The Way To Use Apple Notes
We all need to stop looking for the best notes app or the best productivity app. As you may find the best notes app is the one that you have already built on your phone. So, for someone like you who is an iPhone user, it’s the Notes app that comes with the iPhone.
Stop being one of those people who started with Notes and they thought apple notes is quite basic, Let’s try all these other sorts of Note Taking apps in the market. All these apps are different but when it comes to your notes, they don’t ProForm as well as the Apple Notes app does.
It’s just the best app that you can have for any sort of notes right now. So, to tell you about the amazing things that the Apple Notes app has, we wanted to cover what is possible with the Notes app and what you can do with the Notes app.
Our main mission here is to tell you how to get the most out of the Apple Notes app and share some cool, interesting tips and tricks with you that may benefit you in the future, and so that you may use it to its full ability.
Folder Creation With Notes App
Apple Notes uses a folder-established system to keep things organized. First, you have your regular folders. You can even move notes from one to the other just by dragging and dropping. So, the first thing you’re most likely going to see when opening the Notes app is your folders of notes. So, as you open the app, you may have a few different folders. The best thing about this is that you can have as many folders as you like without any external cost.
You can also see your shared notes that you shared with other people. You can have a folder here for your notes and have a folder here for all our extracurricular stuff that you did. To make a new folder all you must do is click on the folder icon on the bottom left, tap, and you can make a new folder.
1. Folders And Their Association
Notes come with a set of different default folders already. The Notes folder contains all unsorted notes, while the whole iCloud or all your iPad folders lets you access any node currently in either of these locations. Quick notes go in well, Quick Notes and Share notes go into the Shared folder. Pretty straightforward, when you delete a folder and don’t know where it will end up, it goes into the recent one. Folder where it can be recovered for up to 30 days before being. Did forever.
2. Smart Folder
Then you have also Smart Folders. Those are some of the very cool features added recently by Apple Notes. When creating a Smart Folder, you’ll select Hashtags to differentiate the categories for the folder. When using tags on your notes, those will be automatically sorted into the associated Smart folder.
With iOS 16 you can add filters to those tags as well, which is awesome. You can easily create as many folders as you want, and you can even nest them five levels deep to keep things organized. Apart from the folders that you can create yourself.
But what is clever here, which people don’t get to discover, is that you can make a smart folder. So, when you go to the smart folder you can have different conditions for that folder for what should be in that folder. To make a smart folder you first must add tags to your notes.
Adding Tags In Notes
One thing people don’t know is that you can add tags to notes. This is something people think that isn’t even possible. A way of categorizing your notes. So, let’s just say you added A tag for recipes. Maybe you have different recipes for different meals, and you have different notes.
You can just add the hashtag recipe to any of those notes and then you can have them all automatically organized into a folder (Smart Folder), which is awesome and something we didn’t know that could be done.
- So, to demonstrate the hashtag sort of feature.
- You can just type something random on a created note.
- Then you can add a hashtag of something like #script as a hashtag and click on done.
- So now once your note is added there.
- You can see already a tagged note is already created at the entrance of the notes app.
Creating a Smart Folder Through Tags
So, to demonstrate how to make the hashtag into a smart folder.
- You will have to go and create a new folder.
- Name the folder according to the name of the Hashtag.
- Make the folder into a smart folder by clicking on the tags option and clicking on any selected tags.
- Click on the option of the script that will be present as a hashtag.
Click on done and there you have it you have successfully created a Smart folder. Now it will show you all the notes with that hashtag on it. So yeah, great way. Just organize your notes
1. Folder Display
By default, Apple Notes sorts your notes by last edited, and it goes even further. By grouping them by date, such as today, previous seven days, and so on, the app makes it very easy for you to find pretty much anything at any time. It has advanced search capabilities like optical character recognition that can locate your search terms in text, in handwritten pages, or even in attachments like images or scanning documents.
You also have access to other tools. For example, you can pin an important note to the top of the folder so it’s always the first one you see when you enter that precise folder. In terms of display, Apple Notes offers 2 displays.
