Taking notes

[Andy847]

I didn't know there were two ways to do it, so thanks for that tip. I was using the one that sucked. Lol. I didn't see the options key at the bottom left, because I was using the Swype beta keyboard. Once I switched back to the Samsung keyboard I was able to do it. I think I still need practice with the write to text. It sometimes spells the words wrong and doesn't always put a space between the words still.

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Android Central Forums

 

[scotthadkins]

Your welcome . Hope it helps. It still isn't perfect, but with practice it has worked well enough, for me, that for longer writting I find it faster than typing. With that mode you can write over wrong letters or use the dash tricks. I think when you first use it there is a tutorial.

 

[StuartV]

Regarding Evernote recognition of handwriting in PDF, I had the impression that it works if you have a premium Evernote account - at least it says "PDF search" in the linked description of Premium services.

All I can say is that I have Evernote Premium (and have had it for quite a while). Maybe the Premium PDF search means you can search based on text in the PDF (as opposed to handwriting). I believe that does work.

 

[tomnjerry]

I prefer using an Infinity Binder with my galaxy tab 2 7.0, then storing them all on google drive. (however if you use evernote then you can search your notes via the character recognition feature. which is nice.)

 

[CPaisley]

I am reading all this looking for some advice specifically for my new galaxy tab 2. I have the 10.1.
I am confused about what to use. I am looking for a good stylus and an app that will work. can you suggest anything?

 

[bacchus224]

Wow! Am I glad I found this thread. I have been struggling with the Productivity tools which really were no good. I was able to write this reply with the handwriting panel.

 

[CPaisley]

Wow! Am I glad I found this thread. I have been struggling with the Productivity tools which really were no good. I was able to write this reply with the handwriting panel.

I spoke to a Samzung rep today and they told me the galaxy tab 2 10.1 is NOT meant to take notes. He said the Notes 2 was . That is discouraging since my son gave me the galaxy tab 2 for Christmas and I need to use it to take notes. I can't find anywhere online that states what app to use or what stylus to try to use to solve this problem. I feel badly asking my son to take this back. Don't know if they would anyhow. Any help out there? I read the Jot scratches the screens...ideas?

 

[Andy847]

The Note 2 is a phone. You want the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, not the galaxy Tab 2 10.1. They look very similar, so can be confusing. The Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet has a stylus attached in the bottom right corner that slides out.

 

[CPaisley]

Do you know, though, of an app and stylus that will allow me to take notes on my galaxy tab 2?

The Note 2 is a phone. You want the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, not the galaxy Tab 2 10.1. They look very similar, so can be confusing. The Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet has a stylus attached in the bottom right corner that slides out.

 

[Andy847]

If you just want to handwrite the notes try lecture notes app, you can use a regular rounded tip stylus on that. When i had my ipad, i used a Targus stylus from Walmart. Costs about $13 and some change. There are plenty of note apps in the Google play store. You should find something that does what you want on your Galaxy Tab 2.

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Android Central Forums

 

[wpoveromo]

This is good stuff...here's some of my thoughts on some findings. I wrote 4 pages of handwritten notes via S-Note and it went well. Evernote can search PDFs but only if they are text. I CAN search handwritten but export as .jpg. Here is what I'd like though, I need the cascade feature to open S-note in one view, and another S-note or something to create a running list of to-do or follow up items from my meeting. I use to write stars beside my note and dig through it, but would like to do it in real-time on my Galaxy.


I have been trying to find the best way to eliminate taking notes on paper, but also preserving the "natural" note taking during meetings and thought I'd pass this along. I looked at several things like LiveScribe, Evernote, Penultimate, Stylus pens, multiple stylus applications and the Samsung Note 2 tablet and wanted to share what I found.

The best of everything is using my Samsung Note 2 Tablet since it has a handwriting to text recognition input method that can open in almost any application and use it in Evernote. Evernote purchased Sketch which is there drawing application so you can open that directly in your note. You can also record your audio, take pics, etc...and have that all attached to the Evernote. If I want to actually preserve my handwriting, I'll use Penultimate who they purchased.

LiveScribe - Cool, but it's just an audio pen and paper. You still need a computer if you want to search your notes and if you jut bring your pen and paper, you don't have access to any electronic files, emails, CRM, etc... in a meeting. You can search handwriting but need access to the LiveScribe desktop app or Evernote. There is a convert to text but is a 3rd party.
Penultimate - This is way cool. It's just like LiveScribe but digital. You can just write on your tablet like normal and it can search your handwriting. Evernote also purchased them so there is a seamless integration (if you send to Evernote you can also search your handwritten notes). It's only compatible with iPad but they are working on Android support. There is no way to pull up the keyboard for text input. This is the best option if you want to see your actual handwritten notes along with any drawings on the page. Since there's note text conversion though, you can't copy and paste.
Evernote - I use this for both my work and personal notes / research projects. It seamlessly integrates with LiveScribe and Penultimate. There is also a 3rd party app if you want to integrate with Salesforce.com
Samsung Note 2 Tablet - This is awesome if you want to have a pen in your hand to keep the natural flow of a meeting vs. typing on a keyboard. The Samsung keyboard lets you change the input method to a really, really good handwriting recognition input. You can use this in Evernote or in their S Note application. Their S note application is cool since it has several meeting note templates and can send "text" only to Evernote (if you scribble or sketch it can send to Evernote but only as an image)
S Note - Samsung's built in note taking application. It's great but if you send pages with drawings, it's only .pdfs and they have there propriety .snb files that limits ability to edit in other applications. There isn't much it can do that Evernote/Penultimate can't do.
CAN'T WAIT FOR ANDROID ON PENULTIMATE AND THE ABILITY TO PULL UP A KEYBOARD FOR TEXT ENTRY OR SOME OTHER HANDWRITE TO TEXT CONVERSION METHOD.

