7 Advanced Features of Apple Notes You Need to Know About

1. Quick Notes

To open a Quick Note:

1. Use the keyboard shortcut Function + Q (or Globe key + Q on newer Macs). OR
2. Set up a hot corner: Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver tab > Hot Corners. Choose a corner and set it to “Quick Note.” Click OK. Move your mouse to that corner, and a square box will appear. Click the box to start a new note.

To create a Quick note from selected text in Safari:

1. Highlight the text on a web page.
2. Click the Share icon.
3. Select “New Quick Note” or “Add to Quick Note.” The note will include the selected text and a link to the web page.

To manage Quick Notes:

1. Open the Notes app.
2. Select the Quick Notes folder.

2. Linked Notes

To use Apple’s linked notes feature in the Notes app, navigate to the note you would like to link. Within that note, select the text or image you would like to link, tap Share > “Copy Link” or “Copy as Link”. Then, navigate to the note you would like to link to, press and hold, and paste. You now can directly access the link with a simple tap.

3. Save Notes as A PDF

Saving your note as a PDF allows you to lock in your formatting and keep a copy of your note even if you delete it from the app. To save notes as a PDF on an iPhone:

Open the note you would like to convert, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen, and tap Send A Copy > Markup > Done > Save File To > Save (top right).

4. Synched Notes

By synching up your notes you can access and edit them from any of your devices logged into iCloud. Your notes will update while you are connected to the internet.

On all the devices you would like to sync, go Settings > Apple ID > iCloud. Enable the Notes option.

5. Scan Documents and add them as PDFs to your note

Notes allows you to scan physical documents and add them as a PDF into your notes.

1. Open the Notes app and create a new note.
2. Tap the “+” icon and select “Scan Documents.”
3. Align the document within the camera frame and capture the picture.
4. Save the scanned document.
5. To further save it to your phone, open the scanned document, tap the 3 dots, then “Save to Files” or “Save PDF” depending on your IOS model.

6. Password Protected Notes

A password protected note allows you to create a note that cannot be opened without your phone password. After creating your private note, press the three dots in the right hand corner, then press “Lock” with the lock icon. If this is your first password protected note you will be prompted to enter a password, and the note will now be locked to that password.

7. Copy and Paste Text from Physical Documents

You scan text from a physical document and copy it to your note in 5 simple steps:

1. Open the Notes app on your Apple device and create a new note.
2. Capture an image of the physical document using your device’s camera or a scanning app.
3. Tap on the image.
4. Look for the option to extract text from the image from the three dots menu, such as “Copy Text from Image”.
5. Tap on the extracted text and select “Paste” to paste it into a new or existing note in the Notes app.