Other iPad Note-taking Apps
I had a chance to play around with Penultimate 3.1 for a few days and here is my take on it.
Pros:
- Uncluttered, simple UI
- Very fluid inking
- Convenient backup and restore functions
- Support for importing and annotating images
- Custom paper templates
- Easy page management
Cons:
- Only one root “folder” (My Notebooks). There doesn’t seem to be any way to create another folder.
- Lack of features: no recordings, zoom, text input, palm pad, or password protection, and so forth
- Lack of options: very few options to control the UI and all. I hope there will be more as they add more features.
- PDFs blurred when zoomed in
- Can’t change paper type for individual pages
Here are the details:
Features:
- Notebooks are arranged in a grid or rolling layout but managing them isn’t as intuitive as managing pages (see the next item).
- Pages can be reordered, duplicated, and deleted (one by one or in bulk). This is pretty intuitive, especially when people are already familiar with moving icons on the Home screen and deleting pictures in Photos.
Pages can be reordered simply by long-pressing an item and dragging it back and forth. Deleting pages feels like deleting pictures in the Photos app. Intuitive.
Managing notebooks isn't as instinctive. They can't be reordered or emailed in bulk. Tapping selects a notebook to apply an action to. Double-tapping opens it. I would prefer two separate "Edit" and "Manage" modes.
- You can email, send to iTunes, or print an entire notebook or selected pages. If you email only one page, it’s automatically saved in PNG; otherwise, they are in PDF. If you email an entire notebook, you can save it as a PDF or a Penultimate file for sharing with other Penultimate users, which is kind of neat. That said, exported PDFs are blurred when zoomed in and have no page number. You can optionally include the paper design when exporting / printing notes.
- Preset paper templates (more in The Paper Shop). Custom templates can be created by importing pictures from Photo Albums. You can only set a template for the whole notebook, not individual pages.
- Inserting images to a note works fine, albeit a little slow (see the screenshot).
So many handles, but in effect they function the same, scaling the image. You can't resize it vertically or horizontally. Rotate it 90 degrees with two fingers.
- Wrist protection either works invisibly or doesn’t work for me, because I didn’t notice any real differences. I left ink with my palm from time to time with Wrist Protection ON or OFF. In their own words, it “works better for some than for others.”
- Very convenient backup and restore functions (“Copy from iTunes” and “Send all to iTunes”). You can also choose to restore certain files from a backup. This is COOL. A great time-saver.
Performance:
- The inking is very fluid and responsive. This is definitely a BIG PLUS.
- You can only change your pen one setting at a time (thickness or color, but not both at the same time). Not a big deal.
- It takes a little long for images to be inserted.
- There’s a brief lag after tapping on “My Notebooks” before I can see my notebooks, which made me tap again and accidentally create a new notebook. This happened at least a few times.
Design:
- Simple and easy-to-use UI with self-descriptive icons. Nice! I always love a simple interface that just works!
- Turned to landscape, the UI rotates but not the text, supposedly to simulate real paper. Hence, you might need paper with vertical gridlines to write in landscape.
- It’d be easier if Undo and Redo are on the right side of the toolbar (I’m right-handed) so that I can see what is being undone / redone.
Bottom line: Penultimate 3.1 should meet your needs if all you want is to jot down some ideas quickly on the run (e.g. for a brainstorming session).
– Reviewed by Toan Nguyen (Sept 29th, 2011)
———-
Review: Note Taker HD (Version 6.0.1)
Note Taker HD is a powerful app for writing and organizing handwritten notes, diagrams, etc.. on the iPad.
Pros :
- Vector-based drawing apps
- Digital ink experience is fluid, it’s smooth and crisp ink on screen
- Support PDF Annotation, you can import PDFs from DropBox directly
- Documents are organized by tags, date/time last modified, favorites, and more, with a scrolling list of thumbnail images of part of each page to help you find them later.
