How to take digital Notes?

I want to start creating digital notes for work/certs. Mostly for the searchable features.

Does anyone have a method they'd like to recommend? Needs to be accessible offline (but can also have online features).

At the moment, I'm contemplating .doc, .txt, or possibly even evernote/onenote - however I'm not too sure about those last 2. Additionally, with a .doc file I'd be able to create headers and bullets and could effectively have everything in 1 big file if I wanted. However, with a .txt file I'd probably have to split each file into a category of it's own.

I'm still in the infancy of brainstorming, but I do want to start on this over the weekend. Any suggestion/ideas, regardless how big or small, would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

SteveO86

I use evernote.

Syncs between my tablet, laptop, & other PC's I install it on. As long as you sync the notes are available offline. Plus you can share notebooks as well.

The only thing I do not like about evernote is that the nesting of notebooks is limited, however it can easily be overcome.

gc8dc95

I use Evernote as well. It is easy and sync to pretty much any device.

Jon_Cisco

I think evernote would be a good solution. I have it set up but never got to the point of keeping digital notes.
However it seemed like an easy to use application. I would spend some time figuring out how to tag your study material. It's easier to start with a plan.

Unfortunately I am a terrible note taker and really rely on memory which makes review time hard.

Good Luck

dopedsmurf

I use OneNote, but have heard several good things about Evernote. Here is a link comparing the two:

Lifehacker Faceoff: OneNote vs. Evernote

jdballinger

I used OneNote extensively when I was going to college. I had an HP laptop that had a screen that could swivel and lay flat, making it a tablet. It had an active Wacom digitizer in it, so there was no need to deal with palm rejection or anything, I could just rest my hand on the screen like you would a piece of paper. It was absolutely fantastic, and the ability to insert just about anything into a OneNote notebook makes it absolutely invaluable. There are some really good options out right now, with prices ranging from around $500 to over 1800 (maxed out Surface Pro 2.) All of them are good options.

Danielm7

I used OneNote with WGU, very helpful. It was even more handy with 2 screens as you could read/watch on one screen and take notes/screenshot on the 2nd screen in OneNote.

netsysllc

OneNote is great, I use it for both work and school

NotHackingYou

OneNote for work and school. Sync school notes to phone for easy review before a test.

dopedsmurf

jdballinger wrote: »

I used OneNote extensively when I was going to college. I had an HP laptop that had a screen that could swivel and lay flat, making it a tablet. It had an active Wacom digitizer in it, so there was no need to deal with palm rejection or anything, I could just rest my hand on the screen like you would a piece of paper. It was absolutely fantastic, and the ability to insert just about anything into a OneNote notebook makes it absolutely invaluable. There are some really good options out right now, with prices ranging from around $500 to over 1800 (maxed out Surface Pro 2.) All of them are good options.

Do you have a lot of experience with tablets? I've never owned one, and just made my first purchase a few hours ago. I went with the surface 2 pro. It's 10% off for students, and an additional $100 off when applying GRADUATIAON for the promotional code -- that totaled almost $200 off for the 128GB one that I chose. I held off on the keyboard for now, mostly because I think my buddy can get me one. If he doesn't come through, I am pretty sure i'll grab that sometime next week. Is the battery/cover one worth it or can i get by with just the keyboard?

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Education/categoryID.63433700

jvrlopez

I use wordpad.

*shrug*

yzT

I use Google Keep. I have given Evernote a couple of opportunities, but always I end up using Keep, organizing everything by colors.

DoubleNNs

I'm going to try out both OneNote and Evernote Mac OS desktop versions, and use a combo of .txt files and .doc files for work. After a week I'll probably update this thread w/ the "workflow" I'll decide to adopt going forward.

Thanks to all the suggestions and insight so far. Anything else is still appreciated tho.

coreyb80

Excellent idea and I may have to borrow this.

jdballinger

Dopedsmurf, that was an excellent choice. Battery life is comparable to other tablets (around 8-9 hours with decent usage) and it has a really great screen for doing digital ink.

As far as which cover? That's a personal choice that will be dictated by your usage scenario. Unless you plan on using it for more than 8 hours at a time, then I'd say you should be fine with just a normal keyboard cover.