Notability Gains New Tools, Dedicated Shop, and More

[MacRumors]

Ginger Labs today announced an update to its popular productivity app Notability, introducing several new features designed to enhance creativity within the app.

Among the new tools is a feature that lets users draw arrows and curves that will snap perfectly into place. Users can also now draw perfectly spaced dots and dashes with the pen and highlighter tool.

There's a new favorites toolbar that allows for quick access to saved Pencil, Highlighter, and Eraser styles, and the Pencil and Highlighter tool menu has been refreshed with greater spacing to hold more colors, widths, and brushes.

The update also introduces the Notability Shop that's aimed at enhancing the app experience with additional features. New themes and artist-designed sticker packs are among the first to debut in the in-app store.

Ginger Labs is working on bringing a digital planner to Notability to help with reaching goals and managing day-to-day tasks. The feature is coming soon and will be available in the Notability Shop upon release.

Notability can be downloaded for $8.99 on the App Store and $1.99 on the Mac App Store, and the update will be rolling out to existing users today.

Article Link: Notability Gains New Tools, Dedicated Shop, and More

 

[steve09090]

I’ve tried a reasonable selection of note apps. This is easily the most versatile and the best - for me. The new changes look really good. Favourites will make transitioning to different styles much easier.

 

[kazmac]

It's currently my Notes app of choice. Interesting updates.

 

[deathcab]

I’ve tried a reasonable selection of note apps. This is easily the most versatile and the best - for me. The new changes look really good. Favourites will make transitioning to different styles much easier.

Couldn’t agree more and hands down the app I use most on iPad. I’m little shocked that Apple hasn’t acquired them to make this a default app on the iPad Pro because it really enhances the usability of the entire device.

 

[saudor]

I hope they finally fixed the crashing issues on older ipads. I've lost tons of recordings and even corrupted notes when it crashes with the "EXC_CRASH (SIGKILL) scene-update watchdog transgression: application<com.gingerlabs.Notability>:578 exhausted real (wall clock) time allowance of 10.00 seconds"

 

[BigMcGuire]

This is my most used app --- I use it to take notes, meeting notes, personal notes, college/school notes, etc. It is my brain's storage.

I still have tons of college class notes - with audio - saved. Gigs and gigs of notes.

Love this app. Glad to see they're expanding. I can't wait for the planner.

 

[steve09090]

Couldn’t agree more and hands down the app I use most on iPad. I’m little shocked that Apple hasn’t acquired them to make this a default app on the iPad Pro because it really enhances the usability of the entire device.

Apple prefer the simplicity of their notes app and I don’t think Apple's design fit Notabilty's look. . But I’ve been using it for work over the last 3-4 years. The pdf integration is wonderful, and having the Ellegant Studio note books/planner integrated in the near future (part of this update) will be a great inclusion.

 

[dukebound85]

I do worry about the introduction of a notability store vs the old version was it a 1 time payment for everything unlocked. I hate this nickel/diming aspect especially if already paid for app

 

[PlayUltimate]

This is my most used app --- I use it to take notes, meeting notes, personal notes, college/school notes, etc. It is my brain's storage.

I still have tons of college class notes - with audio - saved. Gigs and gigs of notes.

Love this app. Glad to see they're expanding. I can't wait for the planner.

I have looked at this in the past and decided not to use it. I recently transitioned from Evernote to Apple Notes. Is it worth transitioning to Notability? (FWIW, I do already own it; just don't use it)

 

[gadgetfreak98]

I've been a long time Notability user with my primary workflow being marking PDF documents for my work. This past week, I strayed a bit and decided to try Goodnotes 5. The primary frustration I have grown to have with Notability is file organization. And Goodnotes does improve on this a bit with a typical nested folder scheme, I still lament that neither allow direct integration with the Files app. That means I often live with a file copy within the app, and another in Files for when I need to email it out. I often wish to "reply to all" on an existing chain with my markup, and this can't be done from either app with the export-via-email option.

