GoodNotes 5.9.8 — Mac version

You're reading a PDF on your Mac, marking it up with a mix of typed notes and scribbles. Later, you add a few thoughts on your iPad, then check everything on your iPhone on the bus. That's the kind of cross-device note-taking GoodNotes is built for.

Dragging PDFs in from Finder with working links

Think of it as the paper notebook your Mac didn't come with. You can drag PDFs straight from Finder into a digital notebook, and any live hyperlinks inside those PDFs keep working. It doesn't replace a word processor — it adds a freeform layer where typing, handwriting and shapes live on the same page.

Can I keep handwritten and typed notes together?

Yes. A single page can hold text boxes, handwritten scribbles made with a trackpad or tablet, and clean shapes drawn with the Shapes tool. If you use a highlighter, there's an option to erase only the marker ink without touching the text underneath.

What about finding things later?

You can build a custom table of contents inside any notebook, so big documents don't become a scroll-fest. Everything syncs through iCloud, so the structure you set up on Mac is there on iPad and iPhone too.

Marking up a student essay from Downloads

I'll walk through how a lecturer might use it to mark up a student essay. The PDF lands in Downloads. You drag it onto the GoodNotes window and it lands in the current folder as a new document. Name it, then tap the thumbnail sidebar — that's your page picker for jumping around a 20-page essay.

Grab the pen tool with P on the keyboard. Scribble a margin note on page two: "expand this argument — see week 4 reading." Too messy? Lasso it. Drag the selection to a better spot, or tap the colour dot and change ink from red to green. If the shape came out wonky, the Shapes tool snaps it into a neat oval or arrow as soon as you hold the stroke for half a beat.

Now you want a typed summary on the final blank page. Hit T for the text tool, click anywhere, type your feedback. Resize the box by dragging a corner. Add a voice note? Not directly — but you can scribble "recorded feedback in Voice Memos" and keep the two apps side by side.

Before closing, drag the marked-up PDF thumbnail to a "Graded" folder in the sidebar. iCloud ticks over in the background. Next time you open the iPad on the sofa, the folder structure and every annotation is waiting.

One user, one workflow

A PhD student I know keeps three notebooks: Literature notes, Meeting scribbles and Thesis draft feedback. The literature one is where GoodNotes really shines for her. She downloads journal PDFs, drags them in, and highlights with the marker in yellow — then switches to the "erase highlighter only" setting so a messy swipe never deletes the printed text underneath. That one setting saves her from re-downloading papers.

When her supervisor sends annotated PDFs back, she imports them into the same notebook as a new document, flicks between the two versions with the tab bar, and copies key comments onto her own working page using the lasso tool. Nothing gets lost in email threads. The custom table of contents links to each paper's notes page, so six months later she can jump straight to "Smith 2023 — methodology critique" without scrolling.

Dialing up palm rejection for a drawing tablet

Out of the box it's decent, but a few tweaks make it feel like yours.

• Palm rejection sensitivity. If you use a graphics tablet or a Wacom-style device, head to pen settings and dial this up. Stops stray marks when your hand rests on the surface.
• Default zoom on new documents. GoodNotes remembers nothing about zoom preference unless you set it. Pick "fit to width" if you mostly read PDFs; pick a fixed zoom percentage if you handwrite.
• Eraser behaviour. Switch from "erase entire stroke" to "partial erase" unless you always want a single tap to delete a whole sentence. The marker-only erase toggle lives here too — turn it on if you highlight a lot.
• Auto-backup format. iCloud sync is not a backup. In settings, point auto-backup to a local folder or an external drive and choose PDF format. Every notebook gets exported automatically whenever you close it. Peace of mind, no manual dragging.

• macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer
• Works on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs