The best note taking apps for Mac – markdown, open format, cross platform
The best note-taking apps for the iPad and Apple Pencil With the Apple Pencil, writing by hand feels cool again. By Leif Johnson. Contributing Writer. Mac app within seconds.
- That’s exactly what lead me to jump to the App Store and find some gems. The list of note apps was huge, so I had to manually narrow it down by trying many of them. Let’s check it out! Best iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Note Apps in 2020. Sticky note: “Apple Notes” has vastly improved to be an excellent note-taking app. As it’s a stock.
- One more highlight of this note taking app is that it enables multiple users to edit the same shared notebook together and achieve team collaboration. As one of the best note taking apps for iPad, iPhone, and Mac, Bear is thoughtfully designed. While it has a minimalistic and straightforward interface, it is rich-featured as well.
- Excluding the Evernote app, what other note-taking apps would you personally recommend for iOS 13 that also include a Mac companion app? Advertisement You get a notes app and you get a notes app.
Published (updated: ) in Productivity.
With the release of iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 in 2016, Apple introduced a new version of Notes. It added a number of new features for formatting, drawing and sync using iCloud instead of via IMAP. It was lightweight, fast and simple. I started using it shortly afterwards and now have almost 1,000 notes ranging from book highlights to saved web pages to meeting notes to journal articles. https://sedjxc.weebly.com/sketch-mac-app-download.html.
Unfortunately, the iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 releases have been incredibly buggy. I have found that sync is inconsistent across devices (my MacBook, iPad and iPhone each register different numbers of notes) and some notes are not syncing at all. Search also stopped working before fixing itself, and now returns inferior results.
Considering how much information I have stored in Apple Notes, this made me reconsider what I wanted from a note taking app.
Requirements for a note taking app
Simplicity
Notes App For Mac
I only require basic formatting, images and tables. I’m not interested in fancy fonts or colours because the system is better at ensuring the formatting works across devices, screen sizes and rendering into the future e.g. if I ever need to increase font sizes. This means using Markdown formatting saved to a plain text file. Markdown is a well understood format that has many apps that can edit and render on any platform
Non-proprietary format
The “new” Apple Notes app moved away from IMAP to an iCloud based format. This made sync work better (until recently) but was necessarily a proprietary database format. I can’t easily see or edit the individual notes on disk to make backups or import to another app. They are contained in a SQL Lite database in ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes alongside attachments and images organised by internal note IDs. It’s usually dangerous to meddle with app files like this.
Apple Notes doesn’t have an export option except individual notes as PDFs. The only way around this is using the Apple Privacy data download service which allows you to export Apple Notes as HTML with their associated attachments. This is how I have been keeping a backup of all my Apple Notes to date.
Ideally the app will allow editing of individual files on disk. I can then choose my own sync service and run backup as part of my normal approach using Arq. Any app should at least allow export of content to multiple formats.
Regular updates / actively maintained
The problem with Apple software is that their main revenue is generated by the core OS, not any of the apps. They are there to compliment the OS but there is no competitive incentive to keep them up to date, add new features and fix bugs.
The annual update cycle is a legacy from the old days of shipping physical software. This makes sense for annual iPhone hardware refreshes but is totally outdated for shipping software. Microsoft updates Office every month and Windows every 6 months. How do you report bugs or get support for Apple Notes? You can’t.
My experience with the poor quality of these latest Apple releases has changed my approach – if I am going to rely on software then I want the developer to be properly incentivised to maintain it i.e. I need to pay them directly for it.
This is one reason why I use and pay for 1Password vs using Apple iCloud Keychain (as well as all the other features 1Password has). It’s also why I don’t mind the move to subscription business models for software.
Search
My approach to note taking is to save the full text and associated files of things I find interesting or useful so I can search them in the future.
Spotlight Search on macOS is very good (and has some advanced options). Even though I keep my files well organised, I regularly use it to find things because it is quicker and searches inside documents. For some reason, Apple Notes are not searchable from Spotlight though, so I have to search twice – in Spotlight and in Notes.app. I would prefer to have everything searchable from Spotlight, or any other search tool.
Cross-platform
This is not a requirement but rather a “nice to have” if the app I use on macOS also has an iOS equivalent. If all the above requirements are met, I can easily edit open file formats from different apps on different platforms.
My Macbook Air (13″ 2018) is only a year old so I have no plans to replace it soon, although have had to send it in for 1 keyboard replacement already. I don’t mind the feel of this keyboard but the reliability is poor.
