Taking handwritten notes on digital devices

Posted by MadaboutDana
May 28, 2020 at 08:57 AM

(Software: iPadOS/macOS)

I recently acquired a second-hand iPad Pro, primarily so I could draw on it. But in actual fact, I’ve unexpectedly discovered the joys of handwriting on the thing! I use Notability on both iPad, iPhone and Mac, and the handwriting recognition is really very good indeed. Meaning I can take full advantage of digital text even though I’m handwriting.

Given that I’m also a touch-typist, I didn’t think that handwriting recognition had very much to offer. But the freedom of a pen (or rather, Apple Pencil) in one’s hand is extraordinarily liberating. Here you write some text; there you do a little diagram or drawing. I’d forgotten how much I used to doodle in my school notebooks. Also, just how much fun the sheer mutability of handwriting is - how easy it is to emphasise something, or draw little arrows to something else. After decades of touch-typing, the absence of linearity is positively heady!

#notability