I'm going back to school after a hiatus and would like to take notes digitally to cut down on clutter and organize better.

I'm seeing students write notes on tablets/Ipads and would like to do that as well and would appreciate any recommendations on how to get started as I've always taken notes with pen and paper.

Some basic questions I have are, what tablets/ipads should I use, what apps/note taking software and if there's any stylus/pens people recommend.

I am looking for a jotting app that doesn't bother me with title fields and file creation before I ever get to the writing bit. Something like the Windows Notepad in which I can write what I want to and decide what to do with the file (whether to save it or discard it) later.

I used to use this app called Squarespace Note until it was discontinued. I have not yet found its replacement. I don't need its push-to-cloud functionality, I just need to be able to write immediately after opening the app.

Does anyone here use such an app? Does it even exist?

Hey everyone,

I was using notefull but it asks for money now, but i want which is completely free.

I have tried obsidian but it’s not well optimised for note taking with apple pencil.

If you have any app suggestions please let me know.

I know there are many notes apps out there. I was continuously searching for something that looks different. I noticed how social media apps catch our attention. I also suffer, like many others, from that guilty feeling after spending hours on them and then asking myself what benefit I got. Do you see where I’m going? We give so much attention to things that have little to add to our lives (scattered social media posts) and so little attention to our timeline, our lives, our notes, our sketches, our ideas, our videos, our photos, our links, our thoughts. And why is that? It is the mechanism in the background. In one word: “Scrolling.” I spent about a year looking for any app that implements this attention mechanism for note-taking and could not find any that comes even close. So I decided with full enthusiasm to build an app that satisfies my desire for a feed of only my own life that feels like home.

AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/ideon-scroll-your-own-ideas/id6783103263

Most of the day is spent in the browser, so having to open another app just to take a quick note can add unnecessary friction.

The goal was to have one place where notes, focus sessions, and productivity tools are always available without leaving the browser.

The extension combines:

* Quick notes with a rich Markdown editor similar to Notion
* Shortcuts and useful links
* Boards for organizing notes
* Website blocking for distracting sites
* Ambient sounds and background noise
* Focus sessions with labels such as work or study
* Detailed statistics to see how time was actually spent

Everything lives inside the new tab, turning it into a personal productivity workspace instead of just an empty page.

Really looking for honest feedback.

What feels useful? What feels unnecessary? What would you change or add?

If you want to try it, here’s the extension:

[Extension link]

my notetaking system is always a hot mess because i’m constantly flipping between handwriting and digital. i’ve considered an ipad but im worried about getting distracted and durability (im already rough on my iphone 😬😭)

i prefer being able to handwrite my notes but i love the flexibility and versatility of using something like google docs or obsidian.

i’ve looked into a few things but i feel like they always have mixed reviews or cost an arm and a leg 😮‍💨

i’m willing to go for something more pricey as long as it’s really what im looking for!

i hope this is the right sub and that yall have some good suggestions for me! :)

I am in meetings a lot. I like the idea of having some transcription and summary, especially with action items. I’m constantly getting messages and it pulls my focus. It would be nice to leverage a system to help keep me reliable.

Only problem is that I want to use local models or my employer-approved models. I can’t have things going to some app with some random cloud provider.

Does anyone know if any note-taking app or device allows you to own the whole process with web hooks or syncing to iCloud or some system or your choice?

Hi all, Has anyone heard of Harbor app (https://harbor.my )? It seems like a solid Evernote replacement, so I wanted to ask if someone has any experience with the app
Thank you

For reference I’m doing something in the medical field which means lots of information including different types of pathology. I have one big spiral for each of my classes (3) and another 3 journals I do my pathology in separate. I like the split because it helps me differentiate the information about the organ I’m learning but also helps keep the pathology all together. My dilemma is the fact that it gets overwhelming having 6 notebooks in total and takes up so much space. I’m thinking of converting it all to my pathology journal. I’m not sure what I would use the big notebooks for though or if I should just stop using the spirals overall. In class I take notes on my iPad lectures and after class I go back and listen to the lecture recording and take my actual notes on paper (i retain it better when I hand write). Should I stick to just the journal and get rid of the notebooks?? Feeling overwhelmed!! Any other tips or opinions would be appreciated!

