Take Control of Notes, 2nd Edition

Version 2.1, updated September 29, 2025

This book tells you everything you need to know about Apple's Notes app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, from basic features like formatting text and creating lists to advanced features like scanning documents, protecting notes with passwords, making sketches, and managing attachments.

Apple’s Notes has come a long way since it was first introduced with the iPhone as a simple note-taking app, but many users are still unaware of its expanded capabilities. Now available on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, and on the web at iCloud.com, Notes has become a surprisingly powerful tool for writing, sketching, organizing, and sharing information of all kinds.

Take Control of Notes offers a thorough grounding in this deceptively simple app, showing you how to master its many tools—and avoid or work around its limitations. This version is updated for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, but also includes working with previous iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia.

Learn the basics of Notes

• Use the Quick Note feature to start a note from anywhere, or start a note from your iPhone/iPad Lock Screen

• Apply and modify character-level and paragraph-level formatting in a note

• Move text around with keystrokes

• Add highlighting to emphasize portions of a note

• Share notes with other users, and add @-mentions

Get advanced insight into formatting and creating rich entries:

• Make lists (including checklists and lists with multiple levels of indentation)

• Create collapsible sections within a note

• Work with tables

• Add photos, videos, audio, maps, and other documents to your notes

• Scan printed documents into Notes and save them as PDF attachments

• Draw and sketch using your finger or an Apple Pencil

• Perform simple or complex math in Notes simply by typing

• Clean up handwritten text to look more legible (iPad only)

• Use Apple Intelligence to turn a sketch or description into a complete image

Understand organizational and system features, like how to:

• Organize your notes into folders, tag notes, and search their contents

• Use the system password/passcode or a separate password to lock your notes, keeping them encrypted and private

• Choose where to store notes (iCloud, IMAP, or a device) and whether or how they sync

• Import notes from other apps and services

• Create internal references to link notes together

• Record audio and transcribe a phone call from the Phone app