Leave a Review Notability
Palm Rejection Problems Since Updating
I can attest to the comments regarding the palm rejection issues after the recent update. Since the update, anytime I attempt to take class notes with the Apple Pencil results in erratic screen behavior. It will zoom in or out randomly, delete the last portion of what is written, or the screen will shift/shake. This only occurs when I am trying to write and my palm is resting on the lower portion of the screen.
I have had some previous issues with palm rejection, mainly with the shifting of the screen or zoom but it has been manageable up until this update. It has become basically unusable for me in terms of handwriting since the recent update and the handwriting feature is nearly the sole purpose for purchasing the app in my case. I’ve basically had to resort to other apps for note taking because this has become nearly impossible to write on (unless I write without my palm on the screen and that is definitely not an alternative for me).
After reading the previous comments, I have already performed a hard reset of my iPad (an iPad Pro 11” on iOS 12.3), turned off the palm rejection feature in Notability and turned it back on, and finally uninstalled the app completely then reinstalled. None of these attempts have rendered any improvement. Hopefully this is something that can be investigated by the developer and corrected quickly as this has been my preferred app for note taking.Show lessRobPrater
Almost perfect
This app is almost perfect. From the beginning I downloaded both GoodNotes and notability to try both. I can honestly say I can hardly use GoodNotes now, because I can do so much more here I one place. If I could suggest a couple of things that may make this program a little better for a student. First , It would be great if you could choose a folder from the drive or photos(of slides)and then pop the entire file IN the document I’m writing on and it default to a page size image - as doing them one by one , then having to size each one is a real pain when I have a bunch to add. One thing GoodNotes / books does well. Or at least if I could choose more than one image from my note to drag in ...OR not have to click back into the photo options button after each one as its a real pain if I want to import several pages and to a note in a hurry. I would love to have the option to read and turn my pages horizontally like a book and have a book folder file to confine or open it easily - like GoodNotes. Besides these two things - it seems perfect. Its a great well thought out program that keeps progressing with so many great options. Good job to the developersShow lesslalah-007
Great app
I absolutely love this app. Between work, school, and life, this app helps with notes, and my planners for everything. It’s so much more convenient to carry my iPad around rather than a bunch of books. This app is very user friendly, making it very easy to take notes and convert from the pen to highlighter, etc. You can even search your own handwriting and text from a pdf that has been uploaded in the same file which makes it easy to go back and look for something specific instantly rather than scroll through pages of notes. Great app!!!
Update: I recently tried to access my notes on my iPhone, but half of the files wouldn’t sync between the ipad and my phone, which was annoying. I had down time to study and couldn’t because they wouldn’t sync. The only way to fix was to duplicate the file on the ipad so it would sync to my phone. It wasn’t a huge deal for that day, but could potentially be a major issue down the line if you don’t have the original device you used for the notes.
Other than that, I still think it’s a great app and recommend it to anyone who is switching to digital notes and who doesn’t want to carry around a bunch of binders/notebooks!Show lessbusylife0000
Not sure what the hype is all about..
So, here’s the thing. There are a lot of note taking apps on the market. I feel like if you want a quality one, maybe you need to pay for it. So, I purchased this one and Good Notes. I’ve used Evernote and Microsoft OneNote as well. Nothing sets this apart from competitors besides the price. And please beware: that price for the iOS app does not include the desktop app. That’s a separate charge. You can’t access it through a browser either. That’s a huge negative in my opinion.
Additionally, sometimes this app will crash (like during iOS updates) and you’ll lose your subjects and dividers. So, there’s a way to get your subjects back, but you’re out of luck with your dividers. What does this mean? It means that all of the classes you’ve set up for multiple semesters will be wiped out. Whatever was organized under is able to be obtained, but you have to go back through and sort all of it. Do you know what an incredibly awful and tedious task that is? When you contact their customer service, they’re basically just like “Oh, sorryyyyy yeah we don’t care.”
If you’re still reading this, oh hey. One last final note: don’t waste your money. I’ve tried them all and think Microsoft OneNote is really the way to go. It’s free, you get cloud storage, the app on the computer is free, and you get full functionality of program. Recent updates means it does EXACTLY what notability does.Show lessMandy Vanz
Notability is great...but not on iPhone
Writing a review of Notability is hard. On the one hand, I use it every single day on my iPad. I do a lot of reading/research for my job, so Notability has saved me from being buried under an endless pile of paper. I even pair it up with Scanbot so I can quickly scan materials in meetings and then have all my notes/handouts in a single place. Being able to search my handwriting is a game-changer! So is having access to my documents and notes everywhere, including my laptop, and having all changes and edits synced through iCloud. I’ve always wanted to go paperless with ubiquitous access to everything; Notability is my hub for that.
