Notability Now Available for Mac

[Traverse]

I reported this to Mac rumors a yesterday, but thought I'd share it here.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notability/id736189492?mt=12

Notability is now available on OS X. This was a glaring omission from this awesome note app, but I've already come to like OneNote despite its lack of inking.

I was just curious what others here think.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I'm still playing with it.

I don't like that it messes up the formatting when doing copying and pasting, and you can't paste pictures in that way either, you have to drag it in, and it only lets you surround it with text, and not like the normal way of putting it in between paragraphs.

But those are just little things.

Will give it a go with the ink features in a bit. I have a Wacom Intuos, so should be interesting.

EDIT: So here's my export of just playing with the tools:

Works great with my Intuos of course. You can of course import PDFs and mark on them. I tried it with my storyboard template, and it works very nice. You can draw in the spaces, add a text box for the descriptions, size it to fit correctly. Pretty cool! For rough ideas I can bump between the iPad and Mac it's interesting.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Good looking app. Reminds me on Noteledge.

 

[Traverse]

I'm still playing with it.

I don't like that it messes up the formatting when doing copying and pasting, and you can't paste pictures in that way either, you have to drag it in, and it only lets you surround it with text, and not like the normal way of putting it in between paragraphs.

But those are just little things.

Will give it a go with the ink features in a bit. I have a Wacom Intuos, so should be interesting.

EDIT: So here's my export of just playing with the tools:


Works great with my Intuos of course. You can of course import PDFs and mark on them. I tried it with my storyboard template, and it works very nice. You can draw in the spaces, add a text box for the descriptions, size it to fit correctly. Pretty cool! For rough ideas I can bump between the iPad and Mac it's interesting.

Wow, thanks for the input! I'll try it, maybe it can pull me from OneNote.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Good looking app. Reminds me on Noteladge.

Noteledge is too complicated. The detail they put into it fits right at home with Animation Desk, but for a note app, it feels too much like a layout designer more than anything else. I would use it like a scrapbook, but I wouldn't use it to take lecture notes.

It's the kitchen sink of these types of apps, overflowing and making a mess with its experiments.

I wouldn't compare it to modest/simple Notability, hahaha.

 

[Cassady]

Use Notability on my iPad extensively, keeping records of meetings for Minutes/Agenda purposes - bought it mainly to get everything off my iPad, and onto my Mac for backup purposes, and to review.

Seeing this thread, reminded me that I have a little Wacom Bamboo pad. Will give it a bash on my Mac - if it works, that would be a super bonus!

 

[Traverse]

Use Notability on my iPad extensively, keeping records of meetings for Minutes/Agenda purposes - bought it mainly to get everything off my iPad, and onto my Mac for backup purposes, and to review.

Seeing this thread, reminded me that I have a little Wacom Bamboo pad. Will give it a bash on my Mac - if it works, that would be a super bonus!

You realize that your notes appearing in the Mac app isn't really backup right? They live in iCloud. To back it up you need to export it as a PDF or something.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I like the iPad version. I would like to get the Mac version but, I am going to wait (hopefully) for a sale.

 

[Cassady]

You realize that your notes appearing in the Mac app isn't really backup right? They live in iCloud. To back it up you need to export it as a PDF or something.

Yes - I know thanks. My shorthand way of saying that with them being organised on my Mac, much easier to back them up by exporting/saving into DTPO/external drives.

 

[Cassady]

Wacom Bamboo pad is a no-go. Handwriting looks like that of a wrong-handed 5 year old, on acid.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Wacom Bamboo pad is a no-go. Handwriting looks like that of a wrong-handed 5 year old, on acid.

Haha. It's the really small one yeah? You just need to get used to it I'm sure.

 

[Itwasme]

Notability is a great app. I have it for my iPad but kinda upset that I wont be able to on my Mac. I have the retro Mac Book Pro Platinum Late 2006 model and Notability is not compatible. Tried to update to Maverick, but Mac wont support it. Its still a great app just wish they wouldnt of restricted it to 10.9 or above.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Notability is a great app. I have it for my iPad but kinda upset that I wont be able to on my Mac. I have the retro Mac Book Pro Platinum Late 2006 model and Notability is not compatible. Tried to update to Maverick, but Mac wont support it. Its still a great app just wish they wouldnt of restricted it to 10.9 or above.

