http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/technology/personaltech/organizing-your-thoughts-with-note-taking-apps.html 2016-09-07 21:26:03 Organizing Your Thoughts With Note-Taking Apps Evernote, once the leader in the note-taking app category, now faces competition from options like Noteshelf, LectureNotes and Notebook. === MANY of us use our phones to jot down notes, whether we’re in a class, at an interview or trying to remember a shopping list. And many apps are available to help. One fabulous option for both students and professionals is When making notes in a book, you can type into text blocks, create freehand text, make diagrams and insert photos and audio. These elements can be combined on one page, and when one page is full you simply move to the next. Using Noteshelf feels similar to writing in a real notebook, with the advantages that the notes are tidier and stored digitally. The app is easy to use and compatible with several types of styluses if you prefer to write with a penlike tool. Searching among notes can be difficult because of the way that searchable typed text is mixed with handwritten notes and drawings. But if you are smart about titling your notebooks, it is less of a problem. Finished notebooks can be shared using email or services like Dropbox, or exported as PDFs. Android users looking for an app similar to Noteshelf should check out The app is aimed at students, but professionals may find it helpful in business meetings or for other uses, like keeping a design diary. No list of note-taking apps would be complete without the best-known one: For a long time, Evernote was the best note-taking app available. But recently, the features in the app’s free-access level have been limited, to drive people to pay for access. And the app’s design can look confusing compared with newer rivals. Evernote’s paid features are available for $4 and up. The makers of Evernote also created The app is free For a simpler note-taking experience, download Each card has a main purpose. You can create a text card that you can type words on, an audio card that is an audio recording, a photo card or a shopping list-like card. Where you may separate different sections of a note-taking session with a space or a new page in other apps, in Notebook the idea is that you use a new card. Because the text in Notebook is all typed, you can also search through previous notes for specific words. This is useful, but if you want to scribble down a more visual note, like a mathematical formula, you have to use a different app. Amity