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All iPads What do you do with your pencil?

J

jerryk

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 3, 2011
7,421
4,210
SF Bay Area
Just got an iPad Pro 11" and folio keyboard. Keyboard has made email messages,word docs, and other text entry very easy. Trying to determine if I want a pencil.

I can see using it in OneNote for meeting notes and such. But what else can I use it for, given that I am not a artist by any definition.

Thoughts?
 
Note taking and handwriting for reply. Too bad that I don’t have a good handwriting recognition keyboard. Swipe keyboard is too slow for me.
 
jerryk said:
Just got an iPad Pro 11" and folio keyboard. Keyboard has made email messages,word docs, and other text entry very easy. Trying to determine if I want a pencil.

I can see using it in OneNote for meeting notes and such. But what else can I use it for, given that I am not a artist by any definition.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Writing and drawing.
 
Notes in GoodNotes. I don't need to have my handwritten notes converted into text. It works just fine if those handwritten notes are searchable, which is what GoodNotes provides. Precisely because I don't have a keyboard, the iPad Pro 11 is small enough to replace my notebook.
 
jerryk said:
Just got an iPad Pro 11" and folio keyboard. Keyboard has made email messages,word docs, and other text entry very easy. Trying to determine if I want a pencil.

I can see using it in OneNote for meeting notes and such. But what else can I use it for, given that I am not a artist by any definition.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

What do you think we/ I do with the Pencil? What kind of a question is this?
 
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Ok, this is what I do. I'm on medical returement.

1) I use Calendar and/or reminder apps to set snd make appointments. No more bits n bobs of paper all over the place.
2) I use Goodnotes and/or Notability to do all of the heavy lifting of day to day writing (as above).
3) I use Palu, a calendar app in order to have a visual representation of what I've doe /have yet to do for a month at a time.
4) When I buy something online, I reauest a pdf email receipt and mark up the receipt in PDF Expert.
5) I book handi-transit rides.
6) Believe or not, trying out new recipes. I grab a pdf of a web page from, say allrecipes, mark it up in PDF Expertt as I try it out and then handwrite a new recipe in Goodnotes/Notability.

I don't draw worth **** but I still have Procreate and few others just to doodle.

Tom
 
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I use mine with my digital planner, for notes/note taking, signing documents, marking up documents, etc. I don’t use it every, single day, but it sure is nice when I need it.
 
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PeterJP said:
Notes in GoodNotes. I don't need to have my handwritten notes converted into text. It works just fine if those handwritten notes are searchable, which is what GoodNotes provides. Precisely because I don't have a keyboard, the iPad Pro 11 is small enough to replace my notebook.
Click to expand...

This!!! Goodnotes is the killer app for me. I have completely eliminated paper notes from my life with this app. It is also good for organization, it has folders and subfolders. PDF Expert is also great for marking up PDF's, and you can also use it in Microsoft Office apps.

kristalsoldier said:
What do you think we/ I do with the Pencil? What kind of a question is this?
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Umm, he's looking for ideas that he could use the pencil for should he decide to purchase? I love the self appointed posting police in these forums.
 
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DougFNJ said:
This!!! Goodnotes is the killer app for me. I have completely eliminated paper notes from my life with this app. It is also good for organization, it has folders and subfolders. PDF Expert is also great for marking up PDF's, and you can also use it in Microsoft Office apps.



Umm, he's looking for ideas that he could use the pencil for should he decide to purchase? I love the self appointed posting police in these forums.
Click to expand...

The Pencil has a specific set of uses in the context of an iPad, namely, writing, painting/ sketching/ colouring, and scrolling. That much must be obvious to any and all. Your sarcasm is lost on me.
 
You'll find not all applications feel the same when drawing. OneNote, while I love the app, is not that great with the Apple Pencil. Notability feels AMAZING - like natural handwriting when using Apple Pencil. GoodNotes is not far behind, and Apple Notes is behind that. OneNote is like 4 steps under Apple Notes when it comes to feeling like a real pencil - lines are often jagged and not that great - but you see it on Windows right away. So I limit OneNote to drawings and sketches for work.

Notability is for when I want to free-think on paper or do class notes. I prefer Notability to GoodNotes because of the Mac OS app.

Apple Notes - for something quick I want to reference later.

I can't draw so 99% of what I do is note taking (work/college) and free-thinking on paper.

