Craft vs Noteswriter

Craft was a little bit hard to understand at first (that's on me--they explain everything very well), but once you get the hang of it, suddenly you have a place where you can truly organize your notes, thoughts, life goals, to-dos, all in one app. On top of this, you can layer this organization to your heart's content--if you're a creative type, you can have a "creative" folder with a "lyrics" subfolder with "melancholy" and "funny" subfolders, as well as a "sources of inspiration" subfolder with "quotes" and "aesthetic choices" subfolders within that. Just examples! Moving between these folders is super easy, so it's quickly turned into my personal little hub for all of the ideas I randomly come up with. More than that, it's fairly simple searching things so that if you're ever in a creative rut, you can pull ideas from when you weren't. Honestly I don't think I've scratched the surface of what this app can really do, but I'm really happy I came across it. Beforehand, I was just using my phone's Notes app, and while it was easy enough getting my thoughts down quickly, finding them again or being able to connect them to other thoughts was basically out of the question. Best part (although pretty common for note-taking apps) is that I can write stuff down on my iPhone while out and about, and then expand on those ideas later on my computer--very seamless in that regard!

- someartbydan

Took me awhile to grab onto Craft despite all of the buzz, and now it has become my essential app, especially with the recent calendar and daily note integration. This fits the way I think/operate, and my most productive workflow so well, as it has become a place where I can keep a daily log of journal reflections, tasks, phone calls, meetings, etc, while also giving me easily accessible and connectable spaces to dive in and focus on projects, brainstorm, keep and plan long-term someday tasks and keep everything organized. It helps me think, plan and write, which is your mission.....but it really DOES help me do all of that! My only request is for a way to make the app text font size larger and easier to see. The control plus option that I usually use to do this currently functions to transform the text into larger bold headings, rather than to simply make the text larger so that it is easier to see. I can increase font size on the web app using this shortcut, but the web app still lacks many of the app features. For aging eyes looking at a laptop screen on a lap, for example, a way to make the font size larger and easier to see would be so appreciated!!

- Rebannford

I'm a long-time user of Evernote who's constantly searching for a less problematic writing app. For the past 8 months, Evernote has been troublesome, including syncing problems, spinning disk issues when opening the app, disappearing files and other issues. The developers have also added a bunch of nonsense that NO ONE was requested, such as a task function and calendars. Craft is the closest I've found to a solid app that could replace Evernote. It is highly capable, syncs nicely and has a solid preferences menu. It also looks loverly -- the developers have obviously put a lot of care and attention into the app. It also starts up quickly, since it's built in native apps and not some third-party platform like Evernote uses that makes it work more like a web app. The deal breakers for me with Craft were the lack of tags (which I've come to rely on in nearly all my photography and writing work), the fact that it won't work outside of the Apple ecosytem (I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a Samsung Galaxy Fold 2) and the lack of tables. If you can live without these elements, Craft will suit you well. As a bonus, Craft costs roughly half of what Evernote is charging annually.

- red.planet

I have been trying to find an App that worked better with PDF annotation (in addition to being good at note taking), but one HUGE drawback of other note taking Apps (i.e. Goodnotes, Flexcil, Nebo, Notability) is that every file has to be imported to be used, and therefore becomes a duplicate, non-sycronized file (not a big deal if you just use it for notes only). Well, NotesWriter fixes that! All files can be saved natively in the iPad Files folder and useable by any PDF program, not just Noteswriter. To me that makes NotesWriter a perfect combination of Goodnotes and PDF Viewer. Considering other PDF Apps charge a subscription, this feels like a steal. You even get a lasso/clipping tool, the ability to scan pages in, and a ton of page templates (all of which most free PDF Apps don’t have). PDF Expert and PDF viewer are the most similar, and but this is slightly better than those if you want note taking abilities. Note to Developers: The layout/user interface could still be improved: if the toolbar was customizable (like PDF Expert), if the view layout was more full screen (neither Reader or Presentation mode are as good as PDF Viewer’s layout), and if the handwriting had a simple zoom feature and was recognizable (like Goodnotes). Great job!

- jaggner

Wow! Where should I begin? This is the best note taking app ive ever had! You can do everything on it! It’s works with the Apple Pencil perfectly. It’s the most best ever! For anyone that is reading this and have not downloaded it yet, well you really need to get it. I went to school and wrote down my notes (also yes we are allowed to take our iPads with Apple Pencil to school and write down notes instead of using a note book) on my iPad and my teacher goes “oh what app is that I’ve been looking at your iPad all day and wondering what app the is cause I really need it!” And told her and she went to her desk got her iPad and downloaded it! (Everyone in my class has this app on there iPad to use it and take down notes) this is just the best app ever! I love it

- New York Girl!

I really like this app and how easy it is to use. I often take notes in class and my hands get tired pretty fast so I tried finding solutions by using this app. I am a really fast typer on my iPad so I would take notes here during zoom.(temporary thing since eventually we will all return to school in person) I am planning to use this during class and I have only tried doing some samples to make sure this works and it does! I am happy it’s free unlike some apps, and I really recommend this. The only con would be that I wish there were more fonts. Other than that it’s really great.

- jsidoiidid