While all the previous note-taking tools I’ve presented in this small series were primarily focused on text or keyboard notes, today I’m reporting on a completely different approach: Handwritten notes in Goodnotes.
Actually, this form of note-taking is very close to the notebook you carry with you and in which you jot down thoughts as often as possible with a pen or pencil. Handwritten notes are good – that’s scientifically proven. The motor movement helps with memorization.
Handwriting on the Computer?
The problem is: Handwriting is suboptimal for later use of notes on the computer. Not changeable, not searchable, not reusable.
Conveniently, software manufacturers have already addressed this problem. Evernote and OneNote, for example, use integrated handwriting recognition to convert notes into text. In Evernote, you can at least search handwriting, while in OneNote you can use it as text. Apple will offer a technology called Scribble in the next iOS version 14 that converts handwriting into flowing text – whether you’re writing a note or entering an artist’s name in the search field of the Music app.
Digital Analog Notebook
On the iPad, Goodnotes has always been the king of handwritten notes. The app is designed in every detail to come as close as possible to an analog notebook. Notes are managed on pages of a certain size. The pages are visually modeled after paper. Goodnotes offers a vast array of lined, dotted, grid, or even blank papers.
You write and draw on these pages. There are various inks, pens, colors, transparencies available. You basically have a whole writing set with you.
Of course, you can include other objects in the notebook: images, links, texts, but also PDF documents, which you can then directly mark and comment on in Goodnotes.
For handwriting to work well, you naturally need a Pencil. It doesn’t really work with your finger.
Digital Usage
Although everything feels very analog, Goodnotes has all the advantages of digital notes: in the background, all handwriting is indexed, so you can also search handwritten notes. You can selectively convert individual handwritten texts or even the entire page into keyboard text.
Unlike the notebook, I can rearrange individual pages in a Goodnotes booklet. I can delete individual pages, reorganize them, or insert new pages.
Templates
A really extremely practical feature of Goodnotes is the use of custom templates. Note pages can not only be lined. Rather, you can design your own paper templates, save them as PDF, and use them as a template in Goodnotes.
I like to use this function to fill out, for example, a Business Model Canvas, a weekly planner, or meeting minutes. Also gladly in a group directly on the projector.
Automatic PDF Backup
I find the function particularly clever that you can automatically write the notes as PDFs to a cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. This way, you have all your Goodnotes not only in the app but also as PDF at your fingertips at any time.
Click and Annotate
Another workflow is occasionally important for me: From within Goodnotes, I can quickly take a photo on a smartphone or tablet and then immediately add my notes.
Mind you, all the note-taking tools presented can handle this workflow. But in Goodnotes, it’s actually the fastest, and I can best quickly write something by hand. Later, I then take over this quick note and work on it at leisure.
Why not My Main Tool?
Goodnotes is truly ingenious for its intended use. Easy to use, very powerful, with some really clever functions. Unfortunately, handwritten notes are just not my way. In connection with custom templates, I occasionally have a need, otherwise Apple Notes or one of the other tools that offer me more possibilities for structuring and organizing notes is sufficient for me.
