Word-taking apps are important instruments for organizing issues, and there are a lot of obtainable for macOS. A very good note-taking app has all of the options you want and none that you just don’t.
There’s additionally no single excellent app for everybody, so we’ve compiled an inventory of the most effective so you may make an knowledgeable determination.
Table of Contents
Free and Easy for Apple Customers: Apple Notes
In the event you primarily use Apple units, Apple Notes is a good choice. The app has come on leaps and bounds because the early iOS days, with Apple not solely including highly effective options but in addition making it far more nice to make use of.
Apple Notes syncs with all your devices utilizing iCloud, which implies you possibly can entry your notes throughout units utilizing the built-in Notes app. If it’s worthwhile to entry your notes from a non-Apple system like an Android smartphone or Home windows PC you should use the web-based model by logging in at iCloud.com. It’s not excellent for those who spend loads of time with these working techniques, however it’s higher than nothing.
The app helps attachments together with images, maps, internet hyperlinks, and documents which you can “scan” utilizing the built-in doc scanner on iPhone and iPad. There’s easy textual content formatting, tables, and the power to create checklists. You possibly can even lock notes with a password and use Face ID and Contact ID to unlock them on supported units. There’s additionally assist for markup with a finger or Apple Pencil on appropriate units (not on Mac for now although).
Apple depends on hashtags and folders for group, and you may even elect to maintain notes out of iCloud and simply in your Mac or cell system. Your information is listed and simple to search out on Apple units due to Highlight search, which might typically fail with third-party options. You possibly can even use sensible folders to collate notes based mostly on tags.
Notes additionally has some powerful collaboration features. You possibly can add different customers with an Apple ID to your notes and even use in-line mentions to attract their consideration with a notification.
RELATED: How to Quickly Add Links, Photos, and Media to Apple Notes on iPhone and iPad
Characteristic-Wealthy and Highly effective: Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is a heavyweight note-taking app that features a enormous variety of options, and it doesn’t value a penny to make use of. You don’t want a subscription to entry the entire app’s options, together with cloud sync across platforms. In the event you use greater than a Mac then you definately’ll be happy to know that OneNote has native apps for nearly each platform, together with Android, Home windows, and the cloud. There’s additionally a native Apple Silicon model, which performs excellently on Apple’s newest computer systems.
OneNote extra carefully resembles a part of the Office suite than a easy note-taking app, with an array of UI components and formatting choices absent elsewhere. That is a part of OneNote’s strategy to letting you lay out your notes exactly the way you need to. It’s a scrapbook-like strategy: you possibly can kind anyplace, format the textual content, drag the container across the web page, and prepare different objects alongside it.
This strategy is liberating for energy customers and overkill for anybody searching for a easy note-taking app. It’s nice for those who’re organizing assembly notes, snapping images of whiteboards, and annotating product designs or idea artwork. It’s a bit a lot if all you need to do is make a buying listing or take a fast memo (however it nonetheless works).
There’s a heavy emphasis on drawing, full with a “Convert to Shapes” choice for those who lack creative benefit. It’s also possible to take audio recordings, solve equations, create tables, attach files, change the paper shade, secure notes with a password, or have the body text read aloud to you.
This exhaustive strategy is mirrored in OneNote’s strategy to group, which makes use of notebooks, sections in notebooks, and pages in sections. You possibly can choose from in-built tags like “To Do” and “Essential” to arrange issues rapidly or create your personal. Re-ordering and sorting notes, sections, and notebooks can be quick and simple to do.
Collaborative options are additionally sturdy, with a easy “Invite to Pocket book” hyperlink permitting anybody to contribute. You possibly can share view-only hyperlinks, examine when your word was final synced with the server, and see other people making changes in real-time.
Textual content-Solely and Cross-Platform: Simplenote
In the event you crave simplicity however want higher native assist than Apple Notes, check out Simplenote. The clue’s within the identify, however Simplenote is about as no-frills as a note-taking app can get. This comes at the price of options, however it makes for a quick and nice note-taking expertise.
