Electronic Note taking... | GTAMotorcycle.com

Electronic Note taking...

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mimico_polak

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Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone has suggested / has used any electronic device for note taking? I always prefer the pen and paper style, but would like something where I can take notes in the field (very dusty / dirty environment) and then be able to keep a 'written' set of notes for myself.
I've not been able to find something that feels good with a stylus, and that is easily legible. The iPad seems to do ok, but the writing is horrible. Not sure how to explain it...but I guess slippery is the best word I can think of.
Thought about buying an older Note phablet with the pen as I hear good reviews, but was curious if any field workers have some good suggestions.

Ideally the notes would be saved in PDF format once the day is complete.
 
I have a surface and an ipad pro that get used for a similar problem. Both are slippery as you put it. You can get softer/stickier tips but I like them less. I am still looking for a case I like for either one. Ideally it would hang on a strap with some ability to keep the tablet flat so you can write on it without needing two hands or a flat surface. I iPad pencil is dead all the damn time. It's very annoying. It charges from the ipad, but still, I need it to work now, not in 10 minutes. The surface pen lasts a very long time, but the actual surface needs to live on a charger, a day or two on standby and it is dead.

I have some Notes, the screen is too small for any real work. More useful for quick reminders or sketching out an idea when something larger is not available.
 
Lightcycle said:
My wife uses her iPhone and voice dictates into it. You can share the document via DropBox or other cloud SW and export it to pdf once it's done.
Click to expand...
I'd love that but it is ridiculously loud in this environment so voice is totally out.

Was looking over Galaxy Notes and with the S pen it might be a good option. Currently trying to type with an iPad mini (had a 1st gen lying around) and it's annoying but doable. Will try it for a few days to see if I can get used to it.
 
I still rely on hand written daily notes that are summarized later electronically
not sure you're role OP
but there can come a time, unfortunately
that pen on paper can be invaluable vs. electronic that can be endlessly edited
 
J_F said:
but there can come a time, unfortunately
that pen on paper can be invaluable vs. electronic that can be endlessly edited
Click to expand...
In my situation, i had the exact opposite problem. Making notes on collected data. If something were to happen to the sheet of paper prior to analyzing the data, all of the data is useless and would need to be recollected at great expense. Tablet notes get continually backed up to avoid a catastrophic loss. There is not enough information in the notes to result in a problem if the tablet or cloud was compromised and the data exposed. FWIW, I keep the last 10 revisions of the electronic notes which tracks who and when they were edited. It would still be a mess to deal with in court if it came down to it, but you have something decent to work with.
 
Got one of these lying around somewhere?
ktwsLII.jpg
 
J_F said:
I still rely on hand written daily notes that are summarized later electronically
not sure you're role OP
but there can come a time, unfortunately
that pen on paper can be invaluable vs. electronic that can be endlessly edited
Click to expand...
That's basically what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to figure out whether the electronic notes would be as acceptable as paper written notes.

Basically I have a ton of values/data to collect, as well as observations from the field. Then I summarize in a pretty (and annoying) report, and submit at the end of day. I guess Field Engineering/Supervision would be the closest in a mining environment.

I assume that the 'date edited/created' would show the last edit...but not sure if it's like that.
 
mimico_polak said:
That's basically what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to figure out whether the electronic notes would be as acceptable as paper written notes.

Basically I have a ton of values/data to collect, as well as observations from the field. Then I summarize in a pretty (and annoying) report, and submit at the end of day. I guess Field Engineering/Supervision would be the closest in a mining environment.

I assume that the 'date edited/created' would show the last edit...but not sure if it's like that.
Click to expand...
Creating a pdf at the end of the day reasonably prevents changes. Of course things can always be edited, but it would need to be an active decision instead of inadvertent.
 
GreyGhost said:
Creating a pdf at the end of the day reasonably prevents changes. Of course things can always be edited, but it would need to be an active decision instead of inadvertent.
Click to expand...
That's what I'd like it to do. We have the Surface GO at work here, and it's great for what it is...but a little unwieldy for running around.
 
a pdf should be fine for most situations
mining supervision is a little more time sensitive

post-incident there are parties looking for immediate details
the typical who, what, where, when, how, why

immediate notes that cannot have been changed/added to need to be produced ASAP
the follow up can come later and be more comprehensive and shaped a bit
 
I have a Note 5 and occasionally use it for taking notes. It was the first thing that came to mind when I starting read your post, but...

The older ones are not supported by Samsung anymore (Note 5 and earlier) and the later versions are expensive. I don't think any of them have particularly high ratings for dust tolerance, either (merely compared to other smartphones).
 
I use a iPad with iPad pen with onenote at school

Works just fine

Usually,

Write in class

REWRITE notes so concepts are clear

ARCHIVE by printing notes as PDFs outside

Downside, I cant simultaneously record audio and write or type in onenote
 
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Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I've tried the iPad notes app, but the iPad I'm willing to bring into this environment isn't something new and doesn't work with the pen. Evernote and Notability both don't work with it.
If I can't digitize my notes on the spot then it's useless to type them into iPad, only to type them again into the Surface.

@TwistedKestrel I don't really need the updates, just need the notes to be legible, and then PDF out of them. So an older Note might be a solution.

@GreenPlane I've seen that, but the reviews are mixed, and at $600+ it's way too much for my needs.

@jc100 I haven't considered that one. Actually might look into that as those seem like they may work.

Thanks all for the suggestions. For now I'm sticking with pen/paper until I find something that works. Love the 'Duksbak' Field books as they work well for the time being.
 
mimico_polak said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I've tried the iPad notes app, but the iPad I'm willing to bring into this environment isn't something new and doesn't work with the pen. Evernote and Notability both don't work with it.
If I can't digitize my notes on the spot then it's useless to type them into iPad, only to type them again into the Surface.

@TwistedKestrel I don't really need the updates, just need the notes to be legible, and then PDF out of them. So an older Note might be a solution.

@GreenPlane I've seen that, but the reviews are mixed, and at $600+ it's way too much for my needs.

@jc100 I haven't considered that one. Actually might look into that as those seem like they may work.

Thanks all for the suggestions. For now I'm sticking with pen/paper until I find something that works. Love the 'Duksbak' Field books as they work well for the time being.
Click to expand...

If you plan to stick with pen/paper then maybe it worth trying something like Rocketbook (Wave/everlast) as they provide nice sync with many clouds (including evernote). They are not that expensive to try..
 
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