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iPad Pro Best Note Taking App - iPad Pro - 2020

iThink Apple

iThink Apple

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 27, 2011
643
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Hello! I wanted to get your advice and see what the best note taking app was to be used with the iPad Pro and the 2ng gen Apple Pencil. It will mainly be used for work. I found a couple apps, let me know your thoughts!

Notability
GoodNotes
 
iThink Apple said:
Hello! I wanted to get your advice and see what the best note taking app was to be used with the iPad Pro and the 2ng gen Apple Pencil. It will mainly be used for work. I found a couple apps, let me know your thoughts!

Notability
GoodNotes
Click to expand...

Both of them are good. If you need the traditional layout (notebooks with separate pages to turn) GoodNotes is the preferred option. If you want infinite canvas Notability is to be preferred.

I started initially with GoodNotes and then I moved to Notability. I like them both. GoodNotes can be used for digital planning or for being able to add personal notes to a pdf files/books. Notability can be used for this too but I like the way GoodNotes handle this better. For example Notability kind of like puts the pdf on top of the paper and you are left with empty/blank pages in the end. GoodNotes imports the document and lets you easier access all pages. Also GoodNotes allows group operations on pages, while Notability does not. Lastly Notability has a bug - for some reason if the connection is not super good it ends up importing half of the web page and then the rest are empty pages. Same with files. I once had to delete manually (page by page) 200 pages because Notabilty did not handle properly the big pdf file. Loved the experience. Like really.

That being said I find that it is easier to add new pages in Notability than in Goodnotes. So if you want to take notes during meetings Notability might be more efficient.

Lastly do you want to use the pencil to write down notes from meetings? I tried this but stopped soon after because I need to share the meeting reports I write. Typing makes this easier.

I know use Notability for writing down notes from books that I read and Udemy courses I watch and use GoodNotes for working with files where I prefer to keep the traditional page structure of a notebook.
 
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if you use the Apple pencil, the official Notes app is the first choice. The magic keyboard W/trackpad is also makes it work.

You do mention the Apple Pencil. What type of notes are you looking to take? Graphs, tables, text?
 
Thanks everyone!

I would be taking down just regular notes, not a lot of graphs or table. And yes I would use the Apple Pencil to write.
 
iThink Apple said:
Thanks everyone!

I would be taking down just regular notes, not a lot of graphs or table. And yes I would use the Apple Pencil to write.
Click to expand...

Do you have the need to export your notes? One of the reasons I do not like using the official Notes is that it exports only as images (for notes for more than 2 pages) it is completely unreadable while Notability and GoodNotes export to PDFs.

Also do you have the need to import PDF files or web pages into the note taking app? GoodNotes and Notability handle this better.

Notes is not a bad app, it is just a matter of whether there is something you need that Notes is not offering.
 
secretk said:
Do you have the need to export your notes? One of the reasons I do not like using the official Notes is that it exports only as images (for notes for more than 2 pages) it is completely unreadable while Notability and GoodNotes export to PDFs.

Also do you have the need to import PDF files or web pages into the note taking app? GoodNotes and Notability handle this better.

Notes is not a bad app, it is just a matter of whether there is something you need that Notes is not offering.
Click to expand...

I don't think I'll be messing with PDFs much honestly. And exporting either. Why not go the route of GN5 or Notabillity if you can get more features?
 
iThink Apple said:
I don't think I'll be messing with PDFs much honestly. And exporting either. Why not go the route of GN5 or Notabillity if you can get more features?
Click to expand...

You can for sure. I mean I use Notes but for random things where I need to jot down something quickly temporarily and then delete it.

For long term notes I prefer Notability and GoodNotes. They are not super expensive given what they offer you.

Oh I forgot to mention something actually. So for me OCR is an important feature. One of the reasons I went digital was to organize my handwritten notes better and to be able to find/access them better. Both GoodNotes and Notability have OCR, but for Notability you have to pay additionally (outside of the price you pay for installing the app). With GoodNotes OCR comes from the get go.
 
Thanks! And with the new iOS coming later this year it will be able to take handwritten notes and transform them into typed text?
 
iThink Apple said:
Thanks! And with the new iOS coming later this year it will be able to take handwritten notes and transform them into typed text?
Click to expand...

GoodNotes can do it even now if I remember correctly. Meaning you can jot down/scribble something, then select it and turn into text. Now if you write decently it works well, if it is ugly not so well. I have not tested it recently though. I think that it was one and half year ago.

That being said what was shown on WWDC is a bit different and a bit cooler. If I understood correctly it allows you to select the handwritten stuff directly (no need to use selection tool) and then copy/paste it in another program. GoodNotes allows this but it is more archaic sort of way.

The reason I do not like Notes is - the highlighter. Unlike GoodNotes and Notability where the highlighter is automatically aligned, in Notes it is not so I end up with like curvy lines. Also in Notes the highlighting goes above the handwritten stuff, in GoodNotes it is below, for Notability the highlighter itself is lighter. In both apps basically the effect is that the highlighter does not diminish the color of what you have written. In Notes this happens.
 
