25 Tips For Using Notes On a Mac

macmost.com/e-2638 Notes has added a lot of new features over the past few years. Here are some tips to help you get the most from the Mac Notes app.
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00:00 Intro
00:58 1. Gallery View
01:25 2. List Sorting
01:49 3. Pin Notes To the Top
02:19 4. Folders and Subfolders
02:51 5. Organize With Tags
03:18 6. Smart Folders
04:11 7. Special Searches
04:36 8. Search Includes Scans and Attachments
04:57 9. Text Styles and Shortcuts
05:41 10. Custom Styles and Colors
06:44 11. Copy and Paste Styles
07:10 12. Zoom and Default Text Size
07:47 13. List Levels
08:15 14. Move List Items and Lines Up and Down
08:41 15. Checklists
09:16 16. Tables
10:01 17. App Links
10:54 18. iPhone/iPad Photo, Scan or Draw
11:24 19. Drag and Drop Files
11:42 20. Attachments Browser
12:09 21. Data Detectors
12:40 22. Export as PDF
13:02 23. Import Notes
13:38 24. Lock Notes
14:24 25. Float Notes
#macmost #mactutorial

[@mehmd1913]

Gary, thank you for this. Your demos are always great and greatly appreciated. I knew about most of these features except for the formatting features and styles and the float note option. That to me is the best feature that I will use a ton. I HATE when I need to add something to a note and the window that I'm working with falls away. This is a very helpful feature!

[@jjholter]

New Mac users: Gary is your first grade through PHD Teacher. Old timers: without this guy, we will be fumbling with all of those KZbin messages that ramble about something Gary can do in a few seconds. We have a winner here. Uncle John

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Gary I discovered your channel this winter, you’ve become my go to channel to make my Mac sing. I try to watch 1-3 of your videos each time I want to do something new or get more out of features I already use. Thanks keep it up.

[@drvoodoo3073]

I ditched Evernote sometime around 2015. Have used Notes exclusively since then. Notes has all the features I need and a little bit more.

[@johnphillips519]

Same here👍

[@andrefouche8725]

Thanks so much Gary - never knew so much could be done using Notes. Will definitely be using Notes more. You are a wealth of of information. Thanks for sharing!

[@Poverello2001]

Wow! I learned a lot from this video. I’ve tried other note taking apps, but always seem to come back to Notes for its ease of use and connectivity features with my other Apple devices. Thanks for all these great tips.

[@dragonballjiujitsu]

I never realized just how powerful the stock notes app really is. This was a very useful video.

[@LewHarriman]

Wonderful clarity, Gary. Thanks you very much for your thoughtfully structured and beautifully delivered summary.

[@jebl8888]

The up & down and checklist functions you shared are very useful! Thank you Gary!!!

[@loisskiathitis8926]

A very informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️

[@jvatos]

Great Information Gary! Even though I use Notes daily, its one of my no.1 productivity tools, I still could learn a lot from here, great job and thanks!! Full respect 💪

[@ASTMA193]

Another brilliant and very well presented video. Very inspiring. Thank you so much, Gary.

[@carolinebarlow4795]

Thank you, Gary, for this most excellent and comprehensive Notes guide.

[@franknicholasdale918]

I used note in emergency only, but the more I used the more I found it so useful. It’s simplicity is its big advantage. I used for all sort of recording because it’s easy to use. I use from banking to translation, copy of useful instructions/ or product details.

[@ralphstadus3944]

Another fantastic video Gary, I use Notes every day on Mac, iPad and iPhone, I still learnt some new things …. well done and thank you !!

[@juliesmith7993]

Another jam packed video of useful, interesting and helpful info. Thanks Gary!

[@Bmarker299]

Gary: I have listened to several respectable youtube tutorials in the improved Notes app. Yours is the by far the best - as always!!!

[@veritas.ve.42]

Useful, comprehensive, notes app video. Thank you.

[@debreale5236]

Fantastic tips, Gary! You’re seriously the best! Thank you!

[@craigdavis4494]

Thanks again Gary, a tremendous help. I even 'added a link' and pined it in my Notes app for easy review!

[@qwincyq6412]

That float feature is really great to know about. Sometimes it’s hard to decide though whether to put something in Notes or Reminders. Both are so useful.

