My current iPad handwriting setup: Files with PDF annotation
I have been using the iPad for 11 years, since 2010 April using the original iPad. By the way, it also marked my 11 years into iOS development, where I published my first iPad game on iPad debut.
I have been on and off using the iPad for handwriting. And for most of the time, I found myself enjoying more using fountain pen on real paper than sketching with a stylus on an iPad.
In the beginning, I used Penultimate, Notability, GoodNotes. Linea became my go-to iPad handwriting app. Then Moleskine Flow, which provides a very paper-like writing experience. The Apple Notes with Lock Screen access is my go-to quick sketching in a rush. But I never trust the sync of Apple Notes, so many times the total count from my iOS and macOS devices are different and never synchronized.
After 11 years of switching and picking my favorite writing methods on iPad, and keep going back to pens and paper after disappointment, I may have found my iPad digital notes writing sweat spot. And it is right there from Apple. It is the Files with PDF annotation.
I prepare PDF template files in iCloud and Dropbox. They are duplicated to ensure that I have a blank one to start with whenever I need them. The pencil tool in PencilKit provides by far the best sketching feeling on the iPad. It feels better than the pens on Linea, Moleskine Flow, Goodnotes, Notability. Putting the files in iCloud Drive and Dropbox means that I can manage the files on Mac too. To deal with offline usage, I also keep a copy of my template PDFs in the “on my iPad” folder too.