Given the state of Apple software quality and the general problems with the Macbook keyboards, I have been following Microsoft’s Surface products with interest. The Surface Laptop 3 is very nice. I’ve been into the London Microsoft store to have a play and I’m eager to see the Surface Pro X when it is released. I’m just unsure about Windows. Over a decade ago it was Windows Vista that forced me to move to Mac due to the poor quality. I’m not quite there with macOS yet but am unhappy with it.
Evaluating note taking apps
All together I have been re-evaluating my choice of key software to ensure that I’m tied to the Apple ecosystem as little as possible. I already use Office365 for my email and calendar but have also started to move my files to OneDrive from iCloud Drive (I’m glad I didn’t try the recent macOS betas!). What’s the difference? I pay Microsoft for these services and they are regularly updated (unlike iCloud for Windows) and maintained, probably because they directly generate $billions of direct revenue.
Ultimately, my goal is to be flexible in which platform I use, selected based on the best core OS and hardware. I don’t want to be restricted by apps and file formats that only work on a single platform. macOS remains the best OS for now (including for privacy) but I don’t want to be locked to it.
My recommended note taking apps
Based on reviewing all the apps below, these are the best notes apps for Mac:
- Bear: Simple, well designed UI, actively maintained, markdown export but proprietary database. Mac / iOS only.
- iA Writer with your own cloud drive (I use OneDrive). Edits files on disk in Markdown format with simple, well designed apps for macOS, Windows, Android and iOS.
- VS Code with several markdown extensions (see below). If you are a developer and comfortable with a more technical interface, and/or already using VS Code, then this is a great third choice to avoid installing yet-another-app.
Bear
Bear was my favourite app purely for Apple devices. Good tag support, Markdown rendering, strong search (including Spotlight integration), encrypted notes, embedded images and attachments, and multiple export options. I particularly liked the helper mechanism when linking between notes, which maintains the link even if you rename a note.
Note Taking App On Mac
It is fully supported and actively developed for the Apple ecosystem. The entire company is based around the product and has a subscription business model, suggesting they are likely to be able to keep things going. The iOS and iPad apps work well and sync across from my Mac was always reliable. It actually uses iCloud behind the scenes which makes Apple Notes failure to sync more unusual.
Bear would be my recommendation for someone who was happy with staying on Mac/iOS. If needed, you can export to various different formats. I used it for a whole month (which is the length of the free trial – sync is not available in the free version) and it worked well.
The main reason I decided not to continue using it is that Bear uses a proprietary data format so it can sync with iCloud. This makes sense because their time is better spent on the app functionality rather than making cloud sync work, but I ultimately decided that I valued having open, plain text files more than the extra functionality. If I do eventually move to Windows then I would be unable to move my notes easily. Having an open format was the key to selecting iA Writer instead.
iA Writer
Best free voice recorder app mac. Although not designed for note taking, last year iA Writer added support for #hashtags (but only on Mac, not Windows) which makes it much more suitable as a notes app.
I really like the UI on macOS because it fits in perfectly with the system design guidelines. It is very lightweight, simple to use and fits all my criteria for editing files on disk with Markdown. It is very minimalist with few settings, forcing you to focus on the task at hand. There are also apps for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android.
iA Writer does not support attachments and the embedded image support is limited, but that actually forces you to store those files on disk (so files like PDFs can be searched by Spotlight and edited directly e.g. for highlighting, which doesn’t work if you open PDFs from within a Bear note). Naming becomes important for binary files like images so they can be properly searched.
If you use iA Writer on iOS with iCloud then deals with sync for you but there is a limitation with using external file sources such as OneDrive – you have to manually find and add files into the app to edit them, which is a hassle. Otherwise, files are stored on disk and so I can sync them with OneDrive and run my normal backups. Since they are plain text Markdown, I can edit them in any app.
I would like to see the ability to nest tags and add emoji to them, plus helpers for Markdown formatting e.g. linking to other notes and improved image support. However, those limitations are minor enough to overlook and pick iA Writer as my Apple Notes replacement.
VS Code + Markdown extensions
VS Code supports markdown out of the box, including with a live preview, however there are several extensions which add extra functionality.
The final plugin is the crucial one because it allows me to take advantage of organising my notes by tag. Of course, VS Code’s command bar is excellent at search so I could just navigate files by name (or text search), but it is sometimes useful to be able to see and view all associated notes in a list.
Unfortunately, the tag format supported by iA Writer – #hashtags – is not part of the Markdown format. Instead you will need to use the Markdown metadata format by including tags in a YAML block at the start of each file. The advantage of using this format is that it is generally supported by other Markdown parsers, so if I wanted to switch to something new in the future there is a greater chance of it being supported with no changes.