- Allow to export notes to Evernote, Dropbox
- Provide various customizable shapes
- Could insert new sheets, make duplicates of pre-existing sheets, add numerous forms, columns, and grids
- Insert images from album, pasteboard, camera
- Support Wrist guard to avoid inadvertent touches
- Extensive built-in help
- Support lefties
- Support custom backgrounds
- Allow you to show some or all of the page view if you have the iPad connected to VGA or HDMI adapter
- Backup to a single file
- Optional fields in output footers like in a word processor
- Share editable copies of your documents with others
Cons :
- UI cumbersome and it might take a while for newcomer to get familiar with their features
- Auto advance feature is not natural, user has to manually click the ‘return’ button at the end of each line
- Can’t rest your palm on the iPad screen while you write (actually you have the option to create a wrist guard dead zone to rest your palm, but it doesn’t work well).
This app is suitable for you if you’re in need of these things :
- Type, handwrite, and drag in a bunch of things (like grids, flow chart symbols, etc)
- This app supports multiple notebooks and files and PDFs to annotate. You can organize your notes by tagging them and then filter the list to show only specific tags. You can also favorite certain notes to find them quickly
- Printing directly to an AirPrint printer, or opening the PDFs in another program like DropBox, Good Reader, Evernote, or any other apps on your iPad that allow filesharing.
– Reviewed by Duy Nguyen (Sept 30th, 2011)
———-
Dear Notes Plus users,
This page will collect information about other iPad note-taking apps besides Notes Plus so that you, value-conscious note-takers, can decide on the best buy that meets you needs. Reader’s comments/feedback will be welcome here so that we can all have an objective view of the pros and cons of each app. There are a lot of note-taking apps out there. Those repeatedly mentioned on this blog are: Note Taker HD, Noteshelf, Bamboo Paper, Penultimate, UPAD. Those mentioned less frequently are: PhatPad, Underscore Notify, Noterize, … (I’m properly missing a lot). And there are new ones coming every day like one I read about a couple days ago: Ghostwriter Notes. We will try to have as much information on this page as possible, though it will never be perfect.
It might be strange to showcase competitor products on my own product support page. However, if I put customer benefits before mine, then it’s not strange at all. I just don’t want you to end up buying all note-taking apps, like many did.
Now, Duy & Toan, why don’t you guys fill in the page? I need to focus on coding 
September 22nd, 2011.
Viet Tran
Jan 30, 2012 @ 23:24:03
Saw this app on ipad. Awesome! Want and need it for Android. I can’t wait till you port it to android. Nothing else seems to have the features this app has.
Feb 03, 2012 @ 08:52:57
Hi Matthew,
Many users have requested an Android version and we have plans to port the app to Android. But that won’t
happen anytime soon because we want to focus on iOS first and make the best note-taking app on iPad.
Jan 28, 2012 @ 18:49:27
When you import pictures, do you have the option of importing from your gallery or take a picture with the iPad camera? Once the picture is in Notes Plus can you resize the picture?
I haven’t purchased the app yet, but wanted to know this before I purchased.
Thanks!
Feb 02, 2012 @ 18:10:15
I have the same question. I want to a snapshot and resize rotate as needed. Maybe even crop.
Feb 03, 2012 @ 08:58:01
Hi PeachJar, rbc303,
If you’re using iPad 2, you can take a picture from within Notes Plus and insert it into your page. You can resize and rotate the inserted picture. For more info, see http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/.
Jan 27, 2012 @ 02:04:31
Wondering if notes plus or any app you know of can work over AirPlay? As a school teacher I often use AirPlay to send iPad to a apple tv connected to the LCD projector in my classroom. I’d love to be able to do the same with notes plus.
Jan 27, 2012 @ 02:27:26
Hi Chris,
At this moment, AirPlay isn’t supported by Notes Plus. However, if you have an iPad 2 (iOS 5 installed) with Apple TV (gen 2), you can take advantage of AirPlay Mirroring. AirPlay Mirroring lets you share exactly what’s on your iPad 2. Just double-click the Home button, swipe all the way to the right, and select AirPlay Mirroring. What you see on your iPad is just what they see on the big screen.
Thanks,
-Duy
Jan 22, 2012 @ 13:31:14
Hi, how do I send My notes as email Out of notes plus?
Jan 22, 2012 @ 15:45:56
Hi Kai,
Please tap on Tools (wrench icon) in the toolbar, tap on “Export” and choose to export to emails. There are a few settings (export single page, entire notebook, specified pages).
Just let us know if you have other questions.
