For a first party solution from Apple, it’s shocking just how good Apple Notes has become over the past couple of years. The syncing is rock-solid, the app is in active development, and we get new and interesting features every year. If you don’t need to view notes on Windows or Android, Apple Notes should be your default note taking system.
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- Smart Note Taking App
- Best Note Taking App For Macbook Pro
- Note Taking App For Tablets
The app shines for anyone taking notes during a lecture or meeting. And it’s a godsend for people who frequently need to annotate or mark up documents. Bottom line: GoodNotes 4 is the best notes app.
Apple Notes is full of awesome features but because Apple’s design favors simplicity, most are stuffed behind menus and obscured behind generic buttons. Here are several you should know about.
1. Add Notes Using Siri
While Siri isn’t great when it comes to knowledge-based answers, it’s surprisingly good when it comes to dealing with native apps.
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The next time you have a brilliant idea when you’re driving or walking your dog, just say Hey Siri, take a note. Then dictate your note. The next time you open the Notes app, you’ll find your dictation in text form.
2. Notes Shortcut in Control Center
If you’re running iOS 11 on your iPhone or iPad, you can add a little shortcut to the Apple Notes app right in the Control Center.
Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls to enable the Notes control. Now, when you tap on the Notes control, you’ll be taken to the Notes app with a blank note ready to go. You can tap and hold on the Notes toggle to start a new checklist or begin with a photo.
3. Share a Note
The App Store is filled with apps that let you share a note or list with multiple people. But you don’t need any of those. Just start a note, throw in a checklist, and tap on the Share note button from the toolbar. Send an invite using the Messages or Mail apps. Once someone joins in, they’ll be able to edit notes.
This can be a great way to share a grocery list with your spouse.
4. Make a Table
While this won’t add an Excel-style spreadsheet in your note, the table functionality comes in really handy any time you want to visually organize information. For instance, before my last trip, I ended up calling a dozen or so hotels in the area (it was the fastest way to get it done).
I needed a place to record the name of the hotel, the availability, the phone number, and the cost. Instead of going to Google Sheets, I quickly created a table in Notes, expanded it for four columns, and got started. Speaking of which, the Notes app is a great way to organize all your travel information before you take off. Create a folder and start adding your PDFs, images, and confirmation numbers for easy access.
On Mac, you’ll find the Table icon in the top toolbar. On iPhone and iPad, the Table icon is the first one in the toolbar on top of the keyboard view.
Once you’ve inserted a table, tap on the dotted menu button next to the boxes to add or delete rows and columns.
5. Lock Notes
Let’s say you’ve got some private entries in the Notes app that you’d rather not share with the world. You can protect it using a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID.
After opening the note, tap on the Share button and select Lock Note. Enter a passcode, or enable Touch ID or Face ID, and your note is protected.
6. Share Links and Text to Notes App
The Notes app has a robust share extension on both iOS and macOS. It’s actually the best way to add text and links to a note when you’re researching on the webHow to Use Apple Notes as a Research ToolHow to Use Apple Notes as a Research ToolApple's free Notes app can be an indispensable research aid on both a computer and mobile device.Read More. When you come across something interesting in an app like Safari, tap on the Share button and select Add to Notes.
From the popup, you can choose to make a new note or to add it an existing note. If there’s a link involved, you’ll see a little preview right there and you can even add a bit of text before sending it off to the Notes app by tapping on the Save button.
If you’ve got an iPad running iOS 11, this process becomes even simpler. Dock the Notes app next to Safari in split screen mode and simply drag and dropThe Best Drag and Drop Apps for iPads Running iOS 11The Best Drag and Drop Apps for iPads Running iOS 11Drag and drop apps have arrived on the iPad, and this seemingly simple feature removes some of the biggest frustrations and takes it closer to being a 'real' computer.Read More links, photos, or text from Safari to the Notes app.
7. Organize Notes in Folders
Once you start using Notes as your main note taking app, you’ll eventually end up with way too many notes. I have over 400 notes in my iCloud folder. And no, I’m not ready to let go of any of them.
In times like this, a bit of mindful organization helps. After opening the Notes app, tap on the Back button on the notes view to get to the Folders view. Tap on New Folder from the bottom of the screen, give it a title, tap on Save, and it will show up in the Folders list.
Here’s a pro tip: If you’re using a Mac, you can create subfolders as well (something that’s not allowed in iOS but once created on Mac, they’ll sync with all your devices). On Mac, use the New Folder option to create a new folder.
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We’ll call this the child folder. From the list, locate the folder in which you want to include the child folder. We’ll call this the parent folder. Now, simply drag the child folder on top of the parent folder. The parent folder will now have an expand option. This way, you can have multiple child subfolders for a single parent folder.
