Yes, stop relying on your heavy brain and kick-start using the best free Note Taking app. The prime motive for penning this piece of writing is to present you with the best Note-taking apps for Android and iOS platforms. First things first, Ever-note is a smart worksheet. Nov 28, 2019 OneNote works across Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices. The Android app is easy to use and works as a flexible canvas, letting you type, handwrite, draw and clip things you find on the web. Best note taking apps of 2020 The best note-taking app for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Looks Like The Future Of Handwriting-To-Digital-Text Conversion MyScript Nebo is what Windows Ink should be The Pen Is Finally Mightier than the Word Processor.
An excellent note-taking app to collect and organize thoughts is a blessing in disguise. People use Evernote, OneNote, Bear Notes, Google Keep, and others, as a digital file cabinet. Today, the note-taking space is so crowded that if you want to move from one app to another or someone needs to pick a new option, the task appears more daunting than ever. That said, Microsoft OneNote is an excellent note-taking app if you're quite comfortable with using MS Office apps. It's free, available on all platforms, and comes with handy features. Bear notes is another capable offering with a prime focus on UI and reliability.
On paper, both OneNote and Bear Notes may sound identical, but they differ in various areas such as note organization, sharing, editor, and user navigation.
In this post, we are going to compare both OneNote and Bear Notes on the Mac. We will also talk about the mobile app experience on the iPhone. Let’s get started to pick a relevant note-taking software for you.
Cross-Platform Availability
OneNote is available on iOS, Android, Windows, iPad, Mac, Web, and as a Chrome extension. Bear Notes is focused on the Apple ecosystem. It is only available on iOS, iPad, Mac, and as an extension on the Chrome web store.
If you plan to use the notes app either Android or Windows, your answer ends here. Go with Microsoft OneNote.
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Read MoreUser Interface
If you have used Microsoft Office apps, then you would feel right at home with the OneNote. The major options, such as drawing, editing, and view, are tucked inside the ribbon at the top. The notebook, pages, and sections are on the left side.
Microsoft has stuck with the winning formula for UI and UX over the years. And it works well with the OneNote software. OneNote also supports the night theme, which I rarely use but might find useful in dark situations.
Bear Notes is known for its intuitive user interface. The app uses a slick-looking UI with notes and tags on the left sidebar. Using Bear Notes, you can easily witness the company’s close attention to the UI.
Bear Notes also support multiple theming options. You can go to App Preference > Themes and choose from the dozens of available themes.
Notes Organization
This is one of the main differences between the two apps. Notes organization can be the deal-breaker for many users. Some may prefer OneNote’s Notebook style, while others might prefer the tags-based organization in Bear Notes.
Let’s start with OneNote first. Microsoft mimics the physical notebook style in the software. You can create an OneNote Notebook, add sections in it and further create pages to write notes.
Bear Notes doesn’t offer any Notebook-style organization. Instead, it relies on tags to quickly search through and differentiate notes in the app. So it's entirely your personal preference on the organization style you like.
Note Editing
Microsoft brings the familiar Word editing options to the OneNote with a couple of changes designed for a note-taking app.
With OneNote, you can change font, style, fonts, use different headings, choose from multiple color options, and even use various tags like Question, Remember, Important, To-Do, and more.
OneNote also lets you insert a table, files, images, audio recording, and even maths equation. You can integrate some built-in stickers too.
OneNote offers drawing capabilities. It’s mostly useful if your PC or tablet has Pen support. You can use Pen, Marker, and Highlighter, change the ink color and intensity and use the eraser to undo mistakes.
While OneNote throws every possible option at you for editing, Bear Notes smartly hides them to keep the note-taking area clean. When composing a note, you can tap on the little pen icon at the bottom to open the floating menu with editing options.
It covers the basics but lacks the rich-editing options offered by OneNote. The lfunctions include different headings, line separator, quote, code block, to-do, highlighter, file integration, and more.
For note details, you can tap on the info icon at the upper right corner, and Bear will display modification date, words, characters, read time, and paragraphs. I like how Bear Notes mentions keyboard shortcuts for editing options in the app.
Speaking of keyboard shortcuts, you should memorize OneNote keyboard shortcuts to fly through the app and editing options.
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Read MoreNote Sharing and Syncing
OneNote syncs all the created notebooks and data to Microsoft’s OneDrive platform. Bear Notes uses Apple’s iCloud storage to keep the data in sync.
Bear Notes allows you to share the note in PDF, HTML, DOCX, and JPG format. Just tap on the info button at the top and choose the file type to share the note. Unfortunately, you can’t invite others to make changes to the note.
OneNote lets you share an entire Notebook with others. You can use the invite link and ask others to collaborate with you on the notebook. Sadly, you can’t share a section of the notebook separately. However, you can share a page of a section as PDF.
A Word on Mobile Apps
Bear Notes is only available on the iOS platform and that's why we will talk about app experience on the iPhone. OneNote sticks with the same note organization as the desktop. Open Notebook, go to the section, and start filling-up pages. I like how Microsoft has integrated Sticky Notes add-on in the OneNote mobile app. The search function also works as expected.
Bear Notes iOS app is a joy to use. It feels and looks more polished and responsive than OneNote. You can find the same editing options as well as theming choices.
