Note-taking on the iPad/iPhone

[FlorenceArt]

We already have a thread about handwritten notes on the iPad, but I'd also like to discuss my other obsession: note-taking, as in typed notes, which iPad or iPhone apps are best to type and organize them. I seem to buy one app a week in this category, I can't stop myself.

I'll start with my favorite app and try to post more on other apps later. Do feel free to give your input, but please give some details about the apps you like or don't like. Different people will have very different needs, so it's not very useful to just drop names.

NOTEBOOKS
(Not to be confused with Notebook, which I haven't tried - will post the links tonight from home because the firewall at work won't let me access them).

This is the app I keep coming back to. It's not perfect but it has what I need most, and I like its interface (though I liked it more before the latest upgrade), it's clean-looking and efficient.

The principle is very simple, you create folders (called books) and notes. You can create books and notes at any level, meaning you can have books within books, you are not limited to one hierarchy level. You can mark a book as a task-list, in which case each note inside the book is a task with a due date (or not) and a status (not started, in progress, done, cancelled). Having to put all your tasks in a dedicated task-list folder is not a very flexible system, but I can live with it. Task management is a necessary functionality for me but I can live with the basic stuff. Notebooks doesn't have the most refined functions such as repeating tasks. For these I use Priorities.

The big selling point for me, besides the clean interface, is the fact that in addition to notes, you can also include other documents in your books: pdf files, images, office files (xls, doc) and even web pages, although this doesn't always work perfectly especially if you choose to import the page for off-line viewing. There are very few other apps that can store attachments like this, in fact the only one I'm aware of is Next!, which doesn't suit me because it's more oriented toward task management and less toward note taking. The limitations of iOS make it extremely useful to be able to organize all the documents related to a project in one place. Goodreader can do this too (without the note-taking capability though) but, as much as I like Goodreader for its extensive file management possibilities, the interface is not very comfortable.

Notebooks, as I said, is not perfect. Its main weakness is cross-device management of notes. First, you need to pay separately for the iPhone and iPad versions. Second, the sync function, which works via dropbox, well, doesn't work all that well if you have several devices, especially (I think) if you update your data while the device is off-line. I ended up removing the app from my iPhone and using it exclusively on the iPad because of this. On the other hand, the nice thing about the dropbox sync is that it's all done through standard file formats, so that you can always display your notes (in txt format) and documents from anywhere you can access your dropbox account. I even managed to "sideload" documents by uploading them to the dropbox folder corresponding to the book I wanted them in. So this app works great if you have one iDevice and occasionally want to access your data from the Net, but not so good if you need to keep several iDevices in sync.

Another not-so-perfect thing is the stability. I have noticed a few crashes lately, though it's not a huge problem so far as I have not lost any data.

ETA links:
Notebooks for iPad
Notebooks for iPhone

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

We already have a thread about handwritten notes on the iPad, but I'd also like to discuss my other obsession: note-taking, as in typed notes, which iPad or iPhone apps are best to type and organize them. I seem to buy one app a week in this category, I can't stop myself.

*Laughing* I went through this with my first iPad a couple of years ago. You just can never find the perfect note taker... then, a year later, I have stopped working and no longer need those blasted note takers anyway!!

I dont know which computer you have, but if it were a Mac, I would not hesitate (now) to say "get Pages". Its a wordprocessor for sure but it can be whatever you want and with automatic sync to iCloud and all your devices and mac computers, would seem to be ideal.

Other than that, have you tried ThinkBook? Its a really powerful piece of software, and has Dropbox integration. I've never really explored it to its fullest, and I think there's probably a steep learning curve, but could be worthwhile, depending on your needs. Also, its only for iPad, no iPhone version at all.

For my money, though, for flexibility and syncing to everything... it would be Pages. FYI you don't have to have a Mac and Pages on that, to get the use out of it, its universal to iPad and iPhone, and will sync between devices automatically, on your icloud account.

[StoryEnthusiast]

I think note taking on iPhone will always be a challenge until voice input becomes accurate enough. I only type short notes on my Android phone, but it's still a pain.

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

I think note taking on iPhone will always be a challenge until voice input becomes accurate enough.

I find dictation built into iOS to be very accurate. I like Simplenote for text-based note taking - fully syncs across platforms.

[pwalker8]

For me, an ideal app would be something that I could take notes on, and then import those notes to my computer. Unfortunately, with the exception of the rather rudimentary notes, I haven't really found that app yet. The main note taker that I use is awesome notes, which at least lets me organize my notes. It also syncs with evernote and google docs, so I can get my notes to my computer in a round about way.

I also use evernote since that's supported on just about every platform there is. It works well enough. I prefer Yojimbo on the Mac, but Yojimbo for the iPad is readonly, which greatly reduces it's usefulness.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

*Laughing* I went through this with my first iPad a couple of years ago. You just can never find the perfect note taker... then, a year later, I have stopped working and no longer need those blasted note takers anyway!!

I dont know which computer you have, but if it were a Mac, I would not hesitate (now) to say "get Pages". Its a wordprocessor for sure but it can be whatever you want and with automatic sync to iCloud and all your devices and mac computers, would seem to be ideal.

