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All iPads Best note taking app?
- Thread starter 81Tiger04
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Notability and GoodNotes are great contenders. Try both and see how they feel with the Apple Pencil. I prefer Notability's pencil feel to GoodNotes but most people I know use GoodNotes.
OneNote is my favorite note taking app. I use one at work for everything.
For general note-taking I just use the built-in Notes app. Keeps things in sync between devices and seems to do a good enough job.
Of course, my usage may not be as intense as yours, taking notes in class. So it may not suffice. But based on how I used to take notes back in University I could have probably used it. Make a folder for each class and a new note for each class session? Should work great.
Of course, my usage may not be as intense as yours, taking notes in class. So it may not suffice. But based on how I used to take notes back in University I could have probably used it. Make a folder for each class and a new note for each class session? Should work great.
For syncing notes that can have a combination of handwritten notes, diagrams and typewritten notes, I recommend MS Onenote.
Another benefit to using Onenote is the ability to access your notes via the web.
I'd recommend Apple Notes but it still does not support the ability to have handwritten notes/diagrams and typed text notes in the same note. If that is not a concern for you then Apple Notes would be another good choice.
Both allow any of that, though Notability now requires the paid ver. For either I would shell out the money for the paid version though, if you're going to be using it so much. Price wise I previously paid $9.99 for Notability.. Now apparently it's a subscription at $14.99 a year vs GoodNotes being $7.99 once. Of course I don't think $1.25 a month for a constantly used thing is too bad, but eh
Built in notes app is just nothing compared to what GoodNotes or Notability offer imo. At least as someone who likes all the different paper types and better organization and pencil features and all. As for viewing on web if you have a Mac those both have apps. Personally OneNote was not my thing at all, I currently enjoy Notability but would go with GoodNotes if choosing now. The ability to combine templates (grid lined blank etc.) in one notebook in GoodNotes is cool. I would try both (or other apps) on the free ver and see what you like - most features with those two if you are going with premium overlap (there's a comparison here). If audio recording is a deal breaker, GoodNotes unfortunately doesn't have that.
These days the stock Apple note taking app is very good as well
I couldn't agree more. Everybody on the lookout for a notetaking app should at least try Apple Notes first.
Sure, customizing paper templates, notebook covers etc. can be fun (been there myself), but often counterproductive and unnecessary.
The only thing that I personally miss in Apple Notes is a decent export function including a page setup.
Apple Notes does support handwritten notes/diagrams and typed text (and more) in one and the same note.
But the handwriting and the typing will behave like separate parts, in a sense that you cannot draw inside a text block nor ad a typed annotation inside a drawing area.
The latter is probably what you're saying, right ?
(note: the latest version supports direct drawing over an imported image, instead of having to double-tap it first).
Depending on how you like to take notes, I personally love iThoughts for mind mapping. I find this much more useful than ‘linear’ note taking, however I don’t need many diagrams as part of my notes so that may impact how useful it is to other people.
iThoughts runs on iOS and MacOS and can sync using iCloud. Having access on my iPhone for ‘unexpected‘ note-taking is a handy use-case, too, for me.
iThoughts runs on iOS and MacOS and can sync using iCloud. Having access on my iPhone for ‘unexpected‘ note-taking is a handy use-case, too, for me.
I have both Notability and GoodNotes. Both are great. I used only Notability for years. But more recently in a large file, the handwriting was a tad delayed. Bugged me. GoodNotes has no such delay for me.
Can’t speak to the others, but Notability’s ability to record and take notes is extremely valuable.
It’s extremely cool to scroll through audio and see your notes scroll by too, or to look through your handwritten or typed notes and instantly jump to that exact spot in the recorded audio.
This feature is extremely cool. I’m retired now but when I was working I did a lot of training presentations. Always put my PowerPoint presentations in Notability and then used my iPad when presenting. Loved being able to highlight important items as I was presenting and also write lists on the go. No need for a flip chart. The recorded audio is great to add for those that are unable to attend the training in person.
I couldn't agree more. I don't personally own OneNote, but I have used it for work notes for years and it's fantastic. Other than that, built in Notes is also great. These two options tend to be the best "citizens" on Apple hardware, though others have caught up recently.
As @sracer mentioned, it's all about what's easier to access across devices, and these two have been fool proof for me.
No, there’s no recording in GoodNotes. OneNote does offer recording on the iPad, but the playback is not synced to your notes as it is in Notability.
Since you have enrolled into a PhD, while both GoodNotes and Notability are best in class when it comes to handwritten notes, I suggest you look into using apps like Obsidian, Craft, Notion, Logseq, and possibly Bear, as they will help you build your PKM system. Linking notes will be essential, as will be work with tons of written text. This is not where GoodNotes and Notability excel.
Also, for annotating science journal articles, apps like PDF Expert, Highlights, LiquidText etc. would be more useful than GoodNotes or Notability as they offer better annotations export (I assume here that you will want to process your annotations further) and some of these work nicely alongside reference management apps like Zotero and Bookends where you can store the PDFs (both available on the Mac and the iPad). OneNote is not great here; while you can insert PDF printouts on the page, you cannot export annotations easily.
My point is that GoodNotes and Notability are both excellent for handwritten notes and some/most of studying, but for a PhD you will probably need to add another app or two into the mix.
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YES! I always forget about Notability and its ability to record in your notes. I SO WISH iPads and Notability were a thing when I was in college. Unfortunately neither existed back in the mid 90s.
Actually, no. Both GoodNotes and Notability can export and store their backups on any cloud service but they will both sync between devices only via iCloud.
GoodNotes can simultaneously backup in both its own format and PDF, while Notability can do one or the other (which is less convenient, assuming you want to have files in both formats backed up).
Nebo is also worth investigating as a handwriting app as it has excellent handwriting recognition (in fact I believe both Notability and GoodNotes have licensed their technology and Nebo still works best here) plus some other interesting features.
You might also want to have a look at CollaNote, it is by an indie developer and completely free.
This is exactly why I ditched Notability a few years ago--too hard to keep things in sync the way I want.