10 Things You Didn’t Know About Notes Plus

Tom Solid

Here I will show you 10 hidden features in Notes Plus you might didn’t know they even exist. Notes Plus has so much to offer, that it might be overwhelming for some of you to get the hang of it. However, there are even more features than you might found at the first look. In my text here, there are even more things than I actually covered in the video, so it is worth to read this too. If you have any questions or if you know any features that I did not include, just let me know in the forum! You will help us, the paperless community, to grow even faster!

1. Dual window mode | See two notebooks at once

There is a dual window mode: while users are in main page view, users can use finger to swipe on the handle (rotate to landscape mode to see this handle more obviously) on the left side all the way to the right to switch to browser mode (dual window), in this mode user can browse web and capture specific area with Scissors tool and send it back to the current working notebook. It’s convenient for those who need to access reference information on the internet while taking notes. Users can open 2 notebooks side by side thanks to the integrated browser. While working on A notebook, return to library, swipe on an notebook, choose “Dual” icon will open that notebook in the integrated browser. This is a handy way to browse 2 notebooks side by side conveniently. However, as I show you in the video, it is not working very stable and the notes cannot be positioned correctly.

Update 12.06.2018:
With the recent update of Notability 8.0 a dual screen mode was implemented. It is a shame, that Notes Plus was not working on to improve their splitscreen mode. Now, Notability got the pole position as the only note taking app offering a proper dual screen mode!

2. Open notebooks on any desktop (PC and Mac)

Users can open the notebook on a web browser on computer when auto backup is ON (or save “Notebooks” from Notes Plus Documents in iTunes File Sharing through USB cable). For example, if Dropbox auto backup is turned on (under Library > Auto Backup > start “Dropbox”). Then, open Dropbox’s Notes Plus folder on the computer at /Dropbox/NotesPlus/AutoBackup/Notebooks/Notebook Name, then open “index.html” with a web browser like Safari/Chrome, then users can view notebook content on the browser.

3. Handwriting is globally searchable

Handwriting is always searchable even users don’t do Handwriting Recognition. Notes Plus will run HWR thread in background mode (when users quit a notebook) so handwritten notes are always index-able and searchable.

Update 12.06.2018:
With the recent update, Notability 8.0 added handwriting to text conversion and a global handwriting search function along with it!

4. Shared notebooks stay editable

Users can share a notebook in native format so other Notes Plus users can open it up in Notes Plus and edit original handwriting. To do so, go to Tools > Export > set File Type to WebArchive, share via email to other people. Now, other user can download the .WebArchive file and open it up with “Notes Plus” to import it into Notes Plus Library (full editing capability).

5. Customizable toolbar and UI layout adjusts to writing preferences

Users can customize toolbar with long-press gesture. For example, they can arrange the toolbar to their own preferences: use finger to long press on an existing slot, this pops up all editing tools, choose a slot to assign it to select placeholder.

Notes Plus provides different UI layout to fit with the writing direction configured under Tools > Writing Position.

6. Easy page selection and editing even in fullscreen mode

There is a quick way to browse through pages with page thumb panel: use finger to long press near the utmost right edge of the screen, that opens up the page thumb panel, users can browse pages quickly, rename a page or re-arrange page order quickly.

7. Invisible scrolling bars

In any edit mode (i.e pen, eraser, etc…), dragging up/down within a half of inch from the right edge of the page will scroll it instead of other actions. This is like an invisible scrollbar. When Palm Pad is up, an invisible scrollbar on the left will be enabled (in addition to the invisible scrollbar on the right). Using your left thumb to scroll the page while writing with your right hand is very convenient.

8. Draw straight lines and shapes via auto-detection

Whenever you draw a straight line, circle, square or even complex shapes like hexagons, you will get the option to convert it into a straightened object. If this option does not show up, then you have to go to the app settings and change the threshold, the minimum shpae size in millimeters that triggers shape detection. You find this setting in top right/App Setting/Shape Detection Threshold.

9. Easy object selection, deletion, transformation and rotation

You can use your pen anytime to select object in your note. Either you just tip on the object or your draw around it. You will then get the obtion to select the object. Once selected you can change the style of the drawn lines or convert handwriting to text. You are also able to transform the selection by grabbing the right bottom corner and drag it. You can also easily rotate it, by tapping with two fingers on the object at the same time and then turning them. If you want to delete an object, just tap the red cross sign on the top left. However, you can also delete non-selected objects by just scribbling over it. For more details how this works, watch my video.

10. Bring object to the front or back

If you draw an object in front of another, but you want it to be behind. Just select it and select from the top right menu bring to back. This is very helpful if you underline handwritten text and the line is covering the letters “g”, “j” etc.

! One More – Add Date and Time Stamp to your notes

One thing I actually forgot to cover in the video is the function to add date and time stamps to your notes! I think it is a really nice feature and you can access it by just adding a text box in which you normally write your text. Have look at the top of your Keyboard. There are the icons you need to tap on to get the times in your note! Well, isn’t that nice.