The Best Paper To Digital Notes System. (Without The Need For AI)

You think better on paper (Scientific Fact) but, it's difficult to store paper notes in a searchable format. So, is there a way to combine the power of paper AND digital storage?
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#PensAndPaper #Notetaking #Notes

[@JustBCWi]

We can easily self-assess the validity of analog v. digital notes. When I was at law school (juris doctorate), I used a laptop for most of the first year. I would build the outline, refine, etc., as each class went on. A smart 3rd year student sitting next to me told me that paper would be better for me. He challenged me to try paper for one class (the one we were in) and laptop for the others. I bought a law-ruled notepad (the margin separates the page into 1/3 by 2/3), and started taking analog notes. By the end of the semester, I saw for myself that my analog notes built into an outline was better for me. By the next semester, I was using paper exclusively for notes.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Love that, Ben.

[@heyitsjeffagain]

I had no idea such a thing as a “law-ruled notepad” existed. That may be one of the most useful (and overpriced) notetaking tools ever made.

[@happinessisafulltank]

I really like this. Distinguishing between the strengths of paper vs. digital is so helpful. Paper is so good for brainstorming, for *thinking*, while digital is great for storage, retrieval, and editing.

[@brianshirley7617]

If you can keep your written notes sequential you can use any app on your Mac that will accept text input, set your cursor where you want to add the text, then use an iPhone camera to look at the document. It will recognize the text with a symbol on the image. Take the photo, click on the image and then Select All - copy. Just go back to the mac and press paste (ctrl-V) to add the text directly to the file. No need for airdrop or email transfer. I even found this helps improve my writing so OCR does a better job!

[@grayrabbit2211]

Back when I was in Uni in the early 2000s (medical degree), I only used my laptop or Blackberry for notes for garbage classes. For everything else it was a nice easy-writing gel or fountain pen and paper. Lots of paper. Most of the time, the action of writing the notes was all of the studying I needed. Notes were scanned to PDFs at the end of the night. For the more difficult classes, I would make an audio recording and take paper notes during the lecture. I would put time stamps in the margins during the lecture and sometimes would put special emphasis on time stamps where the professor was spitting out key info faster than I could write. The following day I would listen to the lecture at 1.5x speed and recopy my notes by hand, taking my time for legibility. Any time I wrote, I would pause the recording. I sometimes would use multiple colors when writing these final notes. Those then were scanned and filed. It worked amazingly well for me. Very little studying required after that. Also, get a good scanner (Fujitsu or bust). A phone camera doesn't even hold a candle to it.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I did something similar in law school. I had a dictaphone on the desk and tool handwritten notes. Then later, I would listen back to the lecture and fill in the gaps I had missed (and corrected any errors I'd made).

[@spencerfrankel414]

I love the balance of being in a lecture to quickly type important notes. Then after I come home, I can write key takeaways and think of ideas and questions to think about the lecture properly

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's a great way to get the most out of your notes, Spencer.

[@Yellowbullet714]

No music no editing great video

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yeah, never liked over-edited videos and with music playing in the background.

[@traceysmith311]

This is essentially what I've been doing for the past 2 years only I use either apple notes or OneNote depending on the type of note it is. I ditched Evernote years ago when they proved they no longer cared about the individual user. But I LOVE your suggestion about marking the note as "scanned" once it's in your system as this is something I have not been doing and will try going forward.

[@frankmoller4345]

I also thought for a long time that working with paper is so old-fashioned. But for some time now, I've been using paper and fountain pen again. Apple Pencil is not a real replacement either. Working with paper is more intense for me, my thoughts are more structured and I keep the content much better in my mind. Thank you for your new content. I really like it.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I was worried about the same thing, Frank. I felt I had to go digital. But then, last year, I pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and just brainstormed, and my love for pen and paper was restored. So be it if it's old-fashioned. It works for me.

[@moniqueschroeder344]

I have taken your many of your courses and have used them to develop my own paper/digital system. I use a paper planner to do all my mapping out, GQueues for my tasks app, and Evernote for all my project support materials and Master Project List. It's great to see you embrace paper again.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha, thank you, Monique. It's wonderful to experience the freedom of paper again.

