Note taking on the iPad Pro?

[JawneeWin]

I'm a college student currently using a 13'' macbook air to take my notes with. It works wonderfully. One flaw about using the macbook is that it's a pain in my science classes not being able to draw quick diagrams or sketches during lectures as the professor is drawing and explaining. This is why I have a notebook in my backpack as well... which kind of ruins the point of going "digital". Also, the notebook won't fit on my classroom's desks with a macbook on it. I was thinking of swapping out the macbook air, and going with an iPad Pro, and going split screen with my textbook on one side, and note taking on the other. THEN, I'd be going completely digital.

Does anyone else use their iPad Pros with their Apple Pencils for note taking? How is it?
Any other suggestions?

 

[friedmud]

Yes. It's awesome. Like, completely awesome. I'm currently doing my PhD in Computational Nuclear Engineering... so I know what you mean about science notes ;-)

There are a lot of options for which App to use. I have posted a pretty huge list/review of them over here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-for-strictly-taking-notes.1950982/#post-22474535

(also: attached to that post is an image of what some of my science notes look like in Notability)

TLDR: Notability and Goodnotes are currently the best. OneNote works if you like Microsoft stuff.

 

[JawneeWin]

Yes. It's awesome. Like, completely awesome. I'm currently doing my PhD in Computational Nuclear Engineering... so I know what you mean about science notes ;-)

There are a lot of options for which App to use. I have posted a pretty huge list/review of them over here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-for-strictly-taking-notes.1950982/#post-22474535

(also: attached to that post is an image of what some of my science notes look like in Notability)

TLDR: Notability and Goodnotes are currently the best. OneNote works if you like Microsoft stuff.

Wow! thank you so much!

 

[appleguy123]

It's legitimately like writing on a notebook with a real pencil. I've always made A's in college courses without taking notes with stressful last second studying but the iPad pro has converted me to a note taker.

I like notability but I wish it had a mode to only write with the pencil and scroll with your fingers. Now you have to use 2 fingers to scroll and 1 finger will make marks though.

 

[friedmud]

Since you mentioned putting your book next to your notes on the iPP... I'll mention that that works perfectly. Last semeester I rented one of my textbooks through Kindle. I was able to bring it up right next to Notability both while in class and while doing homework. Worked great!

Only bad thing is that none of the note-taking apps allow you to have two different notes open side-by-side in landscape mode yet. This does make it difficult to do homework on the iPP if you need to refer to your notes a lot.

One way around it is to use Notability's ability to backup in PDF form to Dropbox. You can then use PDF Expert's ability to sync with Dropbox to bring your notes up in PDF Expert right next to Notability while doing your homework. Works pretty well until a better solution comes along!

Last thing I'll note here about multitasking and note taking on the iPP: it works WAY better than you could really imagine. The palm rejection is so perfect that you can actually rest your hand inside one application while writing in the other!! I was really surprised at how perfectly it works.
[doublepost=1454211840][/doublepost]OK: one more thing. While doing my homework on the iPP with Notability and Kindle... one cool thing I could do is take a screenshot of something from the book and then insert it right into my homework in Notability (you dan even crop it down in Notability to exactly what you want to place in your homework).

Notability has this cool feature where you can write right on top of any inserted images... and it actually associates the writing with the image (so if you move it around the writing moves with the image). This lets you do stuff like import a graph from your book and then mark it up with some annotations in your homework. Very cool stuff.

This is all just the beginning too. This thing has only really existed for like 3 months! I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in a year or so....

 

[mpetrides]

FWIW, I really like GoodNotes for taking handwritten notes and also for highlighting & annotating PDFs (journal articles and the like).

 

[AJsAWiz]

Yes. It's awesome. Like, completely awesome. I'm currently doing my PhD in Computational Nuclear Engineering... so I know what you mean about science notes ;-)

There are a lot of options for which App to use. I have posted a pretty huge list/review of them over here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-for-strictly-taking-notes.1950982/#post-22474535

(also: attached to that post is an image of what some of my science notes look like in Notability)

TLDR: Notability and Goodnotes are currently the best. OneNote works if you like Microsoft stuff.