[@sundaynightdrunk]

I've often thought that maybe they should just be combined. Between Calendar events and Reminders, I end up using Calendar more often anyway. Reminders is pretty much the only stock Apple app I haven't enjoyed using. It seldom actually reminds me of an event, even on my phone. I wish it had a more "insistent" way of alerting you, like a text.

[@megapangolin1093]

Great helpful video, packed with information. Wouldnt know what do do without Notes in Icloud. Thanks Gary. Really enjoyed.

[@carolinemyddelton580]

Brilliant! I realise I haven't been using more than half the useful features in Notes. That's going to change! Great app, great video tutorial-thanks, Gary!

[@2triangles]

all your videos are very helpful, but this one was particularly great. Thank you!

[@antongrimm]

These are some life changing tips! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@binualexander9439]

Tried so many free and paid alternatives to notes , have come back to notes and love it now. Thanks for the great video !

[@daehyundhwon7142]

The best instructive presentation that I have watched. Wonderful video; thank you so much!

[@abhi1ism]

This is the most comprehensive apple notes on Mac, video out there. Great work ! subscribed

[@DJKavish]

Thanks a Ton! Gary. This video is super useful. Notes is a powerful inbuilt app. After watching this video I can use it more effectively. Thanks again. You are amazing!!

[@rafacq]

Another thank you for a well prepared video full of valuable information!

[@manojkbn]

Search from scanned notes/ screen shots and float on top are really useful features!. Thanks bro.

[@Slurkz]

I feel embarrassed… This guide is an endless stream of very usefull features I did not know about. Notes is amazing. Thanks Gary! 💜

[@leerathburn6764]

You are a dream come true! I LOVED Notes before...but now I love it MORE!!

[@cathylazar1248]

Seriously, this is unbelievably helpful. You're going to become my encyclopedia!

[@deadpixel4106]

I'm new to Mac OS and this was super useful. Thank you

[@artmaltman]

Excellent. Concise and full of VERY useful info!

[@constantineskliris]

Very useful and comprehensive Thanks

[@jimbim4405]

.. and once again - a wealth of insight!! Many thanks

[@alangraham7849]

Thanks Gary-one of your very best videos!

[@strengthbydesign]

Thank you, brilliant tips, very useful

[@heal_to_evolve]

Thank you so much for this video!

[@danharvey61]

mind blowing... I thought I knew most of what Notes could do... Thanks!

[@LJ-jq8og]

FANTASTIC ! Can never get enough Apple Notes videos !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@suyong3suyin960]

Thanks Gary. You are the best!

[@999crippe]

Great information! Thx gary!!

[@cristinapereira9787]

For a initial in MacBook is very good this kind of videos thanks

[@AriseRayamangalam]

Amazing Capabilities Thanks for Letting us know

[@Uncle-Basil]

Great stuff! Thanks.

[@thebusinessfirm9862]

Well done Garry. You’re bloody good at the Mac.

[@norinemueller4588]

Great video as always

[@rocio8851]

Love this channel! God bless you!

[@vaidy2000]

Useful tips. Thanks a lot

[@keliblum6591]

Thanks !! This video is soooo helpful.

[@alnoor9472]

this video is rich informative many thanks to you.

[@clararichardson3558]

Very useful!!

[@kirill1569]

Solid video sir!

[@isabeltorres8717]

Super helpful

[@watermeloninsideawatermelon]

great video gary! one thing I always find with other apps like Evernote, Notability, OneNote etc is the excess of functions, buttons etc. I get so overwhelmed with everything, that this very simple app is way better. thus I am really happy, apple improved it's app in the last years.

[@FLYBOY123456789]

brilliant g. thanks

[@ruffneck718]

Wow thank you again.

[@human9512]

Thanks Sir, It helped a lot, Subscribed..... Love from India

[@pussypussypussypussypussy]

very useful, the Notes app turns out to be a lot more advanced than I thought

[@dapobelieve]

Its been weird using the notes on notion. Thanks so much for this

[@MartinKoss]

Always great content. Thank you. I wish Apple made it possible to link between notes.

[@aayushgalav5528]

Amazing video

[@sundaynightdrunk]

Coming from Windows, Notes is incredible. I never even close it anymore. I used to make random notes to myself in Notepad, but then where do you find them later? Somewhere on the desktop, or buried somewhere in a folder. With Notes, they're all there in a list, leading to me checking them more often and it's led to lists like you show in this video, of the guy who fixed the HVAC at my shop, to another guy found on NextDoor who plowed my driveway. I could always just add them to contacts, but I can add so much additional information in a note, and I only need them rarely so I'm not clogging up my phone's contacts list with a bunch of random stuff. Really cool how many ways I've found to use it.

