Notetaking with an iPad
 

We have a lot of users looking to use iPads for note taking during meetings. I have tried it myself but find I get so caught up in trying to type on the thing that I inevitably loose track of the meeting itself. I find paper notes to be so much easier and efficent in the end.

how do you use your iPad (or Android) for note taking?

There are apps that will let you write on the Ipad instead of type on it. If you google

handwriting ipad notetaking

you will find dozens of apps, demo videos, and reviews. Some will also record audio at the same time.

I agree with you, I can type, but don't like to do it when I'm listening to something.

There's a sticky for favorite apps that will have more info.

A few to consider:

Note Taker HD
Penultimate
Sundry Notes
Simplenote
Notes [nuancee]
iAnnotate PDF [yes, it can take notes]

But how does one really take notes? Yeah there are pleanty of apps out there, but... do you just sit there and type away during the meeting? Do you use some kind of handwriting app? Do you use to do lists and calendars or just jot down text, or do you handwrite everythig and then input it later, more as a reference source than for actual note acquisition?

my boss lays it open on his smart cover and use the keyboard to type everything into evernote. took him awhile but he is pretty fast now.

apps i listed below can be used with keyboard or stylus or fingers [not recommended but does work]. they create a yellow pad for your to literally use the stylus to scribble notes, etc.

I switched over to taking all of my notes at scientific meetings on my iPad a year or so ago. In my office I actually use a Livescribe pen, and always have one of those and a small notepad around but the small notepad isnt great for taking a lot of notes at a meeting, more for jots to myself about stuff.

The apps I use are NoteTaker HD and recently I have been testing Notability. I have tried many others, and Notability is the only one that comes close to NoteTaker HD in my opinion. The nice additions to Notability are that it does record sound as well.

With both apps, I use a Boxwave stylus to hand write my notes. I can then mail them to myself as PDFs when I get back to my office. I like the smooth rubber tip on the Boxwave stylus more than the foam type tips a lot of other styli for the iPad have. The great thing about both of these apps is that they have a window to write in, fairly large window in fact, and when you write in it the text is put in a second window on the page, and shrunk down. The net is that you can write fairly large, important in my experience with a stylus, and it is then stored compactly on the page.

I must have tried at least 10 of the apps. Notes Plus is the only one I consider to be truly usable. Handwriting to text is awesome. Total cost is $10 after the in app purchase and it is easily the best $10 I've spent for the iPad.

http://notesplusapp.com/

Interesting. I had real trouble with that one. I may have to try it again but didn't like it much. My post above was wrong though, I will edit it, in that Notability I don't think converts writing to text. Notes Mobile, which I am trying now, and Notes Plus do convert writing to text.

bluetooth
 

I use an apple bluetooth keyboard paired to my android tablet when I have lots of writing to do. I use a variety of apps for making notes. None of them seem to be a hands down standout for my style. Sometimes I just use a todo list app when all I need is to note action items.

I've tried about 7 different note taking apps and the one I have settled on is Notability. Smooth writing and when I want to type the ease to indent and bullet is what makes this my go to app.

I have tried using a BT keyboard with my iPad as well. It works fine but I prefer handwriting. Just a personal preference thing but an external keyboard is certainly an option.

Saw a guy across the aisle on a recent flight typing pretty fast on one of these:

http://www.touchfire.com/

That looks fascinating! Getting one will be the next problem.

Went to app store to check out, and the latest updated version got terrible reviews, problems with crashing, etc. What version do you have?