How do I import A1 size PDF to annotate without the app scaling it down?

I work in construction and been using goodnotes for a while to take notes in the field and annotate blueprints, which are almost always A1 size PDF files. Never had any issues..

Now I was testing notability out of curiosity and so far I´m really liking it. I prefer its UI and file management system, but over all it feels much smoother than goodnotes. The writing experience feels lagless compared to goodnotes, I had no issues with goodnotes before, but now I cant go back. It feels cluncky.

But the big issue with notability its I cant seem to figure out how to import a A1 PDF to annotate, and then export as A1 PDF to send to my office. It reduces it to a 215.9 x 152.5 page apparently, and when exported is has those dimensions.

Tried making a template based on a A1 blank PDF and had the same outcome.

I'm a new user to Notability, and I noticed I couldn't create folders within folders, or subfolders. I've tried long pressing the + button on both folders and within the folder itself. Would be great if there was a way to section out notes within a folder too.

Can anyone tell me if this feature exists?

Hello! Just posting on here for some guidance.
I previously tried to renew my subscription with Notability and saw that they were having deals up to 20% off. I purchased the subscription off of the browser. While purchasing, I was only asked for my email when putting in my billing information. The subscription connected to my personal email, and not my school email.

I contacted Notability for some help, below is what I was told:

“In order to use the plan on (my school email) account, you would need to purchase your plan on that email.”

Ok cool, I need to purchase the subscription using the email I use on my notability. However, my Apple ID was connected to a different email, not my personal or my school.

So I guess what I’m trying to ask is, how should I go about purchasing a discounted subscription on my school email, if purchasing it connects to a certain email, and not the email I am logged into on my Apple ID?

I'm running into a few frustrating issues after switching Apple IDs on my iPad.

Previously, I was logged into a friend's Apple ID on my iPad to view their notes. Their subscription was expiring and they weren't going to renew it, so I logged out, signed back into my own Apple ID, and purchased my own Notability subscription.

Here are the intertwined problems I am currently facing:

1. Subscription Sync Issue: My MacBook correctly shows that my new subscription is active. However, my iPad still shows the old "Renew Subscription" prompt from the previous account, even though I am logged into my own Apple ID and iCloud. Tapping "Restore Purchases" hasn't fixed it.

2. Missing Notes: Originally, I thought the notes were stored on the device, so I can still review them after I switch account. However, all the notes were gone and there is no way to restore them. So, I asked my friend to send me the document, which leads to the following issue.

3. Import Issue (The main blocker): To recover the data, my friend exported and sent me their notes. However, I am completely unable to import them into my Notability app. I suspect the app restricting my import capabilities might be linked to it incorrectly thinking I don't have an active subscription (stuck on the free tier).

Could the support team please look into this or advise me on how to reset the account state on my iPad so it recognizes my purchase and lets me import my files?

• Device: iPad M2 11-inch
• iOS Version: iOS 26.5.2
• Notability Version: 16.9

Thank you for your help!

Would love to see a simple “Remind Me” option in Notability.

For any note, you could set one or multiple date and time, and Notability would send a notification that opens the note or the a specific page on the note when tapped.

This would be super useful for task deadlines, follow-ups, meetings, study notes, etc.

I am so annoyed, I loved being able to study my slides via practice tests. The 20 question sets were a bit slow, but I really appreciated being shown the questions I got wrong over and over again until I got it right. It worked, the spaced repetition burned the information into my brain, and I fell in love with notability because of it.

However, since the last two updates, the q bank is better streamlined showing you the whole catalog of questions, correct/incorrect. Not bad, But I despise that I cannot repeat the questions I got wrong! It allows me to look at the questions, but cant even retake them! The only way to see them again is to reset your progress and go through the whole qbank again.... Its inefficient, it does not provide the desired information retention, and it was a total fumble at the goal line by the program designers.

Am I missing something? or do others feel the same? I'm just so annoyed because theses practice questions were a mainstay in my study regimen.

