Do More With GoodNotes: Understand how to use it in the iPad’s dock
We see it as our responsibility to help our users to get the most out of GoodNotes. Understanding how the app works also involves knowledge of the iPad and its operating system iOS. In this article, we want to show you how you can take your productivity to the next level and do more with GoodNotes by using one of the key features of the current iOS version.
When Apple released iOS 11, the iPad received a long-awaited update, which finally transformed it into a standalone working machine: The dock. This concept is known to Mac users since the introduction of OSX and loved as a fast way to access the most important apps.
On the iPad, the dock plays a far more important role. By making the best use of multitasking gestures, Split View, and Slide Over, the iPad now allows its users to get work done way more conveniently.
How to add an app to the dock
Before we get started, let’s review the basics. If you’re already familiar with that, feel free to skip this section.
The dock is always visible when you’re on your iPad’s home screen. Tap and hold on an app and then start dragging it into any direction. You can now drag it to the desired spot in your dock. Other apps left and right to it will move to the side. When you see this animation, lift your finger to drop the app. Note that the number of apps you can put in the dock is limited and the section on the right is reserved for recent apps, handover apps, or suggested apps. [1]
How to open the dock on the iPad
The dock is omnipresent on the home screen but can easily be accessed while other apps are currently active. Swipe up from the bottom edge of the iPad screen to bring up the dock. [2]
This allows you to start one of the following actions [3]:
- Opening another app
- Opening another app in Split View
- Opening another app as a “Slide Over app”
By adding your digital notebook (GoodNotes) to the dock, handwritten notes are no longer a foreign body to your workflow.
Making the most out of GoodNotes in the dock
When we implemented the new iOS 11 features, we made sure that GoodNotes could become the tool we always wanted it to be for our users: A digital paper product that is always available, which lets you jot down your thoughts and organize your notes in an instant. By adding your digital notebook (GoodNotes) to the dock, handwritten notes are no longer a foreign body to your workflow.
Use GoodNotes in Split View — Note down your thoughts on a subject
Let’s say you’re watching a Youtube video on things you need to know about Corgi puppies. Maybe you want to start taking notes on that so that you can get a puppy at some point in your life. All you have to do is bring up the dock, drag the GoodNotes app from it to any side of the iPad screen and drop it there. Then adjust the screen size of the two apps in Split View by using the grey handle in the middle between them. You can now start taking notes while watching the video.
Hint: This works great for both right- and left-handers because you can drag the apps to any side and won’t block the screen with your writing hand.
Drag and drop — Collect and organize
Bringing up your digital notebooks in Split View helps tremendously to collect and organize materials from the web or other sources by simply dragging and dropping them into GoodNotes. Documents, images, texts, screenshots — Everything can quickly be added to GoodNotes for annotation by bringing up the app from the dock when you need to collect something.
Not only can you add to GoodNotes but also drag from it to other apps. Planning your weekly tasks in a to-do list app? Bring up GoodNotes in Split View and open your meeting notebook. Then drag over your written tasks into your to-do list app. Want to share a document with a co-worker? You can easily drag and drop whole documents from GoodNotes into your email app as an attachment. Sharing a design draft or a sketch with a colleague? Take a screenshot of your sketch and use messages or email to share it.
We’ve already published a few other articles on drag & drop with GoodNotes on our blog and linked to them below.
GoodNotes in Slide Over — Your everyday scratchpad
One of our favorite applications of GoodNotes as a dock app is the ability to quickly slide it in as a Split View app. It is especially handy when you want to jot something down real quick while you’re working in another app. To use GoodNotes in Slide Over, bring the app up from the dock but don‘t drag it to any side of the screen like you would do to activate Split View. Once you lift your finger, the app will stay on the screen as a second layer looking like some sort of floating module. You can drag it around the screen using the handle at the top and hide it by swiping it off the screen to the right. Here‘s the trick: Your iPad‘s operating system remembers the last app that is still sitting there outside of your screen waiting to be brought in again. Swipe from the right side of the iPad screen and with a flick of the finger, GoodNotes appears again. GoodNotes‘ Zoom Window comes in particularly helpful if you want to write precisely in the tiny Slide Over window.
Hint: You can also use an app as a Slide Over app by dragging down the handle at the top of the Split View window on the right side.
GoodNotes and the iPad are a true dream team. Understanding how to make the best use of both enables new possibilities in your everyday workflows and makes you much more productive. If you’re interested to learn more about GoodNotes, the iPad and iOS, make sure to subscribe to our blog.
Footnotes:
[1] Recent and suggested apps can be deactivated in the iOS Settings.
[2] In the upcoming update of iOS 12, the dock will be much more sensitive. Sliding to far will take you back to the homescreen.
[3] Not all apps on the App Store support multi tasking.
