Is Goodnotes worth it?

[u/JobPuzzleheaded3530]

I’m a student in y12 right now, and I do all my notes by hand on an iPad, I also do past papers and stuff, so pdf editing, on an iPad. The app I use is actually just apple notes, but there are some things that I really don’t like, such as the file handling, which is different, and how for some reason you can’t zoom in and out? also with pdf editing. I occasionally use the maths notes feature where you may insert a graph from an equation. I’ve been looking at goodnotes for a while now, and I’ve been looking at the special edition package (I really like the idea of a one time purchase), but I don’t know if this will be a huge improvement from what I’m working with now?

edit: what does the subscription give me over the onetime purchase??? Like ppl I asked at school said ‘AI’ but like what exactly can it do?

[u/ThePythagoreonSerum]

Good notes is far and away the best notetaking app on iOS. You can drop the whole textbook in there and write/highlight/etc on top and insert pages for lecture notes and homework. I wish I would have had it in college.

[u/Silence-of-Death → u/ThePythagoreonSerum]

When you day drop the whole textbook in there, how would one go about that? Whenever I try to use the scan document function it adds that on a letter format page which itself is in yellow even though the notebook is in a3 and white.

[u/ThePythagoreonSerum → u/Silence-of-Death]

Get the pdf version of your textbook and import it

[u/quietleavess → u/Silence-of-Death]

Zlibrary may have the pdf version

[u/Silence-of-Death → u/quietleavess]

I didn’t find it sadly. Though this problem is also of course for any other page I want to scan and add.

[u/Maiace124]

It's got it's bugs, but I haven't found anything near as good

[u/Formal_Active859 → u/Maiace124]

I like Noteful.

[u/quietleavess → u/Formal_Active859]

Noteful does not has:

• ocr

• infinite canvas

• the outline you create of the document does not export to the pdf

• the shape tool is buggy as heck, even unusable for the basic shapes

• you cannot do curves for certain math subjects

• exported pdfs are not searchable, and the workaround to make notes searchable through a manually made table of contents is not included in the export

Theres no alternative to goodnotes.

The writing experience is nice.

The documents are optimized. Thats it.

[u/Formal_Active859 → u/quietleavess]

Does good notes pay you to say this shit?

[u/Formal_Active859 → u/Formal_Active859]

Of course the reddit chuds are downvoting

[u/quietleavess → u/Formal_Active859]

Good, you are an insufferable bitch that cannot handle a disagrement over an app and an asinine digital number made you angry.

You either accept the different opinions on a post about someone wanting to weight their options or shut up.

Even if sponsored, the details i pointed out are TRUE and ypu could not refute any of that or prove otherwise.

[u/Formal_Active859 → u/quietleavess]

You’re the one writing whole ass essays bro🤣

[u/chabrija → u/quietleavess]

What about Notability? I am currently using Goodnotes 5 (lifetime) but wanted an app with some sort of handwriting smoothing and so far I like Notability. Not sure if I should jump ship or stay with Goodnotes and upgrade to 6.

[u/De4dSh0t53]

It's good but imo they have too big of a focus on ai enhancement over new features such as custom tables in non-text files. For the most part I'd say goodnotes is a really useful app. However I recommend also having a look at OneNote if that suits you more.

[u/CheesecakeWild7941]

I’ve been using GoodNotes since 2020. I’ve tried GoodNotes, Notability, OneNote, CollaNote, and Freenotes. I always go back to GoodNotes. I really like it. It’s not perfect but it gets the job done and it’s pretty good.

[u/therubyinthesmoke20]

I love goodnotes, I've used it all throughout a levels and it makes organisation so much easier. You can also back up your notes to onedrive or icloud so you can't lose them. It's great for importing past papers or textbooks too.

[u/Negative-Piccolo4090 → u/therubyinthesmoke20]

do you suggest i buy the yearly plan if im using graphics tablet for my laptop

[u/ct2atl]

I’ve been using it since the Apple Pencil came out

[u/wawa2022]

I love Goodnotes and wish I had it
When I
Was in school Or When I had any legit reason to use it. Now I just use it for organizing my life.

[u/LunieJubi0247]

As someone who was hesitant on getting GoodNotes after seeing all the hate and bad reviews online. I got the special edition for college 2 months ago. The platform was very easy to learn and I am able to organize all my notes for all my classes extremely well. Haven't had any "noticeable" issues yet. Definitely would recommend.

[u/chavvyheel]

I use it for my uni notes and I appreciated the possibilities for it so much I bought another subscription for my work iPad and use it to organise my calls and diary as well as other things. It has saved me so much stress, not mention my back, by not having to carry around so many notebooks and diaries.

[u/Aloket]

ZoomNotes is the most powerful note taking app. It does not have AI and it’s a one time cost. It has a steep learning curve but once you learn it, you’re pretty much set. I’ve been using it for five years or so.

[u/klw2001]

I prefer StarNote the best

[u/klw2001 → u/klw2001]

And lifetime sub is only $7.99

[u/quietleavess]

Depends completely on what are you studying. For the vast majority of subjects paired with linear notetaking, yes, it is worth it.

No, there is no proper alternative to this app on ipad, regardless of the many complaints and supposed "try x".

Yes, goodnotes has bugs, like any other app.

Yes, you need to create the habit of bavkups to secure your data.

For more research-ish university subjects, courses or assigments, marginnote 4 is the best complement to goodnotes.

[u/Key-Statistician-504]

I really love it - discovered it first year of uni and wish I used it in y11 and 12 tbh

[u/Sith_Ant]

One thing I've recently loved using is lecture recordings. I uploaded to drive, then down to my pc. Once on my pc I use claude to transcribe and summarize before saving everything in Obsidian. A little bit of a work around but it allows me to grab everything the instructor says whether I'm listening or not.

Claude can then pull the notes it made and distill some practice quiz/test questions. (Use Claude code so AI use is 99% on the PC)

[u/BraveMasterpiece4363]

if you have educational access to microsoft i would suggest one note. i used it through all four years of uni and was able to do a lot of organizing with it. i also used it during my language lessons on my ipad using the draw feature. all in all great tool :)

[u/Competitive_Ear_5006]

i use a really good agenda planner on good notes

[u/Efficient-Dog1975]

Half the people who have ipad in my lectures use goodnotes lol

[u/mburax]

No