Note Taking & Annotation Apps - Which is Best?

Note Taking & Annotation Apps - Which is Best?

by Jon Coleman

There are so many iOS apps that can be great tools for in-class note taking and/or file annotation, each one has a strong suit, but which one stands on top? Which ones are free? Which one does what you want it to do? Here's a bit of a list I've accumulated of the apps I use.

Adobe Reader - The Basic Annotator

I started using Adobe Reader when I first got my iPad via a recommendation from both my school and concert band director. It's a good annotator to start out with, and it's free. It's also your run of the mill file annotator; You can type, draw, and highlight text. The file storage is a simple "folder and file" organizer, somewhat like the storage on a desktop computer. The app also features online storage through Acrobat.com, and though it's no iCloud, it is simple and easy to retrieve your files. Like the Adobe Reader computer program, the app also features an option to use a keyword search within a file, and also allows you to both e-mail and print from the app.

Pages - The Word Processor

Once I got into writing papers in my classes, I came to enjoy using Pages for all my document creation needs. The app costs a hefty $9.99, but in my opinion, it's worth it. It has full ability to open and edit Microsoft Word documents, and create the same documents so that it's cross-compatible. It has almost all the same settings Word has when it comes to typing, along with a "folder and file" organizer. In addition it includes many advanced formatting options: 62 fonts, 279 text sizes (9-288,) 12 preset text styles, bolding, italicizing, underlining, text slashing, text alignment, a document ruler, and a header & footer editor. Also, like Word, you can easily insert images, tables, charts, and shapes within the app. It's nearly perfect for writing a research paper on the go since you can e-mail, print and upload your files to WebDAV from the app. It also includes an in-text search, an ability to check recent changes to a document, a word count and different spacing options (edge and word spacing.) And for the sake of online storage, Pages isiCloud compatible through iWorks, so you'll never lose your documents.

Evernote - The Note-Taker

Evernote appears to be the app that "everybody" is using though with all the issues it's had and has, another option may be better... For a price. Evernote is a free app that is mainly used for taking notes, it works best partnered with the other apps owned by the Evernotecompany: Penultimate and Skitch. The way the app organizes files is a bit different from the norm, since it's more of a tab layout with a tab for notes which you can set up notebooks to easier organize notes. Evernote also includes some basic formatting options, such as, bolding, italicizing, underlining, text slashing, highlighting, bulleting options, 4 preset text styles, check boxes (work like checkable bullets,) and indentation options. You can also insert audio and pictures into your notes, and iMessage, print and e-mail notes directly from the app, and online storage is done through your profile on Evernote.com. Another tab found in this app is called "Places" and this is a way to tag places on a full in-app map, this traces the locations that you've created your notes. You can also add tags to your notes to make them easier to find, for example, you have a note for history on Napoleon Bonapart, and you have dozens of other history notes you don't want to look through, well if you've tagged it properly, then you can simply search for that tag, and there you go.

Penultimate - The Notebook

Not a fan of typing? Then Penultimate is your app. This app is great if you have a stylus and would rather write than type. Penultimate is free and uses different notebooks as organization with individual sheets you can flip through within them. Online storage is also handled throughEvernote.com through your same Evernote username. You can also e-mail and print your notes from the app. Like Evernote, you can insert images into the app, but no audio. Now, since your drawing tool is your best friend, there are a couple of options to work with: 10 colors, a pen size slider (small to large.) The app also includes a cut & paste tool, and a clear page tool, and as an added bonus, you can change the style of the paper you write on from, gridded, to lined, to blank; Now your app can look just like a real notebook.

Skitch - The Doodle-Pad

Like Penultimate and Evernote, Skitch is by the Evernote company, so it works best partnered with the other two apps. Skitch is a free app that is used as a drawing board, like a classroom whiteboard with cooler options. You can both type and draw on the page, and pages are stored as individual files and can also be synched to your personal Evernote notebook, this also means that your files are stored online via Evernote.com. In the app, you have a couple drawing tools which will just about get you through the day, this includes both a pen and a highlighter with 8 colors and a size slider. With this, you also have an ability to create different shapes (squares, both rounded and straight, circles, lines, and arrows of various sizes) and use a pixel tool to blur things, a cropping tool and an undo tool instead of an eraser. Other features in the app allow you to both email and allow for a public link for people to view what you've created via a link, though, there's no option to print from the app. And finally, even though you can't insert images, you can draw on images and a map that is included within the app which is a good feature for a presentation or a good example for the classroom.

Paper - The Sketchbook

Paper is a very simplistic app, but it looks wonderful. For the artsy type, this is a blank easel, and all your art tools are laid out in front of you. All of your artworks are organized in sketchbooks, and both pages and sketchbooks can be added easily via the push of a button. For the free portion of the app, you've only got a fountain pen and eraser tool, but for the "small" payment of $6.99 you get the addition of a: pencil, marker, ballpoint pen and paintbrush tools. Each tool has it's own specific style, no two tools write the same. Also, after paying your 7 colors become 28 colors, 14 customizable paint slots and a color mixer for all of the other colors in between. Sadly, there is no online storage for your works of art, so if you wipe your device, you lose all your work. And if you have a case that covers the rim around your screen, it can be a tad difficult to turn pages at times.

Notability - The Package

Now, I know what you're thinking; "What could be better than all of these fantastic apps I've heard so much about?" Well, what if we combined all of the above apps into one app for $1.99? Thanks to Notability you can annotate files, type notes, and write notes. It also uses a "folder and file" organization, but it's slightly different than other apps, it organizes notes by subject and subjects by category which you can create and edit yourself. Each subject can be edited to have it's own color as well, this allows for better organization for the user. Notability, although it doesn't have it's own storage or iCloud capabilities, lets you store all of your files on Dropbox, Google Drive,Box.com, and WebDAV under the settings within the app, and you can both e-mail and print. Within files you can insert both images, web clips and audio which can make taking notes quite easy. And like, Pages the app has plenty of formatting options including 47 fonts, 16 text colors, 88 text sizes [8-96], italicizing, underlining, bullet list options, and 3 editable text styles. Your drawing tool options also includes 2 styles, 12 sizes, 16 colors, an eraser tool, and a cut & paste tool. You can also edit your paper style with 15 paper colors, 9 styles (blank, 4 different line spacings, and 4 grid spacings.

Which is Best? - The Review

To summarize, all of these apps are great, though some are better in certain categories, and I have all of them to use for different situations. If I had to choose just one, though, it'd beNotability because it really takes all of the best from all other note taking and annotating apps and puts it into one package for $1.99. It hasn't even once failed me yet, and I really do love that about Notability, it's fantastic, try it out for yourself.