Packing for a family of five is a major endeavor, and it’s one that typically requires several messages starting with “Did you pack…” But after around five texts,my travel-weary brainrealized I could save a lot of back-and-forth messages if I simply created a packing list in myiPhone 15 Pro’sNotes and used the built-in collaboration tools.
After the app took the brunt of the mental load of my trip, I started to wonder what else Apple Notes could do. It’s an unassuming app that comes pre-installed oniOSand MacOS devices – one that many Apple users underestimate.
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But Apple Notes is an excellent tool for more than its namesake. Besides note-taking, Apple Notes can be used topass messages back and forth, scan text with your iPhone’s camera, or even create fully-formatted PDFs.
If you’ve never used Apple Notes for, well, anything other than basic notes, here are 10 hidden features you should try.
1Use the share tool to collaborate, or have a hidden conversation
The collaboration tool is the modern way to pass a note to friends
The collaboration tools inside Notes lets you easily create a shared grocery list with your spouse or plan a large trip with your friends. The tools allow others to view or even add to the note. This can even be used as a hack for passing messages back and forth.
To start collaborating:
You can also share entire folders, rather than just a single note. You can do this by navigating to the desired folder and tapping the share icon.
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2Pin a favorite note to the top
Stop scrolling through junk and keep your favorites at the top
Sometimes I use Notes for something I only need to remember for an hour, and other times I use it for lists that I access every week – which means my Notes app is often a mess. But, there’s a simple way to add easy access to your most-used Notes.
Pinning a note keeps the document at the top of your Notes app for easy access.
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3Create a Quick Note shortcut
This shortcut lets you start new notes from Control Center and other apps
Because Notes is a tool for remembering nearly anything, accessing it quickly from any app can be handy. Adding Notes to the iOS Control Center will allow you to start a quick note by swiping down from the top right of the screen. This allows you to skip the process of returning to the home screen and pulling up the Notes app.
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4Organize with folders
Creating new folders is a simple way to find related Notes easily
Admittedly, before I started digging into everything the Notes app can do, my own app was an unorganized mess. But, Apple offers a few easy tools to keep the app organized. Just like on the Files app or a desktop computer, you can organize Notes into folders.
5Automatically create folders using Smart Folders
You can even use hashtags to put them into a folder automatically
While creating a new folder only takes a few seconds, Apple can also organize Notes for you automatically. This key feature is called Smart Folders. Using this tool allows you to set specific parameters, then any Note that meets those requirements will automatically move into that Smart Folder.
Another key hack? If you label your notes using hashtags, you can automatically organize them into folders based on topics. For this hack, you don’t need to manually create a smart folder because you can tap on the hashtag from the folders page to access all Notes with that Hashtag. You can, however, create a Smart Folder using the hashtag if you want more tools, including the option to share an entire folder rather than sharing one Note at a time.
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6Format your Notes with headlines and even checklists
Stay organized within the note itself using built-in formatting
You’ve probably noticed that when you create a new Note, the first thing you start typing becomes a headline. But, you’re able to change that first line to body text, or even add multiple headers and sub-headers or use the checklist tool for Notes to double as a to-do list app.
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7Use your iPhone camera to scan text, photos, and docs into Notes
Stop copying things by hand when your camera can write it down for you
One of the hidden iPhone hacks inside the Camera app is to convert the text you see in real life into text that you can copy, paste, and edit. But, you can also use this hack right inside the Notes app instead of switching between Notes and Camera. Here’s how.
You can also use these steps to add a photo right into the Notes app.
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8Hand-write your Notes
The Notes app can turn handwritten Notes into editable text
There’s just something different about the act of handwriting a note rather than typing it out. The Apple Note app can convert handwritten text to editable, typed text. This hack works best if you have an iPad and an Apple Pencil, but it works with an iPhone and a finger too.
Use the … menu and selectLinesandGridsto give yourself notebook-like lines to write on.
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9Export Notes as different file formats
Open in Pages or export as a PDF
While the Notes app is great, sometimes you need that text in another app like Pages. Or, you may want those notes saved as a PDF, so you may save them and preserve all the formatting. Notes has a few built-in tools to export these files quickly.
To export a Note to Pages:
You can also export your Notes as PDFs, though if you added multiple images by scanning them in using the Scan tool, you may only see the first page after export. To export a Note as a PDF on iOS:
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10Quickly delete multiple Notes using List view
You don’t have to swipe through each one to delete lots of notes at once
Once you’ve learned all the Notes hacks, you’ll likely see some notes floating around that you don’t need anymore. These notes do take up some space on your phone, though text-only files don’t hog a lot of data. If you have iCloud sync turned on, Notes can also use up the limited iCloud space.
To delete multiple notes at once:
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