Which brings me to my chief complaint about Notability: it’s iPhone app is terrible. It’s nice to see my notes on my phone if I need to skim something quickly on the go, but basic functionality is missing. You can’t search a document, highlight pages, see all the pages in a document—if you’re looking for something, you can only scroll until you find it. That’s ok if you’re talking about two pages of notes; but if you are looking at a 50 page journal article trying to find something, it’s ridiculous. Competitors have this functionality on iPhones, but Notability has never added it. I wish they would! I also wish they would format text-only notes like Google Docs, adjusting text size for a given display without affecting the formatting.Show lessJason 909
Suggestions for Developers
There are some missing features that hold it back from 5 stars:
1) When I take notes and annotate, I like to have multiple pens and highlighters out. There should be an option to add additional pens and highlighters to the toolbar. When rapidly taking notes, time is precious, and this would make it less tedious.
2) inserting diagrams is too difficult. There should be a math or shape mode that you can toggle on and off that auto recognizes shapes and fixes them. Having an math text mode that auto recognizes math notation would also be fantastic ... p.s. OneNotes version of this is poorly executed.
3)**** when I record lectures, I am always slightly behind when note taking. If there were an advanced feature where we could choose where the audio track lines up with the notes, that would be spectacular. Revisited notes would be much superior and would be more like sitting through the lecture again.****
4) there should be an option to directly add in PDFs to our notes. They could be added in as entire pages to the document, just integrating the PDF, or auto convert to an image to be pasted in. But working with PDFs in existing notes should be an option.Show lessKevconfar
Best Notetaking App I found
I’ve been using this app for years, and appreciate all the updates that have occurred since then. This app has sufficed all my note taking needs, in and out of the classroom. One feature I would like to see is the ability to rename recordings, and possibly to attach these recordings to individual pages. One thing I’ve tried doing this semester is have the recording function on while at a lecture, but having numerous recordings in a file that grows daily is difficult with the current set up. If you don’t remember the time stamp or recording number for a particular point, you have to guess and listen for a bit to see if it’s right. It’s either that, or guess based on the date the notes were recorded. If you could at least rename the audio files, the app would be more useful. It would also be nice if you could change the paper style of individual pages, as well as a feature that easily allows you to draw geometric shapes (adding a figure on top of a graph sticky or any other element get tricky when you click on the wrong one. Sometimes because of that, the graph background ends up on top, and the figure behind it, rendering it useless).
There aren’t really any visible bugs with this version of the app, Would recommend for someone looking for a suitable note taking app, whether it’s handwritten or type. I think the addition of a few features would make it better.Show less_Music-Lover_
WHAT?
I haven’t been paying much attention to update when suddenly I realize that my Notability App is awesomely different. I have been a long time user of this app and have loved it since day one. I have experimented with other note taking apps but very quickly return to this workhorse of an app. Now with the latest update I am blown away! I love to write with my apple pen and being able to convert to text is extremely useful. So far it has been flawless in conversion; however I am old school in my penmanship so that my work in my favor. Being able to put notes side by side? Since I convert all documents into files in Notability for meetings, to be able to pull up other documents alongside of the notes I am taking is absolutely amazing.
One thing that I am watching and am unsure of yet is that in watching battery consumption Notability seems to have suddenly become my primary drain, outstripping my FaceBook app. So this is something that I will be watching since I tend to leave Notability running in the background.
But overall I want to give a big shout of thanks to the developers for making a great app even better.Show lessOle Mithaugen
A staple, but disappointing
Update: I have used this app for YEARS now through high school, college, and now medical school. I love the app and appreciate it to no ends. However, one ongoing issue I have noticed is its unreliability with downloading ppt files to PDF within the app from Canvas. I don’t know if it’s a problem with communication with canvas or just a general issue with converting to pdf within the app, but it’s annoying to have to convert all my lecture notes to pdf on my MacBook then transfer them to my iPad. It’s so unreliable I don’t think I can use only my iPad anymore, which is what my goal was. Anyway, long story short: I love this app, but it’s been frustrating for about the past year or two.
The new update added better pencil integration, ,earning now it has actual pressure sensitivity rather than just the way they did it before which was through speed sensitivity determining the weight of the line drawn. This combined with the other amazing aspects of this app that I have always enjoyed make this my favorite app ever. I use it in college to take notes and annotate presentations during lecture as well as at work for taking notes during meetings or as a work log. It is simply an amazing app, well worth the money, and I look forward to continue using it with my iPad Pro through medical school. Thank you ginger labs!!!Show lessmklawaters
Saved My Bacon
I’m currently in grad school and after my first semester, I decided to switch to digital note taking. I was simply overwhelmed by the massive paper trail that often happens in grad school. I shopped around and I saw this app and decided to give it a go. I don’t normally spend $10 on an app, but it has been worth every penny! The organization is top notch, it works with many different type of styli (I use the Friendly Swede interchangeable tip stylus, because of the cost, but Apple Pencil works great if you have an iPad Pro), the recording feature is great, sharing notes is super easy and it’s been so convenient to have all of my school documents in one place. So far, I’m at 600+ documents and I haven’t lost anything since using this app. I absolutely credit this app with helping me pass my comprehensive exams.
My only complaints is that I wish I wouldn’t have to buy it again for Mac. I also would like it if they were to incorporate tabs, so I wouldn’t have to back out to the menu every time I wanted to switch between a few related notes. In spite of these shortcomings, I still give it five stars because of how much it’s helped up my game as a grad student. Thanks, Notability!Show lessCoug-Terp92