Hope this helps.

 

[sfrrr]

Wow! You have just saved me days, maybe weeks, of work. And the inevitable loss of files that always comes from switching from one note - taking program to another or from one place of storage to another.

I'm sure I speak (er, write) for a lot of us when I say thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

Sent from my unrooted 32 GB Polish Samsung Galaxy GT I9300 running 4.1.2.

 

[dzigner]

Hello
Thanks for the review. I also am looking for some app that exactly does this - handwrite my note, export to evernote, and can do edits or add to the note in evernote itself. But I still haven't found any app that does this. I have galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition and nexus 7 tablets. I love to write with the spen, and am using all the apps to find any that does some of what I want it to do. The apps I have are:

1. handrite (with handrite2evernote)
2. quill
3. s note
4. skitch
5. lecturenotes
6. papyrus
7. write

Your review has made my research that much less time-consuming. Please keep on updating here.
thanks

 

[0hjanelle]

One issue I am encountering with S Note is that the screen will not time-out when I am in an actual note. I use it for work and spend a lot of time with an open note page, writing notes, making lists, etc. I need to manually turn off the screen when in the mode or a risk running out the battery. Time-out works properly when I am looking at my various saved notes/notebooks, and with all my other apps. Wondering if anyone has experienced this and/or could offer suggestions as to why it is happening and if there is anything I can do to fix it.

Thanks

 

[dzigner]

Hello
Another issue I found with S-note, at least on my tablet 10.1 2014, is that it does not show the productivity tool button on the menu, in any template I use. Can someone shed light on why this should be?
thanks

 

[StuartV]

Just to keep up with this thread a little bit, I'll say that I settled on LectureNotes quite a while back and have been using that now for all my work (and other) note-taking. The only thing that bugs me about it is that if I set my hand down on the screen before the stylus touches, and my happen goes on the system bar at the bottom, it will activate stuff I don't want. But, if I make sure the stylus touches first, then it seems to be okay.

 

[dzigner]

Hello all
Just to update here:
I bought the cloud service inapp from papyrus, and it synced nicely with all my devices. Now to find something that will open those notes on my laptop !
Regarding LectureNotes, I still havent figured out a way to delete/add a page, so I'm stuck there. Also, no way to sync.
thanks

 

[starbuckk]

To delete a page in Lecture notes, touch the Settings icon, select Notebook Overview, then the trash icon. It will ask you to select the page to delete. There is a + icon for adding a page but you might have it hidden since Lecture Notes allows you to select which icons are visible.
I use a program called FolderSync to synch Lecturenotes between my Note 10.1 and S4 by way of Box.com. I actually have two folder groups. One is a one way sync that never deletes from the cloud. The other is the two way intended to keep the devices in sync. The One way sync is the back up in case they get out of whack and a file gets sync-deleted into oblivion.
Folder Sync works with several of the cloud providers.

 

[StuartV]

I think you can also add a page to a notebook in LN by pressing the Volume Up (or down?) key while you're in the notebook. That's what I always do to add a page when I'm taking notes.

As for syncing, I use Evernote anyway. So, when I'm done with a note in Lecture Notes, I just hit Menu/Export to Evernote. When I go into Evernote at some point after that, I just file all the notes that have appeared in my Default notebook into the correct project notebook for that note. It would be nice if LN and EN were integrated, so I could choose the EN folder directly from LN.

And, for that matter, have the note stored in EN in such a way that I could open it again later, from LN, and edit it, if I wanted. However, this is not a big deal, to me, since my notes are generally things that I write down to refer back to later. I don't use LN to create notes that I go back to and edit later - generally speaking.

And to point out the obvious, by doing it this way, my notes are synced across my tablet, phone AND all my PCs. And even available via browser from any device with an Internet connection.

 

[acadoid]

@dzigner: There a numerous ways of adding a page, for instance via the menu items in the `hand? menu, you can enable the `plus? icon in the app's menu settings which appends a page, you can enable the page forward/backward icons or the arrow icon which scroll but append a page when needed, and you can scroll by the volume keys of your device which appends a page when needed. Two input methods, input zone and auto-scroll tool, also automatically append new pages when needed.

Besides to delete a page in notebook overview, as described by starbuckk, you can delete a page using the item in the `hand? menu.