Thanks,
-Duy
Jan 21, 2012 @ 09:54:45
Hi Toan,
I would like to be able to open my text books (iBooks from VitalSource.com and others) in your web browser page so I can take notes as I study. I can open my textbooks from my VitalSource app already on my iPad; however, I can’t copy from my VitalSource page to your app. As a work around, I tried to open the text books in the Notes Plus browser using my online VitalSource account. I am able to open the books online on a PC, but cannot open them in your browser page. Is this functionality you could add please? It would be better if I could copy text from my text books which I can open in your browser page, instead of just a screen shot.
On another note, is there a button to anchor the page so that it doesn’t wobble when I touch it? Thank you for a great app.
Jan 22, 2012 @ 16:04:07
Hi Erin,
Currently, Notes Plus only supports importing PDF pages. It’d be really hard to support all document formats so we decided to support the most popular one (PDF). Export your VitalSource page to PDF (ask their customer support) and you will be able to import into Notes Plus.
The web browser provided in Notes Plus can only be used for reading right now. We have thought about annotating on it but it would make the app really complicated (where to save? how different between 2 types of documents?) and confusing for users. We will see if we could come up with something.
Thanks,
Viet
Jan 19, 2012 @ 22:35:12
I bought penultimate a month or so ago, and I wish that I had seen my friends copy of yours first. I am really thinking of switching, but in the real paper world I use the 10×10 engineering graph paper all the time, and it is one of the things I liked about penultimate. What is the chance of you adding that to your selections in the near future?
I am seriously wanting to change, but this may or may not be a reason for pause.
Jan 20, 2012 @ 11:51:34
Hi Steve,
Have you tried to use our engineering graph paper in Notes Plus? Just tap on Tools >> Change Page Settings >> Paper background >> There are several paper types there. See if it fits your usage? We’ll have page settings for entire notebook in v3.0.1 which will be submitted to App Store at some point today.
Thanks,
-Duy
Jan 14, 2012 @ 01:51:23
Review of Noteshelf App (v5.0) on iPad
By Pierre:
Posted on 2012/01/11
The best note taking application for iPad, let me tell you why.
After having purchased 6 other note taking apps including penultimate, notes plus, note taker hd, upad and notability, I have given up and started using notability since it was the best of what is available. It was, however, never a very comfortable experience having to always use the zoom feature since writing directly didn’t always work or wouldn’t keep up with my stylus. Notability had some very well implemented features like PDF Import and export to and from Dropbox. But the handwriting deficiencies still bugged me (e.g. loss of zoom setting between notes).
I stumbled yesterday by accident into the update notice of noteshelf v5 which I have previously dismissed due to the lack of text input announcing the addition of text input. I figured what’s another 5$. So imagine my surprise after trying it for the first time. It only took five minutes to win me over. I was amazed at the level of refinement that the application has. I will give concrete examples:
- each page remembers its settings including zoom, palm rest position, etc.
- the palm rest works great and advances automatically as you write down.
- The ink is beautiful and flows smoothly even when I am writiquick fast fast
- interface is very iOS centric and is clean and easy
- easy management of books and pages
- 17 pages user manual (not really needed but it’s there)
- lots of page templates with matching line spacing when using the zoom feature
- new page layout can be set for one, all or current and future new pages
- many many other small things that make using this app a pleasure instead of a chore.
I was so comfortable using noteshelf that I copied over the few notes I already entered in notability and kept going. Compared to notability, i do not find myself think about using the app, i just use it. I set the wide spaced lines as my standard page and I rarely need to zoom and my note taking is effortless. Please forgive the repetition of praises, I simply can’t help it.
Now, since it does not do PDF imports, I will have to keep some other app just for such feature so there is room for improvement. Other ideas and suggestions that I can pass to the developer:
- PDF background via import from Dropbox or Open in
- add ability to move the zoom area up so that my hand can lay on iPad
- add ability to quickly jump between favorite notebooks (implies adding favorites)
- add shortcut to the cut paste move paste sequence to move a selected area around.
- allow text formatting inside a block instead of the entire block.
