Tag: iPad Pro

My Grad School Notetaking Workflow

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Now that I’ve had my iPad Pro for a while, I’ve finally settled into a routine for managing my course notes. I rely on two main apps (Goodnotes and Evernote) and both my Macbook Pro and iPad Pro.

Setting Up for the Week

Each week before class, I duplicate an existing copy of my weekly course notes to save time typing out my preferred format. It’s broken down into Administrative (typically action items or important information about the course), a list of assigned readings, an area for taking notes during that week’s lecture, and a place for the lecture slides.

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(Note in the screenshot above I have two reminders listed in the sidebar. They serve as a workaround to pin notes to the top like Apple Notes. Until Evernote decides to add the feature, this is the next best thing. I just turn off notifications so I’m not pestered by dates.)

Next, I download the assigned readings for the next week as well as the lecture slides from the previous class from the course site on Blackboard. Newly assigned readings get put into Goodnotes on the Mac. While I’m in Goodnotes, I also export any readings from the previous week to PDF and delete the previous week’s category.

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Back in Evernote, I create notes for each of the new readings and link to them in the weekly note using the Copy Note Link feature. I used to include my reading notes directly in the Weekly notes, but after noticing a few of the assigned readings were papers I’d already read for another class, I switched to keeping my notes directly with the papers themselves, linking each class to the single note for the paper. It makes noticing connections a lot easier.

The last step in preparing for the week is to create tasks in Omnifocus. I typically prefer to have all the assignments plugged in at the start of the semester, but for this class, it’s easier to enter them on a weekly basis.

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Reading

With set up done, I switch to my iPad Pro for reading and annotation within Goodnotes. If something seems particularly noteworthy I make note of that in the stub note in Evernote, but for the most part, the annotation is sufficient.

In Class

During class, I use my iPad Pro to switch between typing notes into Evernote and making additional annotations in Goodnotes.

Tidying Up

The day after class, I make sure my weekly note for the previous class is complete by adding the final annotated copy of the readings into the stub notes I created for them (they’re already linked to the main weekly note), adding the lecture slides. I end up with something that looks a bit like this.

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And then it’s time to start this whole process over for the next week!

 

What’s on my iPad Pro Homescreen (2017 Edition)?

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I’ve officially had my 10.5″ iPad Pro for 100 days now. I love it and use it every day, but I have to admit finding the best way to organize my home screen is something I’m still struggling with.

iOS 11’s dock has made the home screen feel second-rate. To take full advantage of multitasking and drag and drop, any important apps really need to live in the dock, but not every app can live there unless you use folders.

Making things more frustrating, switching between landscape and portrait orientation completely changes the app layouts since portrait supports 4 apps across while landscape support 5. I spend a lot of time hunting for apps because they move around depending on how I’m holding my iPad.

I truly hope that Apple has a revamp of the home screen in store for future updates, as it really feels like a waste of space on the iPad at this point.

For now, here’s what my home screen looks like:

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In the dock, you’ll find the apps I use most often for multitasking:
– Gladys (a shelf app I’m trying)
– Files
– Safari
– Google Docs
– Evernote
– Noteshelf
– Omnifocus
– Airmail
– Messages

On the home screen itself, I try to keep most things in folders, but a few that I use regularly, but not in conjunction with other apps have earned spots directly on the screen. Calendar is there only because I like to see the date.

Everything else lives in the following folders:
– Apple (obligatory Apple junk drawer)
– Communicate (social media apps)
– Reference (cloud storage apps and other repositories like Paprika)
– Media (any sort of video app)
– Play (games)
– Utilities (tools like Screens and other background utilities like content blockers)

Have you discovered any tips or tricks for organizing your iPad home screen? If so, I’d love to hear them.

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One Month with the 10.5″ iPad Pro

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Today marks officially 1 month with my 10.5″ iPad Pro, and unlike my previous iPad, this one is actually still being used. It hasn’t evoked any magical feelings like my Airpods did and still continue to do, but it’s certainly a device I know I don’t want to live without.

Accessories

I quickly realized that in order to make the most of the iPad Pro, it needed accessories – lots of them. I can’t even imagine using the iPad Pro without the Smart Keyboard or Apple Pencil. Keyboard shortcuts alone immediately made the iPad more usable for me, and the Apple Pencil has converted almost all of my note taking (and coloring) from paper to digital.

Not wanting to ruin the gorgeous edges of the iPad, I picked up a MoKo Translucent Slim Hard Plastic Bumper Protector. I’d prefer to have something with more color, but the options that work with the Smart Keyboard thus far are slim. I also picked up a magnetic sleeve for the pencil which allows me to stick it to the Smart Keyboard. Looking for a bit more protection for when the Pencil is thrown in my bag, I bought a Belkin Carrying Case and Stand. Unfortunately, the Pencil doesn’t fit into the case with the magnetic sleeve though. For now, the case lives on my desk at work, providing a nice place to rest my Pencil as I work, as well as, storage for the extra tip and adaptor.

Use Cases

One of the most surprising things about getting the iPad Pro is how quickly and seamlessly it replaced other devices in my workflows. I find it much less of an inconvenience to work from my iPad Pro than my Chromebook or Dell laptop when installing updates on my Macbook Pro. All of my favorite apps are available and ready.

Additionally, my iPad Pro has become my go to devices for nearly all meetings unless there’s no table for me to type at. I bring up the meeting agenda in Google Docs on the left half of the screen and use Evernote for my own personal notes on the other half of the screen. I’ve not missed my laptop once in these cases, but if the need were to arise, I could access it using Screens.