And yes, like @DougFNJ - I recommend PDF Expert. That comes in handy when needing to sign documents when I'm not using my work computer to do so.
 
kristalsoldier said:
The Pencil has a specific set of uses in the context of an iPad, namely, writing, painting/ sketching/ colouring, and scrolling. That much must be obvious to any and all. Your sarcasm is lost on me.
Click to expand...

The question wasn't what does the Apple Pencil do, it was what do you do with yours? Your comment came across as a bit unnecessarily snarky towards a legit question.
 
DougFNJ said:
The question wasn't what does the Apple Pencil do, it was what do you do with yours? Your comment came across as a bit unnecessarily snarky towards a legit question.
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That’s your perception and, to that extent, you are a prisoner of it.

A user’s ability to use a device is bounded by a device’s performance envelope. Beyond the possibilities offered by he Pencil, there is nothing else the user can do. The OP, one assumes, knows what possibilities the Pencil affords in the specific context of an iPad . To that extent, the OP can work out what other users may use the Pencil for.

Note also that I could also retort in a similar manner as you did to my comment, but I choose to refrain from doing so.
 
What I don't get is why people like Good Notes over Notability. Notability just feels better when writing fast and I like the unlimited scrolling vs the flipping of pages (or scrolling of pages) in Good Notes. :p


@ OP --- If you're someone who thinks a lot on paper, a pencil is indispensable. I have used it a LOT more than I thought I would. Being able to view my notes on my computer/phone when I'm out and about has really improved my organization and ability to remember what I brain dumped the day/days before.
 
I'm a daily Pencil user these days. Not so much at the beginning but its role in my workflows has increased each passing year:

Note-taking in Notability for personal notes and OneNote for work notes.
Affinity Photo
Affinity Designer
Procreate
Linea Sketch
Ferrite
Sometimes just general navigation if I'm feeling lazy.

I think the magnetic charging on the new iPad Pros has made it a lot more convenient to try new things with the Pencil that I wouldn't have bothered with before because the Pencil just wasn't with me.
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BigMcGuire said:
What I don't get is why people like Good Notes over Notability. Notability just feels better when writing fast and I like the unlimited scrolling vs the flipping of pages (or scrolling of pages) in Good Notes. :p


@ OP --- If you're someone who thinks a lot on paper, a pencil is indispensable. I have used it a LOT more than I thought I would. Being able to view my notes on my computer/phone when I'm out and about has really improved my organization and ability to remember what I brain dumped the day/days before.
Click to expand...
Yep--if I type my notes I don't remember any of it. If I write them, I remember almost all of it.
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BigMcGuire said:
You'll find not all applications feel the same when drawing. OneNote, while I love the app, is not that great with the Apple Pencil. Notability feels AMAZING - like natural handwriting when using Apple Pencil. GoodNotes is not far behind, and Apple Notes is behind that.
Click to expand...

Totally agree--OneNote's terrible palm rejection drives me batty. I only use it because it's what we use in the office.
 
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I tried a lot of apps and settled on Apple's Notes for notes, and Linea Sketch for my virtual whiteboard/system design diagrams. My notes are a mix of typed and written. Sketch is really for sitting down and doing more complicated designs. It works for me because it's simple. I have the 11" and Pencil 2.
 
All sorts of things - Notability for long-form note taking, ideas; Notes for quick jots and doodling; Procreate for painting, Adobe Draw for sketching, general navigation, marking up photos, drafting and some CAD, controlling a sound board - while a Pencil isn't necessary to use an iPad, it makes it far more versatile and useful.
 
kristalsoldier said:
That’s your perception and, to that extent, you are a prisoner of it.

A user’s ability to use a device is bounded by a device’s performance envelope. Beyond the possibilities offered by he Pencil, there is nothing else the user can do. The OP, one assumes, knows what possibilities the Pencil affords in the specific context of an iPad . To that extent, the OP can work out what other users may use the Pencil for.

Note also that I could also retort in a similar manner as you did to my comment, but I choose to refrain from doing so.
Click to expand...


Wow this is so cringey...
 
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davidinva said:
Photo editing on my 10.5. Works well for retouching and healing. Also for combining photos in the Juxtaposer app which I like
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It’s so great for that stuff. I use it a lot in Affinity Photo for the blemish, healing, inpainting, and cloning tools. It’s absolutely invaluable for the refine selection tool as well.
 
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