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HistoryEdited May 24, 2011 12:29 PM by Joel Anderson…

iPad Note Taking App Comparisons

Personal Productivity Strategies > iPad > iPad Apps - NoteTaking > iPad Note Taking App Comparison


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App Pros Cons
Circus Ponies Notebook • Full-Fledged Notebook app:
• Outlining, Numbered Outlines, Outlines can be collapsed, Level Styling, outlines can have paragraphs
• Full text formatting, and tabs/rulers
• Drawing AND sketching
• Photos, and document attachments
• PDFS can be inserted as pages for annotation
• Notebooks are highly organizable, with unlimited Sections, Pages, automatically generated Table of Contents, and automatic Indexes
• To-Do's, and To-Do summaries
• Record audio with time links to typing
• Each item (row/entry) has attributes: date modified and created (due option), and can have priorities, icons, and keywords assigned
• Multi-Dex automatically creates several indexes: text, keyword, capitalized words, internet addresses, numbers, highlighting, stickers, to-dos, attachments, creation/change/due dates
• Companion Mac app		 • NO cloud features: only way to transfer documents is iTunes sharing (although this is in development)
• While individual notebooks are highly organization with sections and pages, there is no organization to the notebook files stored on the iPad
• Can be slow and buggy (each release gets better)
Evernote • Cross-platform: Mac, PC, Web, iOS, Android
• Powerful syncing: fast and reliable
•The Mac version supports tables, but the iPad version does not
• Audio recording
• words in photos can be indexed
• handwriting can be indexed
• items can have a "checkbox" associated with them to turn them into tasks
• Tagging & Search		 • Weak formatting on iPad (probably will be in a future release though)
• No outlining or numbering on iPad app (probably will be in a future release though)
• No tables support
• Audio recording timeframe location does not link to typing
• Copy and Paste from the EverNote Mac application to other apps looses most formatting (such as numbers and outlines, checkboxes, etc)
• If you exceed storage or bandwidth minimums, it requires a paid service
• No way to find/summarize all "checkbox" (tasks) items across a single or multiple document
• No iDisk/WebDAV/DropBox support
NoteBooks • Hierarchal management of documents
• The keyboard has an extra row of special keys: TAB, Bold, Italic, etc
• It can perform outlining and auto-numering
• It can format using Markdown
• It can manage most document formats (view only)
• To-Do system built in
• Search
• Cloud sync: WebDAV and Dropbox support		 • The "edit" view is significantly different from the "read-only" view. For example, formatting such as bold is shown as MarkDown while editing. Additionally numbered lists are not numbered correctly (sub topics do not start at 1) until you leave edit view.
• No tables support
• No styles

I have to spend some time with this app to give an accurate assessment, things to test:
• Copy-Paste, Import/Export to Mac apps
• Cloud sync
• No tags (?)
• No audio recording
• No iDisk support
ThinkBook • Intuitive interface: slider allows easy reorganization of structured content, copy and paste
• Intuitive interface: indent multiple items by simply dragging to the right and down
• Organize via "Notebooks" & "Pages"
• Create To-Dos within a notebook/page
• Tags and Search
• Create Q&A entries
• Create "Smart" To-Do and Q&A entries, which can search across a series of pages/notebooks/tags and display all of the To-Do or Q&A items
• Sync: DropBox		 • Intuitive interface might get in the way of fast data entry at times - but this would probably diminish with practice
• I need to do more testing in the area of Copy-Paste, Import/Export to Mac apps and syncing
• No audio recording
• No tables support
• No WebDAV or iDisk support
OmniOutliner • Butter-smooth feel - fast app
• Super-robust outlining features
• Supports basic outlining as well as any kind of auto-numbering you want
• Extensive styles support
• Can apply styles to rows for highlighting, etc
• Styles can be applied automatically based on outline level
• Ability to create multiple columns of data
• Columns can be typed: number, checkbox, pop-up list, etc
• Columns can be resized on-the-fly and hidden
• First column can be locked in place, and you can scroll horizontally to reveal other columns of data, but still see the "topic" in the first column
• An extra row on the keyboard adds indent/outdent, new item, hide/show notes buttons
• Easily reorganize and reorder rows: a helpful interface shows you exactly what is going to happen
• Easily insert new rows at any level (above, below, child, etc)
• Companion Mac application
• Can get files from WebDAV/MobileMe		 • No sync (file sharing/updating is a manual, clumsy process)
• Each outline is a separate document, and there is no document management, so you can't place all of your documents related to a single project in a related location
• Document browser is clumsy if you have lots of documents
• No tables support
• No audio recording
• No DropBox support

