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The best software for school

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Student typing on a laptop at a desk.
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Getting prepared for a new school year involves having the tools you need to succeed as a student. Whether this is your first year and you need suggestions on where to begin or your third year and you want something better than what you’ve been using, we have you covered with this list of the best software for school.

From writing to research to planning and more, check out these free applications. We’ll explain the features, access options, and what makes them stand out from their competitors.

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Productivity suite: LibreOffice

LibreOffice main webpage.
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When it comes to free downloadable software for writing papers, tracking your budget, and creating slideshows, LibreOffice is a terrific option. Its competitors include Microsoft Office, which can be costly for students, even with the educational discount, and Google’s apps that are a web-based productivity suite.

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If you want something that you can use offline on your computer that gives you a slew of features for free, LibreOffice is the way to go. You receive the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet tool, and Impress presentation maker. You also have access to Draw for diagrams, Base for a database, Math for a formula editor, and Charts for graphs.

For a complete collection that not only gets you through college but provides tools you can use for business or personal productivity, LibreOffice is a powerful efficiency suite.

Availability: LibraOffice is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iPhone with a LibreOffice-based app for Chromebook.

Pricing: Free with optional monetary and volunteer donations.

Research assistant: Zotero

Zotero main webpage.
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Whether you perform a little research or a lot, consider an assistant to help you keep it all organized. Zotero is a fantastic tool that helps you manage, annotate, cite, and share your research.

As you browse the web, Zotero identifies your research, allowing you to collect it with a click. You can then organize your items into collections with tags and keywords. You can also create reference lists directly in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or Google Docs using any of the 10,000 citation styles.

With Zotero, you can sync your items for access on the web when needed and collaborate with others by letting them into your library.

Availability: Zotero is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, and on the web.

Pricing: Free.

Student planning: myHomework

myHomework main webpage.
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Many times, it’s the basic organization of your studies that presents a challenge. With myHomework, you can manage everything from assignments to projects to classes and receive due date reminders so you never miss a beat.

With the intuitive interface, adding your items in myHomework is super easy. Add your classes with all the details including the schedule, location, teacher, and a class color indicator. Include homework with the due dates and times along with reminder, priority, and repeat options.

You can even search for a teacher who provides class details and invite an adviser or tutor directly in myHomework.

Availability: myHomework is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and Kindle Fire with an extension for Google Chrome and web access.

Pricing: Free for myHomework Basic with a Premium plan that includes file attachments, external calendar access, enhanced widgets, and more.

 Note-taking and templates: Notion

Notion main webpage.
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There are many note-taking applications to pick from including popular tools like Evernote and OneNote. But for an application that gives you tons of student templates for quick setups and syncing across platforms and devices, all for free, look no further than Notion.

Use Notion templates for papers, class notes (including Cornell Notes), study guides, and flashcards. You can also take advantage of templates for a student dashboard, planner, class schedule, and monthly budget.

Notion has an easy-to-use interface on all devices, integration with Google Calendar, and offers the Notion AI tool for help with research. Not only can Notion help you manage and organize your student life but your personal and business activities too.

Availability: Notion is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone, and offers a web clipper and web access.

Pricing: Free for everyone along with an Education Plan that includes unlimited blocks, unlimited file uploads, a 30-day page history, and more.

 Charts and diagrams: Draw.io

Draw.io main chart page.
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If creating diagrams and flowcharts is part of your studies, check out Draw.io to get started quickly and easily. While not a downloadable application, the robust features of Draw.io make it worth using on the web.

The intuitive interface resembles that of Google’s apps like Docs and Slides. You can choose from a variety of color schemes and easily add shapes, icons, symbols, and arrows. Additionally, you can use presets for flowcharts, entity relation diagrams, and unified modeling language (UML) diagrams. You can also look at a large collection of additional shapes for software, networking, business, and more.

Save your diagrams to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, GitHub, GitLab, or your device, and also quickly share with collaborators.

Availability: Draw.io is available on the web.

Pricing: Free.

Image creation and editing: GIMP

GIMP designs.
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Maybe it’s images you need to work with for school. One of the best free downloadable picture editors out there is GIMP. The application is an open-source editor that has been around since 1996, has users worldwide, and provides many online tutorials authored by the GIMP project community.

With tools for image creation and editing, you’ll like the extensive feature set. You can do everything from the basics of cropping, resizing, and rotating to using layer masks, tone mapping, and parametric brushes.

Check out our GIMP versus Photoshop article for complete details on what makes GIMP a comparable image editor.

Availability: GIMP is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Pricing: Free with optional monetary donations.

Audio recording and editing: Audacity

Audacity main webpage.
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One more application you may need for class might be for audio rather than visual creations. Audacity fits the bill for sound recording and editing for free. Whether a podcast, quick musical creation, or field recording, you’ll love this open-source tool.

You can record live with a mixer or microphone and edit tracks quickly with cutting, pasting, and smooth volume mixing. You’ll also enjoy features like noise reduction for background sound, the ability to adjust the tempo without effecting the pitch, and frequency editing with equalizers and filters.

With Audacity, you can import, export, and convert a variety of audio file formats including MP3, MP4, AIFF, FLAC, WAV, and more. You can also collaborate, back up projects, and upload to audio.com for instant sharing.

Availability: Audacity is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Pricing: Free.

Making sure that your computer is ready to start class when you are is crucial in being prepared. With this collection of software options for school, you’re sure to succeed.

For more, look at the best mobile apps for students if you plan to study on the go.

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Sandy Writtenhouse
Sandy Writtenhouse
Computing Writer

Sandy has been writing about technology since 2012. Her work has appeared on How-To Geek, Lifewire, MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog, and many other tech-related websites. She also worked as a Technical Editor on the books “iPhone Unlocked” and “Effective SEO and Content Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for Maximizing Free Web Traffic”.

With plenty of gadgets in her home and her hands, Sandy loves to help others use technology to make their business and personal lives a bit easier.

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