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BigMcGuire

Cancelled
Original poster
Jan 10, 2012
9,832
14,032
I'm a very visual person. I have to write things down on paper in order to process them efficiently in my head. Ever since I was a kid, I'd spend 30 mins a day outside just writing down my thoughts, connecting dots, and getting stuff out. As I got older, I found this to be a very effective means of dealing with stress and complexities of life. However, I'm moving everything to digital. I can type a lot faster than I can write. I've moved my journals over to Day One (been using for years) but I have yet to find an effective "notebook" or scratch paper app.

Any recommendations? I don't mind paying and I really don't mind if it is Apple only. I do like backing the data up - I've had data loss with Apple Notes but I'm interested in what ya'll use.

It has to accept photos (via iPhone even better!). Has to be tabbed for multiple notes open at once. Would really like the have a means to back up the data (dislike cloud only apps) but not a dealbreaker.


I love UltraEdit (tabbed and deals with code well) - but it doesn't do pictures. I like Apple Notes but dislike no backup ability. Word isn't tabbed, but otherwise works well. OneNote is OK - last I used it (last year) it made CPU fans spin and battery drain like crazy on my Air. Haven't used Evernote for 4 years. I'm up for buying Ulysses and Scrivener but figured I'd ask first. IAWriter is amazing but no pictures. I'm looking at Bear, Ulysses, Scrivener, etc...


For - Work Logs, to do lists, journal entries, pics of important things that I can add from my iPhone, thoughts, little tidbits that I need to remember, etc... As someone who can type 155+wpm for hours - I can pound out 10 pages of text fairly easily. I've got 100s of MBs of word docs and text files in OneDrive.

Any suggestions/recommendations/stories of what works for you - very welcome. Thanks for your time!
 
Last edited:
I'm a very visual person. I have to write things down on paper in order to process them efficiently in my head. Ever since I was a kid, I'd spend 30 mins a day outside just writing down my thoughts, connecting dots, and getting stuff out. As I got older, I found this to be a very effective means of dealing with stress and complexities of life. However, I'm moving everything to digital. I can type a lot faster than I can write. I've moved my journals over to Day One (been using for years) but I have yet to find an effective "notebook" or scratch paper app.

Any recommendations? I don't mind paying and I really don't mind if it is Apple only. I do like backing the data up - I've had data loss with Apple Notes but I'm interested in what ya'll use.

It has to accept photos (via iPhone even better!). Has to be tabbed for multiple notes open at once. Would really like the have a means to back up the data (dislike cloud only apps) but not a dealbreaker.


I love UltraEdit (tabbed and deals with code well) - but it doesn't do pictures. I like Apple Notes but dislike no backup ability. Word isn't tabbed, but otherwise works well. OneNote is OK - last I used it (last year) it made CPU fans spin and battery drain like crazy on my Air. Haven't used Evernote for 4 years. I'm up for buying Ulysses and Scrivener but figured I'd ask first. IAWriter is amazing but no pictures. I'm looking at Bear, Ulysses, Scrivener, etc...


For - Work Logs, to do lists, journal entries, pics of important things that I can add from my iPhone, thoughts, little tidbits that I need to remember, etc... As someone who can type 155+wpm for hours - I can pound out 10 pages of text fairly easily. I've got 100s of MBs of word docs and text files in OneDrive.

Any suggestions/recommendations/stories of what works for you - very welcome. Thanks for your time!


MS OneNote. It should work just fine provided you have a Mac at least from 2012.
 
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Considered an iPad with Apple Pencil? It's what I use in meetings and to make notes while programming. I use Notabilty and all the notes are available on my Mac and iPhone too. They are backup-up but I don't think you can have a tabbed interface (other Apps may have). Bonus for you is that you can still do your scribbles.
 
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