Digital notepads

Author
Discussion

Quhet

Original Poster:

2,629 posts

159 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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I've just started a new job where I'll need to be considerably more organised than I'm used to.

In the past I've fallen into the habit of taking loads of notes but then misplacing them or spreading them out across multiple notepads, so I really see the attraction in a digital pad to keep things together and potentially to convert them to text format.

Does anyone use anything similar and have any recommendations?

Obviously usability and price are key - I'm not looking to spend £hundreds but I also don't want a load of junk...

TownIdiot

3,363 posts

12 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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Depends on your requirements but I have regularly used an Onyx Boox as it can do more than just act as paper notebook

The Remarkable is probably the best for feel, but I found myself preferring being able to use Android, even if it is compromised.

Since I moved to folding phones I've used stuff like that less and less.

There are also some superb scanning options on phones now so it's very easy to digitise scraps of paper

(Just dropped two pairs of shoes off for repairs. Photographed the tickets and receipts and within a few seconds they were searchable over all my devices)

TameRacingDriver

19,124 posts

285 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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At the risk of stating the obvious, OneNote on a computer?

captain_cynic

14,688 posts

108 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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TameRacingDriver said:
At the risk of stating the obvious, OneNote on a computer?
I'm getting the impression it needs to be portable...

One note on a tablet?

Quhet

Original Poster:

2,629 posts

159 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
TameRacingDriver said:
At the risk of stating the obvious, OneNote on a computer?
I'm getting the impression it needs to be portable...

One note on a tablet?
Yeah, portability is key. I use a laptop for work but find I don't concentrate if I'm typing away during meetings. I'd want something reasonably compact that i can jot things down on and then save and export. Think a tablet would be overcomplicating things and i don't need any other functionality really

TownIdiot

3,363 posts

12 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
quotequote all
There are A4 and A5 "digital paper" notebooks that are a bit like a kindle but you write on them.

As above I've now generally found it easier to use my phone to scan the paper notes, small or large.

But if you want a nice gadget there are some great ones out there.

captain_cynic

14,688 posts

108 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
quotequote all
Quhet said:
captain_cynic said:
TameRacingDriver said:
At the risk of stating the obvious, OneNote on a computer?
I'm getting the impression it needs to be portable...

One note on a tablet?
Yeah, portability is key. I use a laptop for work but find I don't concentrate if I'm typing away during meetings. I'd want something reasonably compact that i can jot things down on and then save and export. Think a tablet would be overcomplicating things and i don't need any other functionality really
As much as I despise MS products, OneNote is actually pretty good at what it does and sounds like it would be good for the job you want it for. It'll aslo sync to your work PC.

So pick your preferred brand of tablet, As far as I know it's on both IOS and Android.

TownIdiot

3,363 posts

12 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
quotequote all
Quhet said:
Yeah, portability is key. I use a laptop for work but find I don't concentrate if I'm typing away during meetings. I'd want something reasonably compact that i can jot things down on and then save and export. Think a tablet would be overcomplicating things and i don't need any other functionality really
Are you a good note taker or, like me, is it random scribble?

John87

864 posts

171 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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If it's a new job make sure you check the IT policy. I fancied a remarkable but my work (over 200k employees) has completely banned digital notebooks.

I think the issue was it synchronising to the cloud and the company not retaining full control over it's data

TameRacingDriver

19,124 posts

285 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
quotequote all
Quhet said:
captain_cynic said:
TameRacingDriver said:
At the risk of stating the obvious, OneNote on a computer?
I'm getting the impression it needs to be portable...

One note on a tablet?
Yeah, portability is key. I use a laptop for work but find I don't concentrate if I'm typing away during meetings. I'd want something reasonably compact that i can jot things down on and then save and export. Think a tablet would be overcomplicating things and i don't need any other functionality really
You can use OneNote on your laptop and on your mobile / tablet and get them to sync.

Sporky

8,206 posts

77 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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I use Myscript Nebo, and it's excellent. Needs a tablet with an active pen though.

Actual

1,173 posts

119 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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My whole life is in Microsoft OneNote using 35 separate Notebook files and each with dozens of sections and 100's of pages.