That being said, Notability is really excellent. I'm less intrigued with the features being offered today, as those are really more for creation than annotation. If they eventually offer Files integration, and less importantly, default straight-line highlighting, I think I would have no need for wandering PDF app eyes anymore...

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I do worry about the introduction of a notability store vs the old version was it a 1 time payment for everything unlocked. I hate this nickel/diming aspect especially if already paid for app

Of the three options I believe app developers have; free forever, non-essential in app purchases, or subscription, I much prefer this over a subscription. I intend to buy some of their content in support of them, even though I don’t really need it

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have looked at this in the past and decided not to use it. I recently transitioned from Evernote to Apple Notes. Is it worth transitioning to Notability? (FWIW, I do already own it; just don't use it)

I highly recommend it. Apple Notes likes large text. Notability allows for more fine grain text - with a much better pen to paper feel with the Apple Pencil.

Make sure to choose that inking option - I usually have it on the second to smallest pencil size. Absolutely love it. Feels just like a Jotter (Fine point) on Paper.

What I like about Notability is the ability to record audio - then play it back and see what I was writing when the audio was recording. Nothing joggles my memory better than that.

While I'm not a huge fan of the folder organization set - I keep going back to it. I can't stand the inking feel on Apple Notes/ GoodNotes (but I have bought GoodNotes to see what it offers).

For the cost, one can't go wrong - buy them, use them, see what you like. If you're like me and rely on handwritten notes a lot - it's indispensable. I spent more on paper and pens in a month than what these apps cost.
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Of the three options I believe app developers have; free forever, non-essential in app purchases, or subscription, I much prefer this over a subscription. I intend to buy some of their content in support of them, even though I don’t really need it

Exactly! I have done the same thing. I bought all the themes, everything I could. I just bought the sticker pack too. I hope they come out with some dark mode themes - I'd buy them in a second.

 

[gadgetfreak98]

By the way, one thing Notability does extremely well is allow side-by-side document review with dynamic window re-sizing. This is different -- at least as far as I can tell -- from what I see in GoodNotes, which is side-by-side app instances. Notability has this happen within one app instance, with a resizing bar right in the middle. So you can zoom and/or shrink one or the other side as needed. For me, where I'm reviewing a document relatively to a prior markup, it's super-efficient and easy. The Goodnotes approach works -- but just not as fluidly.

 

[fernelius]

While I'm not a huge fan of the folder organization set - I keep going back to it. I can't stand the inking feel on Apple Notes/ GoodNotes (but I have bought GoodNotes to see what it offers).

I'm also a fan of Notability. It's my primary app for handwritten notes. In addition to other posters above, I'd add that it's nice to be able to mix drawings with text efficiently -- even allowing text to flow around drawings.

I agree, though, with BigMcGuire. I really wish they would enhance the organization options. The two-level organization is limiting when one accumulates a number of notes, and the divider/subject terms can be a bit confusing for some. I wish they would add infinite folders (or a several-level folder organization) plus tags for notes. This would enhance the app significantly.

 

[VictorTango777]

Except for OneNote, why do none of the major note taking apps on iPad have the ability to create tables? Even the built in Notes app has tables!

 

[VictorTango777]

What's the point of having a print or export to PDF function in OneNote, Notability or GoodNotes if they are going to chop up your notes both vertically and horizontally in an unpredictable way? Even when creating PDFs which theoretically have no restrictions on page dimensions, some of these applications only create PDFs based on letter size paper, again chopping up your notes. All of these applications should provide better support for creating printed notes and PDFs with different paper sizes and orientations. They should all have the ability to select the paper size, orientation, and display the page breaks on all sides. While Notability displays top and bottom page breaks, it does not provide control of paper size or orientation.

 

[BigMcGuire]

What's the point of having a print function in OneNote, Notability or GoodNotes if they are going to chop up your notes both vertically and horizontally in an unpredictable way? All of these applications should provide better support for creating printed notes. They should all have the ability to select the page size, orientation, and display the page breaks on all sides. While Notability displays top and bottom page breaks, it does not provide control of paper size or orientation.