That machine is so old, that it's probably not just an API issue, but also hardware that doesn't support them. It stinks, but yeah.

 

[skaertus]

Notability for Mac. Should be a good app. However, it seems like one more chapter in the iPhonization of Macs.

 

[Traverse]

Notability for Mac. Should be a good app. However, it seems like one more chapter in the iPhonization of Macs.

I view it more as an Apple ecosystem competitor to OneNote. It's nice, but ON stole my heart.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I view it more as an Apple ecosystem competitor to OneNote. It's nice, but ON stole my heart.

Onenote could be the next note taking king.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Notability for Mac. Should be a good app. However, it seems like one more chapter in the iPhonization of Macs.

You see it as more of a light duty app? unlike Evernote/Onenote?

 

[skaertus]

You see it as more of a light duty app? unlike Evernote/Onenote?

I have not even used Notability for Mac, so I cannot really say if it is a lightweight or not.

But what I see is companies translating their iOS apps to OS X, including Apple. Apple Maps, Messages, and so on. Now, with Yosemite, you will be able to use the phone and send SMS through the Mac. Apple iWork was revamped and, instead of becoming more powerful, was dumbed-down so it could be the same for both iOS and OS X. And there are other light apps for iOS also being ported to the Mac.

Honestly, I do not like the road this is taken. I do not want my US$ 1,999 MacBook Pro to perform the same features as a US$ 499 iPad. I want software packed with a lot of features that help my productivity but, instead, I am faced with overly simplified apps that "just works" or "look beautiful".

If Apple wants the Mac to become a computer platform for dummies or for stupid people or for people who care more about showing off their brand new iPhones and posting photos on Facebook then anything else, then perhaps I should think of switching to Windows for good.

 

[Ledgem]

Apple iWork was revamped and, instead of becoming more powerful, was dumbed-down so it could be the same for both iOS and OS X.

I don't think you're being fair with this statement. It's true that OS X iWork applications lost some features, but the iOS versions gained features as well. The supposed goal is to continue to add features to both. Apple wanted feature parity and probably needed to rebuild the OS X iWork applications to work perfectly with the iOS variants.

It would be ideal if we didn't have the growing pain period of taking a step back on some OS X features, but it isn't like Apple just "dumbed down" the applications for the sake of achieving feature parity and nothing else. I find that OS X and iOS iWork applications function much more nicely together now. Granted, it's a raw deal if you only use them on OS X.

On to Notability, it's one of my most-used iOS apps. I found the OS X release to be intriguing, but I'm not yet convinced enough of its usefulness to purchase it. It'll be interesting to see where Ginger Labs takes it.

 

[skaertus]

I don't think you're being fair with this statement. It's true that OS X iWork applications lost some features, but the iOS versions gained features as well. The supposed goal is to continue to add features to both. Apple wanted feature parity and probably needed to rebuild the OS X iWork applications to work perfectly with the iOS variants.

Exactly. And this is the whole point. Apple is sacrificing its OS X apps to the benefit of iOS apps.

Apps for OS X and iOS should not have feature parity. OS X is far more capable than iOS. The processor inside of a Mac is far more powerful than the one that powers the iPhone or the iPad. A Mac is much larger, has a larger screen and a keyboard.

If Apple insists on feature parity, the end result will be that OS X apps will be dumbed-down so that their features can be matched by iOS apps.

An iPhone will never be able to do things a Mac does. If the Mac is limited to doing the same things as an iPhone, what's the point of buying a Mac then?

It would be ideal if we didn't have the growing pain period of taking a step back on some OS X features, but it isn't like Apple just "dumbed down" the applications for the sake of achieving feature parity and nothing else. I find that OS X and iOS iWork applications function much more nicely together now. Granted, it's a raw deal if you only use them on OS X.

Should they function nicely together, as a happy family, at the cost of features?