VS Code does use Electron behind the scenes. However, unlike many Electron apps, VS Code ties into the native UX of the OS it is running on and has acceptable performance. This is a rare example of a well-built Electron app, most of which are slow and buggy.
Other note taking apps I tried
Evernote
Years ago this was the first notes app I ever used, however it was notoriously buggy and I gave up. The company has been through some challenging times but still uses a proprietary note format and database, which rules it out. I didn’t bother to try it because of the history of poor quality software.
Notable
Notable is still very early in development, and the rough edges show e.g. when copy/pasting it would paste text 3 times. It also uses Electron and has many weird UI elements showing through the cross-platform layer, for example the popover menus for attachments don’t have the same behaviour as menus should on macOS.
The management of attachments was not as good as Typora – it would copy them to an ‘attachments’ directory but the management of those files was very basic. Removing the attachment from the note did not delete it on disk.
This app is too early to take over such an important use case and has no clear business model yet (donations and a pending application to Y Combinator).
Obsidian
Obsidian fits all the requirements – simple, works with Markdown and cross-platform.
It supports #hashtags, but they are shown in order of number of items rather than alphabetically and strangely there is no way to change the order.
It has some good functionality around linking to other notes and backlinks so you can see which notes reference each other. This makes it more like an organiser than a simple Markdown editor.
The app is nicely designed, but uses Electron so is slow to launch and doesn’t fit into the native OS design as nicely as Bear or iA Writer. When you are using an app regularly, performance and UI consistency matters.
OneNote
Included with my Office365 subscription, OneNote has been improving rapidly and now has a much simpler UI and fast sync. One of the great features is character recognition in images, allowing them to be searched as if they were in plain text.
Notes can only be in a single section or Notebook (like Apple Notes) whereas I feel that tags are more flexible approach to organising things. OneNote supports tags but they are hard coded to specific types, which suggests there’s still a lot of legacy cruft still behind the scenes.
OneNote on the web looks good with the new simplified UI and the Mac app also works nicely, particularly with dark mode. However, compared to all the other notes apps it is always slow to launch. I find this lag exists with all Microsoft apps on Mac – they are very heavyweight.
Using it with Office365 creates the Notebook file in your OneDrive but this is just a URL file that opens the web UI when you load it. There’s no actual content in the file which means that OneNote is using a proprietary database behind the scenes.
Although OneNote is a regularly updated application that works cross-platform (and has a decent app for iOS as well), the lack of open file format means I can’t back up the files and extract my data whenever I want. Like Apple Notes, there is no export functionality. I don’t want to move from Apple’s proprietary format to Microsoft’s, so this rules it out.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134185111/956198121.jpg)
Typora
Typora was promising because it is a good Markdown editor with cross-platform apps that manages files on disk. I particularly liked how it managed attachments for notes, creating a .assets folder with the same name as the parent note. However, it doesn’t have very advanced file management features for the library/list of notes and there’s no support for tags.
It also uses Electron and I really hate Electron based apps. They remind me of Java apps that almost get the native OS style right, but not quite. They feel brittle, tend to have poor performance and I found that Typora was buggy (the macOS version is in beta). I understand why developers use Electron because it allows you to build cross-platform apps using web technologies, but I’ve had bad experiences with them e.g. the poor performance of Slack.
Worth a mention
- Inkdrop is an app I’ve heard about because of the blogging of its main (Japan-based) developer. It fits most of my requirements and the UI looks great, but uses a proprietary format rather than files on disk. The format is JSON and you can set up your own CouchDB server to run the sync services, but that isn’t something I’m interested in doing.
- nvALT hits all of my requirements except tag support, but is quite an old app (and looks it). The UI is why I excluded it, but I am keeping an eye on nvUltra which is the replacement in active beta now. It’s not open for public use at time of writing so I couldn’t try it yet. Since it supports Markdown, when it is released I will just be able to point it to the files I’m editing.
- Scrivener might be great for complex writing projects but it is far too sophisticated for a notes app.
- Simplenote is worth a look because they have well maintained apps and Markdown editing available for free. I excluded it because of the proprietary database format but generally like what Automattic do.
- Standard Notes looks interesting because it pledges privacy and longevity with how it manages your notes files. It has options to store attachments in Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive as well as automated backups there, but ultimately stores notes in a proprietary format (even if that format is open and you can run your own server because the code is open source). It doesn’t use simple plain text files on the filesystem which is one of my requirements (and the desktop apps are Electron) – I don’t really want to be messing around running my own server and MySQL database for notes. Potential option for power users but not what I’m looking for.