OneNote syncs between all my desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and mobile phones.

On any device I can search for ANYTHING and access within seconds.

My notebook files are colour coded and each has a 2 digit 00 name prefix to keep them easily ordered.

The full history for every page is available which has saved me some grief on occasions.

So sad I know.

ATG

21,978 posts

285 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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OneNote is surprisingly not ste and I've used it quite a bit for making notes of useful things like urls and passwords and "how to" notes for horrendous bits of technology I'm forced to use at work. But. It seems to me it's best at being somewhere I can paste snippets of text copied from other docs or browser windows and then annotate from the keyboard with a few lines of typed text. Maybe if I were using one of Msfts tablet devices I could also add handwritten texts and diagrams?

Absent one of those tablets, I cart an A4 notepad, a pencil, a pen, and a small bottle of ink around with me. Some of these eink devices seem to be getting close to being a genuine alternative to pen and paper ... plus, obviously, they can do other things that pads of paper can't do ... like transcribe then summarise a conversation. And that's genuinely amazing if it works.

We hold quite a few meetings at work and they are necessary and useful ... but ... we have a pretty awful culture where no one is responsible for taking and releasing meeting notes. We don't need formally signed off minutes. That would be a ridiculous administrative burden and would just encourage people to decide they were having an informal chat rather than a meeting ... and never have any more "meetings". But the status quo means stuff gets forgotten unless it is actioned almost immediately. If the automatic transcription and summarisation actually works, we'd get meeting notes damn nearly for free. I think we need to have a play with this stuff.

dapprman

2,555 posts

280 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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TownIdiot said:
Depends on your requirements but I have regularly used an Onyx Boox as it can do more than just act as paper notebook
Do Boox/Onyx every do Black Friday sales ? Been toying for a while now with either a Parma (now Parma 2) or Go 10.3 to replace my old kindle. Not sure I really need to note taking aspect, but my understanding is the Parma screen is too small for PDFs to be reasonably viewed.
One of the big selling points is the Google Play Store being android, with the ability to install and run the Kindle app, while at the same time not being Amazon limited in what you can read or having to convert everything through Calibre.

AB

18,019 posts

208 months

Thursday 21st November 2024
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I just replaced my Remarkable2 with the new Remarkable Pro and it's moved the game on even further. I got it with the keyboard folio.

Every note I take available across all devices whenever needed. All nicely organised into folders/subjects/dates etc.

It's not cheap but I'm not the most organised and the RM allows me to be.

I played around with iPads and Apple Pencils and apps previously but nothing worked as well.

TownIdiot

3,363 posts

12 months

Friday 22nd November 2024
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dapprman said:
Do Boox/Onyx every do Black Friday sales ? Been toying for a while now with either a Parma (now Parma 2) or Go 10.3 to replace my old kindle. Not sure I really need to note taking aspect, but my understanding is the Parma screen is too small for PDFs to be reasonably viewed.
One of the big selling points is the Google Play Store being android, with the ability to install and run the Kindle app, while at the same time not being Amazon limited in what you can read or having to convert everything through Calibre.
You can't take pen notes on the Palma anyway.
In terms of size of depends what you want it for. It's the size of a normal phone - I didn't find it that useful, even though I'm a fan of the e-ink screens - I find them much better to read off


I've moved away from those devices now as I don't travel/work enough and i have just started capturing everything on my phone and uploading to one drive. I'm not a good note taker so this works for me but if I was and needed to be more organised something like a remarkable would get my vote. Boox is a bit more flexible but at the same time more compromised as a pure note taking device.

Having used these type of devices since the Psion 3 I am probably less compromised with a bit of paper and a folding phone than at any stage of my working life.

cobra kid

5,337 posts

253 months

Friday 22nd November 2024
quotequote all
Actual said:
My whole life is in Microsoft OneNote using 35 separate Notebook files and each with dozens of sections and 100's of pages.

OneNote syncs between all my desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and mobile phones.

On any device I can search for ANYTHING and access within seconds.

My notebook files are colour coded and each has a 2 digit 00 name prefix to keep them easily ordered.

The full history for every page is available which has saved me some grief on occasions.

So sad I know.
Any time left for actually living?