Price
OneNote is free but has a catch. It uses the OneDrive service to store notes and data. OneDrive only offers 5GB of free space. After that, you need to pay for the additional OneDrive storage to keep using OneNote.
Bear Notes work on a monthly subscription. It costs $1.5 per month to use. Bear Notes does offer a free trial to test out the service.
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Both OneNote and Bear Notes are excellent note-taking apps. If you want something free and works across all platforms, then go with OneNote. Bear Notes offer better UI, robust organization with tags, and a bunch of theme options to spice up the software experience. As for now, I’m sliding with OneNote and I will keep a close eye on Bear Notes for their swift development process.
Next up:Apple Notes is the default choice for iPhone users. Read its comparison with Bear notes to choose a better app for you.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextApple Notes vs Bear Notes: Which Note-Taking App Is Better for YouAlso See#productivity #mac apps
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Sticky Notes has been a part of the Windows operating system for years. It’s a useful utility, lets you pin quick thoughts and notes on the desktop. In 2018, Microsoft delivered the much-needed makeover to Sticky Notes with sync capabilities, file attachment, and a complete redesign. At the same time, the company made sure the users get to access Sticky Notes on rival OS, including Android, iOS, and Mac.
The added syncing function is useless if you can’t access or create Sticky Notes on Android, iOS, or web. To counter the problem, Microsoft has making Sticky Notes available on iOS and Android via other apps and on Mac using the Outlook platform. The company is also leveraging the Microsoft Launcher app on Android for deep integration of Stick Notes.
In this post, we are going to talk about how to access Sticky Notes on Mac, iOS, and Android. It’s not as straight forward as downloading the app from the App Store or the Play Store. Let’s get started.
Use Sticky Notes on Mac
From Outlook App
Apple does provide a capable alternative called Stickies on the macOS. But it’s basic, doesn’t have syncing and it’s only available on the Mac. There is no way to access them on other platforms. Enter Sticky Notes.
There are two ways to use Sticky Notes on the Mac. Microsoft is using the Outlook app for Sticky Notes integration. Follow the steps below.
Step 1: Open the Mac App Store and download the Outlook Email app.
Step 2: Open Outlook Mail and sign in using the Microsoft account credentials.
Step 3: After the successful login, move to the bottom menu bar.
Step 4: Here, you will see the mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes.
Step 5: Tap on the notes icon and it will open the sticky notes menu in the app.
Click on the notes to view or edit them. To create a new note, go to File > New Note or use the ‘Command + N’ keyboard shortcut to compose a note. Add a title and content to it and hit Command + S shortcut to save the note. You can view and arrange the notes via dates.
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Read MoreUse Outlook Web
In recent years, Microsoft has radically improved the Outlook web functionalities. From a single place, you can access the major Microsoft services such as Mail, Calendar, To-Do, Contacts, Skype, and more.
As it’s dependable on the web, the trick lets you access Sticky Notes on Chrome OS and Linux too. Follow the steps below to access Sticky Notes on the Outlook web.
Step 1: Open any web browser and navigate to Outlook.com.
Step 2: Login using Microsoft account credentials and it will take you to the default mail page.
Step 3: From the Outlook Mail, go to Folders > Notes.
Step 4: Here, you will see the Sticky Notes list.
Step 5: Tap on the notes to add content, change color, or even delete it.
Step 6: To create a new note, navigate to the upper left corner and select ‘New Note’ option.
Using Sticky Notes from the Outlook web is a much better experience than the standard Outlook app from the Mac Store.
Use Sticky Notes on iPhone
Here is where it gets confusing. Unlike on desktop, you can’t access Sticky Notes from the Outlook app on the iPhone. Instead, the company has integrated Sticky Notes with the OneNote app for the mobile.
Step 1: Download the OneNote app from the App Store.
Step 2: Sign in using Microsoft account and synchronize the notebooks.
Step 3: Here, you will see the separate Notes section at the bottom.
Step 4: Select it and here you will see all the Sticky Notes in it.
Users can create new notes, change color, format the notes using the default editing options, and more.
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Read MoreGet Sticky Notes on Android
There are two ways to use Sticky Notes on the Android operating system. You can either use the OneNote app or opt for the Microsoft Launcher to access Sticky Notes on Android. Speaking of Microsoft Launcher, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Open the Play Store and download the Microsoft Launcher app.
Step 2: Set the launcher as the default on Android from the device settings.
Step 3: Swipe left on the Microsoft Launcher and sign in using the Microsoft account credentials.
Step 4: Go to the Glance tab, and here you will see the Notes widget in the menu.
The notes widget will synchronize the notes from the Sticky Notes app. You can create and edit the existing notes from the same widget.
Alternatively, you can use the OneNote Android app to get Sticky Notes on the Android OS. The steps for it are identical to its iOS counterpart.
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Click here to see our sticky notes articles pageUse Sticky Notes Everywhere
As you can see from the steps above, a user can access Sticky Notes on all the platforms, including Mac, Android, iOS, and web. It’s useful for those living in a cross-platform ecosystem. I mostly use it to jot down quick thoughts on my iPhone and Windows laptop. What about you? Sound off in the comments section below.
Next up:Sticky Notes now working for you on Windows 10? Use the tricks below to fix the issue.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextTop 8 Ways to Fix Sticky Notes Not Working on Windows 10Also See#windows 10
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