CaptureNotes 2 opens up with your “binders.” When opened for the first time, it gives you a tutorial binder, and another binder you can adjust and make your own. I chose to keep the tutorial for obvious reasons. You can name and rename these at this point, as well as share the binders. They can be emailed, or added to Evernote, Dropbox, or iTunes. Opening a binder gives you a notebook. Again, you can have multiple notebooks in each binder.
Once inside your notebook, it looks exactly like a notebooks should, and works the same way as well. You can type your notes, as well as handwrite them. I am much faster typing than handwriting, so even though handwriting always seems like a great option, I always opt to type it. It also has a highlighting pen and an eraser. I’m using what would be thought of a “college-lined” notebook paper as a background, but there is also “wide-ruled,” graph paper, both large and small, and blank paper in a few different colors. One review complained that the type didn’t line up line to line on the paper, but these people have obviously never typed on real notebook paper, as that’s exactly how it works. Templates are provided as a convenience as well.
Images can also be imported from you Camera Roll or Photo Stream. One great plus with this is that it offers you the option to import the full image or a cropped image. Too many times I crop an image, only to get the full image once it’s imported into another app. CaptureNotes 2 fixes that. You can also add in colored flags to highlight certain areas or pages of your notes. It has different sets of flags to use too.
To move this into the twenty-first century, the app also allows you to add audio notes. It’s the best way for taking notes in any class or meeting. You can record them, as well as jot them down. When you come back later to your notes, you have everything you could possibly need from your class or meeting. You can record multiple audio files, with them all being stored in a tiny little file cabinet.
There is a strange scrolling feature in the app. Because you need to be able to handwrite notes, it limits the gestures that you’re allowed. To scroll through the document, you need to utilize the icon in the bottom left, which brings in a zoomed image of the page. Using the arrows, you scroll through the page to get to the desired area. It did take a few minutes to orient myself, but that was all. I figured out how to move around quickly after that.
You can share these notes however and whenever you would like. You can do so at the binder level, at the notebook level, or even at the page level. Inside the notebook you get additional choices such as which pages to share and how you would like it to send the images and audio files. Additionally, you can have it not send the background and just send the notes. This is a notes app that works the way it should on an iPad. It’s not just straight notes, as it takes advantage of the options you have, such as audio and importing images. The options are so numerous, that it allows you to make it work the way you need it to for you.