- reposition of pages does not work when you only have two pages
- reposition of notebooks is also problematic with only two
- group of notebooks should allow to pick which notebook to show (or at least show the first one instead of most recent, it just weird for me)
Jan 12, 2012 @ 13:33:23
Can I synch files with iCloud on my ipad2?
Jan 14, 2012 @ 10:09:57
Hi Wayne,
We haven’t had support for iCloud yet, but we will soon do.
Regards,
Toan
Jan 10, 2012 @ 08:56:15
I was using the older version of Notes Plus A LOT for about six months, but found working with text and hand-written notes too cumbersome. Also I really wanted to be able to convert handwriting to typed text. So I tried out three other notebook type apps but found them even more cumbersome. The handwriting recognition/ conversion in those apps was pretty pathetic–especially because my handwriting is messy.
So when I saw this updated version of Notes Plus with the new handwriting conversion feature, I decided to try Notes Plus again. This new version is MUCH better. The interface is greatly improved. I used to get irritated just creating a new notepad in the older version. The context-sensitive and user-configurable toolbar makes this version much easier to use. The handwriting recognition/conversion is way better than anything else I’ve tried. It works very well (even with my bad handwriting).
I just tried importing a 37-page PDF file and annotating. GREAT! It works better for annotating than PDF Expert or ReaddleDocs.
HOWEVER . . . I have run into two problems: one serious, the second more serious. Earlier, I was jotting down some notes around some text I had copied from Pages and pasted into a notebook. As I was working, three or four times, Notes Plus just quit. I was back on the main page of my iPad. I had to restart Notes Plus. Fortunately, I only lost the last word or two that I had written.
But then the more serious problem. I was working on a second page of notes. Everything seemed to be going fine until I switched to Pages to copy more text.
When I switched back to Notes Plus, all my notes on the second page of the notebook were gone. The first page was OK. I never got back the second page of notes.
Now I am very apprehensive about doing anything important in Notes Plus because I can’t tell when it’s going to cut out on me next and lose my notes.
Is anyone else experiencing these problems?
Jan 14, 2012 @ 10:05:22
Hi Guy,
Thanks a lot for your thoughts about v3.0. Regarding your problems:
1. Did you notice any pattern leading to the crashes? If so, please let us know. Once it can be replicated, we’ll fix it.
2. Your lost typed notes probably contained the & and < characters. It's a serious bug and we've fixed it in v3.0.1. For more info, see our FAQ (http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/). Terribly sorry about the trouble.
Jan 09, 2012 @ 05:07:08
Hi guys,
I’ve just switched to Notes Plus after using Note Taker HD for some time. All in all it seems a better app but I am REALLY missing the ability to convert a note to PDF for opening in another application. In particular, I use notebooks as a central store house for material on different projects and would love to be able to place notes made with Notes Plus there without having to email them to myself. Is it likely that a future version will support this (As Note Take HD does already)?
Jan 15, 2012 @ 15:34:21
Hi Mark,
Sorry about this late response. If you don’t want to email PDFs to yourself, just tap Tools (the wrench icon on the toolbar) > Export > Export to iTunes. Then get the exported PDF via File Sharing (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094).
Regards,
Toan
Jan 08, 2012 @ 00:25:54
Hi,
As per byzero, your app will be compatible with their stylus in the first week of Jan 2012. Any updates on the same?
Thanks!
Chet
Jan 11, 2012 @ 22:16:31
I think they’re working on getting this done for the next update. I believe it would be submitted next week, but am not exactly sure about that.
Jan 07, 2012 @ 17:23:30
Just upgraded to 3, well done guys. What a powerful tool. Looking forward to the extra export functionality. Please add a six line guitar tab sheet in the paper options. Or give us extra paper import options like noteshelf. Text export would be very handy to use notes in .doc.
Jan 10, 2012 @ 09:22:44
We will have more customized paper options in future release.
Thanks,
Viet
Jan 07, 2012 @ 01:33:55
What happened to Dropbox. It’s not in the new release.
Jan 11, 2012 @ 22:19:23
It has been repeatedly asked, but it’ll be back in the next update. A little patience.
