Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus for academics: OneNote, Dropbox, PDF Annotation, Obsidian, Zotero

[@who_whoareyou]

Thank you for this! I have been scouring for reviews and how-to videos for my use case. So many folks use only parts of my workflow, but you have covered all my bases here! Can't wait to get things organized with this device.

[@CutePoisonEU]

Thank you! I am looking into e-ink tablets, mainly for my job (Corporate Procurement) and as well hobbies (heavy use of OneNote to organize myself) and reading (Kindle/PDFs). What you are showcasing here is exactly what I needed to learn about Boox Note Air 2 Plus and to reaffirm myself its the best choice for my workflows!

[@drfyzziks1]

Based on the framing of the video above, I can say with 100% that yes, the presenter is definitely an academic🤣

[@t0pastr0]

thank you! I'm not a tech person and was using syncthing until it stopped working. What you show here is exactly how I work and this is what I needed to know to sync my notes to zotero

[@barrywalker5476]

Awesome video. Thank you so much. I'm at the research stage and leaning towards Note Air 2+ and have watched a lot of videos but no one really talks about their work flow. In our company we use Microsoft for everything so you talking about the syncing of one drive and how it creates a local copy was ready good to see.

[@wilsoncj]

Glad it was helpful. I use One drive, Onenote, ToDo, Outlook and Word on mine. Let me know if you have any questions.

[@matthewscott336]

Thanks for the overview! I use both Zotero and Obsidian and have the air 2 on the way. Glad to know that is should work well with my current workflow!

[@areschuni152]

Hello could you please tell me how you feel about it now, are you happy with it, I want to buy the boox for taking notes too!

[@matthewscott336]

@@areschuni152 I have now sold it. It has a lot of features and is a good tablet overall, but it did not have continuous pages (infinity pages), which is a dealbreaker for me.

[@rob28459]

I absoluty like the idea of an e-ink display and love the link to obsidian but I am not sure how handwritten notes would help more than a keyboard could. But over all, fabulous video.

[@peetung]

I'm curious to know how well the stylus works on Obsidian's Excalidraw plugin?

[@ryanbartlett672]

Thanks. I bought my Note Air 2 at risk for a similar workflow. Do like mine a lot -- especially when I am outside. There is no going back to working on a mirror, even if the apps run slower.

[@Sronliecram]

Thanks for the video. Could you tell me if it is possible to connect a keyboard to boox tablets?

[@eugwong]

So you can't use Zotero's internal file management system with this method? You are going into Zotero and unchecking "Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items?". Because for your file sync system you need everything to be in a single folder whereas zotero has a complicated file storage system..

[@arcadiosincero]

Just ordered this on Monday. Should be arriving tomorrow. I was watching what was apparently an early review video on this device, and the guy was demonstrating the use of OneNote on it and how it was barely useable. I guess that issue has been fixed. I wonder if EverNote has been fixed as well. Because in that video, EverNote wasn't useable at all.

[@wilsoncj]

The scribble mode that was added for Onenote is only activated in a few apps, but I believe that Evernote is one of them.

[@K4113B4113]

Thanks for showing Obsidian! How does it work if you write notes on the native note taking app on the Boox and want save them in your Obsidian vault directly from the tablet? Does it work smoothly? I assume that they're saved as PDF, or as an image file.

[@imogenkate4155]

Hey I've been looking everywhere- can you choose what colour the highlights are? Thank you

[@weasleyblue7733]

Thank you. I find your review is really helpful.

[@Esther-ps8kq]

I see that you prefer Xodo because (as you say in the video) it annotated the file itself rather than creating a copy. Is this true of the native reader app from Onyx Boox as well?

[@IsraelCosta-k8l]

can you split the screen with obsidian and the PDF readeR? Thats important to me because I like to write comments while I read.

[@AmeeliaK]

Have you tried to connect a Bluetooth keyboard to write in obsidian?

[@datAero]

What’s your reason for not using neoreader for pdfs ?

[@JohnDanenbarger]

Thank you for your informative video. I was looking up Zotero. After hearing your sync problems, I was wondering if this app would help: Zoo for Zotero is a free opensource program for viewing your Zotero Libraries! I have nothing to do with it; I don't even know how to use Zotero. It was just an idea.

