Don't Overlook Apple Notes

if you're in the market for a new notetaking app you might be overlooking a Powerhouse that's already built into your device Apple notes in this video I am breaking down why Apple notes is still one of the most underrated tools out there for digital note taking and yes that includes handwritten notes too and a fantastic free alternative to other paid note taking apps out there because look if you're a student Balling on a budget maybe you don't want to get a subscription to an app for note taking so let's get into Apple notes because you're

not really sacrificing too much here but before we dive into all the reasons why Apple notes might be your next go-to note taking app I want to talk about something that's just as important as finding the right note taking tool keeping your device protected and that's where today's sponsor ESR comes in they sent over some of their iPad accessories perfect for the back to school season their Ultra tempered glass screen protector has the easiest and coolest install process I'm usually pretty terrible at installing screen protectors but this was literally so easy and I feel good

about making sure my screen is protected from scratches or dings their magnetic drawing screen protector is awesome for getting that matte paper feel when using it with apple pencil it feels like drawing on paper and because it's magnetic you can actually remove it whenever you want the full Beauty and shine of your display better yet it works over tempered glass screen protectors like the one I added from ESR to my iPad already and then of course a good iPad case a must for back to school to dis distinguish and protect your iPad this magnetic case

is from ESR shift series with nine different angles is stable enough to use on your lap and has a raised screen view it feels absolutely solid and even has a slot to store your apple pencil ESR is known for offering high quality accessories that won't break the bank which is crucial if you're student trying to make the most of your budget and speaking of budgets we all know that Apple has an annual education promotion to maximize your savings ESR is also running a back to school promotion from July 29th to August 31st offering discounts from

10% to 40% off don't forget to click the link in the description of this video to check them out let's start with one of the most important aspects of note taking staying organized Apple notes offers a great feature called smart folders you can create a smart folder for each class and to make things even more streamlined start each note with a hashtag that corresponds to the class like # chemistry # hm241 this way your notes automatically sort themselves into the right folder without you having to do anything extra it's a simple system but it's super

effective and if you prefer more control you can always manually sort your notes into folders or set up other filters that don't make use of hashtags to automatically categorize them based on the specific criteria that you set now when it comes to the linking Concepts together Apple notes has you covered there too you can easily link between notes which is especially useful when you're trying to connect ideas from different lectures or tie together class notes with review materials or practice problems this feature helps create a more cohesive study experience making it easier to see the

bigger picture as you learn another great feature is the ability to change the page template depending on what kind of notes you're taking you might find it helpful to switch to lined or graph paper this can make a huge difference especially for classes that involve a lot of diagrams or mathematical equations it's also very helpful to set the page as graph paper or line paper when you're taking handwritten notes and Apple notes because it's going to help you keep your handwriting straight and neat and then you can always change it back later after you've handwritten

your notes speaking of organization checklists are another tool that I use all the time in Apple notes whether it's a to-do list of tasks that I need complete before class or a checklist of key points to review after it's a simple way to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks now of course you can also use them as a to-do list or reminders as well within Apple notes but just keep in mind that checklist could be a really powerful feature when it comes to note taking for things that you need to study or review later

the table feature in Apple notes is also a game Cher it allows you to categorize information in a clear and organized way which can be incredibly helpful when you're trying to break down complex topics into more manageable Parts whether you're creating a comparison chart or organizing data tables makes it really easy to keep everything neat and tidy for those who need to incorporate physical documents into their digital notes the scanning feature is a must have you can scan text or entire documents directly into your notes which is perfect for keeping up with all of your

materials in one place another powerful feature is the ability to attach files like PDFs directly into your notes you can enlarge and highlight sections to write directly on the PDF and you can even use quick look to take up the entire screen while still accessing the highlighter and pencil tools this is perfect for not only viewing but also interacting with your study materials in a meaningful [Music] way and if you never need to record audio during a lecture Apple notes has you covered there from the same menu as well while you can't take notes during

the recording at least I haven't been able to the app will transcribe the audio for you so you can reference it [Music] later when it comes to text formatting Apple notes offers a range of options that allow you to differentiate between different types of content you can toggle between between different text Styles like title heading and body text and you can use highlight and color options to emphasize key points with iPad OS 18 and if you do prefer to handw write your notes you can copy that handwritten text and paste it as typed text plus

the app's ability to translate text can be a huge help if you're studying for a foreign language or you just need to access additional languages now let's talk about handwriting Apple notes offers a range of pen sizes and colors and different pencil options which will allow you to establish a sense of hierarchy in your notes I like to use different colors to highlight important formulas or action items and you can also draw a box around inserted images to keep your notes looking neat and you can even remove the background from images to clean up diagrams