- Trilium Notes is another Electron app which is built around a hierarchical structure so you can build your own personal knowledgebase, whatever that means. It requires running a server, or has an unsupported Mac app. This makes it too complex for my requirements given the suitable alternatives above.
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See also
- A review of note taking apps for iOS/Mac from 2019.
- Another review of note taking apps but from 2017.
- A list of all text editors for iOS.
- 9to5Mac on the best note-taking apps for Mac in 2019.
Note App on the iPhone and iPad has been widely used since it was introduced, and it provides almost everything that we need. But that does not mean we shouldn’t move out of the comfort zone and try something else. It doesn’t matter if you are a student or a professional, taking notes is something everyone does.
There are many Notes app alternatives that may suit your requirements. Rather than looking here and there, why not get a list of the best Note-taking apps for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil? That’s exactly what lead me to jump to the App Store and find some gems. The list of note apps was huge, so I had to manually narrow it down by trying many of them. Cotpro app for mac. Let’s check it out!
Best iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Note Apps in 2020
Sticky note: “Apple Notes” has vastly improved to be an excellent note-taking app. As it’s a stock app, we haven’t included it in the following lineup. https://sedjxc.weebly.com/blog/best-firewall-app-mac. To explore this app or get the most out of it, check out these 16 tips.
#1. Notability
There is a lot to like in Notability! Frankly speaking; this has been one of my favorites for both note-taking and PDF editing. Despite being such a powerful app, it’s pretty simple to use. And this is what makes it so appreciable.
The app works perfectly with Apple Pencil (both the first and second generation). So, you can design your notes and write with the desired flair.
You will also convert your handwritten notes into text, make checklists and impressive text boxes. With super handy annotation tools in the offing, you can adorn your slides, images, and agenda. Lastly, Notability allows you to share your files via AirDrop, email, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and OneDrive.
Price: $9.99
Download
Download
#2. GoodNotes 5
If you are fond of handwritten notes, “GoodNotes 5” can be an excellent pick for you. With several easy-to-use tools at the disposal, you craft notes proficiently. You can draw shapes, insert images, and even insert PDF in your note.
GoodNotes is also an efficient PDF annotator and works with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. It offers a wide range of covers and papers to let you design your notes. Besides, you will also add your own template for more personalization.
It automatically backs up your data to Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Furthermore, GoodNotes 5 is compatible with many languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and more.
Price: $7.99
Download
Download
#3. MyScript Nebo
As one of the most sought after note-taking apps, “MyScript Nebo” has a lot to offer. And if you like using Apple Pencil to note down your thoughts or create detailed charts, chances are you will never get tired using this fully-featured app.
It makes text formatting damn easy, allowing you to give your project a professional look by including the bulleted lists and adding a suitable title. You also get the option to add insightful diagrams to put forward researched data vividly.
Another highly appreciable feature of this app is the ability to let you solve calculations and copy them into LaTeX or as images. Once you have crafted your story, you will be able to share it in multiple formats including PDF, word, and HTML.
Price: $7.99
Download
Download
#4. Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is packed in with all the features you’d expect from a top note-taking app. You can use this app to quickly record your ideas, note down thoughts and keep all of your notes fully organized as per your workflow.
The app also lets you create checklists so that you won’t forget to carry out important things. And with the pinning feature, you can easily find the frequently used list.
OneNote offers a seamless collaboration experience to let you work with your team. If you want to add an extra layer of safeguard to your notes, use a password to prevent anyone from accessing into them. Furthermore, your data is synced to OneDrive for enhanced security and universal accessibility.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#5. Notebook
I’ve always rated Zoho Corporation’s “Notebook” very highly. Three things make it worth giving a try.
First, despite being completely free, the app has almost all the essential features to give a long run to many premium apps.
The second; features like scanning business cards, sketching images and taking handwritten notes, make it pretty useful. One notable feature of this app is that it automatically formats your contents into different cards like the recipe, video, link and more.
And the third, the app offers some cool customization options. For instance, you can tweak the color of your notes, change its cover and craft a nice cover for more personalization. Plus, it also features a dark-themed night mode to protect your eyes.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#6. Evernote
If I were to pick just one app for managing my tasks, taking quick notes and keeping myself in sync with the upcoming events, I would always go with Evernote. “Versatile” would be the right word to sum it up.
First and foremost, the app lets you capture your thoughts in several formats such as text, web clipping, audio, screenshot and more. So, it doesn’t matter whether you are in a meeting or on the move, you will be able to record your thoughts with ease.
Make personal checklists, annotate docs and also write memos for instant reporting. You can use some basic tools to create presentations as well. Moreover, do not forget to set reminders never to let any urgent tasks miss the deadline.
