Digital note-taking has several advantages:

• Flexible: You can add notes directly to PDFs and other file types.
• Organized: Software can organize and index your study material automatically.
• Searchable: You can search for keywords across all your notes in seconds.
• Secure: You can back up notes remotely.
• Collaborative: You can share notes between people without losing access yourself.

Finding the right software

The tool or app you choose should be organized, adaptable, reliable, and easy to use.

Before you select a note-taking tool, ask the following questions:

What kind of material will you use?
Do you want software that records your own notes only, or do you want to use software to organize PDFs of journal articles? Do you want to add your own notes to article PDFs? Do you want to save webpages, slides from lecturers, photos, or recordings?

How many files will you use?
Are you planning on having only a few files, or hundreds? A tool with more robust file management and bibliographic management is necessary for larger collections.

Where will you study?
If you will be using several computers or mobile devices, you may want a tool with cloud storage so that the files can be accessed from anywhere. If you are working primarily on a mobile device or tablet, look for a compatible app.

Will you be collaborating?
Some software has collaboration tools that allows you to share access and editing rights with other people.

PDF annotation

Many lecturers provide study materials in PDF form. This can include journal articles, book chapters, and lecture notes. These programs let you read PDFs and add your own notes to the PDF file.

These programs are a good option if you are managing a small (under 30) collection of documents.

• Adobe Reader (free) allows you to read PDFs, but you cannot annotate them.
• Foxit Reader (free) allows you to read and annotate PDFs.
• PDF XChange Viewer (free and paid options) allows you to read PDFs, add your own notes, and highlight passages.

Annotation and file management

Mendeley (free and paid options; also available as iOS app) is the best all-in-one solution; it allows you to organize, annotate, search, and back up documents, including PDFs and other file types.

Notes management

• Microsoft OneNote (part of Microsoft Office; also available as iOS / Android app)
• Evernote (free and paid versions; also available as iOS / Android app)
• Obsidian (free and paid versions); available as iOS/Android/Linux app)
• Notion (free and paid versions)
• Joplin (open source); available as iOS/Android/Linux app)

Mobile and tablet apps

Many of the tools above also have app versions for use on iOS devices (like iPads and iPhones) or Android phones and tablets. These are standalones: 

• Notability (paid; iOS) allows you to read and annotate PDFs on your iPad.
• UPAD (paid; iOS) enables detailed note-taking on an iPad.
• Note Taker HD (paid; iOS) is another highly rated note-taking app for the iPad.
• ezPDF Reader (paid, Android) allows for reading and annotation of PDFs.

Physical note-taking tools

If you are taking physical notes in lectures, it is possible to automatically record the text (and audio from the lecturer) and send it to note-taking software:

• Livescribe Smartpen (paid; connects with Evernote)

 

adapted from https://owll.massey.ac.nz/study-skills/digital-note-taking.php