[@sheon2]

I’m a newer subscriber and have been reworking my system, moving back towards paper. Really appreciate your content and advice! You cover theory and actionable steps to take. Love your work!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you. Glad you are enjoying these videos. 🙂

[@HistoryEmpire]

Brillant Video. Very clear and expanding on your video last week. Thanks so much.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome.

[@j.d.5709]

Planning is such an underrated aspect of productivity that people neglect. While some preach that it's time wasted, that could be doing things, I've found if I don't plan I'm far more flustered and at the mercy of a list rather than knowing ahead of time what I am focusing on.

[@ellieivan1516]

Thank you for these tips and tricks. Can’t believe how rude some of these viewers are…if you don’t feel the video will help you…move along. No need for haters ✌️ keep doing what you’re doing ❤

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Ellie. You get used to the "rude" comments after a while. (Water off a duck's back) 🙂

[@OmariBroussardHSCEO]

This is such a timely video!

[@int.21]

Very great tip! Thanks!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you 🙂

[@yuriyaga]

Greetings from Brazil, thank you for the great content that you always present in your channel!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Greetings from Korea. Thank you for your kind comments 🙏

[@ArslanovKamal]

Just what the doctor ordered. Digitalizing handwritten notes is a great idea, even some apps like samsung notes are able to turn the notes into digital letters.

[@RichardDurishin]

Thanks for this Carl. I have journeyed from typing meeting notes into Evernote, to writing them on a digital pad, converting to text and importing into Evernote and, finally, a few months ago, to handwriting and pasting the page photos into Evernote. I did not know about the Rhodia Meeting Book, however. It looks like an excellent format for the meeting and project notes I take.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I tried for years to use my iPad as a writing tool but it never quite resonated with me. That was why I transitioned back to paper, and it's been such a fantastic revision to my workflow.

[@ltah2]

This is a terrific idea. The ability to use both paper and electronic storage is brilliant!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Glad you like it.

[@brightfield302]

Ey-up from Yorkshire! I like the bottom-up way of developing your planning from scanned notes to further work. One of those things that seems obvious when you think about it.

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's often the little things that make the biggest difference 🙂

[@JeffreyAmanTampa]

Awesome sauce, Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you 🙂

[@kestorr]

Hi Carl, what are your thoughts on journaling? Have you given up DayOne and moving on to paper journaling as well? Or are you considering the same workflow? Writing on paper and scanning into DayOne as digital record?

[@kettaiyong2959]

Hello Carl. Great piece of sharing. By the way, do you make your handwritten notes into text for editing purposes (in the digital format) ? After you have input "the photo of your handwritten notes into the DIGITAL NOTE FORMAT", how to make your following working in the digital format of the note "productive, efficient and effective ?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Paper notes are for brainstorming ideas. This means quite a lot of what gets written will be discarded. This is why I will manually pull out the important ideas/tasks once the paper note is scanned. This is where typed text is strongest,

[@OWLKochson]

Dear Carl, that is an excellent video. Do you have any experience or thoughts on digital pens like the Lamy NCode which is like a Lamy Safari fountain pen or the Neolab smart pens?

[@michaelh.gerloff3659]

Does the Lamy pen work with MacOS/iOS yet? Last time I checked it (I like LAMY pens) it did not 😢

[@OWLKochson]

@@michaelh.gerloff3659 No unfortunately the pen does not work well with iOS devices and there is no good native mac app. I tried a lot of smart pens, because I think the concept is thrilling. Write notes manually and store them digitally. Unfortunately there is no pen I can really recommend. The Lightscribe Pens seem to be the most appropriate (at least in the Windows eco system). But they give you the "pen" experience and not the "fountain pen" experience you might be looking for.

[@XanderSoldaat1]

Great. video! I'd love to know which RHODIA notebook you are using in this video? I don't seem to be able to find one with an identical cover on their website,.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go, Xander. amzn.to/3Pyjyv8

[@XanderSoldaat1]

Thanks very much, @@Carl_Pullein. I'll see if I can find it on my local Amazon (France), and get it there. If you have an affiliate link for there, I'd be happy to use it.

[@zehph]

I’d like to add to the conversation here I work with IT systems and computer code; retrieval, speed of input and storage are just as important or even more as the ease and intuitiveness of input into my system. This paper workflow might be great for artistic or otherwise more visual work. Also I don’t see the friction of this many steps to archive and categorize my notes working for my ADHD brain.