iPad Note Taking Apps Feature Comparison List

Comments

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Try my iPad Quick-St...Falsejoel2011-10-27T05:51:48+00:00joelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:22:25+00:002010-05-01 02:22:25updated11Changed the name from Personal Productivity to Personal Productivity StrategiesjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:14:34+00:002010-05-01 02:14:34updated10Added text descriptors to each categoryjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:05:53+00:002010-05-01 02:05:53updated9Added tag - paperlessjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 01:46:35+00:002010-05-01 01:46:35addTag8Added tag - mainjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:17:08+00:002010-04-05 20:17:08addTag7joelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:34+00:002010-04-05 20:15:34updated6Added tag - hotjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:11+00:002010-04-05 20:15:11addTag5Added tag - ipadjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:26+00:002010-04-05 20:11:26addTag4Added tag - gtdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:21+00:002010-04-05 20:11:21addTag3Added tag - productivityjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:16+00:002010-04-05 20:11:16addTag2First createdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:10:54+00:002010-04-05 20:10:54created1wiki2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00groups/tech/wiki/56867FalsePersonal Productivity Strategies/groups/tech/wiki/56867/Personal_Productivity_Strategies.htmlJoel Anderson11 updatesPersonal Productivity Strategies This section of the site will focus on personal productivity, and will include topics such as Getting Things Done (GTD), OmniFoucs, paperless wor...Falsejoel2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00joelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:22:25+00:002010-05-01 02:22:25updated11Changed the name from Personal Productivity to Personal Productivity StrategiesjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:14:34+00:002010-05-01 02:14:34updated10Added text descriptors to each categoryjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:05:53+00:002010-05-01 02:05:53updated9Added tag - paperlessjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 01:46:35+00:002010-05-01 01:46:35addTag8Added tag - mainjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:17:08+00:002010-04-05 20:17:08addTag7joelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:34+00:002010-04-05 20:15:34updated6Added tag - hotjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:11+00:002010-04-05 20:15:11addTag5Added tag - ipadjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:26+00:002010-04-05 20:11:26addTag4Added tag - gtdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:21+00:002010-04-05 20:11:21addTag3Added tag - productivityjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:16+00:002010-04-05 20:11:16addTag2First createdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:10:54+00:002010-04-05 20:10:54created1wiki2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00groups/tech/wiki/56867FalsePersonal Productivity Strategies/groups/tech/wiki/56867/Personal_Productivity_Strategies.htmlJoel Anderson11 updatesPersonal Productivity Strategies This section of the site will focus on personal productivity, and will include topics such as Getting Things Done (GTD), OmniFoucs, paperless wor...Falsejoel2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00joelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:22:25+00:002010-05-01 02:22:25updated11Changed the name from Personal Productivity to Personal Productivity StrategiesjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:14:34+00:002010-05-01 02:14:34updated10Added text descriptors to each categoryjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:05:53+00:002010-05-01 02:05:53updated9Added tag - paperlessjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 01:46:35+00:002010-05-01 01:46:35addTag8Added tag - mainjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:17:08+00:002010-04-05 20:17:08addTag7joelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:34+00:002010-04-05 20:15:34updated6Added tag - hotjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:11+00:002010-04-05 20:15:11addTag5Added tag - ipadjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:26+00:002010-04-05 20:11:26addTag4Added tag - gtdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:21+00:002010-04-05 20:11:21addTag3Added tag - productivityjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:16+00:002010-04-05 20:11:16addTag2First createdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:10:54+00:002010-04-05 20:10:54created1wiki2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00groups/tech/wiki/56867FalsePersonal Productivity Strategies/groups/tech/wiki/56867/Personal_Productivity_Strategies.htmlJoel Anderson11 updatesPersonal Productivity Strategies This section of the site will focus on personal productivity, and will include topics such as Getting Things Done (GTD), OmniFoucs, paperless wor...Falsejoel2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00joelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:22:25+00:002010-05-01 02:22:25updated11Changed the name from Personal Productivity to Personal Productivity StrategiesjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:14:34+00:002010-05-01 02:14:34updated10Added text descriptors to each categoryjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 02:05:53+00:002010-05-01 02:05:53updated9Added tag - paperlessjoelJoel Anderson2010-05-01 01:46:35+00:002010-05-01 01:46:35addTag8Added tag - mainjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:17:08+00:002010-04-05 20:17:08addTag7joelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:34+00:002010-04-05 20:15:34updated6Added tag - hotjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:15:11+00:002010-04-05 20:15:11addTag5Added tag - ipadjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:26+00:002010-04-05 20:11:26addTag4Added tag - gtdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:21+00:002010-04-05 20:11:21addTag3Added tag - productivityjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:11:16+00:002010-04-05 20:11:16addTag2First createdjoelJoel Anderson2010-04-05 20:10:54+00:002010-04-05 20:10:54created1wiki2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00groups/tech/wiki/56867FalsePersonal Productivity Strategies/groups/tech/wiki/56867/Personal_Productivity_Strategies.htmlJoel Anderson11 updatesPersonal Productivity Strategies This section of the site will focus on personal productivity, and will include topics such as Getting Things Done (GTD), OmniFoucs, paperless wor...Falsejoel2010-05-01T02:22:25+00:00hot/groups/tech/search/index.rss?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomelist/groups/tech/search/?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomeRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdates?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcome0/groups/tech/sidebar/RecentChangesListmodifiedDateallRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdateswiki/welcomeNo recent changes.reverse5searchlist/groups/tech/calendar/Upcoming EventsUpcomingEventsListEvents1Getting events…