AINotes

As a move from physical note-taking, where you commit your thoughts and anything notable in a journal, moving to digital is becoming increasingly common. When you consider the convenience and additional tools that are conferred to you on a computer, it does make sense as to why digital note-taking is becoming more relevant.

Microsoft's OneNote solution is a popular one in this regard, and AINotes certainly takes quite a bit of inspiration from it. Designed as a solution for students, this is an app that seeks to streamline taking notes in class in a number of means, with some working rather well, while others, not so much.

Students using their laptops during classes to take notes is nothing new, but you'd often find them using Microsoft Word, OneNote, or Google Docs. There's clearly some fierce competition going on, and if we're to take a glance at the provided feature sets, AINotes seeks to be competitive.

The interface does take after OneNote, which is just as apparent as the ease of use that comes with manipulating the program's functions. Create a note, and assign a subject: this is a tool for students, and it makes it clear from the outset. It thus takes little time to start writing, and there are even several tools to help you along the way.

You can structure your text however you want, but you can also introduce images, drawings, and graphs into your notes. These graphs can be configured to display expressions, notes, tables, and even images — though, we found that adding images this way would return an error.

There's more to the tool than just taking notes, and the sidebar exemplifies that: it aims to improve the overall experience by giving users a quick way to jot down formulas, find certain Math symbols, create tasks, and even manage their timetable. All of this is presented in an unobtrusive way through the sidebar, which also happens to house a small browser of sorts, allowing you to freely surf the web for any information you need. Integration with Moodle is likewise available, so students whose classes rely on the platform can more easily stay up to date with the latest developments.

There's also a Thesaurus function, but it's somehow only available in German. Some German can still be found in the Settings menus, too, where users can do some additional configuration. Though the program language had been set to English, some options would be in German text. Switching between light and dark mode is possible, though the latter looks unpolished and makes some text and interface elements hardly legible.

Though there are some elements that need additional polishing, some students might nevertheless find AINotes to be just what they need for their classes.