Getting work done on the iPad

Penultimate for the iPad

Getting work done on the iPad is possible, and the iPad is not just a great device for media consumption.

Reporters are trying hard to give up on the pen and paper. Instead of reading unintelligible scribbles on paper they are trying to read the same scribble on the iPad. If you get one of those Pogo Sketch thingies for writing in a note application you can save your handwriting notes.

Penultimate – A notepad app that works well at capturing handwritten scribbles. It has wrist protection built-in so you can leave your hand naturally on the screen as you write. If you take very tiny, detailed notes it might not work for you. When you are finished taking your notes you can send a PDF of them to yourself.

pogo sketch for ipad

The pogo stylus itself is made from aluminium and is easy to grip. It is small enough in diameter that it doesn’t obscure the screen, but large enough so it is comfortable to hold. It’s an essential tool for any digital artist wanting to paint on the iPad or iPhone.

The problem with this approach is that you still don’t have the editable text. True you can send yourself a PDF of your handwritten notes but you still have to make the text editable. So what you might think of doing alternatively is to use an application like SoundPaper.

With SoundPaper you can type in some information and also record the audio. Not only good for students but also for reporters that might have missed something while out in the field. With SoundPaper you can type in a word and have it start to playback the audio from the point where the word was entered notes part of the application

You will need some way of moving your documents around once you have made them, you can email them to yourself or use something like DropBox, GoodReader or Documents To Go – A powerful documents editor that allows the creation and management of Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets on the iPad with access to useful cloud-based storage services.