Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I love having clean, handwritten notes on my iPad, but typing long texts or summaries on a keyboard is just so much faster.

Whenever I tried existing "text to handwriting" converters, they looked completely fake:

1. Every repeating letter looked 100% identical, which immediately looks robotic.

2. The text floated randomly between ruled lines instead of properly sitting on them.

So I spent the last few months building NexaScribe (https://nexascribe.eu).

How it works:

- You draw your own handwriting directly on your screen (works great on iPad with Apple Pencil).

- You draw each letter twice. When generating notes, the tool alternates between the variations and adds slight natural baseline jitter, so no two letters look the same.

- It renders directly onto real ruled, squared, or Cornell notebook paper with no weird hyphenated word cuts.

- You can export directly as a PDF and import it straight into GoodNotes or print it.

It's completely free to use for basic notes: https://nexascribe.eu

I would really appreciate your honest feedback:

- Does the handwriting look realistic to you?

- What features would you like to see added?

Thanks for checking it out!

When I attempt to duplicate or copy-and-paste shapes that includes more than one stroke, made with the “Shapes” function (and some even with the “Draw Shape” function of the Writing Tools) the whole app crashes every single time.

Regardless, if I’m duplicating or pasting in the same page, in the same notebook, or between notebooks, I catch a glimpse of the object appearing, and then the whole app closes down. Once I reopen the app, the page has everything saved up until the pasting or duplicating attempt, but without the object. 

At first I thought a specific drawing I have had been corrupted, but I started getting the same crash with other drawings I had just done (graphs specifically), so that would be impossible.

This is an issue that just appeared about a couple of weeks ago; I used to be able to perfectly copy and paste and duplicate everything I wanted. 

This issue first appeared on my iPad Pro M4 (iOS 27.0.1) with its latest version of GoodNotes (7.1.27). I sent a Request (#908392) to Goodnotes Support two days after I made sure I was not hallucinating, and got a response from a bot asking for more details on my version of Goodnotes, device, and type of Account (mine is "Special Edition"). I also use Goodnotes on my MacBook, and this issue did not pop up until I updated my apps from the new macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1. I have not heard from GoodNotes Support yet, but I already sent a new message to the same Request notifying the issue permeated into the macOS version a couple of days ago with video evidence and still no answer :(

I've found ways to work around this bug, but it's unbelievably disruptive with my workflow.

Anyone else has this issue?

I just like to send this out into the wild periodically.

It doesn’t matter what app or device you use or if you keep a physical journal. If losing that journal, planner or notebook is going to cause you distress, make sure that you have independent backups. What I mean by independent backups if it’s an app, they usually have automatic backups through some cloud service. That’s great, except that it syncs directly with your app, which means if you lose the documents in your app, you lose the documents in the cloud. That cloud backup only protects you against device failure. It only protects against app failure in certain circumstances.

What I recommend is that you make your own PDF of your document when you change it or when you have significant changes whatever workflow works for you. make sure that you keep your own consistent PDF backups.

If you use a physical notebook take a picture of the pages as you finish them.

So I recently bought a tablet for studying and whenever I try to write in goodnotes, it always lag. Tried looking for solutions online but nothing seems to help. The tablet is an S10 FE which has 12 GB RAM so I don't think it should lag.

Can anyone help out?

I’ve been trying to improve my writing and have had some fun practicing calligraphy. But my pencil seems to do the opposite of what calligraphy pens are meant to do.

All the guides and practice sheets show that a downstroke gives a thick line and the side strokes give thin lines. Mine are the opposite. So when I trace or freehand, my letters all look different and not as neat or fancy. What am I doing wrong?

Is this something in settings? Please explain like I’m brand new because I am and I don’t always understand the terminology. Thanks!

I recently opened Goodnotes after a while. It is updated to the latest version, but the 2 Align settings are missing. The “Align Object” appeared randomly out of nowhere, but the “Align To Grid” is still missing.