I LOVE Notability on my iPad Pro!
I also have it on my iPhone 6s Plus and iMac.

 

[bluermlou]

+1 to Notability. Using it mainly to annotate PDFs, and using the stock ios Notes app for regular note taking during the work day.

 

[Speechless]

It is amazing! I use Notability with the Apple Pencil and it makes things so much easier. I love the unlimited organization.

 

[Robnsn2015]

Evernote and Penultimate are also a good combination.

 

[nalbagli]

I'm still debating myself on wether to use Notability or GoodNotes, which are the advantages of each?
Also if I take notes but also I do a lot of PDF hilighting and marking, should I go with PDF Expert, Notability or GoodNotes, or just use a combo like Notability(for Notes)-PDF Expert (for marking PDFs)?

Thanks

 

[Smeaton1724]

I'm a Notability user, I can't think of a better note taking software. All my notes sync via iCloud to iPad Pro, Mac, iPhone. I also have the backup set to Dropbox as PDF which allows for easy printing of the notes, or more often sending a link to someone so they can read the notes.

I like notability for the minimal notepad style that it has, it is not trying to be a word with notes, you have paper type options, standard color options etc. I also like how you can record audio and they are part of the note you are making.

 

[andy2141]

I agree it's awesome. I've tried to use a "traditional" iPad for note taking many times before, but always gave up.

I use the Pencil with OneNote so it syncs with my work laptop running Windows. I've been finally able to leave the notepads at home

 

[SS4Luck]

I bought my iPP just to take notes in class (am going for engineering so I understand the need to draw quickly).

I carry my rMBP, iPP and iPAd Air with me daily and use only my iPP 99% of the time


I carry my iPad Air to use for my digital textbooks, and to have the master copy of my notes on notability to copy/make outlines on the iPP


I carry my rMBP for excel/word heavy stuff and then transfer it all to notability on the iPP.


You won't regret it

 

[sjleworthy]

Notability and Pencil has recently made me throw out my paper note pads of many years. it really has revolutionised the way i now organise my working life.

it's syncs with my drop box account automatically and perfectly. i LOVE it.
i use it for my home and personal etchings, and more importantly, have at least 6 or 7 constant on-going works note books and meeting note books and sketch books in use at any given time. fantastic app in my opinion.

 

[The Game 161]

when i get my pencil will look around for the best pencil apps

 

[SS4Luck]

when i get my pencil will look around for the best pencil apps

Notability. Call it a day.

 

[The Game 161]

Notability. Call it a day.

cheers will give it a try, pencil due to arrive 3-5 days.

 

[SS4Luck]

Probably my favorite part. Import pics/PDFs, write em all up and export or print them with your hand notation.

Has made noting pics and such for certain classes a dream (see pic, Study of Ancient Egypt class/notes)
[doublepost=1454412185][/doublepost]Also, it's a screen shot from my iPhone, I re read a lot of my notes from my phone at night laying in bed after class. Never have to wait more than 30 seconds from start of notability to the time it completely syncs itself

 

[sjleworthy]

agreed. tested out most of the apps on friedmud's list in recent times, especially with regard to the Pencil, and found Notability heads and shoulders above all others. for me anyway

 

[The Game 161]

so Notability syncs to your iphone too?

 

[SS4Luck]

so Notability syncs to your iphone too?

My iPad pro, iPad Air, iPhone 6s+ and rMBP all have note ability and sync together as soon as the program opens.

 

[The Game 161]

My iPad pro, iPad Air, iPhone 6s+ and rMBP all have note ability and sync together as soon as the program opens.

Sounds Perfect

 

[SS4Luck]

Sounds Perfect

It is. It's seamless.

The menu sorting is amazing too. Simple and easy to understand.

 

[The Game 161]

Looking forward to trying it out