Flask Notes Application

A simple note-taking application with Flask, SQLAlchemy, and SQLite.

Features

• Notes Management: Create, read, update, and delete notes
• Categories: Organize notes with colored categories
• Attachments: Upload images, documents, and files to notes
• Likes: Like your favorite notes
• Multiple Views: Table view and Google Keep-style card view
• Responsive Design: Works on mobile and desktop

Installation

1. Clone the repository (or download the files):

cd flask_notes_app

2. Create a virtual environment (recommended):

python3 -m venv venv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

• Linux/macOS:

  source venv/bin/activate

• Windows:

  venv\Scripts\activate

4. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

OR use the setup script (recommended):

./setup_and_run.sh

This script will automatically:

• Create the virtual environment if it doesn't exist
• Activate it
• Install all dependencies
• Create necessary directories
• Run the application

4. Run the application:

python app.py

The application will be available at http://localhost:5000

Usage

Creating Notes

1. Click "New Note" in the navigation bar
2. Fill in title, content, and select a category
3. Optionally upload attachments (images, documents, etc.)
4. Click "Save Note"

Managing Categories

1. Go to "Categories" in the navigation
2. Create new categories with custom colors
3. Edit or delete existing categories (can't delete categories with notes)

Views

• Table View: Traditional table layout with all note details
• Keep View: Card-based layout similar to Google Keep

Attachments

• Upload multiple files per note
• Supported formats: PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PDF, TXT, DOC, DOCX
• View and download attachments from note details
• Delete individual attachments

Configuration

Edit the .env file to customize:

• SECRET_KEY: Change this for production
• DATABASE_URL: SQLite database location
• UPLOAD_FOLDER: Where to store uploaded files

Database

The application uses SQLite by default. There are a few safe ways to prepare a database for local development or for including a "schema-only" DB in the repository:

• Create an application database (local, with tables):

# Running the app will create `notes.db` in the project root if it doesn't exist
python app.py

• Create a repository-friendly empty database that contains only the schema (recommended if you want to commit a DB file):

# This project includes a helper script that creates `empty_notes.db` (schema only)
python3 create_empty_db.py

• Use Flask-Migrate (recommended for schema evolution):

export FLASK_APP=manage.py
flask db upgrade

Notes and security:

• notes.db (the full local DB) is listed in .gitignore and should not be committed if it contains real user data (emails, password hashes, uploads).
• If you need to share a DB file in the repo, prefer empty_notes.db (schema only) or a sanitized example database (remove or anonymize user.email and user.password_hash).
• To generate a sanitized copy manually:

# create a copy
cp notes.db notes_sanitized.db
# remove sensitive columns (example using sqlite3 CLI)
sqlite3 notes_sanitized.db "UPDATE user SET email=NULL, password_hash=NULL; VACUUM;"

If you want, this repository already contains create_empty_db.py which creates empty_notes.db with the current schema and no user data.

Screenshots

License

MIT License - Free to use and modify.

Roadmap

• User authentication
• Search functionality
• Note sharing
• Export/import notes
• Dark mode