I have used EVERY Single note app out there. Trust me. Goodnotes, Notability, Noteshelf, Zinnia, Nebo, Noteful… etc. Noteshelf isn’t perfect, but it is the closest thing to it. Best pencil and natural handwriting experience, (seriously, I don’t know how Goodnotes devs sleep at night with the chicken scratch their app produces no matter what) - and the most versatile options to add things. The only improvements I could ask for would be better consistent loading of many bookmarks (I sometimes have to reload which takes all of 5 seconds for them to all show up) and I personally would prefer the color choices for the pencil UI to be tucked away anywhere other than a floating window that annoys me. Oh, and the widget could use improvement both in selecting which notebook and the image showing up in said widget. That’s literally it. Those three minor issues are the only issues I have compared to my litany of frustrations with other apps that I won’t waste time listing here… (looking at YOU Notability with your inability to apply multiple templates per 1 note STILL??). But really. Thank you Noteshelf people. Your app is literally my second brain, my journals, all my notes, my diaries, and inseparable from my daily routine. Please keep being awesome.

I’ve been using Noteshelf 3 for about 2 weeks now. I use it primarily for work. I had no migration issues from Noteshelf 2 as opposed to other users and the instructions were relatively easy. I even had a question regarding a feature and customer service responded within a few days therefore, my experiences are much better than several other reviewers. I simply prefer Noteshelf 2 to Noteshelf 3 for a couple of simple things that I’m sure they can fix. 1) I can no longer name my bookmarks. I use Noteshelf like a regular book and I do a lot of reading along with note taking. When I use bookmarks, I name them so I can easily look them up. Noteshelf got me through two Master’s degree’s with this feature. 2) Selecting pages: I used to be able to move/re-arrange multiple pages simultaneously. I am no longer able to do that which takes up much more time. 3) I’m unable to touch the 4 squares in the corner, view multiple pages simultaneously (more than 3 or 4), and quickly find the page I am looking for, as I can in Noteshelf 2. Noteshelf 3 added some features like AI, but at a cost of taking away some very simple and useful features. I’ve been using Noteshelf since the original and will now have to consider alternatives as one day I’m sure Noteshelf 2 will all-of-a-sudden stop working with a future update. It was good while it lasted. I’ll keep using if these features are added.

I’ve used the Noteshelf apps for years and they are my absolute fave as a professional writer. It’s easy to set up new notebooks, categorize them by use or need, switch pens and highlighters (a must for anyone who loves color coding), and create brilliant notes that can be accessed with an internet connection. It’s also my absolutely favorite way to read PDFs or review text, making highlighting and note-taking straightforward, simple, and searchable. I’m lucky enough to have neat enough handwriting that I can find almost anything between the bookmark and search features. The only feature I miss from previous versions is the ability to shrink the pens/highlighter menu to a dot, so it wouldn’t get in the way of writing, but it’s a small thing compared to a vastly improved lasso that makes turning my handwritten notes into a typed draft so easy that my job barely feels like work (when I’m not torturing myself over a blank page, lol). When anyone I know gets an iPad, this is the first app I recommend. Absolutely awesome, and the best app for my work and life.

On occasion when loading up the app, it takes ages to load or doesn’t load at all. You have to exit out or power off your device to get it to work again. The app constantly crashes and obviously does not let you access notes. On top of that, it freezes constantly. The notes in the app don’t load either. This app is supposed to work offline, but if you’re offline, the cloud symbol shows on some notes (other notes are unaffected for some reason, I guess depending on the app’s mood?) and will not let you in to the notes. This is a big issue given that I use this app for notes during lectures and it being so fidgety makes me miss out on key points. I really wanted this to work since I had a few issues with another note taking app deleting my files, and not allowing Google Drive backups, but I think I will just switch back to that app and save to cloud, since it never put me through this constant turmoil. The final nail in the coffin was that it too started to delete my files. Semester-worth of notes gone in an instant. Not sure if they deleted while the app froze and I misclicked trying to get it to work, but nonetheless none of that is my fault, given the faulty-ness of the app. Again, I really wanted this app to work and function like Noteshelf 2 did. I loved that app and was forced to use this one after switching from the other app that let me down as well.