hello, just spent the full day in a seminar using Agneda as note taking tool. Used my iPad for this and realized I would love to be able to insert images within the handwriting part, for example to write on top of images, screenshots etc.
Happy to expand further if you find this interesting
Thanks for the suggestion!
For now, you would probably have to have separate attachments, one for the handwriting, and next to that the photo attachment.
If you want freestyle handwriting tools, you may be better to take a look at Notability, or even Apple’s own Notes app, which supports inline handwriting well.
Thanks again!
Many people have been asking for improvements to the handwriting feature, and this isn’t a new request. We know it won’t be like Notability or Apple Notes, but it truly needs to be better. The current implementation is unfortunately terrible.
You are basically ignoring users who handwrite. I personally use Notability, GoodNotes, etc., but it’s useless to keep suggesting other apps while a large number of clients want to handwrite notes directly within the Agenda app.
The app is fantastic; I’ve been using it for years, but it’s saddening to have to separate handwritten notes from this app because it simply doesn’t work well here… Please, improve it.. will be a pleasure to centralize everything here.
I’m afraid it doesn’t really work like that. You can either make a great handwriting app, or you can make a great typed notes app. Notability is a great handwriting app, but I would say not a great typed notes app. We are specialized on typed notes.
You are right that we could add more features for handwriting, but it will never come close to notability. It will never be freestyle note taking. That’s a completely different model.
We could try to add the inline handwriting blocks of Apple Notes, but frankly, I find them clunky as hell. I would rather just write full screen, and save the result.
So it’s not through any malice that we haven’t done much in this area. We have considered options, and aren’t really sold on any of them.
If you have specific features which would be doable in Agenda, we can take them along.
for me the mix that is now with typing, tags, tables and inserted blocks for handwriting works very well. What woudl make it a large step forward would be to in those “blocks” of handwriting to simply be able to paste images, screen grabs (or maybe using the apple “insert from camera function”).
in my use case (attending a conference), i created structure with tags, and written text. then I used separate handwriting blocks to capture thoughts (simply faster for me). what I realized I missd was to be able to insert the presenters slide (either via the present materias or the camera on the iPad) and make annotations on top of them. Hope this clarifies
Not sure if you have tried this: you can add an image (eg slide) to a note, and then bring up the context menu for the image (long tap?) and choose “Annotate”. That gives you the option to draw on top of an existing image.
It’s not perfect, but maybe that helps a bit.
We’ll take along the request for generally being able to mix content in the drawing/handwriting area.
I believe that adding inline annotations, like in Apple Notes, would already be of great value and sufficient to improve the workflow. I would be satisfied and believe it would be possible to migrate my entire note-taking operation to the Agenda.
Thank you! @drewmccormack
Unfortunately, this will never happen. The position of the developers is clear and forceful. It has been asked hundreds of times and hundreds of times have been denied.
A possible solution (in fact, I think the only one) is that they let us decide what type of note we want to create: whether handwritten or typewritten. But the truth is that the most useful thing would be to integrate both things into a canvas.
I agree that the Apple Notes solution is not perfect: I myself have handwritten notes and typewritten notes, but only on very few occasions did I put both writings together in the same note. The main reason is because when I have the pencil in my hand, I don’t have the keyboard connected. I simply use one or the other depending on the occasion, the job, the inspiration, the theme…
Agenda could look for a way to do it better, but they don’t want to… They have already explained it many times.
You’re oversimplifying it. They are two completely different types of note taking app. You are asking us to make an entirely different type of app, and offer both in the same interface. Nobody has done this before, and with good reason.
We certainly haven’t ruled out inline images like Apple Notes. That sort of option is still on the cards, but a complete canvas where you can do anything is beyond our goals. You would be better to use a different app for that, and attach the result as an attachment in Agenda. You can still open it, and edit it from Agenda.
I don’t do the use type you guys are describing but could the Free Form app sub-in a bit and attach to a note.