Dec 29, 2011 @ 19:56:04
I just purchased NotesPlus for my iPad. I am investigating whether or not to recommend it to my clients. They are practicing Physicians. They need a way to “Go Electronic.” Note-taking is an important part of treatment and patient care. My clients now only use a yellow tablet, the notes are torn off the tablet and stuffed in the Patient’s Record Folder, put into a filing cabinet. NotesPlus cannot be used for this purpose because the Records are not secure. A means of strong encryption and password access is necessary (default encryption/password for all storage purposes) for this task. Sensitive data must be secure to allow NotesPlus to be a serious App for secure uses. Two other things I would add to the App; I would like to be able to mark up images by importing them, draw and write over them, and the other thing is; it would be nice if NotesPlus would actually create a HTML Email of the Notes as the eMail message and not just an attachment.
Dec 30, 2011 @ 04:22:07
Hi Jay,
Part of the reason for rewriting Notes Plus in version 3 to replace a database with flat files is the ability to encrypt notes. Cocoa and iOS SDK made AES256 implementation really simple. We’re just worrying about its performance because of the big size of handwriting (graphic) data. After we test the performance successfully, we will provide it as an option.
Version 3.0 will allow inserting images from Photos or Camera too. “Export as Text” to email will probably be in a future update.
Kind regards,
Toan
Nov 20, 2011 @ 01:11:02
I would like to burn my recordings onto a cd. I can’t get itunes to recognize or play (or of course, burn) the recordings. I have been working on stuff for a couple hours, and am frustrated enough to write this, albeit, in the wrong section. File sharing “seems” to work, but I can’t find my file in itunes. Thanks for the help
pete
Nov 14, 2011 @ 02:45:25
I usually love this App for note taking and recording. However, something is seriously wrong!!!!! The audio recorder literally went crazy tonight. Everything looked normal as it was recording for about an hour. However, when done, I could not play the recording and the recording was not included on the list of previous recordings. Instead, when I touched the record icon, it turns red as if it were recording and the timer advances at an extremely fast super speed – non-stop. Previous recordings play back fine. I am very disappointed to lose an important recording. PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!!
Nov 14, 2011 @ 02:53:08
Hi Faye,
Could you please try to use iTunes File Sharing (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094) and save the Audio folder from Notes Plus Documents to your computer. See if this folder contains your recording (in the *.caf extension). You can use Apple QuickTime to play it. Please let us know if this solution can help to recover your recording. This issue was happening once in a while for me too. It’s driving our devs crazy as it’s difficult to reproduce.
Sorry for this trouble.
-Duy
Nov 12, 2011 @ 18:34:02
I just intalled the most recent update and am now having nothing but problems. It now constantly crashes or if I get into my notes it run incredibly slow and then crashes. I have been using this app to replace my daytimer in taking notes but will now need to investigate other apps out on the market unless this issue can be resolved quickly. Please let me know when this will be resolved. Thanks
Nov 13, 2011 @ 06:53:38
Hi Larry,
Can you please try to reset the app to manufacturer settings to see if this helps? (refer to this page http://notesplusapp.com/support/frequently-asked-questions under section “How do I reset to manufacturer settings?”).
Please let us know if this still doesn’t help.
Thanks,
-Duy
Nov 13, 2011 @ 23:40:45
Didn’t help. All of my notes for the past month are now gone. I did a backup last night. How can I get my backup copy back into this app? No instructions to give me a walk thru.
Nov 14, 2011 @ 03:08:16
Hi Larry,
Reset to manufacturer settings should not erase your Notes Plus data (if you followed the instructions correctly). Did you remove the app and re-install Notes Plus? You can follow this article http://ipadhelp.com/ipad-help/how-to-restore-your-ipad-from-a-backup/ to restore to a specified backup in the past from iTunes. This should bring back your data.
Please let me know if this doesn’t help.
Thanks,
-Duy
Nov 11, 2011 @ 19:51:17
2 things
1) the Add comment button on the Development progress page seems broken. I tired both on my desktop and on my iPad
2) I’m having some very irritating problems with the recent build. The ink is stuttery and blinking, not smooth. And frequently it is disappearing after I write it unless I go back and add a mark nea the text I had written and then it reappears. I primarily use the zoom close up to write.
