Best Productivity Apps for Windows

Here's our list of the best productivity apps for Windows. Some of the apps in this list also work on other devices and platforms, however, they work well and provide a great user experience for Windows for optimising your productivity with apps.

Best Productivity Apps For Windows: Summarised

Here are some of the best Windows productivity apps, in no particular order:

• Microsoft To-Do - Simple to-do list and daily planner for the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Microsoft Loop - Collaborative experience for Microsoft users.
• Microsoft OneNote - A digital notebook for lists, drawings, tasks and notes.
• Superhuman Email - Super fast emailing software for busy people.
• Freedom - A distraction blocker software to enable deep focus work.
• Obsidian - Second brain-type note-taking experience locally stored on devices.
• Flux - Adapts the colour of the screen to the time of day to reduce eye strain.
• Mailbird - Powerful email management system for Windows.

Best Windows Productivity App For To-Do Lists

Microsoft To-Do

Handle tasks, collaborative lists and checklists with a lightweight task manager.

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Best For

Lightweight Tasks

Availability

Web

iOS

Android

Windows

Mac

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

To-Do List Apps

Microsoft To-Do is a clean and simple to-do list application within the Microsoft Ecosystem. You can manage all your to-do lists online and sync between devices, making it easy and accessible to always have your daily lists on hand.

The My Day feature will give you smart suggestions on which tasks and to-dos you should complete for that day, just add them to your list and tick them off when you are complete.

You can also share lists with friends, family and team members to organise events, and projects, or even to share the weekly shopping list.

Overall, Microsoft To-Do is super simple and works really well on Windows.

Best Windows Productivity App For Team Collaboration

Microsoft Loop

Create interactive pages & components to organize your team inside Microsoft Loop.

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Best For

Optimising Microsoft 365

Availability

Web

iOS

Windows

Android

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Project Management SoftwareAI Productivity ToolsRemote Work Productivity Apps

Loop combines your other Microsoft tools all in one space to create an easy collaborative experience for teams to work together on projects and tasks without having to switch between applications.

Microsoft Loop is made up of workspaces, pages and components to create separate workspaces and workflows for individual projects. Inside workspaces, you can type in keywords to bring in all relevant document suggestions to get started with workspaces.

Overall, Loop provides a space to have all components of particular projects in one space. For example, the marketing team can have all documents, spreadsheets and notes inside one Loop workspace to collaborate together.

Best Windows Productivity App For Note Taking

Microsoft OneNote

Note-taking and organising app perfect for students, academics and general notes.

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Best For

Beginner Note-Taking

Availability

Web

iOS

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Mac

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsAI Productivity Tools

Microsoft OneNote provides a digital notebook for all your note-taking needs, inside a clean and simple application. Great for existing users of the Microsoft workspace since they all have a similar feel and interface.

Create different notebooks for each project or subject and colour-coordinate them to organise your notes a little further. You can create notes for anything, work, education, lifestyle or just jot down ideas you dont want to forget.

Other useful features with OneNote are collaboration abilities, web clippings, the ability to use mixed media like audio recordings and videos and finally the ability to share notes.

Best Windows Productivity App For Fast Email

Superhuman

A premium email experience designed for busy professionals handling lots of emails.

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Best For

Premium Email Management

Availability

iOS

Mac

Windows

Android

Pricing

$

$

$

Type of Tool

Email ClientsAI Productivity ToolsRemote Work Productivity Apps

Superhuman is the world's fastest email, giving users around four hours per week, time usually spent responding to emails, organising messages, and following up.

Superhuman is built for teams that use Gmail and Outlook, so it's a great addition to Windows productivity with its fast chat-like abilities, AI assistance and read receipts. AI can help write entire emails that match the tone of your voice, saving time responding to each message personally.

Use the Split inbox to triage your emails to never miss anything important, emails that need follow-up, and important messages from other productivity tools you use.

Overall, Superhuman is a great addition to Windows productivity, providing a super fast emailing experience to save time.

Best Windows Productivity App For Distraction Blocking

Freedom

Block websites and distractions to enter deeper focus and be more productive.

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Best For

Focus

Availability

iOS

Android

Mac

Windows

Web

Chrome Extension

Pricing

$

$

Type of Tool

Distraction BlockersFocus Apps

Freedom is a distraction blocker tool which enables users to enter a deeper focus and reduce the risk of distraction and wasting time on other apps and websites. All you have to do is set up your devices so all distraction blockers are linked, choose the apps and websites you want to block then set a schedule for when you want to focus and avoid being disturbed.

You can even block the entire internet to avoid notifications coming in, or the urge to just Google something whilst you are in focus and create blocklists to quickly begin your focus session.

Distractions can take up to 20 minutes to recover from, so people using Freedom have found so much more time to complete projects and tasks thanks to blocking apps and websites.

Best Windows Productivity For Second Brain Note Taking

Obsidian

Locally stored tool for managing notes, ideas and thoughts - a fan favourite.

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Best For

Linking Notes

Availability

iOS

Windows

Linux

Mac

Android

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsPersonal Knowledge Management Apps

Obsidian is an in-depth note-taking app, often used to create a Second Brain System for sorting and saving all notes and ideas, to create your own personal knowledge management place to help with projects, ideas, progression and achievements.

All notes are stored locally, so you haven't got to worry if they're in a cloud somewhere and could be taken, all notes will be securely stored on your device. Use links to connect ideas to create a stream of notes that make sense, and install plugins to create a workflow.

Obsidian is a great note-taking app for deep thinkers and those who want to stop forgetting all their ideas, and instead store them safely inside an app.

Best Windows Productivity App For Reducing Eye Strain - Flux

Flux allows users to adapt their computer screen to the time of day to avoid the constant use of blue backlight that can affect their sleep, eye health and concentration.

By having your screen adapt to different times of the day you can reduce eye strain, meaning you can work on your computer for longer. Flux will turn the screen warmer tones, removing the harsh bright blue backlighting.

Flux will automatically change the screen, or you can manually make the changes depending on how you want to screen to look.

Best Windows Productivity App For Email Management - Mailbird

Mailbird is a clean, simple and fast email application for Windows to enables users to manage their emails efficiently in one place. The app itself has a very Windows and Microsoft feel to it, making it a familiar feel and easy to get started with.

With Mailbird you can migrate all your accounts and organise your inboxes in one place to avoid switching between email accounts and other applications. It can also help you manage your mail, freeing up time for other important tasks, and allowing you to collaborate with your team effectively.

Overall, Mailbird is an easy-to-use email application to boost Windows productivity, organise mailboxes and work with your team.

Note on Windows Productivity Apps

The following apps are focused on the actual application providing a good experience for users, versus just being an Edge Browser extension. The applications in this list enhance Windows users' productivity depending on their need for a notes app, email app or even a focus application to get more done.

A lot of productivity tools and applications are focused towards macOS, especially to start with. This can be frustrating if you do not use a Mac or Apple device, however, there are still a lot of choices for Windows productivity.

The following apps in this list are especially good in their own field of expertise, they are less of an all-around application and more focused towards specific needs.