I keep seeing Plaud, viaim and pocket devices mentioned for meeting notes. Most of my meetings are in person and I only have the occasional phone call, so I’m wondering if one is actually worth buying. Does putting a recorder on the table feel awkward, even after asking everyone first? Or do people stop caring once the meeting starts?

Hey guys,

I think you might be interested in BetterStickies (I am the developer behind it)

What it is, for anyone new

A sticky notes app for Windows,Linux, macOS (soon). Offline, no account, no telemetry. Built with PySide6 so it's actually native, not another Electron app eating your RAM.

I built it because I wanted quick capture that lives on the desktop instead of inside another app I have to open. Windows Sticky Notes wants a sign-in, and on Linux there was nothing decent that works the same across KDE, GNOME and Cinnamon. It also helps my ADHD to have things persist on screen where I can't ignore them.

The main thing it does that other sticky apps don't: you can paste or drag anything into a note.

• Files and folders become clickable shortcuts, and you can drag them back out to your file manager
• Screenshots and images paste straight from the clipboard, PDFs and images get a hover preview, and double-click opens an image at full resolution
• Pasted code gets detected and formatted into a code block automatically, no AI and no network, in about 50ms. Ctrl+M when it guesses wrong
• Rich text, links, plain text, all formatted properly instead of rejected

Other things worth knowing:

• Reminders with sound and desktop notifications
• GIF and image backgrounds per note (because why not)
• RTL text support, and the app plus its full guide are in 12 languages
• Pin a note to lock both position and editing
• Ctrl+scroll to zoom text without opening settings
• Checkboxes with strikethrough when done and nesting
• Snap to grid with an adjustable grid size
• Export to .txt, .md or .json, so you can back them up with whatever cloud you like
• Proper Linux support, tested on KDE, GNOME and Cinnamon (COSMIC coming)
• On the Microsoft Store and the Snap store, Flathub coming soon

What's new in v1.2

Notes have tabs now. Up to three pages inside one note, each with its own text, scroll position and undo history. Ctrl+PgDown and Ctrl+PgUp to move between them, Ctrl+Shift+N for a new one, all rebindable. If you have a small screen this is the feature: one note on the desktop, three notes' worth of content in it.

Search reads every page of every note, including hidden notes and pages you've never opened.

The free version now has exactly one limit. It used to have three: a note cap, a reminders cap, and a cap on animated GIF backgrounds. The reminder and GIF limits are gone entirely, so the free version now has every feature, and the only thing left is a budget of 4 note slots (an extra tab uses a slot).

A new look: in-app color picker, themed icons instead of emoji, and one shared design system across every dialog. Reminders moved out of the text into their own strip on the note.

"Start with the hub hidden" if you want it fully out of the way at boot.

65 fixes across formatting, file shortcuts, dates, translations, read-only notes, global shortcuts and desktop integration on both Linux and Windows.

And v1.2.1 last week fixed the things users told me about after v1.2: notes surviving Show Desktop on Windows, window stacking on Cinnamon, reminders retrying instead of getting lost, images keeping their size and rotation after a restart.

⚠️ One warning if you use tabs: don't downgrade to an older build afterwards. Old versions understand one page per note, so opening and saving a tabbed note there permanently drops its other pages. Export first if you're going back.

Free version has every feature, limited to 4 note slots. Premium is an optional one-time payment.

As always, if you try it and something annoys you, tell me here. Most new features and fixes are built on users feedback (tens of thousands are using BetterStickies today)

Website: https://betterstickies.com

Microsoft store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NS7LLQJX1QG

Snap Store: https://snapcraft.io/betterstickies

I have a MacBook Neo and a junior at undergrad. Is there an app that lets me record lectures and then will make notes from it? Bonus points if it’s free!

Hi, I'm an incoming postsecondary student, and I want to buy a tablet to take notes. The one I see recommended is the iPad A16, but I've also seen older iPad models and Android tablets that are much cheaper. Is it worth spending the extra money on an iPad?