Thanks,
David
Nov 12, 2011 @ 03:44:42
Hi David,
1. The Development Progress page is outdated so we’ve closed the comments.
2. V2.3.6 is live now. Please get the update from the App Store and the blinking will go away.
Kind regards,
Toan
Nov 09, 2011 @ 16:30:53
Dear Mr. Nguyen,
I wonder if we can insert image/photo to pages.
Nov 09, 2011 @ 18:13:50
Hi Armağan,
Version 3 will allow you to do that. Please check out http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/. Stay tuned!
Kind regards,
Toan
Nov 02, 2011 @ 12:11:45
Hi,
firstly I want to tell you that the app is really good and I am waiting for some of the improvements (i.e. copy and paste in differents pages)
On the other hand: the notebook weights now aprox 125MB and I suffer a lot of errors when backuping to dropbox. What can I do?
Thanks in advance,
Pablo
Nov 02, 2011 @ 12:42:57
Hi Pablo,
Version 3 will support the ability to copy/paste drawing objects through different pages. You can find out a list of new features for version 3 here : http://notesplusapp.com/versions/version-3
For such a big data file, I would suggest you to save your NotesPlusPlus.sqlite in iTunes’s File Sharing to Dropbox folder from your computer (you can read this article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094 for instruction how to locate to iTunes’s File Sharing folder). Whenver you need to restore your datab, just drag NotesPlusPlus.sqlite file onto “Notes Plus” folder to bring your data back.
Please let me know if you still have questions.
Thanks,
-Duy
Nov 01, 2011 @ 20:25:56
I am a Notes Plus enthusiast, I am also willing to try other note taking applications. On my ipad I have Notes Plus, Note Taker HD, Penultimate, Bamboo Paper, and Noteshelf. In my experience Notes Plus can significantly improve the capturing of handwriting. I have noticed that both Note Taker and Noteshelf truly capture my handwriting accurately, while Notes Plus leaves me having to interpret what I wrote. Is there something that you can do to improve the writing capture? I love the folder structure that Notes Plus offers, however, with the performance degradation since IOS5, I have been relying on Noteshelf as my primary note taking tool.
Nov 03, 2011 @ 12:19:03
Hi Mike,
Thanks for being an enthusiast. One tip I can give is (and you probably knew it) write in closeup mode, not zoom mode; it’s faster that way. It’s our goal to improve the inking in each future release. Version 3 is in alpha stage now and feedback from our testers is positive regarding the inking (please see this page for more updates: http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/).
Kind regards,
Toan
Oct 27, 2011 @ 12:35:10
Just want to commend some fantastic and innovative work. Really great that you’re working on PDF importing, and the Studio pen integration. Also love that you’ve incorporated recording. Will definitely be buying this, and am sure it’ll change the way I study!
Oct 26, 2011 @ 23:47:07
I’m looking for a note taking app for my iPad 2 that will allow background 2-way voice record in Skype while using my headphones. What I mean is: I would start an audio Skype call while using my headphones, go back to the Home screen and launch the note taking app, record audio on both sides of the conversation, and have the audio file follow the notes/sketches I write into the note taking app.
In my search so far, I have not found an app that does this yet. I have seen ones that will record Skype calls as long as I use external speakers. Does yours? If not, are there plans to support this feature?
Oct 27, 2011 @ 04:05:26
Hi Long,
A recording is synced across pages so you get to hear only a portion of it on each page (go to the Recordings folder to hear it in full). Is this what you meant by “having the audio file follow the notes/sketches…”? And it can record in the background, including sounds from the speaker (e.g. from the iPod / Music app). We also have plans to implement a feature where the recording is synced to a portion of text on the page so tapping on some text will play some audio. However, this won’t happen anytime soon. Please check out these videos to see if the current version suits your needs: http://notesplusapp.com/support/video-tutorial.
Kind regards,
Toan
Oct 21, 2011 @ 07:35:10
Review – Notability
I kept seeing mention of Notability so I thought I’d give it a try.