[@javidzahedi4757]

It was great , thank you

[@JasonMcFadden]

The Float on Top command was really eye opening. I thought it was simply for viewing side by side as in split view, but I see it's more like the slide over window on iPad visually, to allow noting while viewing any other background windows (not just one window in split view). This should come in handy! Thanks :)

[@jtaylor7572]

Float on top. Will try that today.

[@Teenyteens]

Stickies does this too 😌

[@RM-hy4so]

Thanks!

[@robertprimmer]

More often than not, when I see Gary do a vid on a product that I already think I know well, I'll skip it. But then I watch the video and discover something new I didn't know about the app. This seems to happen Every. Single. Time!

[@jahlah09]

Outstanding. Thank U. It'll take me another viewing of instruction...but...oh well.

[@MaiElizabeth]

I've been wondering how to set the fonts smaller and lucky I searched this video. Good job, Gary. Good content as usual. Too bad notes on iPhone and iPad is really limited to what I would like to do. So I had to subscribe to Craft to do simple note that's supposedly Notes should be able to do but I couldn’t do on iPad.

[@macmost]

What feature was Notes missing?

[@Superjeanmarc]

Oh my god… Float on Top! You are the best

[@MrCabimero]

Not sure how KZbin sent me to you but your tips are amazingly useful. Thanks so much.

[@CRUZ4DEforW0RLDPE4CE]

Great video, very helpful and well organized! I'm wondering if anyone knows how to create a custom keyboard shortcut for the notes app on ipads (not the macbooks) to be able to use the strikethrough format feature while typing without having to take hands off keyboard. Is this even possible? Thanks in advance!

[@einstu]

Thanks Gary. Great overview. Missing for me was how to manage the background task of notes, for example, bottom right corner. I mention this because looking for solution on how to get main screen back. I closed the main screen and only the last note I'm working seems readily available.

[@macmost]

The bottom right corner is the "Quick Notes" feature. But it sounds like if you are going to the Notes app and you don't see all of your notes, you have closed the main notes window and need to reopen it (Window, Notes).

[@maartenvandenberg2194]

I've been using Apple Notes since the first iPhone. Then switched to Evernote because of the folder structure and possibility for attachments. Now I'm considering going back to Apple notes: it offers everything I need

[@TheKingJoker666]

This works guys!

[@jimterrinoni6781]

So VERY useful. Your tips with both Notes and Preview are making them really powerful for me. It’s the small things that create big results. The 25th tip about the floating window staying on top will be a must for me. Many other tips when I re-watch the video. If you have a special typing training app (iPhone or MacBook) I’d love to know your favorite? Lately I’ve used Speed Typer.

[@macmost]

If you watch me type, it isn't pretty, but it gets the job done and at a decent speed. So I haven't thought about typing apps in a long time.

[@AdamJRichardson]

It's come a long way, thanks for running through the latest features! The float on top is super useful, especially when note taking on Zoom calls. Is there a simple text highlight function? That seems to be a miss.

[@macmost]

No. You can underline easily though .You can also set text color.

[@andrewrainsford9920]

Hi Gary, Yet another brilliant tutorial! Can I import a Pages file into Notes by drag and drop?

[@ms_taree7335]

Just adding for anyone watching this: If you dont see a "folders" option on notes: Right click on the toolbar to customize it. (Aug 2022) My windows are the new bubble looking type and not like the old windows, so this was making me screech at my screen. LOL ~ your video still helped me figure it out and more though. Thanks.

[@SharpeyeReviews]

The stock notes app is really powerful, even compared to a lot of 3rd party options. The only thing I wish it had was the option to backup/export all notes.

[@patricschmunk]

Hi Gary, thanks for the video. I wonder, if there is a possibility to hide the „All iCloud“ folder.