Apple released iWork '09 in January 2009 and it was a promising office suite, while it lacked several features that would be useful for power users. Then four years passed by, and no update at all. Finally, in 2013, Apple released a new version of iWork with... less features than iWork '09. The big news, however, is that it is exactly the same as the iOS version. Big deal. And it is free! Oh, come on! I don't mind paying US$ 20 or more for powerful software to run on a US$2,000 Mac. What I don't want is to run feature-less software, cheap as it can be, in an expensive machine.

If I wanted software for free that lacks features, I would buy a cheap PC and install Linux on it.

I have a Mac, though. I want power and features. I don't want it to be an iPad with a keyboard and a trackpad.

On to Notability, it's one of my most-used iOS apps. I found the OS X release to be intriguing, but I'm not yet convinced enough of its usefulness to purchase it. It'll be interesting to see where Ginger Labs takes it.

I am not buying it. Pack software with a ton of features and then I may buy it. But port something from iOS to OS X and I will just ignore it.

 

[Ledgem]

Apple released iWork '09 in January 2009 and it was a promising office suite, while it lacked several features that would be useful for power users. Then four years passed by, and no update at all. Finally, in 2013, Apple released a new version of iWork with... less features than iWork '09. The big news, however, is that it is exactly the same as the iOS version. Big deal. And it is free! Oh, come on! I don't mind paying US$ 20 or more for powerful software to run on a US$2,000 Mac. What I don't want is to run feature-less software, cheap as it can be, in an expensive machine.

As a long-time user of Apple Aperture (the professional-level photo management software that was recently killed by Apple within the last few months) it's not that I don't understand where you're coming from, or that I don't feel your pain. It's frustrating to see Apple abandon professional-level software to focus instead on simpler programs that might be constraining even to more demanding home users. But there is some good news in all of this: I can still move to Adobe Lightroom, and you can still buy Microsoft Office for Mac.

You asked what the point of buying a Mac is if things will be more iOS-like. OS X is still more powerful than iOS, although it has less to do with the hardware and more to do with the interface elements (despite the A7 being hailed as a desktop-class chipset, a small touchscreen can only do so much compared to a keyboard, mouse/trackpad, and large monitor(s)). Apple could never have OS X compete directly against Windows, nor iWork against Microsoft Office. They took the world by storm with their iOS devices, and they still have the momentum there. They've always been praised for their integration, and as we can see with the new Continuity in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10, they're pushing that further. It's their defining, unique feature. They can always improve and add more features into their software later, but this seems to be the marketing strategy that they're going with. If you're not particularly mobile then you likely won't see this tight integration as added functionality; instead, you'll just notice that the OS X side of things seems to have a bit less than it used to... but far from "dumbing things down," the tighter integration between iOS and OS X is a rather impressive feature set to those of us who use it.

I don't think that iWork will suffer the same fate as Aperture did. Apple will keep adding features in.

 

[skaertus]

As a long-time user of Apple Aperture (the professional-level photo management software that was recently killed by Apple within the last few months) it's not that I don't understand where you're coming from, or that I don't feel your pain. It's frustrating to see Apple abandon professional-level software to focus instead on simpler programs that might be constraining even to more demanding home users. But there is some good news in all of this: I can still move to Adobe Lightroom, and you can still buy Microsoft Office for Mac.

This is somewhat true. But Microsoft Office for Mac is still much inferior than Microsoft Office for Windows. And Apple is doing nothing to compensate it.

In addition, if OS X does not have better software than Windows, then there may be no point at all in buying a Mac. Windows machines are less expensive and there are plenty of choices. Advantages such as "just works", "works out of the box", and "has no viruses", may look good to tech-illiterate people, but for me they mean nothing.

You asked what the point of buying a Mac is if things will be more iOS-like. OS X is still more powerful than iOS, although it has less to do with the hardware and more to do with the interface elements (despite the A7 being hailed as a desktop-class chipset, a small touchscreen can only do so much compared to a keyboard, mouse/trackpad, and large monitor(s)). Apple could never have OS X compete directly against Windows, nor iWork against Microsoft Office. They took the world by storm with their iOS devices, and they still have the momentum there. They've always been praised for their integration, and as we can see with the new Continuity in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10, they're pushing that further. It's their defining, unique feature. They can always improve and add more features into their software later, but this seems to be the marketing strategy that they're going with. If you're not particularly mobile then you likely won't see this tight integration as added functionality; instead, you'll just notice that the OS X side of things seems to have a bit less than it used to... but far from "dumbing things down," the tighter integration between iOS and OS X is a rather impressive feature set to those of us who use it.