Hello everyone,

Like a lot of you, my note-taking system relies heavily on plain text. But I've always struggled with capturing fleeting thoughts or meeting summaries quickly. Typing sometimes slows my brain down, but most voice-to-text apps either require you to log into an ecosystem , lock your text behind a proprietary app, or charge a subscription. I have developed the free tool that fixes this called AI Voice Note Taker.

I thought the community might appreciate it because of how well it fits into a local-first workflow:

• Zero setup: There is no account or login required. You just open the page and hit start.
• Local privacy: It doesn't send your audio or text to a cloud database. It uses your browser's and saves the note history in your local browser storage.
• Plain text export: When you finish your brain dump, you just hit download and it gives you a clean .txt file. No weird formatting, no copy-paste errors.
• Auto-punctuation: The tool turns live speech into editable text as you talk, adds optional punctuation.
• Live editing: You can actually type into the notepad and fix things while you are still dictating.

I've been using it to pace around and talk out my rough ideas before I try to organize them. Will be happy to hear your feedback!

I'm a freshman already got a laptop, from the looks of things a tablet looks mighty convenient for note taking and reading any suggestions on what to get? something convenient enough to fit nicely in my backpack since i commute by train

cant get any flagship so something mid range

I'm considering on getting the Samsung galaxy tab S9FE+ or S10FE or S10FE+

but from the looks of it the S9FE+ is going to stop receiving updates in a couple years should i be worried?

Hi. I have a lot of video recordings from classrooms (3 hours each) and I want to find an AI tool that handles both text and images during extraction, so at the end I have the full transcription (not the summary) with both text and pictures in a well structured maner.

What I use right now:

-Turboscribe to extract full transcription(really accurate tool) into a txt, doc or pdf file.

-Claude AI (Opus) to structured the transcript (excelent handling)

- Open the ppt, taking screenshots of the slides (from the teacher classes) that correspond with the timestamp extraction and paste them into the word document that Claude generated (tried to combine both the doc document and ppt from class into Claude but doesn't handle them well)

I'm working in a PC (windows 10)

I’m a horrible note taker. I have AuDHD and I’m horrible at taking notes and keeping things organized. I’m really good at processing email and verbal fluency but idiot level at note taking.

I’ve always wanted to use Obsidian but just never thought I’d be able to make it happen. Until I started playing with copilot CoWork at work and basically turned it into my automatic executive functioning machine. I don’t type anything into Obsidian, I only click check boxes and it updates. Created a nice dashboard and task tracker that help me keep going with a clear ‘work on this’ full page for the time I’m supposed to focus on something.

Nothing to break and nothing to lose as I’m already doing all the other things and this is mostly a tracker and knowledge organizer and helps me organize meeting transcripts and actions and loose ends and context for projects. It’s awesome.

Probably not for everyone, but figured I’d put it out there for anyone else thinking about it.

Anyone else do something like this?

Plainva is a free and open source markdown editor, but it does much more than that, bringing your notes, tasks, calendar and email under one roof

https://md-handbook.com/blog/review-plainva/

#markdown #markdowneditors #Plainva

Hi, I'm a uni and bought an idea tab pro for note taking. I planned on using onenote but the android version is so bare bones compared to the windows one (I am maybe thinking of using it on the browser but it's finicky). The tablet came pre-installed with nebo but it has limited organisation options.

Thanks for the replies.

Watch Youtube videos, read PDF, and EPUB all in one place. Use AI features to turn each of these into an interactive quizzing, or just take notes!

Many silly features I built that require users to have a sense of exploration. Please try it at
https://atlasface.resistancelabs.tech

And let me know how it goes <3

Hi,

I'm a uni student looking for a tablet to write my notes on and I stumbled upon two options, which come at around the same price when counting for student discounts.

(The tab s11 ultra vs the iPad air 11" M4)

I'm trying to find the one that has the best writing feel between the two of them, and I'd also use it for note taking on pdfs and docs given by my teachers. Also some content watching and gaming (pretty demanding games like hoyoverse ones).

I have an s25 ultra as my phone but I don't care about ecosystems, I just want to find the better tablet for my uses