2. List View
It defaults to the list view, where nodes are divided into three navigation windows, folders, nodes, and contents, and this view changes based on the orientation of your device. The list view is ideal if you need to keep track of multiple notes at the same time. It just allows you to see more notes at once.
3. Gallery View
The second display mode is a gallery view. This view shows a thumbnail of each note. Compared to the list view, this one is a bit more comfortable and gives you more customization options. You can increase or decrease the size of a thumbnail, for example, which is cool. Now regardless of which view you choose for yourself; you can get a closer look at any note by just pressing and holding it.
Filtering The Notes
You can choose the day created, day edited, shared, and mentioned checklist attachments. Just a bunch of different ways to have your notes in a nicely organized way. This makes it so much easier to find notes specific notes that you want to find.
4. Sub Folders
Once you’ve made a folder, you can even make a folder within a folder. So, once you’re in a folder, you can just go top right and you can add a folder and then you can easily add a new folder within that already present folder.
5. Tools
So, there are a bunch of tools along the bottom of the notes for your disposal.
6. Tables Creation
The first one is the ability to add a table. This is another way to organize your notes, keeping in mind the expenses of something, the other options are sharing a table, or copying a table. So basically, it’s just a quick way to add tables.
This can be used for something like Maybe you want to go to Travel to another country. Let’s just say it costs like 5000 or something like that. So, to organize your expenses for travel as well as the cost of living you can make a table to chart all these things. There are just a bunch of ways you can make use of the tables in notes. A good way to organize your stuff.
7. Formatting
You can also format it as well. With some formatting, we can make the tables look a bit more legible. We can also use the formatting tool to do different things like add titles, headings, subheadings, and body text monospaced as well as go through them.
8. Checklist
There was also a checklist option here to add things to a checklist. So maybe you need to do some food shopping or something like that, so put in something like burger buns or other groceries. We can easily add things to a checklist here and go through them.
9. Scanning Tool
So, the next one is a fan favorite and one that people use a lot and that is the scanning tool, the camera tool that is built into notes. So, just as an example, if you have a page from a book. We’re going to click the camera icon located within a note app.
We can choose to add a photo, scanned documents are the most useful. We can hold the phone over the document, it will scan it and then it will add it straight into our notes. This is used for a lot of things like scanning driver’s licenses, passports, and documents.
This is also useful for adding documents to forms and things like that. This makes life so much easier. It can also be used sometimes just to scan random documents that you need to send via e-mail. Once you scan a document you can tap on it and then you can share that to wherever you like.
10. Pen Tool
We also have the pen tool here which you can use to draw anything you like in Notes. Anything you need to do, you can do. It also has this clever thing where we don’t know if you just noticed that where you can draw a shape roughly and then it will try and figure out what you have drawn.
Say, for example, you’re going to draw a square so you can hold it down and I’ll make the square perfect for you. This is useful and one that can be used just to mark documents or whatever else you need to do.
Quick Note Button In Taskbar
Ever need to quickly add a note? You can add a quick note button to the Control Center on your iPhone.
- So, you go to settings first.
- Then you Scroll down and go to Control Center, and we can see here Quick note.
- Once you’ve added that to your Control Center, you go to the top right.
- You can see you have a quick note here and you can quickly just add a note without having to go to the note app.
Just go to your control center or your taskbar and scroll down to the bottom and now there should be a quick note option available there.
Face ID On Sensitive Notes
So, if you ever have a note that has Sensitive information in it. You can lock it with Face ID.
- So, we are going to go up here, to the top left corner.
- Click on the 3 dots.
- Once you click it there should be a lock-shaped icon present there.
- Once you click the icon it will ask you to confirm your pin ID and after that will present you with the option to lock it using face ID.
So, you’re going to lock it like so, and then obviously you need to enter your passcode. Once you’ve entered your passcode, you can enable Face ID. Now it’s locked. So now when you go into the note, you can see that the note itself is locked.