or photos if you're someone who likes things to look just right you can turn on autore refine handwriting with iPad OS 18 which straightens and perfects your handwriting while keeping it in your own unique style now some of the features that I've talked about do involve iPad OS 18 so I can't wait for that to release later this fall plus the auto perfect shapes feature is a lifesaver for anyone who struggles with drawing diagrams or shapes you can even add signatures text or emojis directly from the pencil tool menu as well Apple notes also allows

you to lock individual notes for added security which is great if you have sensitive information that you want to keep private you can also set reminders and actually connect them to specific notes so you never miss an important task or deadline for additional functionality Apple notes recognizes live text within your notes including addresses phone numbers and more and that can make it easy to actually interact directly with the text like dialing a phone number or looking up an address in maps without having to switch apps manually and entering that information in yourself for those of

you who are taking math heavy courses Apple notes integrates seamlessly with math notes this is with iPad OS 18 this feature allows you to toggle on whether you'd like to insert the results suggest results or you can actually turn off suggestions Al together it's incredibly helpful for problem solving and understanding the sequence of steps that you need to solve problems during class and it's also really helpful being able to have that sync capability between math notes and notes because everything kind of lives together in its own space so you never have to jump around between

the two to access that information and to access those problems another huge advantage of Apple notes is accessibility because it's an Apple app your notes are available across all of your devices this makes it super easy to pull up your notes on your iPhone for instance when you're on the go like when you're reviewing on public transits without having to just pull out your iPad and if you do need to collaborate Apple notes makes it easy to share copies of your notes or even work on them with classmates together our all right so I did

want to talk to you about how to take better handwritten notes and Apple notes so your notes can look like this because I think everyone assumes you have to have a paid note taking app to achieve good handwritten notes so to start I recommend changing the page template in Apple notes to the graph paper this will help you have even spacing between your notes or bullet points and just overall make things a lot neater for you I recommend using the ball pen option from the pen tools that Apple notes has because it's not pressure sensor

which means your Strokes will all have an even stroke width regardless of how hard you're writing or at the angle at which you're writing and it will make your handwriting just look more cohesive overall if you're on the beta for iPad OS 18 you can toggle on autore refined handwriting which will use Smart script technology to straighten your handwriting and essentially perfect it in a way that looks like your own handwriting it does take a couple of paragraphs for it to really learn your handwriting and the more you take notes and Apple notes the better

it will get over time to write headings or subheadings I recommend starting out with a heavier stroke width to add some hierarchy and distinction between concepts for bullet points or the bulk of my notes I am writing in a smaller stroke width that way all this information isn't just morphing and molding together as just one huge block of handwriting but it helps you distinguish between those Concepts or the notes that you're taking you can see that I'm using the grid of the page template as a guide for where to line up my bullet points and

help keep my notes straight and even when it comes to writing out formulas important definitions or in my case here a reaction mechanism I like to choose an accent color and then do varying shades of that color to establish a hierarchy or a system to connect or call attention to the very most important information of my notes again I am relying heavily on the grid as my guide to keep things neat and Central to my notes when it's time to write about A New Concept I go back to my thicker stroke width to write out

my new heading and here you can see where my handwritten notes are just really starting to come [Music] together one thing I like to do is actually highlight my headings but feel free to save the highlighting if you like to use it for different purposes since I went with a blue accent color here I also went with the blue Highlight color to further distinguish my subject headings from my notes and my reaction mechanism you're not just limited to writing and drawing in Apple notes of course you can add pictures diagrams tables whatever you're covering in

class but when you add an image it will create a line break all you have to do is press on the image and drag it to wherever you'd like within your notes once I have it placed I like to box it in to make things look neater and more cohesive if I need to I will also write out notes or annotate the image as well now once I'm done taking notes I change the page template back to blank because I just like how it looks so much cleaner that way I simply use the graph paper

for handwritten notes as a guide having goodlooking handwritten notes is definitely achievable in Apple notes with just a little bit of setup so don't feel like you have to splurge on a note taking app when there's already one at your [Music] fingertips so as you can see apple know is far from just a basic note taking app is packed with features that make it a powerful tool for students and best of all it's completely free if you haven't given Apple notes a serious try Now's the Time thank you so so much for watching and if

you found this video helpful don't forget to hit like subscribe and hit that notification Bell for more content just like this I'll see you in the next video bye [Music]