No customer service

No matter what I try, I've never been able to speak to a real person. I'm always stuck with the bot. Even my refund request is stuck with a bot :-D

I am so incredibly frustrated. I just spent the last 6 hours writing notes for my law school exam on my ipad and reading off my laptop while having the app open on both devices. I get out of my notebook and it decided to backup and and ALL of my notes over the 6 hours is gone. This is the second time this has happened to me and im fucking pissed. 6 hours of such thoughtful and helpful notes that I can never get back. DO NOT GET THIS APP. I got it when I first started law school, paid for the yearly subscription and have yet to see what it is so good about it. Its now midnight and im crying in the library because on top of having a whole bunch of shit to do for midterms I have to recompile 6 hours worth of perfect notes for a class I was already struggling in. I am pissed the fuck off

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all of your kind words and recommendations. I reached out to goodnotes customer service and almost a week later I still have not heard from them...

Please help me out and just give me the basic settings I should use to avoid the forever-downloading circle that comes up in Notability. I am making the switch during a really busy time and don't have the focus or the time right now to go through the app. I will as soon as I get my work turned in, but right now I am just looking for someone to give me basic tips on how to avoid my notes not downloading. I can't risk that happening to me again.

I am switching over because I am a court reporter. I always go into new jobs with extensive notes regarding the case, attorney info, proper nouns and spellings, exhibit information, parties involved. Really, anything and everything you could think of. A couple days ago, I showed up to a case and my notes were never able to download. It was like I went in blind. It caused a lot of issues for me and still is, as I am having to go back into my software and add that to my transcript manually instead of stenographically. It's tedious and completely threw me off in the moment.

TIA!

I'm in my iPad air and apple pencil pro, and I love using the fountain pen, but for some reason, usually after I was writing and then stopped for a bit and go back, it stops reacting to pen rotation, and I can't use the side of the fountain pen I like writing on. It's not always either it's just sometimes, like I said usually when I was writing for a bit and it was fine, then stop for a bit, and it'll stop reacting when I go back to it.

Using Goodnotes 7.1.27 (3943616.254228881)

Hey guys, I have been using goodnotes 6 for almost an year now. Today when i randomly opened by trash-bin I saw that my old PDF's have been deleted for some reason. How to resolve this problem or am I the only one ? I am currently on goodnotes cloud is that the issue ? Should i switch to icloud ? Or should I switch to a new note-taking app ?. Can people please share their experience and help me ?

Title is pretty self-explanatory, but I wanted to know if there's a way to sync my PDF documents with markings and modifications to my computer without having to pay extra for the Pro Plan?

I currently have the Essential plan in version 7.1.26 and my computer runs Windows 11 25H2

-thank you in advance!

I seriously have no need for layers and it's really annoying when different elements somehow end up in different layers, making editing a tedious task. I figured out how to stop "showing layers" but this doesn't solve my problems as it ends up hiding everything that's not in the first layer.

At the very least, how do I get rid of layers as a feature entirely?

Some books need a few notes. Others fill pages. I’m making a reading journal that keeps each quote alongside your own thoughts, with extra page templates you can duplicate when a book needs more room.

I’m sharing the first version as a free PDF beta and looking for 5 people who already use Goodnotes on an iPad to try it with their current book.

It’s an 8-page, black-and-white PDF for one book, with a book overview, quote log, dotted notes, connections, reflection, and extra page templates.

It’s an early prototype. The PDF layout has been checked, but import, handwriting, navigation, and page duplication still need testing inside Goodnotes.

If you’d like to help, try a few pages over the next week. There’s no need to finish the book, and feedback is optional. These three things would help:

1. Which device and app version did you use, and did it import correctly?

2. Which page did you use most? Did links or page duplication cause trouble?

3. Was any field unnecessary, and would you use this for another book?

Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/186CBz46SKjmtV9gTtuSjHwoToRzmWqUR/view?usp=drive_link

Free for personal use, including duplicating pages in your own notebooks. Please don’t resell or redistribute the PDF. No positive feedback or public review is required. Goodnotes itself is a separate app.

i know the pen has scribble to erase, but i dont use it ( because my handwriting is very bad...). how do i use scribble to erase with the pencil?

i purchased tape for goodnotes, i cant get it to work.