There’s a little padlock icon and there’s a locked text underneath as well. you tap on it; it’ll say View Note. Once you click it will use Face ID and then it will unlock the note. Then if I need to lock it again, you can just press the lock icon at the top.
1. Shearing Notes
Another neat feature of Nice is that you can share notes with other people who are of course on iPhone and have the Notes app. You can then press the share icon at the top and then you can share notes, send a copy, or collaborate.
What you are going to do is press collaborate and share that with anyone that you need to. You can also pin a note if you want to if it’s a note that you’re accessing. So you can hold down on it like so and you can pin the note and it will be at the top of your notes.
2. Swiping Notes Left And Right
Another neat feature that a lot of people don’t realize is that you can swipe on notes to do different things. So, for example, you can swipe right to pin a note, you can swipe to share it, organize it into a folder, or delete it. You take it without having to go into the note.
3. Word Searching On Notes
Another very clever feature that goes back to scanning documents. If you have a bunch of notes and you have documents in there, you can search for text that is within the document. So, for example, if you have a document that you scanned and if we choose the word, let’s just say we choose the word exception that is inside the document. If we go back and search for the word exception, we can now see it finds the note and it also shows us the attachment that’s within that note. So, we can go in through here and it will find us that note.
Conclusion
With digital note-taking getting more and more popular, choosing the right app is crucial. But what if instead of scrolling through App Store reviews trying to find the perfect note-taking app, you could focus on the one that comes with every single Apple device? That’s right, Apple users, we are talking about Apple Notes.
Now we know what you’re thinking. Apple notes isn’t that just a basic app that comes preinstalled on my device? But hold on to your stylus, because the app has come a very long way since it was first launched with iOS 1.0. With improved organization, advanced search capabilities, functional tools, and even the ability to scan documents, this app is ready to take on the big boys in the App Store.
FAQs
How Can Apple Notes Be Used As a Scanning Tool?
A tool that people use a lot is the scanning tool, the camera tool that is built into notes. So, just as an example, if you have a page from a book. We’re going to click the camera icon located within a note app. We can choose to add a photo, scanned documents are the most useful.
We can hold the phone over the document, it will scan it and then it will add it straight into our notes. This is used for a lot of things like scanning driver’s licenses, passports, and documents. This is also useful for adding documents to forms and things like that.
This makes life so much easier. It can also be used sometimes just to scan random documents that you need to send via e-mail. Once you scan a document you can tap on it and then you can share that to wherever you like.
How Can I Protect My Notes In Apple Notes?
So, if you ever have a note that has Sensitive information in it. You can lock it with Face ID. So, we are going to go up here, to the top left corner. Click on the 3 dots. Once you click it there should be a lock-shaped icon present there. Once you click the icon it will ask you to confirm your pin ID and after that will present you with the option to lock it using face ID.
So, you’re going to lock it like so, and then obviously you need to enter your passcode. Once you’ve entered your passcode, you can enable Face ID. Now it’s locked. So now when you go into the note, you can see that the note itself is locked.
There’s a little padlock icon and there’s a locked text underneath as well. you tap on it; it’ll say View Note. Once you click it will use Face ID and then it will unlock the note. Then if I need to lock it again, you can just press the lock icon at the top.
What Are Some Tools No One Knows About In Apple Notes?
So, there are a bunch of tools along the bottom of the notes for your disposal.
Tables Creation
The first one is the ability to add a table. This is another way to organize your notes, keeping in mind the expenses of something, the other options are sharing a table, or copying a table. So basically, it’s just a quick way to add tables.
This can be used for something like Maybe you want to go to Travel to another country. Let’s just say it costs like 5000 or something like that. So, to organize your expenses for travel as well as the cost of living you can make a table to chart all these things. There are just a bunch of ways you can make use of the tables in notes. A good way to organize your stuff.
Formatting
You can also format it as well. With some formatting, we can make the tables look a bit more legible. We can also use the formatting tool to do different things like add titles, headings, subheadings, and body text monospaced as well as go through them.