If you don’t want to archive or delete old notes but you still want then accessible in an organized manner, this can be a good solution.
8. Pin Note
Even if you have hundreds of notes, you’ll probably end up spending most of your time in a handful of them. Try pinning them so the next time you open the Notes list or a specific folder, your favorite note will be right at the top.
Just swipe right on any note from the list and tap on the Pin icon to pin it (the process for unpinning the note is the same).
9. Formatting Options and Shortcuts
While the Notes app text area is pretty sparse, there’s a selection of formatting tools hidden behind the Aa icon. From here, you can switch to Heading font or a Monospace font.
You can quickly indent or outdent text or start a bulleted list. If you’re using a Mac or iPad with a Smart Keyboard, you can use keyboard shortcuts for quickly formatting text.
- Bold: Cmd + B
- Italics: Cmd + I
- Underline: Cmd + U
- Title: Cmd + Shift + T
- Heading: Cmd + Shift + H
- Checklist: Cmd + Shift + L
- Table: Cmd + Option + T
- Indent Right: Cmd + ] (right bracket)
- Find in Note: Cmd + F
- New Note: Cmd + N
10. Mac App Tricks
In many ways, Notes is a robust system, but it falls short in some specific ways. For instance, you can’t change the font size on an iPhone or iPad in the Notes app. However, if you’ve increased the font size from the Settings app, Notes will honor that.
On Mac, you can make the font size a bit bigger but it works on a per-note basis. Open a note and from the menu bar, go to View and click on Zoom in.
There’s also a hidden floating window option for a note. Open a note and from the menu bar, go to Window > Float Selected Note and once again go to the Window section and select Float on Top. Now you can go about browsing or watching a video. The notes window will always be on the top and ready for note taking.
Search and Sort in Notes
Note Taking App For Mac
The Notes app makes it easy to search within all your notes. Even if you’ve taken handwritten notes using Apple Pencil, they can be searched using Spotlight. In fact, if you give unique names to your notes, Spotlight search can be a great way to quickly jump into a note right from the Home screen.
When you’re inside a note, just use the Cmd + F option to start searching within a note (on the iPhone, use the Find in Note option from the Share menu).
iOS 11 also added a plethora of powerful iPad-specific featuresHow to Use Apple's Powerful New Notes Features in iOS 11How to Use Apple's Powerful New Notes Features in iOS 11Notes has received its fair share of useful new features in iOS 11, so here's how to use them.Read More to the Notes app. You can directly open a note by touching the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro lock screen. You can change the note background to something that’s more suitable for handwritten note taking, and much more.
Explore more about: Apple Notes, iPhone Tricks, Note-Taking Apps.
- When I lost a lengthy entry in notes, I could not find a way to retrieve the last note. Is there a way? I was on my MacBook Pro and went into the Time Machine and could not find the last note.
- Whats the hidden features here, it's misleading. the article just details basic usage of notes app.
After resisting the temptation for several months, I finally broke down this week and bought an Apple Pencil. I purchased the initial iPad Pro back in November when it first came out, but sold it and switched to the 9.7-inch model last week, and so far I’ve been very happy with that choice. Figuring that I’ll probably stick with this size iPad Pro for at least a year, I decided the Apple Pencil would be a worthwhile investment. And I was right.
I was skeptical of the Apple Pencil when it was first announced, as I assumed it would just be the same as the tacky styluses third-parties had been making for years, but after using it I’ve realized just how wrong I was. The thing that I noticed very early on in my time with the Apple Pencil though, was how crazy good the palm rejection is. Writing with an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro is nearly as easy as writing on actual paper. As a student, this is a huge factor for me when it comes to note taking, so I decided to dive a little deeper into the apps on iOS that are made for taking notes and are optimized for iPad Pro. Here are some of the ones I would recommend…
GoodNotes 4
GoodNotes is an app that I wasn’t entirely familiar with until I purchased my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, but I’ve quickly realized that it’s one of, if not the most, complete note taking apps available in the App Store. You have the ability to create multiple notebooks – like one for each class or subject – and then create individual pages within each notebook with varying page styles. There’s also the ability to insert charts and images which definitely comes in handy.
GoodNotes also indexes your notes so you can quickly search them. I have pretty awful handwriting, but it was still able to correctly index my notes and allow me to search through them when I needed to. It also supports the Apple Pencil for pressure sensitive writing, something that really comes in handy while taking extensive amounts of notes at a time.
To me, GoodNotes 4 felt most similar to traditional notebooks when it came to taking notes. It really felt like writing with pen and paper, just modernized with many new features. GoodNotes 4 is available for $7.99 on the App Store and is definitely worth it.
