Pro(s)

I can do everything that I used to do with Evernote and more!

I can handwrite and/or type notes from scratch.

I can handwrite and/or type on top of imported notes or PDFs with an added benefit of real-paper, touch & feel and no-lag response times with an iPad.

I can sync with my mac, where I prefer to type notes like I used to on Evernote.

Sure it stung at first to purchase from iOS app store for roughly 10 bucks and then again from mac app store … BUT then I realized … HEY! At least its not a subscription, rather it is a one-time-cost … also its developers deserve the payment for their monumental efforts to bring this to life.

I can use screen recording on iPad to create awesome tutorials as I talk and scribble on pre-prepared content. This can be then easily edited via Splice and placed on YouTube, at no added cost to me!

Con(s)

What it lacks, as of now:

  • Content from imported PDFs is not searchable. Not even typed content!
    • Given all their tech, this seems like an easy one to remedy and I hope they eventually pay attention to this.

If anything in this article is outdated and you cannot stand for it, please inform me immediately so I can get everything up to date.

Background

Question: Why use a note taking app at all?

I missed a security deposit to the electric company when I moved to Oklahoma because I had written it down on a Napkin while eating a Subway sandwich and they cut off power to my home! Enough was enough, the year was 2011 and I decided to get out of my own head and start using something … anything … that could help me keep my life on track.

I found Evernote, loved it and became a paid subscriber. Life was good! Until 2014 when I had over 1000 notes and searching in Evernote started going bad and eventually just became downright unusable. As alternatives, gDocs and gDrive weren’t much help either. My angst is well documented.

There were many many many misguided attempts to use StackEdit as a replacement for Evernote. I was hoping that if StackEdit markdown notes were saved in gDrive then they would be searchable too. 😩What a huge time sink that research was to glue stuff together and I never got it to work. 😭

Anyway, in 2018, I decided to take a sabbatical and go back to college for one semester, where I saw a fellow student using a super slick iPad and Apple Pencil with an equally awesome note taking app.

Sidebar: 6th generation 2018 iPad is the first affordable iPad to work with Apple Pencil. And it is a steal when purchased at Costco.

I did not know which app it was that I saw but after hours upon hours of research and multiple App Store purchases, I found it - Notability!

Later it turned out that it had awesome search and it even went on to fill the void in my life that was left by what Evernote and gDocs/gDrive lacked. I still drop its creators - Ginger Labs - a feature request or some feedback from time to time but for now they are near perfect and I hope they keep striving for perfection.

Written with StackEdit.