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?

I have the most recent version of it I think. I have tried it within the last 2 weeks. It didnt compare well at all to Note Taker HD or Notability in my opinion. It looks like the ratings on those two are are also better. It's possible that I missed something about how to use it I suppose but I gave up on it very quickly.

I also have the latest version and it works great for me. I haven't looked at reviews as I have been using it a while and find it a joy to use. I have the Note Taker HD, Bamboo Paper, Notability, JotStudio, Pennultimate and PDFPen (for PDF notes) and for whatever reason I find Notes Plus to be the best for how I use it. I'm amazed at how often it converts my crappy handwriting to text correctly and I use that feature the most. The one thing I find to be shaky is the autoshape but I don't use that much. Oh well, perhaps it is a use case based solution and it just fits what I want to do the best.

Let's expand this a little bit. I want to convince (or perhaps refute if that turns out to be the case) my boss that tablets are worth investing in as a workplace tool. Outside of email, how are they best used in the workplace? We don't have a sales staff, don't travel, and we are not a creative group, so we don't use a lot of pictures/visuals. We are pretty bog standard in admin tasks. As a manger/director/VP, what extra efficiencies are going to be gained that justify the cost?

I am Secretary of the Board of a non-profit and have taken hand notes for minutes at board meetings for two years. It was a pain to try to decipher my own notes the next day.

I just got an iPad with Bluetooth keyboard and found it much easier, faster and accurate than writing notes. It helps that I learned touch typing.

I love the apps that let you record the meeting and sync your notes. It makes it easier to go back and flush out your notes. Always dump the sound file and covert it to Word. People say too many stupid things that you don't want to memorialize.

Without knowing your business I can think of a few general benefits:

(1) Instant access to manuals, databases and other information while away from the desk. Handy for internal meetings where you wouldn't have a computer handy.

(2) Cuts down on the amount that you have to print for internal use. Besides the obvious cost and environmental arguments, this also arguably boosts your information security, since paper is easier to remove from the office without leaving a record (though you would need to take time to secure your devices if leakage is really a concern).

(3) Scheduling. Everyone can refer to their shared work schedule at any time. More efficient than manually syncing one's Outlook calendar to their personal diary.

(4) Makes people feel like they are working in a leading-edge environment.

Bingo - I'm in the exact same situation. I would forget all my handwritten notes. Now I email the completed minutes to everyone at the end of the meeting :D

Ugh! The reality (as I see it) is that the iPad isn't the correct tool for note-taking during a meeting. You can of course try to retrofit it into being the correct tool by purchasing an add-on keyboard. Now of course you're carrying two things into the meeting - iPad and keyboard. And you have to make sure they get and stay connected over Bluetooth, so you've increased the complexity of your note-taking task.

I hate to say it, but a laptop is the right tool for this job, isn't it? Unfortunately it's not the "coolest" tool, but it's the correct tool.

iPads seem to be great for Viewing content, but not so good for Creating content - outside of artistic "drawing" stuff. Would I want to use an iPad to create a Project Gantt chart? Or to create slide decks for a presentation? Or heaven forbid a document?

It's not cool to say so, but sometimes a laptop is the better choice.

I type into Evernote, every day.... The hard thing is to forget about formatting, just jot the notes that come to mind, fix it later, or if ever.

Whenever I see that meme I just have to laugh. I see many people in my company who can type quite quickly on a tablet surface, and have no problem keeping up with a meeting to take minutes or notes. Is it the perfect solution? No, but it is a perfectly acceptable one, especially considering the weight and other attributes such as long battery life generally outweigh any possible benefits of carrying a laptop. It is really all about personal preference, not about what is "cool" or not.

Can I ask? Have you ever used a tablet in such a scenario, recently?

Thanks,

Agree with others on the evernote, and I have it installed everywhere, so the "cloud" has everything.

A laptop doesn't work for me. In a company meeting people think you are checking email and only half listening to the meeting, same thing in a client meeting. If I am writing on my iPad everyone just thinks I am intently taking notes, which I am.

I guess people can get used to anything. I imagine there are people who could take notes on their smartphone keyboard, using just their two thumbs, and could keep up. Does that make it the best choice for the task?