[@wilsoncj]

Hello! Thanks for your recommendation. I am actually using Zoo for Zotero in the video.

[@JohnDanenbarger]

@@wilsoncj Well, there you go. I have been trying out the apps you are using on my Boox Note Air and have decided, as an author, that I probably don't need to set up your routine. But I really like the file sync app, so that I can more easily switch from Boox to PC and back. Thanks again for your presentation.

[@wilsoncj]

@@JohnDanenbarger I'm always interested in how other people use their devices. Do you find e-ink is valuable to you as an author? I see a wide variety of approaches: some authors eschewing all technology as distraction, while others use apps like schreivner etc. when writing.

[@JohnDanenbarger]

@@wilsoncj Well, of course, that is a good question. I do find that I am distracted by it at times. But for the most part, I find that having multiple platforms to write with/on makes me write more and lets me keep order with book text and notes. Nothing is ever lost. And without the gizmos I could not do the research I need to do to write. My latest discovery for keeping order is an app called Walling. It is brilliant. What do you research and write about?

[@jamescruz7016]

How many notes in obsidian do you have, more or less? I notice a certain lag...

[@yajiesong6987]

Hi, I just got my boox today, and I could not install zoo for zotero at the Google play, it said that app is not compatible with my device, may I know how do you fix that? Thanks😊

[@wilsoncj]

Hello. You can download the app directly from the developer's github page and install it there. The developer is mickstar on github, and the apk files are available in the releases folder.

[@yajiesong6987]

@@wilsoncj Thank you so much!!!

[@darksouls3331]

how do you get your lines to be so consistent? when I use one note it varies from thick to thin, please help.

[@vinnizereypilapil5618]

Hi I just saw your review, thank you. I happened to find IPad has a gray scale, compared to e-inks what would be the difference ?

[@wilsoncj]

Technically the difference is that the iPad screen refreshes 60 times per second, whereas an e-ink screen does not. The effect of this is hard to explain, but it means that an e-ink screen looks more like paper in real life. For some people, this will be of no real benefit, but if you prefer reading off paper, or find it hard to concentrate when reading books and articles on a normal screen, e-ink is made for you. Its best uses are for things we do with screens that we used to do on paper. I hope this helps.

[@vinnizereypilapil5618]

@@wilsoncj thank you for the your response. I wanted to buy an e-ink reader and writer, can you suggest me something? I want to use for my studies

[@wilsoncj]

My recommendation is the Note Air 2 Plus, as this is the device I choose after much research and I'm very happy. However, I recommend watching many videos about the good and bad of e-ink devices, to be sure they are the best choice for you. Some people will just be better off with an iPad, and won't be satisfied with the e-ink screen experience.

[@avssmith1]

One bonus for me is that I can use My Note Air2 daily and charge it only every couple weeks (really). That means it is ready when I need it. My surface can't go with me everywhere without a power source.

[@cward2986]

Medical scientist investigating an e-ink device for the same use case - Boox seems to be the only device in which annotated PDF files are easily syncable in this way and not walled into a worthless proprietary ecosystem. Does NeoReader not work with the PDF file in the cloud - e.g. does it do the daft thing with file copy to device, then you need to upload/over-write the version in the cloud?? This process is so easy on my iPad that it has been a bit of a shock to see how crude the workflow is for e-ink devices.

[@vandersteentim]

Super helpful. Thx!

[@AnkitBalyan]

Hi, when I use the onenote app on my note air 2 plus, I experience significant lag making it unusable. Have you optimized the onenote app on your device in anyway?

[@wilsoncj]

No, I have not. The mode I use was implemented by Boox in a recent (year ago, I think) update. You need to ensure you have the latest firmware and if it does not behave correctly, make sure app optimisation (with scribble mode) is turned on.

[@AnkitBalyan]

@@wilsoncj thank you. I was missing the scribble mode. I appreciate your help. Thank you 😊

[@cooluser23]

Please do a new video with PowerPoint

[@avssmith1]

What is the launcher app you are using ?

[@hrgunit]

You do not need good equipment, if you hit just the niche and just cover it all. Thanks a lot :)

[@TheRealTommyR]

Very helpful