Notability
Notability and GoodNotes are very similar apps on the surface, and if anything, Notability feels slightly more polished and easier to use than GoodNotes. It offers many of the same features as other handwriting apps, including palm-rejection, pressure sensitivity detection, and the ability to insert images, charts, and even full webpages. That last feature is notable as it means you can import a webpage and highlight and mark it up as you go, something that’s important for working through research projects and the like.
One thing that’s unfortunately missing and that will ultimately force me to stick with GoodNotes, however, is the ability to search handwritten notes. While you can search PDF text, any notes you write by hand are not capable of being searched.
Smart Note Taking App
On the bright side though, Notability is currently 33 percent off on the App Store, making it just $3.99 as of this post.
Notes Plus
![Note Note](/uploads/1/2/4/7/124735219/431177903.jpg)
Notes Plus is another solid note taking app with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil optimizations. In addition to standard features like PDF and image support, folder management, and shape detection, Notes Plus includes a few standout features. For one, it supports a built-in browser for quickly and easily looking up facts and statistics. Additionally, it supports the ability to covert handwritten notes to text.
This means that any handwritten notes are also searchable and later annotatable, unlike with Notability. There’s also support for recording background audio. For instance, if you’re in a lecture, you can be recording that lecture directly into the app so you can later go back and listen to it to ensure you didn’t miss anything.
Notes Plus is currently 30 percent off in the App Store, making it $6.99 as of this past.
Noteshelf
Best Note Taking App For Macbook Pro
In terms of pure writing experience, Noteshelf offers one of the smoothest experiences of any of these apps. The app supports the Apple Pencil and offers integration with Spotlight on iOS so you can quickly find different documents and notebooks. Unfortunately, there’s no way to search within handwritten notes like with Penultimate and GoodNotes.
![Tablets Tablets](/uploads/1/2/4/7/124735219/480440206.png)
One nice feature of Noteshelf, however, is that you can add a passcode to protect important and sensitive notes, much like what Apple added to its Notes app with iOS 9.3.
Noteshelf prides itself as the best note-taking app that offers the most beautiful handwriting effect – this is one of the key reasons why our users fall in love with Noteshelf. It perfectly mimics that intuitive ink-on-paper feeling so smoothly, it’s as if you’re using a real pen and paper.
Noteshelf is available for $7.99 on the App Store.
Evernote
Evernote isn’t the most feature-rich app when it comes to using the Apple Pencil for note taking, but if you already use Evernote across other devices, it’s nice to stay in the same ecosystem. The stylus can be used for essentially handwriting notes in the most basic format. Evernote is more reasonable to use if you’re typing notes and need to quickly sketch a chart or a diagram. For use cases like this, Evernote’s “Snap to Shape” feature is useful.
The biggest selling point of Evernote is its cross-platform availability, so if you’re often switching between devices and operating systems for taking notes, then Evernote might be your best bet. It’s available on the App Store for free with various premium upgrades.
Penultimate
Made by Evernote, Penultimate is the company’s more advanced take on a handwriting app. Penultimate features a distraction-free interface that makes it easy to quickly and easily take down notes without accidentally changing settings or navigating away from the writing interface. The app is optimized for iPad Pro, as well, which means that it supports pressure sensitivity, so you can push harder for thicker lettering and lighter for more faint writing.
Furthermore, and perhaps most notably, Penultimate analyzes your handwritten notes and allows you to search for handwritten text in the app. Penultimate is free with a host of in-app purchases to improve your experience.
Apple Notes
You can’t discuss note taking apps without mentioning Apple’s own Notes app that comes pre-installed on every iOS device. Prior to iOS 9, Apple’s Notes app was pretty lackluster in comparison to many note taking apps on iOS. With the new operating system, however, the app is gaining on third-party solutions. It still doesn’t support things like searching notes or even different page styles, but it’s improving.
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There are however, new features such as additional font formatting options, support for inline checklists, and link thumbnail + textual previews.
Wrap-up
Ultimately the moral of the story here is that the Apple Pencil and iPad Pro have convinced me that the iPad is now a viable way to quickly take notes in a variety of settings. Whether it be in meetings or in class, the Apple Pencil and iPad Pro paired with any of these apps makes for a note taking experience equivalent to that of pen and paper.
Note Taking App For Tablets
Personally, after trying all of these apps, I think GoodNotes 4 is the most solid choice for iPad Pro note taking. Its amazing handwriting recognition and search feature really sets it apart from the competition. For someone with awful handwriting, I didn’t think a feature like that would ever work for me. But GoodNotes proved me wrong.
What do you use for taking notes with your iPhone/iPad? Let us know in the comments!