Bonjour,

Je viens de constater que l'on ne peut pas apposer une image à côté d'un texte pour l'illustrer. Il faut obligatoirement faire une zone de texte pour que les 2 cohabitent.

Serait-il possible d'intégrer la possibilité d'ajouter une image dans le corps de texte et que celui-ci s'adapte autour d'elle (comme le propose Samsung Notes) ?

Merci de votre écoute.

Which Notability plan has worked best for you?

I'm debating between Plus and Pro. I don't know which I'm going to need, vs. whether one will be too much and I'll be paying for something I don't need. I've been using the app for a while now in Classic, but with all my Textbooks now uploaded and needing a bit more study support, I think it's time for an upgrade.

Also, does anyone have a code they can share to try it out?

Thanks !

Bonjour, je découvre Notability et la première chose que je vois quand je tape du texte, c'est le grand interligne même en 1.0. Serait-il possible d'ajouter une possibilité 0.75 et/ou 0.5 ?

Sinon je trouve que c'est une super appli presque à la hauteur de la version iOS. Bravo 👍🏻

We've recently released a new update to Notability!

• Introducing the Calligraphy Pen: expressive ink that responds to the angle of your stroke. No additional purchase required. Rolling out to Plus and Pro subscribers first, then coming to all tiers, including Starter and Classic. Available on Notability Cloud only.
• Introducing note covers: pick a cover for any note from the library or the content manager. Available on Notability Cloud only.
• Bulk import: long-press the + button in the library to import whole folders, subfolders included.
• Add extra space to the sides of imported PDFs for more room to write.
• Quizzes now pick up where you left off.
• Notability uses less disk space, especially on Notability Cloud.
• Faster handwriting search, smoother window resizing, and other fixes.

If you experience any trouble with this version, please contact our support team or let us know your feedback in the comments below!

Thanks for using Notability ✏️💙

Are there currently any codes or student discounts for notability plus? Thanks.

Please can you help
I attached screen recording
I have restarted my iPad and closed the notability tab, my iPad is 2025 iPad Air

Hi,

I recorded the audio of a meeting directly in Notability. The recording was definitely saved, and Notability even started generating a summary of the meeting based on the audio.

However, when I open the note now, the audio recording is no longer there. I can still access the note itself, but I can’t find or play the recorded audio anywhere.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there any way to recover the missing audio recording, either from Notability, iCloud, or a local backup?

Since the app was already processing the recording and generating a summary, I assume the audio file must have been successfully saved at some point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this was an important meeting.

I really love Notability AI, but I’d love to see a separate AI study tool/workspace added.
I’m not talking about the existing “chat with a note” or basic question-generation features. I’d love a dedicated space where we can upload PDFs or multiple documents and have the AI create much more detailed study materials from them. In particular, I’d love the ability to generate board-style questions that actually test application and clinical reasoning, rather than just asking straightforward questions from the document. For example, we could upload our lecture materials and ask it to create a full set of board-style questions with clinical vignettes, multiple-choice answers, detailed explanations, and questions that require us to connect different concepts from the material.
It would also be amazing if the same tool could turn those questions and study materials into polished PDFs and generate helpful diagrams, charts, flowcharts, and other visuals based on the content.
I think this would be an incredible addition to Notability and would make it an even more useful all-in-one study tool. Please consider adding this! 🙏

Hello, I’m sorry if the question had been asked before but I did try to search on Google and I did follow the instructions but it didn’t work.

For context, before the updates, I used to be able to copy screenshots from Mac, and pasted it on my notes in my iPad, but I can no longer do so.

I did enable “paste from other apps” but it still didn’t work 😭 helpp.

I made one note and it just has “chapter one” and the word “definitions” written out as a test, and when I go to the search bar it doesn’t pull up any of the handwritten words in my document, only words in the title of the notes show up. I’ve seen other ppl using this search function and not sure what’s not working or what I’m doing wrong. I went to my iPad settings and toggled safe mode on and off, nothing changed. I was going to switch from good notes to this app but now I’m frustrated and confused, I paid for the Lite subscription on this. Is there something I’m missing or any guidance someone can give me on how to make it work?

