To take handwritten notes on a Mac by using iPad?

[jsx97]

Currently the only solution that works for me is the one by WilliApple, though it has a serious drawback that you don't see your document while "drawing" your handwritten text. This makes it hard to e.g. strikeout one word to replace it with another later.

 

[jsx97]

Also, something else to know is that it works in the Finder too so you can make hand-draw documents from your iPad and immediately save them to your Mac, without touching your iPad's storage.

Could you explain this part of your answer please? What exactly I should to do?

And more importantly, do you know a way to edit a sketch once you have already added it?

 

[flowderf]

Goodnotes stores all its notes inside itself. You cannot place a Goodnote's file in arbitrary folder to open it later. So it seems it is not a solution. (In other words, using Goodnotes have the same problem as using ReMarkable).

Drag and drop in MacOS Goodnotes creates searchable PDFs of your handwritten notes. You can also Export as PDF with a variety of options. Way better implementation of note taking than Apple Notes.

 

[ForkHandles]

If you have an Apple Silicon Mac, then GoodNotes is perfect for your needs. The iPad app will run on the Mac

It’s cloud based so you would lose the option of storing files on one device but why would anyone want to do that anyways.

 

[jsx97]

It seems very few people simply don't want

Drag and drop in MacOS Goodnotes creates searchable PDFs of your handwritten notes. You can also Export as PDF with a variety of options. Way better implementation of note taking than Apple Notes.

And what if I want to edit a note later?

 

[jsx97]

As I have just discovered, the only problem with Pages is that its Mac version doesn't support freehand drawing.

If Pages for Mac will support freehand drawing (with mouse or trackpad) one day, it will be possible to simply "move" its window to iPad and then use Apple Pencil instead of mouse/trackpad without moving the document itself! That would be exactly what I want.

 

[WilliApple]

Could you explain this part of your answer please? What exactly I should to do?

And more importantly, do you know a way to edit a sketch once you have already added it?

1. You just right-click in a blank spot in the Finder
2. Unfortunately, I don't think it is possible to change the note inside of Pages.