The iPad Pro has also become my go to “couch-surfing device”. Not only is it an incredible smart remote, thanks to the Harmony app. I can use apps like TV Cast to stream video to my TV or just use it to play games like Mini Metro in my spare time.

I even find myself using it to read Kindle books. I still prefer reading on the Kindle, but the iPad’s in my hands more often, therefore it gets used more often.

Where It Falls Short

I love this device, but I simply can’t use it as a primary device yet. The Smart Keyboard just doesn’t work well for typing on anything but a solid surface. Therefore, I find myself still resorting to my laptop in cases where I need to do work and don’t have a stable surface available.

Another limitation is with automation. As a heavy Keyboard Maestro user, I rely on automation to perform many day to day tasks on my Mac. With no Keyboard Maestro for iOS, it’d take significant effort on my part, which I’ve yet to invest, to configure these in an app like Workflow. That being said, a big portion of my Keyboard Maestro use is text expansion. Working in customer support, text expansion is essential to my workflow, so much so, I even considered switching back to TextExpander. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t allow third party keyboards to use the Smart Keyboard, so for now, I’m stuck doing a good portion of my work on my Mac.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, the iPad Pro is AMAZING as a general use computer. As far as using it for anything more, it’s getting there, but it’s not quite there yet.

Some Thoughts on Notetaking on the iPad Pro

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Update: An Update on Notetaking with iOS and MacOS

Despite being an Apple fangirl of sorts, I haven’t owned an iPad since the iPad 3 (also known as the “new iPad”, the first iPad with Retina, or as I remember it, the dreadfully underpowered iPad). I was never a huge fan of it, found trouble justifying its use, and ended up selling it when I moved.

A few weeks ago, I became the proud owner of a 10.5 inch iPad Pro courtesy of my job (Space Grey, 256GB, Wi-fi, if you’re curious). I suppose running the tech demo space on campus has its perks. Much to my surprise, I’m loving it. In fact, when running to meetings, I’m finding myself reaching for the iPad Pro and leaving my Macbook Pro in my office.

One of the first workflows the iPad Pro challenged me to reevaluate was notetaking. The Apple Pencil gave me a way to take handwritten notes digitally, and as someone who makes every effort to go paperless, I jumped at the chance. I tend to prefer handwritten notes in a number of circumstances throughout my day:

  • Planning out my day
  • Meetings
  • Interviewing new employees
  • In Class
  • General notes and doodles

After trying a number of apps, hoping to stumble upon the perfect one, I’ve come to the conclusion that one app may not be the way to go in cases like these.

Day Planning

For planning my day, I prefer Notability. While the majority of my planning is done through Google Calendar and Omnifocus, I still do appreciate having a detailed list of everything I need to do in a day to check off as I go. Only important things are in Omnifocus, and until manual sorting is added, the list is often out of order from when I actually plan to do it. Notability provides the best format for writing out my day, Bullet Journal style, and I prefer the Subject/Divider with individual notes organization.

Meetings

I actually gave up handwritten notes in meetings. I think part of me prefers the privacy of typing on a propped up screen as opposed to scribbling on my screen laying flat on a table for everyone to see. For this, I’m using a split screen set up with the shared meeting agenda in Google Docs on the right and my personal meeting notes stored in Evernote on the right. (You read that right, I’m using Evernote. More on that in a later post).

Interviewing Employees

This was the scenario that drew me to the iPad Pro. Several times a year, I have to hire a number of students to work in my office. Such is life when your employee pool is based on a group that leaves every 4 years. My prior workflow involved printing out resumes which I’d review and annotate. Candidates that made the cut are invited to an interview. Before each interview, I’d print out a checklist that I’d take notes on as the interview progressed.

For this workflow, Goodnotes was perfect. Unlike Notability, notes are organized into Notebooks with actual pages. Goodnotes allows me to have a single notebook for a round of hiring. Another feature that makes Goodnotes the winner is that I can set the page template to be the interview checklist. Instead of printing a new checklist for every candidate, I just swipe to a new page now.

In Class

While I’m not in a class at the moment, I can see Goodnotes being my pick for taking notes in my classes too. The ability to annotate articles and store handwritten notes side seems best suited to this app. Classes also lend themselves to Goodnotes’ notebook format nicely as well.

General Notes and Doodles

For simple notes, I’m finding myself using Apple Notes. Apple Notes doesn’t offer as many ways to customize the writing style, it does offer a nice feature of being available from the lock screen. In iOS 11, a simple tap to the lockscreen with the Apple Pencil opens up a new note. This is perfect for jotting down something quick.

(Tip: In Settings > Notes, you can tell Apple Notes to display lines or grids when writing handwritten notes instead of just a blank canvas.)

Honorable mention:

There’s one app that I don’t use all that often, but it’s so darn cool I’ve not managed to remove it from my iPad just yet, and that’s Nebo. In terms of organizing notes, Nebo’s structure is a lot like Notability, but it has a few tricks up it’s sleeve. Scratching through something you’ve written erases it (like crossing it out on paper, but better) Drawing lines between letters or words separates or joins them.

And then there’s there are the features that are just magical. Double-tapping on handwritten text with your finger converts it to text. This also works with diagrams and mathematical equations. In the past, I’ve spent hours on my Mac crafting professional looking diagrams and flow charts to explain workflows to my colleagues. With Nebo, the process takes minutes.

Do you have any tips or tricks for notetaking on your iPad Pro? Another app mention? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you’re using.

Update: An Update on Notetaking with iOS and MacOS