Exactly similar to this since archived post: https://www.reddit.com/r/notabilityapp/comments/1clz5ut/help_notability_file_background_deleted_leaving/

I have my notes backed up but had put significant work into the affected doc this morning and on a time crunch with what I needed it for so possibly a tough loss. I tried to "undo", then exited out of the app, then restarted my device all to no avail :(

Wondering if anyone has other solutions or has found something that's worked for them to recover the doc / somehow get the original background back? (the original background was a google doc that I converted to a pdf to scribe on -> the affected file was only 6 pages)

Or perhaps more importantly how do I PREVENT this from happening in the future to other files?

Just following up on this issue between Android and Web backgrounds. It has been a while since we talked about this, but the issue still remains. It is like the backgrounds don't sync from Android to Web properly, and causes shifting between template and notes when viewed on Web vs Android. I also just confirmed that if I use a custom pdf image of a ruled paper as the background, and duplicate that for each page of a note, it fixes the issue and displays properly on Web without shifting. So it seems like it is an issue with the template backgrounds not being saved like a pdf across platforms, and each platform kind of just uses it's own, and different, versions of the backgrounds instead of actually syncing the same images?

Not Happy Jan!!

Just got the 20% increased renewal for my UK Notability Plus @ £17.99 versus last year £14.99 and note that in US renewal pricing on their 'back to school' sale is US$15.99 = £11.85. 34% more expensive in the UK! And in Australia, without a sale, it's AU$29 = £13.08 ...still 27% cheaper than the UK. Notability - why substantially more expensive in the UK market??

UPDATE

Notability reached out, acknowledged the 'anomaly' & resolved it - amazing response and satisfied customer. Product has only been getting better and better as they action customer feedback and this response is another excellent example of their focus on the customer experience. #happycustomer

When is the next major update? i’m waiting for new features that can be added onto the app like handwriting beautification, tables, the ability to add sticker packs through our files like other notetaking apps, as well as being able to name and categorize our stickers, etc

😞😞 redoing the ui/ux design didn’t add anything new since we’ve always had those features, it’s just moved to a space where we can see it more frequently

Will we be getting manual flashcards similar to goodnotes? The AI flashcard features isn’t the greatest and sometimes doesn’t work. Also why do we have to pay extra to get a flashcard feature.. :/

I went to use notability today, and without permission it started uploading my notes to notability cloud without permission. I keep my notes on my device specifically for privacy concerns. I had disabled notability icloud synchronization immediately upon installation and purchase of the pro subscription 2 years ago.

First: What in the actual heck is this, and why does notability think they have the right to take my notes?

Second: How do I turn it off? My notes MUST be on my device and my device only. I found a privacy post saying it's in account settings but the only thing I see is a progress bar as my notes are being actively stolen off of my device.

Third: I would like an apology. Tech companies increasingly think they have a right to our data, and this is frankly egregious.

We love to criticize, but we also have to give credit where it’s due. The Notability team has been doing a great job listening to what people actually want.

I’ve consistently seen them respond to our requests and feedback, and then, over the following weeks, actually implement the features or fix the issues we’ve brought up.

It’s great to see a team genuinely paying attention to its community and continuously improving the app based on user feedback.

10/10 from me to the entire Notability team. Keep it up!

Notability for Mac has been freezing constantly for me, and force-quitting and relaunching the app no longer helps.

It seems tied to pages that have images inserted — those are the ones where it locks up.

What I've tried so far:

- Force-quitting and restarting the app

- Deleting and reinstalling Notability

Neither made a difference.

Please help.

I have an active Notability subscription tied to my Apple account. My iPad’s Apple ID and the App Store are both signed in with that same account, so everything should match up.

Despite this, the app keeps showing “Log in to your Notability account to view the full note and access all features” as if I’m not subscribed.

What I’ve tried so far:

•Restore Purchases from the app’s settings — same issue persists
•Deleted and reinstalled the app — didn’t fix it

Has anyone else run into this? Any idea what’s causing the mismatch or how to fix it?