I'm surprised Freeform doesn't have the capability to draw perfect shapes, which can be done in Notes and Markup.
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Freeform is a Game Changer
- Thread starter Deedeekay
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Maybe someone can take a screenshot of an example Freeform whiteboard and post it here - cuz I can’t see this app actually being more than just a doodle-board.
Absolutely terrible implementation on Mac. They removed the ability to draw or write, even if you have a Wacom tablet. I suppose they want to force you into having an iPad and Apple Pencil if you want to use the app properly which is just super lame.
I see no way that this will ever catch on if iPad and Apple Pencil are required hardware to use it.
This is also baffling.
I see no way that this will ever catch on if iPad and Apple Pencil are required hardware to use it.
This is also baffling.
Not sure a screenshot will do justice, it's more about its features and how it works. My favorite feature is that it has infinite edges. Ever write or draw something in Notes, and then want to add more above or beside it? Well, you can't because you're basically at the edge of the page. You'd have to copy everything and move it around.
With Freeform, there is no edge. It's easy to move the board around to add stuff without being confined to a certain space. Sure, some doodle boards have had this feature too, but they were hard to find. I've been using Microsoft Whiteboard prior to this. Freeform is less cluttered and easier to use, IMO.
If you refer to rectangles, circles etc., you can pick them from the Objects menu at the top of your screen. The pulldown looks like the one in Keynote.
Once on the canvas, you can style it the way you want (fill, boundary line...) and set that as the default style. Next time you drop the shape from the menu, it will adapt your style.
Not quite. In Notes and Markup, you can draw a square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, heart, star, line, arrow, etc. by hand...and if you keep holding down your pencil or finger, it'll change to a perfect shape.
There is nothing game changing about it, it's pretty basic and very late to it.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I have a couple of questions:
1) does it allow you to have several files, or you just can have one single canvas?
2) the zoom is infinite like on the Endless Paper app? Or you are just allowed for a certain degree of zoom in/out?
Thank you.
1) does it allow you to have several files, or you just can have one single canvas?
2) the zoom is infinite like on the Endless Paper app? Or you are just allowed for a certain degree of zoom in/out?
Thank you.
1) You can have multiple canvases.
2) Zoom is %-based. You can zoom from 10% to 400%. It’s not infinite zoom.
If they completely change the architecture, that might be possible. Do you have examples of what you are talking about? I can’t think of any.
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This has always been my issue. I have a very low tolerance for being forced to learn a program's paradigm. I've always been of the opinion that computers should work for me, not me for them. It's why I've always hated Windows and Linux because, MacOS, with all it's faults, has never been as bad as other platforms at forcing you to work their way. For me, it comes down to intuitiveness. If I can't noodle around in an app and figure it out quickly without reverting to some online guide or forum, then unless I have to use that program for some purpose, I'll dump it harder than Seth MacFarlane dumps his tweenties girlfriends once another pretty face comes along.
Freeform just worked for me, right away, zero hassle, fuss, muss, installing, signing in, figuring out nuances and complexities, working across devices, etc. It just worked. Like all Apple stuff should (but regrettably a lot doesn't these days). It's that level of ease of use and immediate availability and presence on all Apple devices that will make its uptake become more than just, 'some random website or app you've never heard of and have to search for and figure out and **** this, what's on TikTok?'.
So far I like it. It is not a high end professional tool. It is for collaborating with friends and family. My sister and I just used it to plan out our visit to mom’s house for Christmas. She’s on the East Coast and I’m on the West Coast. We made notes for what to do each day, shopping lists, cooking plans, suggestions for what movie we’ll all go see (as we do every year), airline schedules all while talking to each other.
I haven’t tried the audio part. Does that go through your phone or is it over WiFi?
I have found out that local storage is not supported. This is intended for iCloud based documents. I had an issue when I first started. I had to get help from Apple. It wouldn’t sync documents to iCloud. I had to turn off iCloud access in settings and turn it back on. This deleted the test board I had been playing with.
You can export these as PDFs so at least you can get a backup that way if you ever have to
The drawing tools are not as good as those in Keynote. I suspect these will come later.
It would be cook if you could drop in a small audio file. That way you could leave a voice memo for cases when various members are accessing at different times.
I haven’t tried the audio part. Does that go through your phone or is it over WiFi?
I have found out that local storage is not supported. This is intended for iCloud based documents. I had an issue when I first started. I had to get help from Apple. It wouldn’t sync documents to iCloud. I had to turn off iCloud access in settings and turn it back on. This deleted the test board I had been playing with.
You can export these as PDFs so at least you can get a backup that way if you ever have to
The drawing tools are not as good as those in Keynote. I suspect these will come later.
It would be cook if you could drop in a small audio file. That way you could leave a voice memo for cases when various members are accessing at different times.
Does Freeform have notifications like Notes? So that I can be notified when one of the collaborators added something?
I’ve not run into this issue, but the devices I use for these apps (iPhones and iPad) are all running the newest iOS and iPadOS. If a person is using Freeform on their iPad (which seems to be the most useful for this app), I don’t see how there would be any issue even if they had multiple iPads — but I would imagine most users just use one iPad and one iPhone.
And so does OneNote! In fact OneNote works on Apple devices, Android, Windows and the web.
The biggest thing here imo is that it is now essentially included with every devices running iOS 16.2 or the latest Ventura. User don't have to try figuring out which app to download, whether it's available on the Mac, and how much it would cost. If the collaboration part is smooth and seamless, it can be very useful.
One user mentioned OneNote. I use OneNote, but the collaboration part is ridiculously bad, with errors and syncing issues aplenty. Most teams I worked with ended up just using Google Docs and type things out as the collaborative part is a lot more reliable than Microsoft's.
One user mentioned OneNote. I use OneNote, but the collaboration part is ridiculously bad, with errors and syncing issues aplenty. Most teams I worked with ended up just using Google Docs and type things out as the collaborative part is a lot more reliable than Microsoft's.
I suggest you search on Youtube. There are already reviews and demo's available with - no doubt - more to come.
<edit> Here is a review by John Voorhees over at MacStories, I recommend reading it </edit>
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