And almost no one on this thread recommended using the tablet virtual keyboard itself - I have heard mostly recommendations for an external keyboard. I believe that is because most people would struggle for a long time with significant typing on the virtual keyboard. I'm sure eventually you would get used to it, but at a significant investment in time and effort.

No, because it seems to be the incorrect tool for the task. I take notes either with a pen and paper, or a laptop. I don't have to try to take notes using my smartphone, to know it's not the best option.

That assumption is ridiculous on their part. The people who are not paying attention are the ones on their smart phones, not you using a laptop.

Why yes, it does mean it is the best choice for the task, for the people who choose to use that device.

I think you are making an assumption there. The first explicit mention of an external keyboard does not happen until post #10, and then again in #12. As the iPad has a keyboard I was reading the first nine posts as referring to that.

But you said you have never tried using a tablet in this manner, so you are making an even bigger assumption here.

Not the best option, for you. But then you have never given it a try either.

If you knew how many times I heard laptops down! If I scribble on my iPad no big deal.

I tried typing notes on the ipad keypad screen, but that's slow and inefficient for me.

I ended up buying a bluetooth keyboard/case. While it was not exactly cheap (for a keyboard, if you really think about it), it's definitely more useful (in terms of productivity) and is absolutely worth it.

So to summarize for the OP, I see three options for taking notes on an iPad:

1. Use the iPad virtual keyboard
For most people this has a huge learning curve. The lack of any tactile feedback forces you to concentrate on the keyboard instead of listening to the meeting.

2. Use an app that allows you to write on the iPad screen with a stylus
Still a learning curve to learn the handwriting needed to be recognized by the app, but may become second nature after a while.

3. Purchase a BT keyboard
Basically recreating a laptop. Now must carry two components (iPad and keyboard), must keep the keyboard charged, must figure out and establish BT connectivity. No learning curve once the above is resolved.

I guess I'm the Luddite of this thread, but none of these solutions seem to be the best approach, which would be a laptop (in my opinion). The three solutions above all have significant drawbacks. There is a reason why tablets haven't completely replaced laptops yet. Sometimes you need both, for different tasks.

the Zagg case + keyboard might work. I haven't had to charge it since I bought it. Seamless BT and intergated to a case. If I want the ipad alone, I just slip it out.

When the iPhone first came out people complained about the lack of a hard keyboard. Now, a few years later, the vast majority of smartphone have onscreen keyboards. The same will happen with tablets. As more people get used to them they will accept the onscreen keyboards and become quite proficient with them. Some people are ahead of the curve on this, and some will never adapt.

I don't use a laptop for note taking either. Pen and paper are my preferred tool. I get too distracted with the tool to pay attention to the meeting. I am comfortable enough with the technology part of it. I use a bt keyboard not just because of the tactile element, but because the screen is too small as is without a keyboard taking up half the screen space.

My real question is hat does taking notes electronically real time in a meeting offer that a pen and paper does not. What do i gain from the trade-off of attention to the proceedings? What neat things can i do that i couldn't otherwise with pen and paper?

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To me the big benefits of writing on an iPad with a stylus are not having to carry paper while traveling and not worry about losing the notes. I can email them or load them to dropbox as PDFs. I then review them later. I am trying a note taking app that transcribes the script to typed text, but even without that having my notes as PDFs is great.

Load them to dropbox? Perhaps you're with a small company that doesn't care, but my company would have a fit if they found out I was sending corporate IP through a third-party such as dropbox. My company has stopped us from even using Webex, as it is a grey area as to who owns material that passes on and through their servers.

My assumption is that these guys are talking about taking notes that then need to be distributed to all meeting participants. Not note taking for your own private knowledge. More like taking "minutes" of a meeting that need to be recorded and distributed.

Perhaps in this scenario the note-taker isn't participating in the discussion so is free to take notes and not have to digest the information quickly. If I was in a technical meeting and was asked to both take detailed notes for everyone, AND to participate heavily in the meeting, I don't think I could do justice to both.

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I'm a professor. No one cares what I do with my notes. I don't put sensitive stuff, personnel issues, research grants I review, etc on Dropbox. But for published articles, my notes, and such it is really convenient. And as I said, I can also email them.