[@ixosixos]

Good morning and thank you once again, Carl. . It's interesting and amazing to watch the videos with these suggestions for organizing ideas. Out of curiosity, could you show in one of your videos how you organize digital notes? Do you group them by topics or projects? Do you save them as an agenda, chronologically, by weeks or months? How do you separate your personal ideas and projects from the professional ones? Once again, thank you very much.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go. Here's something I prepared earlier 🙂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/e56lYmiLr9-VoNksi=Uv_Hc-3kbS8Rt_ru

[@ixosixos]

@@Carl_Pullein Very very interesting. I'll think how I could implement in OneNote. Thanks

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@ixosixos You're very welcome. 🙂

[@happosai09]

Thx ! I went through the same journey going back to paper but still wanting to go digital to retrieve my notes, without breaking the bank for remarkable or other expensive options. I settled for rocketbook system. But I write so bad that I need to use AI to help the OCR

[@carlomegu]

I am using Rocketbook as well. I am satisfait, but i look for an A.I. for OCR of handwriting. Paper/Rocketbook + OCR + Evernote would be fantastic.

[@GrossstadtNatur]

Hi Carl! Thank you so much for. I LOVE Paper and Fountainpens. But I also love my digital Instruments. I am looking for a way to use the best of both worlds. But what about searchability?

[@Cheneyjoan]

I use OneNote which has an extract text from images feature that can (imperfectly) read handwriting. You can also add tags or just type some keywords on the digital note. In fact doing that means you are taking another look at your note to extract its key concepts.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Evernote's search picks up the title and tags. As I am typing out the main points in a text, the search is brilliant.

[@grantsmall_Ngenious]

Hi Carl, a couple of points which I would appreciate your feedback on: OCR conversion of written notes to text. Do you use it? What about handwritten notes on iPad in a notes app. I use apple notes and Goodnotes. Surely this is engaging the brain similarly. I accept that there is probability of distraction - but apart from that. I have used notebooks for years until I got my apple pencil. A game changer.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I want to think, so I'm doing my thinking on paper first. This means much of what I write will likely be ignored when it comes to the final project/video/idea. OCR will want to transcribe everything; I only want the key points that will go towards the finished project. I did try for many years using Apple Pencil and my iPad. But a plastic writing point on glass is just horrible. I tried using Paperlike which didn't improve things much. I suspect the problem for me is I have used fountain pens for years, and the feel of a 14/18 carat gold nib on a sheet of Japanese paper is gorgeous. Certainly not replicated by plastic on glass. (And as I've also discovered recently by replacing my Apple Watch with my 25-year-old trusty Omega Seamaster, I no longer have battery-level anxiety.)

[@janet6962]

Excellent! Can you do more videos on paper notes?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes, I certainly can and will do 🙂

[@karinbaker7728]

Not working for the company, but you might like a reMarkable 2. It gives you a lot of feel of paper but also would let you input it to your electronic note systems easier, too. I admit I still do hard paper, too, but the rM2 lives up to its name. It's distinction from other similar e-ink devices is that all it promises to be is a notebook and doesn't have any additional distracting apps so you can use it anywhere - like the coffee shop - and not be distracted by pop-ups from your email etc.

[@michaelsanders5938]

I use Samsung Notes App with the Samsung Galaxy Ultra 22 and Samsung Galaxy Tab Active5. Both come with S Pens. I write all my notes in the Notes app with the S Pen. And, of, course the notes are saved digitally real-time. Done!

[@rogerwilliams1566]

I think the point is that some peoples brain works better writing notes on paper, not digital in the first instance

[@ogdanem]

Your last videos make me think about returning to paper planners and paper. It is messy, but maybe it works for us much better than we think. Maybe we have been brainwashed to go digital, but in reality, maybe it destroys our thinking, creativity, and so on.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Isaac, That was how I felt. Why does everything need a digital solution? Sometimes, the non-tech solution works better.

[@grayrabbit2211]

I was.cleaning out some.of my father's things and came across his Day Timer planners he used in the 1980s well into the 1990s. Wonderfully efficient design. The only digital equivalent would be a Palm Pilot. No modern smart phone comes close.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@grayrabbit2211 That's something I feel whenever I pick up my Franklin Planner. Digital tools do not come close. The convenience factor is likely the only reason I haven't gone back.