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TiggrToo said:
I’ve been a huge Notability fan for years.

Best feature by far is the ability to record audio while taking notes then to sync it up when reading the notes back.

Invaluable during those “what the **** did I mean when I scribbled that” moments.
Click to expand...

Good point though I guess it depends. In my country we should always disclose if we do video or audio recording and we should do it only if we get consent. So at work people should be very cautious when doing this.

That being said if consent is given and people are OK, it is a great feature for sure.
 
The new features in Notes in iPad OS 14 are so good that I’m back to Notes. I wish there was backup and archive as easy as Goodnotes, but that’s all I’d like to see improved.
 
DGGoingUphill said:
The new features in Notes in iPad OS 14 are so good that I’m back to Notes. I wish there was backup and archive as easy as Goodnotes, but that’s all I’d like to see improved.
Click to expand...

Oh yea? Tell me more about iOS 14 & Notes :)
 
Is the new Scrible ONLY for notes and iPad OS? Can 3rd party apps such as GN5 integrate it into their apps?
 
iThink Apple said:
Hello! I wanted to get your advice and see what the best note taking app was to be used with the iPad Pro and the 2ng gen Apple Pencil. It will mainly be used for work. I found a couple apps, let me know your thoughts!

Notability
GoodNotes
Click to expand...
I was recently in your situation, I saw a bunch of videos saying use good notes or notability (ironically most of them said to use both). Ended up using OneNote since my University provides it for free and I can access/edit it on my mac/phone etc. Notability, I think you have to purchase the mac version too but Goodnotes is free. I'm going to use a different app to annotate pdfs/ppts (but nothing paid).
 
The amazing feautre of Notability is the ability to both record audio and take notes at the same time. These notes are tied to the audio recording

Later, you can click anywhere on your notes and go to that exact point in time in the recording. It sounds simple, but it’s extraordinarily useful, particularly if you are in a meeting and the minutes aren’t very good, or in a lecture and you start daydreaming.
 
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Notability hands down.

I have switched back and forth between it and OneNote, and I've tried GoodNotes. OneNote has a habit of jumping around when you try to write notes. It is aggravating and I've dumped it entirely after giving it several chances. GoodNotes never really did it for me. Notability does pretty much everything I want with one exception: I like a function in OneNote where you can draw a line within the notes and pull down the notes below to make space for new notes on the page. Notability doesn't do that, though many have requested that functionality. Everything else, though, is awesome.
 
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iThink Apple said:
Is the new Scrible ONLY for notes and iPad OS? Can 3rd party apps such as GN5 integrate it into their apps?
Click to expand...
“Cupertino, California — Apple today previewed iPadOS 14, with new features and designs that take advantage of the unique capabilities of iPad and its large Multi-Touch display. iPadOS 14 introduces an all-new compact design for incoming FaceTime and phone calls, Siri interactions, and Search to help users stay focused on the task at hand. Apps have new sidebars and toolbars that consolidate controls in one place, making them more streamlined and powerful than ever. New Apple Pencil features, including Scribble for iPad, deliver a whole new way to work with handwritten notes, and ARKit 4 delivers a brand new Depth API that allows developers to create even more powerful features in their apps.”

www.apple.com

iPadOS 14 introduces new features designed specifically for iPad

Apple today previewed iPadOS 14, introducing new features and designs that take advantage of iPad’s unique capabilities and large Multi-Touch display.
www.apple.com
 
jjudson said:
Notability hands down.

I have switched back and forth between it and OneNote, and I've tried GoodNotes. OneNote has a habit of jumping around when you try to write notes. It is aggravating and I've dumped it entirely after giving it several chances. GoodNotes never really did it for me. Notability does pretty much everything I want with one exception: I like a function in OneNote where you can draw a line within the notes and pull down the notes below to make space for new notes on the page. Notability doesn't do that, though many have requested that functionality. Everything else, though, is awesome.
Click to expand...
Jump around? Onenote has been rock solid for me.on Pencil 2. I think apples note is good. But onenote is excellent when to comes to organization. I have roughly 40-50 notebook as I’m Constantly taking online courses and learning new programming language. Also onenote allows you to use their OneDrive which has a large storage without eating into my Apple iCloud.
 
aajeevlin said:
Jump around? Onenote has been rock solid for me.on Pencil 2. I think apples note is good. But onenote is excellent when to comes to organization. I have roughly 40-50 notebook as I’m Constantly taking online courses and learning new programming language. Also onenote allows you to use their OneDrive which has a large storage without eating into my Apple iCloud.
Click to expand...

I love OneNote but I use it for my typed notes. The other thing I like in OneNote (aside of what you mentioned already) is the fact that it is way easier to share your notebooks with people. That is really helpful in work setting.
 
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