Evernote works with Apple Watch as well. Hence, you can dictate your thoughts and the app will instantly transcribe them into notes.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#7. StickMe Notes
If you find note-taking a tedious exercise, give a chance to “StickMe Notes” to make it a fun-loving experience.
With this app, you will make notes in beautiful colors. Add a photo, record audio, drawing nice-looking images to make your stories stand out. And oh, you can also set your note as a wallpaper.
It also works efficiently as a handy task manager to let you handle your to-dos with the desired flair. Thanks to the built-in alarm, you won’t forget to finish any work on time.
StickMe Notes offers a seven-day free trial. Afterward, you will have to upgrade to an annual $15.99, half-yearly $8.99 or monthly $1.99 plan to continue.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#8. Bear
For impressive writing and speedy note-taking, “Bear” is the right tool. The app has a range of writing tools and offers the desired liberty to write freely. So, whether you are a blogger, a teacher or a student, you will find it enormously helpful.
Thanks to the custom shortcut bar, you will be able to format text with ease. Choose from several themes to give an ideal look to your article.
You can use your Apple Pencil to draw images and sketch every thought elegantly. Add notes to ensure nothing goes out of your radar.
With the several export options such as HTML, PDF, DOCX, MD, JPG, and EPUB, Bear has you fully covered.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#9. LiquidText
Best Note Taking App For Mac Ipad And Iphone
There are several ways “LiquidText” can revamp your note-taking experience. One of my favorite features of this app is the range of organization tools that ensure all of your docs stay beautifully organized. And more significantly, there is less chance of clutter.
LiquidText can make you fall in love with annotation. Really. Apart from letting you draw images and highlight text, this app also lets you put two pages side-by-side so that you can check out what’s missing and what’s needed to be added. Ideal, if you don’t like hopping from one page to the other too often!
Beyond annotation, it lets you import several docs in your projects and allow you to view up to three notes at one go. Thus, managing your stuff will be quite straightforward and also time-saving.
Lastly, the free version of the app won’t let you try out all the goodies, and you will have to upgrade to LiquidText Pro to put your hands on all the features.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#10. UpWord
“UpWord” is exceptional in its own right. The app makes creating and managing notes dead simple courtesy swipe gestures. And with repeating reminders, it ensures you don’t have to put extra efforts to stay in control of everything.
The folders and shortcuts play a vital role in keeping all the tasks organized. You can sort your files by chronological or alphabetical order.
It provides multiple font sizes so that you can fine-tune your projects based on your need. With the multi-level undo/redo, you have more freedom to experiment. What’s more, you can also save your stories to Evernote.
Price: Free
Download
Download
#11. Google Keep
When there is a race to find a smart note app that can do most of the things immaculately, it wouldn’t be wise to give “Google Keep” a miss.
One of the highlights of this app is that it lets you snap your thoughts in several formats. So, it doesn’t matter what you are up to; you will be able to get your job done without any hassle.
Record a voice memo and instantly transcribe it. Use suitable labels and matching colors to put everything in the Apple pie order.
The helpful suggestions allow you to make shopping lists in a jiffy. Don’t fail to set a time-based reminder so that nothing is left behind!
Price: Free
Download
Download
#12. Whink
Whink is an all-in-one app to take notes using your Apple Pencil. It has built-in different gel pen with unlimited colors. You can annotate PDF files using different colors to make them more visible and impactful. Apart from that, you can also create voice recording using the app.
With iCloud support, all your notes are saved securely over the cloud. You won’t need to worry about losing them when you upgrade your iPad or iPhone. Lastly, the app isn’t free, but features are definitely worth the price.
Price: $4.99
Download
Download
Bonus
PDF Expert by Readdle
Don’t be surprised to see “PDF Expert” in this lineup. Even though this app is primarily a PDF editor, it can work efficiently as a note-taking app as well.
It boasts a range of annotation tools to let you fine-tune your PDFs based on professional demand. It offers readymade stamps like approved, not approved, confidential, etc. that allow you to express your thoughts vividly.
Moreover, you can use shapes to make diagrams and schemes to show the analytical data of anything. Take advantage of e-signatures to sign docs and use a password to protect them.
Besides, you can also create quick notes and add comments. Thanks to the redact feature; you will be able to hide the personal information as well.
Price: $9.99
Download
Download
That’s all, folks! Have you liked these note apps? Which one looks set to be your favorites?
Signing off…
I don’t think your search for the most adorable note-taking app is on. I’d love to have your thoughts down below in the comments.
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- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
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