[@philipjarrett5017]

I was wondering if writing with a stylus on my iPad Pro would have the same or similar benefits to using my fountain pens and paper? Phil

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's a good question. I've not been able to find any data or research on this. The brain-to-hand movement will be identical, so my guess is it will like be the same or very similar.

[@JT1358]

You will have to try it and see for yourself. Doesn't work for me but it's really a personal thing.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@JT1358 That's a good point. It didn't work for me either. I think it was the distraction the iPad created. Even with notifications turned off, I still found myself flicking screens instead of thinking. No screens to flick through on paper.

[@richardmyerscough5242]

@@Carl_Pullein It's for that reason that folks like Kit Betts Masters are advocating for e-ink notetaking devices - feels (more) like paper and less open to distractions (some devices, the Onyx Boox for example, are essentially e-ink Android tablets so the distractions are potentially the same but the screens militate against endless scrolling etc).

[@dtwomack]

I've been enjoying your videos and perspective. At the beginning of this video, you have a shot of you writing in a spiral notebook with a leather cover. What spiral is it, and what is the leather cover? Thanks.

[@JPRobertsIllustration]

Thanks for asking. I would be interested in finding out as well. The size of that notebook looks perfect.

[@dtwomack]

Hoping this just got overlooked. Thx.

[@MatthewBlue-yg1wk]

Oh the irony, of this paper argument being made over and on digital technology !:)

[@claes-berend]

I don't think the magic is in paper but in analog writing. Therefor Samsung made a wonderful solution with Samsung Notes and the S-pen. I have a large and a small Galaxy tablet and the Notes App and I write every thought in docs. everything What do I miss?

[@jackhoran4225]

What about writing on a tablet (like using Apple Pencil on iPad in Apple Notes)? Does that give the same positive results as writing on paper?

[@Carl_Pullein]

According to the Tokyo University study, no it doesn't. The problem is the infinite scroll. With paper you can see everything on the page. With tablets, as soon as you go down the page you invoke infinite scroll and that causes distractions. Which is the second reason. With paper, there are no distractions. On digital devices there are a lot.

[@antonioromano3241]

@@Carl_Pullein I am a fountain pen guy (which also means paper guy) and in 2022 I have started digitalizing my entire notes flow (iPad pro and apple pencil using noteshelf...but I have few other apps for the purpose) so I can provide my experience. Advantages: one place for all notes which is accessible from all others devices-mac/iphone, search function, ability to capture whatever and include into the notes, can add new pages everywhere, notes be projected/shared/updated in a collaborative function 9depending on the app of course). disadvantage: battery gets emptied fast if use is intense, under sunlight difficult to read/write. hope helps

[@BorisZech]

@@Carl_Pullein In Goodnotes for example you can have pages like in a notebook, no scrolling. Big advantage: the text (scribbles) your write is searchable without transfering it to "computer type".

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@BorisZech I tried Notability for 3 years and Goodnotes for 4 and it was my experiences with them that caused me to return to paper. The advantage for me is the extra step of scanning my handwritten notes. It slows me down which allows me to think deeper.

[@BorisZech]

@@Carl_Pullein So it is more a way of "manipulating" yourself. Totally fine. Back in the days I used Livescribe, a special pen with special paper notebooks. The scribbles & drawings would be digitzed by the pen and could be sent to your computer. The pen also had a microphone so you could record meetings while writing :-O.

[@colinpowda]

You are a leftie like me, how do you avoid fountain pen's ink spreading after you wrote when your hand touches recently written letters?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I underwrite. Here's a great video explaining how all this works. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6rTq5qNnrNkfbssi=W_026PhsUikbJXT8

[@pzboyz72]

Get a Rocketbook and 2 or 3 colours of pens.

[@antcooper]

Good to see a bit of Evernote content on the channel again. Are you spending more time here than Apple Notes again? 🐘

[@Carl_Pullein]

Oh, I've never stopped using Evernote. It's still doing the hard lifting for me. Apple Notes is to show people it's less about the tools and more about how you use them.

[@vpgreg]

I'd be concerned about storage space on anything with any sort of limit! The space dedicated to photos and PDFs would soon add up.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Evernote doesn't have a "limit" as such. You get a monthly limit (mine's 10GB), and I've never come close to reaching that. I average around 1.8 GB each month.

[@brianwalsh288]

Apple Notes has no limit and the file size could be small.