[@p4712]

I just love your videos and they are so full of really important information that otherwise is hidden. I have one huge gripe with notes and this is a warning to other users. I have locked notes to keep passwords and stuff like banking information. I usually enter the data on my iMac but will retrieve it on my iPhone if I am out and about. What shocked me though was when I had put a ton of data into tables for one of my bank accounts, account#, area-code, agent name, pin, online password, banks street address and so on, when I came to read it on my phone all that was there was the table outline. All the data was gone. So since then I have stopped using tables entirely and have also started making copies of my notes in a folder "on my mac". Apple support here in the UK did their best but didn't come up with a solution. I hope Apple will address the problem and please be careful when using this feature. - Paul -

[@sowza1]

Great Video: In notes when using tables or text in general, I noticed technically the keyboard short cut for Align and Indentation level are the same. When I write text and want it to align to the right I can't ever get that keyboard short cut to work. Is there a fix or am I doing something wrong?

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

Hello Gary. Do you recommend apple notes for note taking for programming notes and adding snippets of codes? Or do you suggest other apps for that? (Currently using Notion for code feature)

[@carywilson6435]

Some fudges....I find using Command E to select some text and , while holding down the Command Key, follow by pressing Command G to go to the next incidence of the word then pressing B to bold the text say, then another E and another B etc... to find and replace text formatting in Pages with great rapidity. (I'd prefer a Style Find & Replace box box in Pages, but this is a pretty good alternative...]

[@oliveryang4058]

Hi Macmostvideo: Thanks for your footage. I love it. Do you know How to change the wideth of the table?

[@macmost]

In Notes the table just stretches across the width of the note. If you need to create a document with more design to the layout, then Pages is the app to use there.

[@oliveryang4058]

@@macmost Many thanks

[@golftecaustin3927]

Good info and helpful but I was looking for the dragging options........sometimes dragging moves the item and other times it causes a highlight action. Do you know how to affect each? Also, do you know a reason for a delay in the cursor showing up when the note is first accessed? thanks again........great video and help

[@macmost]

Selection would happen when you drag across text. Not sure what you are experiencing with a delay, sorry.

[@ocastellan006]

Hello, thank you for your videos are very helpful and informative. I have an issue that I was hoping you could help me with. I take hand written notes on my iPad for work and study and when I access them in my mac book pro to share them with a non-apple person the note does not print completely (if I want to print it) or it does not convert right into PDF. Is there a compatibility issue with handwritten notes between iPad and mac book pro? Is there any way around it besides printing them from the iPad and scan it back?

[@macmost]

Not sure what you are experiencing. What do you mean by "does not convert right" -- can you be more specific?

[@mehmd1913]

You can share emails in iOS to notes. Select the reply arrow. Scroll down to select print. Press and hold the document that pops up. Once it pops up then tap the document. Tap the share icon on bottom left then share to note. I do this all the time. It’s hidden but it works.

[@loladobler3237]

and just like that u made me a wanna b notes power user 🤯. had no idea wow. just canceled Evernote. ty!

[@ashishsaxena7671]

Hi Gary! Locked notes can't be searched. Even if u unlock the locked notes u cannot see the content of that note by searching it and searching of notes works better in list view than in gallery view. 🙏

[@mcsmith7692]

Helpfuk video! Thanks. I was wondering if you might know the reason that an iPhone would not show up in the top menu when you are using a Mac ? All I see is "Photos". My MacBook ad iPhone are using Notes in the iCloud. You covered this @11:00 when discussing iPhone/iPad Photo, Scan or Draw. Any help is appreciated.

[@macmost]

Hard to say without looking at it. Make sure you are using the same Apple ID, logged in, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are working, etc.

[@desertpatient]

Thanks bunches...whew...

[@ZicaraControls]

Gary thanks for excellent and creative tips for using Notes on MacBook Air. Shirish Balekundri, WaferFab Process Specialist, Singapore

[@WhiteWolfBlackStar]

I've been on MAC's for years. They've destroyed the iPhoto, and I used to be able to change the color of the note paper. They've taken away so many fun things, I kind of wish I had my laptop from 2005 or so, just for a few things I used to really enjoy.

[@trmus]

I Use Notes a lot but im stuck in Big Sur by now, does any of this features work in Monterey only? Thanks! Great Video! I've learned many new tips 😊

[@macmost]

A lot of this works in Big Sur too. Try them and see.

[@x7j4]

I’ve learned so much about Apple Notes from you through your videos that I am gradually moving to Notes and I’ve dumped Notability; … Notability committed corporate suicide by going to an annual $15 subscription. I now use just Notes and GoodNotes, although I will gradually convert to Apple Notes exclusively.