Other than that, have you tried ThinkBook? Its a really powerful piece of software, and has Dropbox integration. I've never really explored it to its fullest, and I think there's probably a steep learning curve, but could be worthwhile, depending on your needs. Also, its only for iPad, no iPhone version at all.

For my money, though, for flexibility and syncing to everything... it would be Pages. FYI you don't have to have a Mac and Pages on that, to get the use out of it, its universal to iPad and iPhone, and will sync between devices automatically, on your icloud account.

See, that's what I meant about different needs... I would never consider Pages as a note taking app. It lacks two of the essential features I expect for note taking: a way to organize notes, preferably hierarchical (I never really got around to using tags), and a quick and distraction free access to typing text.

I've had Pages on my iPad and Mac for several months. I have used it a few times on Mac and exactly once on iPad. It's a very nice app to design documents for print or PDF, but that's not something I do very often. And you can't sync documents between Pages on Mac and idevices, or rather you couldn't until a few days ago, I understand the newer versions do this but I suspect not until I upgrade to Mountain Lion and iOS 6.

I did tryThinkBook recently and liked it very much, but I don't see it becoming my main notes app, because it's focused very strongly on outlining and isn't well suited to longer text notes. It's great to organize short paragraphs in a structured outline though. Its main weakness is the way it manages copy and paste, through something they call a slider, which is cumbersome and confusing IMO. Drag and drop and a standard clipboard functionality would work much better.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

For me, an ideal app would be something that I could take notes on, and then import those notes to my computer. Unfortunately, with the exception of the rather rudimentary notes, I haven't really found that app yet. The main note taker that I use is awesome notes, which at least lets me organize my notes. It also syncs with evernote and google docs, so I can get my notes to my computer in a round about way.

I also use evernote since that's supported on just about every platform there is. It works well enough. I prefer Yojimbo on the Mac, but Yojimbo for the iPad is readonly, which greatly reduces it's usefulness.

Have you tried Simplenote? It works on a lot of devices including Mac, I don't know about Windows though. And you can also access your notes from a browser. The drawback is that you have to open yet another account and let them host your notes, but it's free. Many other notes apps also sync to Dropbox, often in plain text format which is my preferred solution, that way you can be sure your data is accessible at any time from anywhere.

Another service that has a cloud server you can access on a browser is Momonotes. I don't remember if they have desktop apps though.

I registered on Evernote, but I'm not using it much. As I said, I prefer Dropbox because it's supported by so many different apps.

[FlorenceArt]

Oh, and another thing: why do half the developers apparently think that since they're making a notes app, they have to use one of those awful fake handwriting fonts? Did anyone even ask users if they wanted to see an ugly, illegible font that DOESN'T EVEN LOOK like handwriting? And as if the world wasn't already disfigured enough with Comics sans, Apple had to go and add MarkerFelt. Or whoever is responsible for this. Aaaaarghhh!

[pwalker8]

I use evernote because it supports encryption. Plain text is fine, but some info I want encrypted, especially if it's going out on someone else's box.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Oh, and another thing: why do half the developers apparently think that since they're making a notes app, they have to use one of those awful fake handwriting fonts? Did anyone even ask users if they wanted to see an ugly, illegible font that DOESN'T EVEN LOOK like handwriting? And as if the world wasn't already disfigured enough with Comics sans, Apple had to go and add MarkerFelt. Or where're is responsible for this. Aaaaarghhh!

For my, simplicity is first priority. A font easy to read is all I want.

[narbeauchamp]

I've become increasing fond of Evernote as my main note taking app. Primarily because I can easily access it across devices, I also do the premium version mainly for offline access to my notebooks....comes in really handy for long flights lacking and when lacking Internet access.

For handwritten notes I've played around with so many I've lost track....

[pwalker8]

Yea, offline access is a must. That's one of the big issues with all the cloud solutions. There are going to be times where I don't have internet access. If I can't use an app without internet access, then that app isn't very useful to me.

[FlorenceArt]

Many note-taking apps offer offline editing with a sync to the cloud, either on dropbox, iCloud or a dedicated server. But it's rarely perfect, either the app will try to sync even when you are offline and slow down until it finally realizes it can't, or if you have several devices there will be problems and conflicts with the sync. So far, Simplenotes seems to be working OK for me though. But I don't use it all that much, for me it's mostly a clipboard to transfer text between devices.

[JoeD]

I use notebooks for the little bit of note taking I do. I like it because it has quite a decent range of sync options, including via WebDav which is what I use with my mac. Edit on any device/PC and sync to the iPad before and after I use it.

I'm really not keen on any app that requires use of a non self hosted cloud. I'd rather host my own for the majority of my private documents and have the cloud as an optional extra for when I want something either public or to be shared with co-workers.

It's far from my idea of an ideal app, but it's usable, simple and works, which is what counts

[immapestomaniac]

True enough,as I’ve mentioned, simplicity in note taking is an important factor. And accessibility. An app that can easily be accessed, or can be able to be synced offline etc. Of course, a fun (but simple) interface is my requirement.
This thread's very enlightening and helpful, I enjoyed reading this! Thanks to the starter and the ones who replied!!