Checklist
There was also a checklist option here to add things to a checklist. So maybe you need to do some food shopping or something like that, so put in something like burger buns or other groceries. We can easily add things to a checklist here and go through them.
Scanning Tool
So, the next one is a fan favorite and one that people use a lot and that is the scanning tool, the camera tool that is built into notes. So, just as an example, if you have a page from a book. We’re going to click the camera icon located within a note app.
We can choose to add a photo, scanned documents are the most useful. We can hold the phone over the document, it will scan it and then it will add it straight into our notes. This is used for a lot of things like scanning driver’s licenses, passports, and documents. This is also useful for adding documents to forms and things like that.
Pen Tool
We also have the pen tool here which you can use to draw anything you like in Notes. Anything you need to do, you can do. It also has this clever thing where we don’t know if you just noticed that where you can draw a shape roughly and then it will try and figure out what you have drawn.
Say, for example, you’re going to draw a square so you can hold it down and I’ll make the square perfect for you. This is useful and one that can be used just to mark documents or whatever else you need to do.
What Are Apple Notes Display And What Is the Best One?
By default, Apple Notes sorts your notes by last edited, and it goes even further. By grouping them by date, such as today, previous seven days, and so on, the app makes it very easy for you to find pretty much anything at any time. It has advanced search capabilities like optical character recognition that can locate your search terms in text, in handwritten pages, or even in attachments like images or scanning documents.
You also have access to other tools. For example, you can pin an important note to the top of the folder so it’s always the first one you see when you enter that precise folder. In terms of display, Apple Notes offers 2 displays.
List View
It defaults to the list view, where nodes are divided into three navigation windows, folders, nodes, and contents, and this view changes based on the orientation of your device. The list view is ideal if you need to keep track of multiple notes at the same time. It just allows you to see more notes at once.
Gallery View
The second display mode is a gallery view. This view shows a thumbnail of each note. Compared to the list view, this one is a bit more comfortable and gives you more customization options. You can increase or decrease the size of a thumbnail, for example, which is cool. Now regardless of which view you choose for yourself; you can get a closer look at any note by just pressing and holding it.
What Is The Best Way To Use Apple Notes?
- Another neat feature of Nice is that you can share notes with other people who are of course on iPhone and have the Notes app. You can then press the share icon at the top and then you can share notes, send a copy, or collaborate. What you are going to do is press collaborate and share that with anyone that you need to. You can also pin a note if you want to if it’s a note that you’re accessing. So you can hold down on it like so and you can pin the note and it will be at the top of your notes.
- Another neat feature that a lot of people don’t realize is that you can swipe on notes to do different things. So, for example, you can swipe right to pin a note, you can swipe to share it, organize it into a folder, or delete it. You take it without having to go into the note.
- Another very clever feature that goes back to scanning documents. If you have a bunch of notes and you have documents in there, you can search for text that is within the document. So, for example, if you have a document that you scanned and if we choose the word, let’s just say we choose the word exception that is inside the document. If we go back and search for the word exception, we can now see it finds the note and it also shows us the attachment that’s within that note. So, we can go in through here and it will find us that note.
Are Apple Notes Better Than Other Competitors?
So, for someone like you who is an iPhone user, it’s the Notes app that comes with the iPhone. Stop being one of those people who started with Notes and they thought apple notes is quite basic, Let’s try all these other sorts of Note Taking apps in the market. All these apps are different but when it comes to your notes, they don’t ProForm as well as the Apple Notes app does.
It’s just the best app that you can have for any sort of notes right now. So, to tell you about the amazing things that the Apple Notes app has. That’s right, Apple users, we are talking about Apple Notes. Now we know what you’re thinking.
Apple notes isn’t that just a basic app that comes preinstalled on my device? But hold on to your stylus, because the app has come a very long way since it was first launched with iOS 1.0. With improved organization, advanced search capabilities, functional tools, and even the ability to scan documents, this app is ready to take on the big boys in the App Store.