I understand that Apple wants to focus on iOS. The iPhone represents more than 50% of Apple's revenue. However, there are still other sources of revenue and the Mac platform accounts for a non-negligible part of it. There should be enough money to spend on the Mac platform to make it good on its own but, instead, Apple seems to be treating it as an expansion to the iPhone. Windows got a revamped interface back in October 2012. OS X is getting a much-needed redesign only in October 2014, two years later, and one year after a similar design came for iOS.

I do have two iPhones –*one 5 and one 5s, and I intend to buy an iPhone 6 as soon as it launches around here. However, I do not see too much value in porting iPhone features and stuff to OS X.

I don't see their marketing strategy paying off either. I don't see the Mac market share increasing. It is stalled or increasing very slowly. Meanwhile, the iPhone breaks records after records in sales. Perhaps these OS X features is just a way of selling more iPhones – and not more Macs.

I don't think that iWork will suffer the same fate as Aperture did. Apple will keep adding features in.

Me neither. However, I doubt Apple will add many features to it. Apple added no feature to it in the last 5 years. It won't add now.

As for Notability, I would like to know which power features would justify using it on a Mac instead of on an iPhone or an iPad.

 

[Traverse]

This is somewhat true. But Microsoft Office for Mac is still much inferior than Microsoft Office for Windows. And Apple is doing nothing to compensate it.

In addition, if OS X does not have better software than Windows, then there may be no point at all in buying a Mac. Windows machines are less expensive and there are plenty of choices. Advantages such as "just works", "works out of the box", and "has no viruses", may look good to tech-illiterate people, but for me they mean nothing..

I'm probably going to regret saying this because personal preference plays a huge role here, but based on your responses here and in the Office 2015 thread (which are all valid points) OS X may not be the right choice for you.

If I recall correctly you said how you paid a huge premium to get your Mac in Brazil (that may not be you so forgive me if that's wrong) but you seem very unhappy with Apple's direction. Maybe you should consider moving to windows. Office for Mac will never match Windows and it appears Apple is now an average consumer vendor which may not match your needs. If a system doesn't supply the software you like or need than it is useless regardless of the OS.

Windows 10 looks very promising with some OS X type features.

----------

As a long-time user of Apple Aperture (the professional-level photo management software that was recently killed by Apple within the last few months) it's not that I don't understand where you're coming from, or that I don't feel your pain. It's frustrating to see Apple abandon professional-level software to focus instead on simpler programs that might be constraining even to more demanding home users. But there is some good news in all of this: I can still move to Adobe Lightroom, and you can still buy Microsoft Office for Mac.

Will you go to Lightroom? I was going to buy Aperture the day after it was announced to be dead because iPhoto wasn't sufficing anymore. I'm looking for a good alternative DAM to use with Pixelmator but I don't to be on a subscription for software I don't use regularly. I don't mind my Office Subscription, but I don't really want Adobe's.

 

[Ledgem]

Will you go to Lightroom? I was going to buy Aperture the day after it was announced to be dead because iPhoto wasn't sufficing anymore. I'm looking for a good alternative DAM to use with Pixelmator but I don't to be on a subscription for software I don't use regularly. I don't mind my Office Subscription, but I don't really want Adobe's.

I'll give the new Photos app in OS X 10.10 a fair chance, but if it doesn't carry over the features that I was using in Aperture then it'll be Lightroom for sure. I deeply dislike the subscription model that Adobe is pushing, but Lightroom 5 can still be purchased as a perpetual license. Lightroom 6 is supposedly due out soon (within six months, or so I hear); if they still offer it with a perpetual license, I'm buying.

 

[iml8agn]

question for Jessica Lares

You posted that you have intuos and use it with notability. I just recently got intuos and still have quite the learning curve going on but can't seem to get notability to recognize the stylus when using the intuos. Would love any help you can give. I"m trying to make notations onto PDF's for a class I"m taking. Thanks in advance.