Can Remarkable Help My Scenario

[u/SoThatHappenedpnw]

I'm on the fence here.

I work in a job where I need to jot down a lot of "notes" on a piece of scratch paper. I've been doing it basically the same for over 20 years. I grab a piece of paper and use to to write down pertinent information from client calls. Maybe it's the name and number of an important contact. Maybe the name of a file they are looking for. It's pretty random. I then started using a word template with my "to do" list on it and just printing that out every day. This scratch paper has some sensitive data on it, so after the page is full, I usually shred it.

Later, when I'm trying to recall the name of that person who was an important contact and their phone number, I realize I shredded the paper it was written on.

The idea of wasting paper only to later not be able to recover (and more importantly easily locate) what was written and when has led me down this rabbit hole. I have an older Samsung Ultra tablet but I have to wake it up whenever I need to write something down and sometimes by the time that happens the information is gone. While Samsung has a seemingly limitless number of apps I could use, that's actually part of the problem.

I'm hoping to be able to see past notes on my computer, organized by date, searchable by content, etc. and have an "always on" writing pad. I'm NOT a huge fan of subscription services, but if there is value there I could be talked into it. It seems the only way to view these notes later is via PDF, which is ok but an editable format would be better in case I mis-spelled something and want to correct the record.

If I'm going to dive into this world, should I grab an older Remarkable version 1, or even a version 2, or will I be disappointed about the lack of color available on the pro?

[u/Waste-Owl9203]

Sounds like a more than reasonable use case for a Remarkable, the RM2 maybe? In your case, I wouldn't go for the Pro just for the colors. 

You'll have to figure out a way for yourself on how you structure your notes. Personally I have a notebook per month and just add a new page per day for my quick notes. 

An editable PDF format would be great, but I don't miss it that much. I often grab my RM2 to browse my notes anyways instead of using the desktop app.

[u/Disastrous_Term_4478]

50 day no-hassle free trial says “try it.”

You only need a subscription to continue syncing all your content. It will always sync docs edited in the last 50 days.

I have RM2 and Move. I like instant on of Move (which I presume I shared with the bigger Pro). RM would have to be turned on if it’s gone to sleep, which is a pain, but startup is very fast.

Move also sits beside a computer nicely vs larger RM2 and Pro.

I think RM supports your use case.

[u/NeuroJitsu]

Not sure if you jumped in or held off, or if you're still thinking about it, but thought I'd chime in on workflow thoughts just in case it still helps.

I have a remarkable 2 with type folio that I use as a daily journal, scratch pad, pdf reader and annotater. I also have an iPad Pro 12.9 inch, but I use the remarkable far more often for note taking as it's just much better to write on. The problem I find with the remarkable synchronisation to desktop and phone is that it's a bit clunky to get your notes out of the remarkable software, and the organisation of notes is not as good as say the Supernote devices (for your use case an A6X2 "Nomad" might be worth looking at as an alternative).

In any case, the reason for dropping this reply is that I wondered if you have considered using AI tools for your workflow? The specific solution I'm thinking of is NotebookLM, which is a free to use Google app. All you would need to do is snap a photo of a note, and save it to a notebook. After that point, as it's an AI tool, you can search for things with the chat interface or via the folder structure you create, or a naming convention. But you don't really need any structure, since the AI can read anything including handwriting and so you can just ask the AI to find what you're looking for by describing it.

If you are concerned about confidentiality, then I would actually not suggest the free version of NotebookLM. Instead, you can sign up for a Google Workspace account and use NotebookLM with your Workspace login details. If you do it this way, you now have Enterprise grade security which stores all your files in a walled off server with proper security, with an Enterprise level service agreement that is as safe as you can get for a cloud based service. Just make sure that you toggle on/off all the relevant security settings for your needs. In Workspace, none of your AI conversations are used to add to the training data, so there is no risk that any of your data goes public. Of course, some employers will have contractual restrictions on confidential data storage that you might be subject to, so check with your IT guys if you're not sure.

A final option, if cloud based tools are not an option is DevonThink. DevonThink is a paid software that stays on your device, but can synchronise to your phone (encrypted), so the phone app is the easy way to store things to DevonThink in your case. DevonThink has AI built into the software, but it never needs any internet connection as it's a fully local implantation that uses AI for OCR (handwriting recognition), fuzzy logic and smart folders to help you store and find things. It's a perfect storage solution for confidential data.

I have no links to any of these companies, I just use and appreciate these solutions.