In hopes of saving folks time and money, here’s my review:
Although the UI is a bit blocky (jeuvenile instead of professional and clean) still I Love all the features:
- Smoooooth inking – I had NO lags, skips or misses
- Image insert, image captions, text wrap
- Import PDF from cloud services
- Shape tool in image editor
- Selective cropping tool in image editor
- Palm rest in draw mode
- Smart eraser erases object regardless of size
- Eraser repeats (eraser mode = no need to hold eraser down or keep retapping it)
- Page lines adapt to match text, easier to read
- Search function
- Outlining
- Customizable toolbar in text mode
- Bold, underline, italics
- No need for insert page function, each “page” is a separate item (note) with infinite scrolling length
- Paper types including parchment, blue, yellow, etc
…much more
Features I’d like that Notability V4 is currently missing include:
- Tab in pen palatte for infinite pen color and opacity choice
- Image Rotate
- Select and move area of handwriting
- Select and move text
- Two (or more) column text – put text anywhere I want to – even side by side
- Folder in folder (sub categories).
- Night-writing Dimmer control
- Searchable handwriting recognition
I did find several items Awkward:
- Zoom control limited to target box in draw mode
- One finger scroll in text mode, misleading, doesnt work in draw mode.
- Organizing isn’t self-evident:
1. subjects within categories are not indented to show that they are members
2. The folder structure has a two-level organizing limit – no putting subcategories within categories – no subfolders within a folder
3. I got Errors while rearranging categories and subjects – items in one category don’t always move as a group so items can get separated
My only bug report is that the Program crashed when I clicked eraser then tapped text.
Other than that I think it’s a stellar app, even if it isn’t a Courier-type product like NotesPlus V3 promises to be.
Speaking of, Hey Guys, can we add a night-writing dimmer as a future feature after V3? Hehe
HTH,
G
Oct 24, 2011 @ 03:38:12
Thanks Gail alot for taking your time to write this review. It’s definitely helpful for our users. I can see this app is really promising. It’d worth to give it a try.
Really appreciate for your help.
-Duy
Oct 20, 2011 @ 22:40:27
Hello. Can I insert pictures/photos into the notes?
Oct 21, 2011 @ 01:11:12
Hi Dimpy,
You currently can’t but you will be able to in version 3. Check out our v3 page: http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/.
Best,
Toan
Oct 15, 2011 @ 12:48:47
I have both the Samsung Galaxy and Ipad. Note Plus is a great app, will it be available for Android as well?
Oct 15, 2011 @ 13:00:41
Hi Thomas,
We’ll try to port Notes Plus into Android platform at some time in the near future. That is already in our plan. At this moment, we need to focus on iOS to make the app stable.
Thank you for using Notes Plus!
-Duy
Oct 09, 2011 @ 22:56:02
If you’re reading this page because you’re looking for a comparison between Paperdesk and NotesPlus, here’s the review of Paperdesk that I posted to the App store.
I like the simple interface and 3 modes of use (text, drawing, or erasing).
But there’s quite a number things I can’t do in PaperDesk that I want to be able to do though:
- Change text size (text is so big people can read my journal over my shoulder!)
- Change font color (esp. already-typed text)
- Rotate photo
- Folders for organizing notebooks
- Zoom (I like to write more finely than this)
- Change line spacing to more narrow lines (or make my own background template)
- Change format for my time stamp (ex: include year, or do format like 10/9/11) (default is Sun, Oct 9)
- Select or move items (paragraph, inserted image, drawing area)
- Re-arrange pages within a notebook
- Insert page before this one
- Resize photo without changing proportions
accidentally (the corner handles could be fixed
to proportional resizing only, and let mid-point handles do other kinds of stretching)
You can do multiple recordings with Paperdesk, similar to NotesPlus. Supposedly you can do PDF import and markup in Paperdesk, but the reviews testify to tons of crashes and bugs when you try to use it.
However, here is I find this version of Paperdesk better than Notes Plus’s current version (mind you, some of these will change in NotesPlus’s version 3):
- bookmarks
- infinite pen color / opacity / size control
- insert image AND commit the image directly onto the page (neu.notes does image insert, but it remains in layers and thus never commits fully to the page)
- ability to erase parts of images!! (clean, not sloppy layers like neu.notes image behavior)
- personally, I like the off-white, parchment, and other color background options in Paperdesk better than the harsh white paper background in Notes Plus’s current version.
- text auto-flow – when typing, it advances you to the next page if you reach the bottom and – at least in theory – allows you to keep typing while it adds the text onto the next page.
