6 Essentials to Consider Before Choosing Your Next Note-Taking App
The note-taking app market is expanding as more people choose to digitize their notes. Several apps are offering more impressive, advanced features, making the choice of picking a note-taking app more complicated.
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1. Determine What Hierarchy System Best Suits You
One of the main aspects of note-taking apps is how they organize your notes. There are broadly two organizational systems that note-taking apps use: folders and tags. Folders are what you’ll likely be familiar with from Windows’File ExplorerorFinderon Mac. Tags use a different approach. You first give each note page a unique label (or tag). Then, you’re able to find notes under a specific tag by selecting the tag name in your workspace.
Evernote utilizes a good tagging system. However, it’s not the best choice for using folders, as it only offers two layers of depth:NotebooksandNotebook Stacks. If you want a deeper hierarchy, Notion is a top choice that uses infinitely-nested folders, so you can create a fully fleshed-out structure for your notes.
Download:Evernote forWindows|Mac|Android|iOS(Free, subscriptions available)
Download:Notion forWindows|Mac|Android|iOS(Free, subscriptions available)
2. Consider Block-Based Editors vs. Rich Text Editors
Another factor to bear in mind when picking a note-taking app is whether the software uses a block-based editor or a rich text editor. As seen in Notion, block-based editors rely on building note pages by creating blocks of content such as plain text, a checkbox, a table, or a heading size. The advantage of this approach is you can easily move, edit, and transform different blocks.
Rich text editors provide many formatting options and offer a more simplistic writing experience. A common example is WordPad, but you can find some more modern alternatives online, includingQuillandTrix.
If you’re a productivity expert, block-based editors are likely your best pick with their fast customization and editing features. If, however, you’re after a minimal environment that simulates writing in real life, rich text editors will give you the space to create neat and presentable documents.
3. Assess the Number of Workspaces Available
Workspaces are environments that store all of your notes and folders. Some apps only offer a single workspace. Others feature multiple workspaces, giving you separate spaces to store notes of different categories.
Having more than one workspace is ideal if your notes cover a wide range of topics. For example, you may use your note-taking app for work-related notes, your projects, or forbullet journaling. In this case, you can allocate each broader topic to a separate workspace to prevent feeling overwhelmed and help you stay organized. Obsidian and Notion are two top choices that offer unlimited workspaces (or “Vaults”, as they’re called in Obsidian) to give you unlimited creativity.
Download:Obsidian forWindows|Mac|iOS|Android(Free, subscriptions available)
4. Consider the External Features on Offer
This factor is worth considering if you intend to use an app for other purposes besides note-taking. One example of this is project management. Notion offers a practical solution for managing different projects with its powerful database feature.Asanaworks in a similar way, allowing you to add tags to different cards. If you’re struggling to pick which to use, you may find ourNotion vs. Asana guidehelpful to follow.
Task management and creating to-do lists are two other components worth considering. Evernote has a dedicated page for viewing and managing tasks. it’s possible to also add tasks within a note page.Microsoft OneNotealso offers a unique approach to managing tasks. In this app, you can add symbols such as stars and question marks next to tasks to help indicate their urgency.
The final feature worth considering is templates. If you’re planning on using a note-taking app consistently, templates can be a fast way of generating similar content without having to start from scratch. In terms of versatility, Notion is the best choice for applying templates. You can choose from an impressive range of community-made templates in itsTemplate Gallery. You can also discover manyfree custom-made Notion templates online.
Download:Microsoft OneNote forWindows|Mac|iOS|Android(Free, premium version available)
5. Assess Pricing Plans and Whether You’re Willing to Upgrade
It’s nice being able to download a note-taking app and have access to all its features free of charge. But often this isn’t the case. Assessing the pricing plans and features in each plan is an important step to take before choosing your next note-taking app.
Evernote’s pricing plan is a useful template for seeing the typical structure used by note-taking apps. In the Free plan, you’ll have almost unlimited space for written notes—you just have to be careful with uploading images and PDFs, with 60 MB of monthly upload space and a 25 MB maximum note size. You’ll also have access to the majority of the app’s features.
The Personal plan includes a larger monthly upload size plus some more sophisticated features, such as searching for text in PDFs and adding reminders to your tasks. The remaining two plans:ProfessionalandTeamsare most relevant for tackling large projects in your company.
If you’re using a note-taking app for general use on your home PC, you’ll likely have all the tools you need in the Free or Personal plans offered by different apps. Considering if you’re willing to pay—and if so, how much—is a factor worth considering if you’re planning on picking a note-taking app for long-term usage.
6. Look if You Can Import Notes From Your Current Note-Taking Platform
If you’re an avid note-taker and already have experience working in Notion, Evernote, or the other note-taking apps mentioned so far, it’s likely that you’ll want to transfer your old content over to your new app.
The good news is that most major note-taking apps reference other commonly-used apps in their import settings. For example, Notion lets you import notes from Evernote, Confluence, Asana, and other apps like Google Docs.
This is useful if you’re mid-way through a large project. The only disadvantage of this approach is there’s often some manual work required to reformat the notes to their original appearance. Nonetheless, if accessing your previously saved notes is a must, this tip is for you.
Consider These Things Before Choosing Your Next Note-Taking App
Choosing your next note-taking app can be a big decision. You’ll need the time to become familiar with the software and learn its features. Then there’s the commitment of picking a new home for all the digital notes you will create. Use these tips to pick the best note-taking software for you.
Evernote and OneNote are amazing note-taking apps. It’s hard to pick between the two. We compared everything from interface to note organization to help you choose. What works best for you?
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