What works for me when I print from Notability is to export to PDF, then print. That way you can control size, margins, etc --- then print from the PDF. Been working for me - though I don't print notes too often.

 

[VictorTango777]

I am not impressed with iCloud syncing between devices in Notability. When I have Notability open on multiple devices and I edit a note on one device, I don't see the changes on the other devices until I exit the note and then open it again. When using OneNote with Office 365 account, any change I make on one device appears almost instantly on my other devices. Tested on home Wi-Fi network.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am not impressed with iCloud syncing between devices in Notability. When I have Notability open on multiple devices and I edit a note on one device, I don't see the changes on the other devices until I exit the note and then open it again. When using OneNote with Office 365 account, any change I make on one device appears almost instantly on my other devices. Tested on home Wi-Fi network.

Notability has had a syncing problem for years. I don’t know what is happening on their end, as it has been reported time and time again.

Congrats to the Notability users. I paid for it a good while back but stopped due to syncing problems and other bugs and GUI dislikes.

 

[BigMcGuire]

iCloud syncing has always been difficult and dubious. I've never had lost data - but I've had it where some changes take minutes to get from one device to another - and yes you have to close the file in Notability for it to say - Sync it.

That said, using OneNote? Every action gets synced instantly... which is nice... but you'll notice it drains the **** out of your battery like crazy. But I use OneNote for work, all day long so... it's a great great tool.

Day One stopped using iCloud because of syncing issues - iCloud syncs when it wants to, and that can take some time and result in problems if the user tries to go and fix it.

Knowing this, though, I've never had a problem with Notability syncing but iCloud isn't as nice as other cloud services in that aspect. (OneDrive/GoogleDrive/Dropbox).

 

[BigMcGuire]

Over the last year, iCloud syncing speed and consistency has improved drastically. - Forgot to mention that.

My family uses iCloud so I try to utilize that for everything now.

 

[S1004]

What's the point of having a print or export to PDF function in OneNote, Notability or GoodNotes if they are going to chop up your notes both vertically and horizontally in an unpredictable way?

GoodNotes does a better job at handling print jobs since paper size is true to size. I use US Letter Size paper to take notes. After setting up margins and arranging notes, I can print my notes, hole punch them, and place them in a binder. I'm mostly a paperless student though - which means I keep all my notes, powerpoint annotations, etc on my iPad.

GoodNotes is my go-to for note-taking. Notability only has a one-up because of its real-time audio recording. I also much prefer GoodNotes' file organization system to Notability's list(?) format. GoodNotes keep my documents organized much more efficiently.. I can hide unneeded files from view and move files easily like I would on a desktop computer. Notability? Kind of finicky. It's great to see more than one note taking app on the market though! Hopefully they all continue to compete and add more features Maybe GoodNotes will get audio recording capability!

 

[VictorTango777]

Couldn’t agree more and hands down the app I use most on iPad. I’m little shocked that Apple hasn’t acquired them to make this a default app on the iPad Pro because it really enhances the usability of the entire device.

Maybe Apple's own Reminders app on iPhone and iPad would finally gain the ability to sort items
Despite all the years that Reminders has been out, it seems like Apple engineers never bothered to test the application with more than one item in a list.

 

[xSeaside]

Duh, still no table tool. Every basic HTML editor has this ****. I'll be sticking with OneNote.

 

[Sodium Chloride]

I’m little shocked that Apple hasn’t acquired them to make this a default app on the iPad Pro because it really enhances the usability of the entire device.

I think it is better if Notability stays as a 3rd party app. 3rd party app developers have more incentive to make their apps better since their entire livelihoods depend on it. In order to survive, they have to outdo the competitors. They wouldn’t stay idle and put the apps on the shelf. Notability and GoodNotes continue to outdo each other - neck to neck. And that is good for customers.

If Apple acquires Gingerlabs, the company that made Notability, and make the apps an integral part of iOS, they would have less incentive to make it any better since the app would be free.