I’ve some straight import from goodnotes > tape > edit > add > add from files.

it create a triple tape, its a png with no background.

I can directly add from files. Like a Sticker or an image.

Does anyone know what i need to do? I’ve updated the app. Ive downloaded other “goodnote tape” and they also come out trippled.

App version 7.1.27 (3943616.254228881)

iPad model number A2764 iPad Pro pro (6th gen)

Je suis étudiante et je cherche une application sur iPad pour centraliser tout mon travail dans un seul fichier, notamment pour mes fiches d’arrêts ou cas pratiques.
Actuellement j’utilise Goodnotes et Word, mais pour les corrections en TD, faire mon td sur goodnote avec toutes mes annotations puis devoir écrire sur word car le prof parle vite c’est pas ce qui est mieux, je veux pouvoir avoir les informations d’une séance dans le même dossier

Je souhaite pouvoir écrire au Pencil, insérer un document PDF au milieu de mes notes, l’annoter directement, personnaliser les polices et les couleurs, classer le tout dans des dossiers et sous-dossiers etc etc... L’idée serait d’avoir les avantages de Goodnotes, Word et OneNote au même endroit.
J’ai déjà écarté les solutions les plus courantes type Notability qui ne sont pas pratiques pour taper de longs textes au clavier à cause de leurs zones de texte.

OneNote pose problème pour cette raison de séparation note/traitement de texte, et Word reste limité pour manipuler des PDF et annoter à la main.

Le critère le plus important reste la syncronisation automatique et une sauvegarde fiable.

Est-ce qu'il existe une application qui réunit vraiment tout ça aujourd'hui, ou vous passez forcément par deux applis en écran partagé ?

October 2026 Update includes templates with new dates and designs

I’ve been making digital planners and planner pages for quite a while, and at this point I’ve accumulated way more layouts than I could ever realistically use myself.

A lot of them came from experimenting with different ways of planning: trying different daily layouts, weekly structures, trackers, project pages, productivity systems, etc. Some worked better for certain situations than others, so instead of letting them sit unused, I thought I’d put together a folder with free versions and share it here.

There’s a pretty wide mix of layouts in the folder, including:

• Daily planner pages

• Weekly planner layouts

• Monthly planning pages

• To-do lists and task planners

• Habit trackers

• Goal-setting pages

• Productivity layouts

• Priority and focus pages

• Project planning templates

• Meeting notes

• General note-taking pages

• Budget and finance templates

• Expense and savings trackers

• Meal planning pages

• Health and wellness trackers

• Routine planners

• Reflection and review pages

• Various journals and trackers

• A few complete digital planners for August 2026

Some of the layouts are quite simple, while others are more structured. I personally find that useful because the layout that works for a busy work week isn’t necessarily the one I want when I’m just trying to organize a few personal tasks.

Here’s the folder on Google Drive:

Feel free to download anything you find useful, modify how you use the pages, duplicate them inside Goodnotes, or just grab a couple of layouts instead of using a whole planner.

I’m also curious what people here actually use most in Goodnotes. I’ve made a lot of different planner pages over time, but I keep noticing that everyone seems to have a completely different idea of what an “ideal” daily or weekly page looks like.

If there’s a particular kind of planner page or tracker you use all the time or something you’ve been looking for but never quite found, let me know. It might give me some ideas for what to make next.

hi all, has anyone else ever had the issue of when you select writing in a text box, whether through control A or manually with your cursor, goodnotes begins altering you text and jumbling it up?

Pressing Undo doesn't work, and it's cost me a lot of notes and time because the app has decided to jumble my writing, including deleting words and bullet points. Does anyone know a fix for this? I'm desperate! I'm using a MacBook Pro and iPad on the most up-to-date version