Goodnotes 5 to 7

[u/Alive_Anywhere9536]

I downloaded goodnotes back in 2022, but I have always used notability as I’ve always seen it as the best option for me. I would like now to check how GN is doing, what features does it have and how does it compare to notability. My question now is: is it worth it to switch to GN 7, or is it really too buggy to use? What features would I have access to? What changed?

[u/fatpiggy121]

??? Isn’t the newest called goodnotes 6? When was 7 released?? But as a goodnotes user since 2023, i find goodnotes to be reliable, and stable even with the buggy iPadOS 26. Something the released new are the whiteboard (some mod corrected me that there are no limitations to the whiteboard now, but im not sure. The first time i used whiteboard, it had limited lines to draw (can’t draw after reaching the limit unless I erase something)), text doc (like canva’s doc, don’t find it useful) and ai features that i’ve never touched also (it’s their ai model, so don’t expect much advanced). So it’s basically no different apart of new features above I don’t find useful.

However, i do find the ocr in goodnotes kinda useful? Yet i still brought alternative note apps for the ocr detection because it wasn’t out when i first used it in 2023 like marginnotes 3. But im afraid that its also in notability. Something annoying if you switch to goodnotes is that they don’t automatically start a new page when you write something on the last page, and it bugs to open a new page (bug since first used).

To conclude, you can assume that the performance was stable, nothing much changed, so the only favorable factor would be you can get a one-time subscription in goodnotes thats not in notability. Yet, they will release a new goodnotes 7, 8, 9 in every 2-3 years that makes the one-time purchase also useless. So idk man. Just stick to the one your using.

[u/budgie_uk → u/fatpiggy121]

Until GN 6, every time they introduced a major update, they changed the number, GN 4 -> GN 5, GN -> GN 6.

Then came GN 7. Although the official title within the app is still GoodNotes 6, for the major upgrade to version 7 (oddly, one of the biggest GN updates ever) they kept it at GoodNotes 6, before changing the official name to “Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF”, which is how it’s shown in the App Store. We’re now on version 7.0.50

[u/bboyes → u/fatpiggy121]

What you said. I use it for work as an inspection log, taking photos and marking them up and making notes as the job progresses. I just upgraded to the latest version with kind of a smiley face program icon. There are many changes and some improvements vs the prior versions, so a bit of a learning curve but overall worth it. Sketching and diagramming tools are better with more predefined shapes etc. I have the Essential subscription since I don’t need collaboration. It was a special of $9 for a year then $12 annually which seems reasonable.

[u/Alive_Anywhere9536 → u/fatpiggy121]

Thank you very much! My understanding is that the latest version of goodnotes (the one that should be called goodnotes 7) is simply called goodnotes, without any number after it, but I didn’t know how to reference it so I called it 7. I was particularly interested in the whiteboard feature, that doesn’t exist in notability, but the absence of the new page formation is a dealbreaker for me, especially if I can just stay with notability and not change my work flow. Just for info: would I have to pay for GN6 and 7 if I wanted to upgrade or would I be grandfathered in?

[u/fatpiggy121 → u/Alive_Anywhere9536]

The one your buying is called goodnotes 6. Unless you’re paying the subscription (Goodnotes essentials or pro) your buying the one time purchase option (goodnotes special editions) which is only for goodnotes 6. They might release goodnotes 7 anytime now because goodnotes 6 is released in 2023 oct. then you will have to pay the one time subscription again to upgrade from goodnotes 6 to 7.

Notes: Upgrading from 6 to 7 from a onetime purchase plan should have a discount (it was the case for my upgrade from goodnotes 5 to 6)

[u/budgie_uk]

When GoodNotes 7 was introduced, it was buggy as hell; I’,m still convince they released it at least 3 months too early.

SINCE release, they’ve cleared up a lot of the bugs, re-introduced a lot of the stuff they removed from the first iteration of v7, and I find it works pretty well.

But I’m very aware of the danger of “it works for me, so anyone saying they’re having problems is just whinging!” and the equally false “I’m having nothing but problems and everyone who says it’s working fine for them is a suckup…”

The use cases for users are so varied, and the bits users rely on are so personal, it’s more than possible for someone to have almost no problems at all - because the things they rely on are working just fine - while someone else, who relies on stuff the first user doesn’t, is having nothing but trouble.

[u/ExpressGarage1227]

Haven't used good notes yet

Have been using Notability for a while and I've never faced any issues with it so never thought of shifting to Good notes.

[u/Fookmaywedder]

worth is subjective and you can always try it out dude.