#Notability app for ipad full#
#Notability app for ipad software#

The writing experience had to be close to using a pen and paper.

My experiences with physical and electronic ways to journal weren’t optimal, but they gave me a good idea of what I wanted: I liked a few things about all of the applications I tried, but none of them had a winning combination of features. There was a slight lag between when I moved the stylus and the writing appearing on the page. However, none of these applications presented an enjoyable writing experience. They all synced my information across multiple devices so I could access my journal on a tablet, laptop, or desktop. Many of them could convert my handwriting to text, search through my notes based on a text string, and provided a variety of colors for my journal entries. Most of them had a “drawing” feature that provided a way to make handwritten notes. The major ones I tried were Evernote, Google Keep, and OneNote.Īll of these applications provided some form of stylus support, and I tried them with a variety of styli, and they worked to some degree.

#Notability app for ipad software#

Apps and StyliĪs a technology enthusiast, I tried many software applications over the years to take the place of my paper journals. I still have an innate fear of losing my paper journals due to another natural disaster. Not only did a I lose several photo albums, a number of my paper journals were ruined. Also, I once lived in an apartment in Houston that was flooded during a hurricane. I always feared losing my paper notebooks, and that would mean losing months if not years of irreplaceable thoughts. However, the physicality of paper notebooks was also a weakness. This planner and notebook ( affiliate link) was the one the met most of these requirements, and I loved it!

A nice Pilot G2 ballpoint pen that didn’t bleed through the pagesĭespite not having a wire binding, this is what my favorite paper journal looks like open to a blank set of pages.

An elastic closure that firmly kept the journal closed.

Grid lines to make it easier to draw things.

Pre-populated calendar dates on pages so that I wouldn’t have to always write the date for my entries.

Lay-flat wire binding that securely held the pages together.

I went on to try several different types of paper based notebooks, and I eventually settled on my preferred configuration:

I have dozens of electronic journals in cloud storage, but they aren’t as meaningful to me as my stack of paper journals. I’ve found that typing in a word processor didn’t have the psychological weight of writing. I loved the physicality of paper notebooks and writing in them with a pen.

While some of these journals contain work notes like minutes from meetings, I would often write down my thoughts about those years, too. I have a stack of these notebooks in my office and up in the attic. I have to admit that it’s nice to revisit the things that seemed important to me during those years.Īfter I graduated and started my career, I started using to thicker paper notebooks that had dedicated pages for journaling. I used these calendars to organize my class schedule and also capture my thoughts about the people, places, and events in my life. My earliest journals were thin paper calendar organizers that I used in my years as an undergraduate electrical engineering student at The University of Texas at Austin. Previous Tools Paper Journals Here are a few of my paper journals. I tried several methods and tools over the years ranging from day planners to notebooks, but I found the perfect solution for me in the Notability app on the iPad and the Apple Pencil. Getting these things out of my head and into a journal freed up space in my mind and also provided a sense of calm. However, I found that taking time to pause and write in my journal helped me pay attention to the thoughts, memories, and observations that I was missing.

#Notability app for ipad full#

After all, maintaining my relationship with my wife of eighteen years, tending to the needs of our three children, and performing my full time job as an Engineering Manager leaves very few spare moments in my day. My life usually goes at a fast pace from when I wake up in the morning to when I collapse into bed at the end of the day. I started journaling a few years ago as a mindfulness practice. Tech Notability and Apple Pencil: The Ultimate Journaling Toolset Journaling with Notability and the Apple Pencil