on forums than videos. I use this utility to capture my screen (or regions) and export the recordings as GIFs.

FreeFileSync

Automatic copy and file syncs – open-source or donationware

Gimp

Raster image processing software – open-source

Gimp is free and open-source and has been around for many years. However, I have been trained on Adobe Photoshop. Switching to Gimp was not straightforward, especially as I seldom use it. I am getting better with experience, although I still do simple things.

Inkscape

Vector image processing software – open-source

Same as Gimp, for vector graphic design I was trained on Adobe Illustrator. Recently, I have been using it more often for research purposes, especially for making or improving figures for my paper. I have become comfortable enough now to be efficient.

Draw.io

Diagram builder – open-source

I like to use it to quickly produce diagrams. It comes with unlimited canvas size. Though, I would like to explore Excalidraw for nicer looking diagrams and for its compatibility with Obsidian, MermaidJS is also in the list but the use case is a bit different.

Zotero

Digital library organizer – open-source

I have been using it for years, actually even before starting my PhD. I really love to use it to gather my academic and personal readings (excluding websites and non PDF media, see note on Raindrop before). The version 7 has really improved the user experience and it looks nicer, supports EPUB e-book format. I have been able to customize it. Here are the plugins I use:

• BetterBibTex: Manage citation keys
• Attanger: For file management, especially automatic linking, moving and renaming of PDF attachments.
• Actions Tags: Create or import custom scripts and automations available from the interface or a shortcut.

Mobile apps

Keepass2android

Password manager – open-source

It works with KeePass files and has useful synchronisation support with many providers and protocols. It does not generate painful conflicts with my password database file shared across several computers. The autofill feature of automatic credential filling in your apps or in the web browser works like a charm. A viable alternative to it is KeepassDX.

Habits (Loop habit tracker)

Habit tracker – open-source

A simple offline application that allow me to keep track with my habits, introducing new ones or removing bad habits. Tracking help me respect my habits, I feel happy when I respect them and feel bad if I fail.

CamScanner

Mobile file scanner – paid

I can scan files using smartphone camera, make them look similar to an actual printer scan and save or share it in a lightweight file.

Poweramp

Offline music player – paid

It has plenty of nice features, like support for casting and lyrics, although it is paid but cheap (one-time payment). I prefer to download my favourite music to avoid consuming mobile data all the time and to be able to play them even when there is no Internet. I discover music using a streaming service and then proceed to download my favourites for offline playback.

Moon+ Reader Pro

E-Book reader – free or paid

Best reader for PDFs and EPUBs. It has good customization and annotations features. It is paid but cheap (one-time payment).

Web browser plugins (I use Firefox)

SocialFocus

A plugin that easily lets the user disable many of the distracting features of the social media. For example, I disabled the recommendation feeds on YouTube, LinkedIn and Reddit. This way, I can focus on just what I came for then leave, before my attention gets kidnapped by often irrelevant eye-catching posts. I also like the “grey mode” to display the social media site in black and white, so they are less visually distracting. The plugin supports automatic relock after a certain amount of time and to set up a password to make the effort of unlocking the feature more complicated so you have less chance of just temporarily disabling it (i.e., erecting transaction costs).

Violentmonkey

This is a really one of my favourite discovery of 2025. Basically it lets you define script (CSS and JavaScript) to inject in websites code, which enables many possibilities to make your own mini site-specific plugins. I use it mainly to extend the capabilities of SocialFocus (see before) to remove other distracting content on websites I consume the most, like images, advertisements and post recommendations.

Tab Origin

A basic plugin, yet great and often used. I try to always mention the reference URL (i.e., page) that pointed me to another reference I save. When I search for scientific publications on Google Scholar I often open several publisher links and then process to analyse and screen them. However, sometimes I would get interrupted in the middle of the process, do other searches on the web and continue my task later, or just have too many tabs open. I may lose track of which Google search queries or other website actually leaded me to the webpage (e.g., paper) I want to save in my library. I may even have closed the tab already. By either clicking the plug-in icon or hitting Shift+Ctrl+U I go back to the original page or reopen the tab if it was closed.

Absolute mode

I love to copy-paste information I read on the web, but sometimes this or even the selection is disabled by websites. This plug-in goes around this imposed restriction and enable access back to this basic function.

InternetArchive

They run one of the most critical web initiative for future proofing information on the web. Websites or web pages are not eternal, they get updated, or worst they get removed (e.g., 404, blocked page, website or service down). This service operated by Archive.net crawls the web to save pages at their current state. The plugin tells me if the page I am viewing (or trying to access to) has a saved copy and to quickly see it. If there is no archive of a page, I can request to save it via the plugin.

uBlock Origin

Powerful and privacy-oriented open-source tracker blocker and ad blocker. In my honest opinion, it is still the best you can find. For Chrome users, Google recently made changes which prevent this app from being installed, go for uBlock Origin Lite instead.

Vimium

This adds many Vim like navigation shortcuts to browse the Internet. It is only useful if you are already familiar with Vim’s key bindings.

Raindrop

Introduced before.

Command line (terminal) tools

In the past, here you would have found neoVim (text and code editor), ranger (file explorer), zsh (shell and command-line interpreter) and tmux (to split the terminal window).

QPDF

PDF document pages manipulation utility – open-source

I use it to edit PDFs (split or rotate pages) and merger several documents, it is quite fast. Previously, I was using pdftk. However, I always found it sluggish for such apparently simple manipulations. I would not trust those free online PDF manipulation services, especially for sensitive content.

rsync

File transfer – open-source

Used as a replacement of the default mv command, with more options.

git

Version control – open-source

conda

Package and python environment manager (mostly for python) – open-source

Though, I would like to try a faster alternative.

My 2026 perspectives

In the coming year, I will explore software that can help me better manage my digital files, especially with a future-proof perspective with proper backup.

This includes:

• A duplicate file identifier utility. It is efficient, open-source and cross-platform. I am starting to use Czkawka
• A backup software to clone folder, I am about to use FreeFileSync more than I used to and maybe explore Syncthing for mobile backup.
• In a more distant future, I would like to find a good app for photo management and classification. For example, Google Photo’s alternative Immich seems very interesting.
• Find better cross-platform management practices, especially for software settings. Back in my Linux time, I used to maintain a Git repo with a script to automatically back up and restore my “dotfiles”. I have not found a good way on Windows yet.
• I also need to judge whether encryption is needed for my devices (computers, smartphone and external storage drives), or if it is overkill.

Acknowledgments

I want to give a shout-out to my father, Xavier Lienart, with whom I always love to exchange methods and software recommendations. Some of the apps presented here were recommended by him (i.e., Habits, FineReader and Quire). Do not hesitate to check his blog if you like to learn about business project and file management (French). On that word, happy 2026 🎉