Simplenote has no assist for attachments, which implies it’s a purely text-based note-taking expertise. It’s fully free to make use of, with free syncing between the numerous native variations obtainable. That features macOS, Home windows, Android, and a big number of Linux variations. In the event you don’t need to use the Mac App Retailer or Google’s Play Retailer you possibly can obtain Simplenote immediately from GitHub.
The app has assist for plain textual content, Markdown, and easy checklists. Group is finished purely by means of tags, which have a devoted area on the backside of notes. Looking out and syncing is extraordinarily quick, which is additional helped by the truth that the app has a local Apple Silicon model for chips like the M1.
Regardless of the no-frills strategy, Simplenote nonetheless manages to incorporate assist for primary collaboration. Sort an e-mail deal with into the tags area and the recipient will obtain an invitation to contribute to your word. You possibly can even see and roll again previous variations of notes, a good thing about the app’s text-only strategy.
Polished and Premium: Bear App
Bear is a phenomenal note-taking and general-purpose writing app for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. There’s no native Home windows or Android model, however an internet model is within the works. In the event you aren’t strictly restricted to Apple units, Bear might be not a great match for you.
The app takes a extremely polished strategy to capturing your ideas and different written content material, with a heavy give attention to Markdown. Bear is a bit completely different in that it presents Markdown as a wealthy preview whereas writing, beautifying the phrases on the web page earlier than you’ve exported or previewed them. It’s all about making the expertise of writing extra nice, which in flip may assist you get extra achieved.
The editor additionally highlights over 150 programming languages (excellent for code snippets) and may acknowledge components like email addresses and web links. You possibly can add file attachments to your notes and there’s in-line assist for pictures. Group is finished purely by means of hashtags, besides there’s no separate area (they should be talked about within the physique of your word).
Most of Bear’s options are free, however with a purpose to entry syncing between units, you’ll must pay a month-to-month or annual subscription ($1.49 monthly or $14.99 per yr). You’ll additionally get the power to lock your notes, extra export choices, and a few extra themes.
Collaborative Growth: Boost Note
In the event you’re a programmer or internet developer who makes use of a note-taking app otherwise from most individuals, Boost Note could possibly be a great match. It’s a Markdown editor that’s aimed squarely at builders, with an emphasis on collaboration. Enhance Word describes its interface as “IDE-like” with a versatile group system that means that you can nest notes in a number of folders.
It’s also possible to use sensible folders to group notes by sure standards, and there’s each a quick and full-text seek for rapidly getting the place it’s worthwhile to. It’s doable to hyperlink on to notes or embed sure features of different notes throughout the word you’re at the moment engaged on. You’ll get correct word revision historical past so you possibly can roll again or view earlier variations, as you’ll with different programming tools.
On the coronary heart of Enhance Word is collaboration. You possibly can have a number of groups inside a shared workspace, engaged on the identical tasks on the identical time in real-time. It’s even doable to generate public URLs to share paperwork with purchasers or exterior collaborators with out having to arrange extra accounts.
Enhance has a local model for many main working techniques together with Home windows and Linux flavors like Debian (Ubuntu) and Pink Hat, plus cell variations for Android and iOS. Enhance Word additionally has an internet model that you would be able to entry from most fashionable browsers.
Enhance is free so long as you’ve a small staff of three members or much less. You solely get three days of versioning historical past, 100MB of storage, and 10MB uploads at that tier. Pricing then will increase on a per-member foundation, at $3 or $8 per member per month. You get extra storage, extra versioning, and expanded assist relying on whether or not you go for the Customary or Professional tier.
Apple Notes Is a Nice Beginning Level
There’s a purpose Apple Notes is first on this listing, and that’s since you get an enormous variety of options in an easy-to-use bundle free of charge. You’ll should maintain utilizing Apple’s ecosystem, however for those who’re a Mac or iPhone consumer already that’s in all probability not going to be a difficulty.
You possibly can even access Apple Notes on Android and Windows for those who’re proud of an internet model. And for iPad customers, there’s no simpler strategy to jot down your handwritten notes or draw perfect shapes.
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