However, auto flow did have BUGS in Paperdesk. When I was typing beyond the page limit, first it extended my page bottom so that text was below the screensize. Then the automatic page turning function turned the page, but I was still typing and my cursor wasn’t on the page so everything I was typing during and after the auto-page turn was lost. Then I went back and added a carriage return before the overflow paragraph to move it down. This finally forced the “text auto-flow-to-next-page” function to initiate – good, the text was across pages correctly, until I went back to the first page to insert text at the end. When I did that, the auto-page turn worked normally again, but again I lost my cursor while typing so I had to touch the page to get the cursor back on the page to register what I was typing. Oopsie.
Other than the bugs I think Paperdesk is a solid program. If it had the functions in my want-list, I’d consider PaperDesk for my Holy Grail note-taking app. However without them I’m staying with Notes Plus and use neu.notes for images until Notes Plus has image control in V3.
Hope these notes help!
Oct 06, 2011 @ 17:14:16
Can I import PDF files and save them in the folders?
What about other formats (doc, iwork)/
Can I export only in PDF?
Can I incorporate pictures (jpg ie from camera folder) into the notes?
Oct 06, 2011 @ 17:48:58
Hi Eve,
Currently, you can’t import PDFs or images into your note. However, both these things will be possible in version 3 (but we won’t probably support other formats like DOC or iWORK anytime soon).
You can export your note as a PDF or an image.
Toan
Sep 28, 2011 @ 03:48:20
Is it possible to make my own paper templates? Or any plans to add more in the future like the Penultimate Paper Store? I love Notes Plus, and this is something I would like to be able to have.
Oct 01, 2011 @ 04:17:49
Hi Scott,
Version 3 will support the ability to import images and create your own paper templates from it. However, a paper store won’t be in place for this update yet. We’ll consider this option and see what can we do for it in future updates.
Thank you for your support!
-Duy
Sep 26, 2011 @ 16:55:04
I bought the notes plus. Quite good but was very disappointed that it couldn’t import image. Many note apps have it. Finally it would be perfect if it has the OCR function to convert to digital text.
cheers
rene
Sep 27, 2011 @ 02:00:22
Hi rene,
Importing images and handwriting recognition will be part of version 3. We hope you’ll like it when it’s out. Updates are here: http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/. Also, please check out these tutorial videos (if you haven’t) to see what Notes+ currently can and can’t do.
Toan
Sep 23, 2011 @ 12:52:21
Traci, I’m using Notetaker HD for that purpose while waiting for Notes+ v3. But, I’ve bought almost all the note taking apps and by far Notes+ has the best close-up writing feature. I love how well it auto advances to the next line. There’s another app that has this feature (can’t remember which one), but the allignment is off when it moves to the next line. Also Notetaker HD has an ugly cumbersome interface, but it does what I need it to.
Despite Notetaker HD’s flaws it’s the best at giving me what I need for work . . . until Notes+ v3 arrives.
Oct 13, 2011 @ 21:18:58
This free sharing of information seems too good to be true. Like comnmisum.
Sep 22, 2011 @ 17:03:07
I love my iPad, but in my job I need the ability to import a PDF into an app that will then let me take notes and draw on that doc, save & export out at PDF. Others doing the same job are currently working on a tablet pc’s using Windows Journal. Please help point me in the correct direction, before I have to give up my iPad for a tablet pc.
Thank you for the help
Traci
Sep 23, 2011 @ 04:52:45
Traci,
No need to dump your iPad. There are tons of apps out there in the app store that will allow you to annotate pdf files, ranging in price from free to $10.00.
I don’t do a lot of this myself, so I can’t recommend any one in particular. I can say that, from what I’ve seen in various reviews, iAnnotate PDF & Good Reader are the two top contenders in the paid app category. Both have 4+ stars and lots of reviews in the app store.
If you don’t want to blow $ on features you may not need there, there is no shortage of free apps as well. I have neu.Annotate on my iPad and I like it.
I’d recommend doing a little Googleing, read some of the many head to head comparison reviews and see which apps offer the features you are looking for.
Also, Viet has promised PDF annotation in the next release of Notes Plus. If you want to hold out for that, down load one (or more) of the freebie apps to hold you over.
HTH,
Jason