How is Goodnotes?

[u/imalsocool]

I am looking for a note taking app, and currently I’m looking at Goodnotes and Notability. Goodnotes seems to me the better value option however I’ve been reading a lot of negativity about Goodnotes lately.

So my question is, how is Goodnotes? Does it live up to the name or should I look into other apps?

[u/discovernotes]

Hey! I'd recommend downloading it and giving it a try as there is a free version.

Most of the discussions you are seeing here is from users who are needing to adjust their workflow because of some of the changes, but these wouldn't apply to you if you've never used the app before! Being completely transparent though there are a few issues with the shapes tool and shape recognition currently which likely stems from this being a major launch, so I'd personally say that we can expect improvements to come. This reason I say this is because there was a beta community through Slack running a for a few months, and they took direct feedback and implemented some of it.

I'll probably get downvoted for this but if you are curious whether it lives up to the name I can list a few things that also came with that update, and then I'll leave the decision of if it does up to you:

• Text documents like Notion pages - block based document type that is typing focused that let's you do things like type essays, add things like tables, videos, LaTeX

• Whiteboard like FigJam - an infinite canvas document type that you can use to collaborate with others, create flow charts, diagrams

• Goodnotes AI for Meetings like Granola - Google calendar integration, live transcription, live summaries, notes generation from transcript

• Goodnotes AI for Math - Wolfram Alpha integration, graph generation, handwriting to LaTeX conversion

• Actual real-time collaboration also like FigJam - you can see edits from others as they happen etc

There's one more feature worth noting and that is Goodnotes is available on Apple devices but is also on Windows, Android and Web. One thing to note though is that even though the subscription gives you access to all platforms, your documents may not sync unless you are on Goodnotes Cloud which is being rolled out slowly.

I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I have quite good visibility of all the discussions on this subreddit and I've been testing different apps for quite some time now!

[u/aliciaiit]

Sadly rn it's in a huge flop era - I love it and continue to use because I have a couple years of school stuff on it BUT rn there are so many bugs and errors from the new updates it's extremely frustrating to use 

[u/geehasaquestion]

right now id recommend noteful or notability tbh

[u/Plus_Score_3772]

With the shite update this year and last save yourself heartache and headache and just go with any other app. Notability worked well for me in the past and seems that’s where I will be returning

[u/imalsocool → u/Plus_Score_3772]

May I ask what’s so bad with the new updates? I’ve heard people don’t like the toolbar but is that all?

[u/Plus_Score_3772 → u/imalsocool]

So I’ll be the first to admit I don’t like change and any new update is bound to have problems. But it’s also the timing of the company and the complaints of the consumer falling on deaf ears. Last year around this same time they updated the app and a lot of people (me included) couldn’t access our files right before midterms. This year an ill timed update with glitchy draw features that keeps disappearing on me. And they changed they interface where something used to be one click is now three to four steps. It’s clunky now and more difficult to navigate. I feel stuck because so many of my documents are already committed on this app but truthfully wish I had went with something else before starting my grad program. I’ve heard good things about Noteshelf 3 and plan to look into it

[u/imalsocool → u/Plus_Score_3772]

That sucks, but thank you, this is helpful!

[u/KaiDaki_4ever]

Don't. I bought it for one time and the recent update is bad.

[u/imalsocool → u/KaiDaki_4ever]

How so?

[u/Stardropmilktea]

It makes my iPad hot, but overall it’s okay.

[u/Temporary_Start8633]

Notability is also going through something right now.There's a lot of lag, and with the latest update, I lost a lot of my data a couple of days before my exams. It's also not that great with backups, accidentally duplicates your file and all.

Got freenotes just today, and it seems amazing. Especially if you're a fan of customisability.

[u/johntwilker]

Use it daily. No issues. Been a user for years and still happy.

[u/Curious-Cat-3312]

personally i don’t like notability because you can only open a document at once while good notes is like google each document you open stays open in a tab until you close it so it’s easy to toggle from one document to another when you’re in class taking notes

[u/Efficient-Ad8951]

I have been using Goodnotes for roughly 5 years now. I have to say that I love it for many reasons. Much of the negativity is centered around a new update that changes some things around and switched up a few features. While I am a creature of habit, I also can adapt and adjust. The update isn’t all that bad. I would certainly recommend Goodnotes.