[@jeanpierretouma]

@@brianwalsh288 Apple Notes does have a limit depending on how you're using the app. If you are saving your notes on device then the limit is your device storage capacity, however, if you are saving your notes on iCloud then the limit is your iCloud storage capacity, for example, the free plan offers 5GB which might not be enough if you are using iCloud to save other data.

[@user-fu4vy7vp9b]

What type of paper notebook are you using in this video?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here is a Rhodia A4 notepad (spiral bound)

[@sbrown4556]

Where your example wouldn't work for me is that your tasks, or action items, are now buried within one digital file. So if I have 46 projects happening, each with its own set of tasks, I will forget to do some of them because I simply cannot remember 46 sets of tasks at any given time -- I need to see them. But I like how your (what I will call projects) are set up. I would just have the tasks that pertain to it all located elsewhere, like a separate (central) place, and the projects with which each task resides would need to be referenced along with each task.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hmm, 46 projects? If that's 46 active projects, I would say that's where the problem lies. That's an impossible number of projects to manage at one time. If you were doing one task from each of those projects per day, have three or four meetings - that's 46 tasks in five or six hours. It's not sustainable.

[@sbrown4556]

@@Carl_Pullein I don't work on all projects at once, but at any given moment I have several open projects (anything requiring more than one step to complete). I just prioritize the tasks after a daily review. ie., your videos to produce versus fix the door handle to the bathroom. I doubt you would task each the same day if you had many.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@sbrown4556 Ah, I think that's where we differ. I have a very strict definition of what a project is, which means most of the work I do is part of a process that, when followed, results in consistently completed work. Writing my recent book was a project. It took three years to complete. The next book will not be. I now have a process for writing a book. PS. I would never attempt to fix a door handle, LOL. My DIY skills are very primitive. Changing the batteries in the remote control is about my limit.

[@IAm-yj9kf]

Why don't you write on the pad directly?

[@jfilm7466]

Do these companies have access to our private notes and claim on our intellectual property?

[@mikeakers3453]

What ab out the Steve Jobs story?

[@user-vx5bu8tr5y]

I have no problem coming up with thoughts, insights and ideas by not writing with pen on paper. Maybe it’s just me. My system is to eliminate pen write on paper & scanning steps to use saved time for pondering. Type digital notes, ideas and thoughts into notes taking app. Print out as physical paper via laser jet printer with premium acid free A4 printing paper. Paper last 100 years. If you laminate the paper via outsourcing to stationery shop or DIY at home, your notes or paper will be protected by plastic and last centuries. There’s the risks of fire, flood, theft or robbery at home. Thus keep your laminated notes at the bank safe custody vault and write the vault number and bank name in your will and set recurring reminder every 3 years to in person remind your loved ones of your notes in the bank.

[@andreashadjiantonis]

References about the scientific papers?

[@Carl_Pullein]

There are too many to mention. But you could try the first paper on this from Tokyo University in 2014 (I think)

[@menajemh]

pablo escobar aproves this video

[@barnastil591]

It's called a scanner

[@stewarthunt3563]

i just recently stumbled across the "second pass" method because my computer went down

[@Carl_Pullein]

It does help you to goa little deeper with your thinking.

[@wolfiejlc]

Thanks a lot for sharing your video. I liked it a lot. One point I'm not sure I understood: how do you recover handwriting on the picture into your digital workflow without retyping handwriting? You might also find this reference usefull: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHnSeJeInL9ooZYsi=h9Gz3Ys3m4Frjl0y

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't retype my handwritten notes. They are random brainstorming notes. I only type out the key points when appropriate.

[@maria4fun2006]

I had to pull off this video at the 3 minute mark. You were just enjoying the sound of your own voice and had not got into the subject matter. You sure like to talk!

[@joshburdick2464]

Welcome to KZbin.

[@jimmyjoe1591]

I think its just because we are used to it. I dont think inherently that paper is better.

[@rashedulkabir6227]

What notes are you taking? You are just making videos one after another about taking notes. What is your actual job?

[@Carl_Pullein]

www.carlpullein.com/about

[@The_Mature_Man]

You could have simply googled his name 😂😂😂😂😂.

[@williamwang6391]

Funny😊

[@redskyz483]

​@@Carl_Pullein Would have been more polite to have written an answer rather than just posted a link .

[@kit888]

​@@redskyz483Why be polite to rudely presented questions?