Rethinking Apple Notes: How a Simple Feature Changed My Organizational Game

Overview of Apple Notes and the New Note Linking Feature

Apple Notes has seen significant improvements over recent years, transforming from a basic notes app to one that competes with top third-party alternatives. One of the most impactful updates introduced in iOS 17 is note linking, which allows users to create links between different notes within their library.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Quick Creation: Use the '>>' shortcut to quickly generate a dropdown list of recent notes, or type part of a note's title to find it.
• Seamless Navigation: Tap on a linked note to instantly navigate to it, making it easy to jump between related content.
• Expanded Organization: Note links offer new ways to organize and structure notes, such as:
  • Building table of contents-style notes
  • Creating nested database structures similar to Roam Research
  • Linking frequently referenced notes

Impact on User Experience:

For a long-time user with around 2,600 notes in Apple Notes, note links have significantly enhanced the app's functionality. The author, who traditionally relied on folders and sub-folders for organization, is now exploring new possibilities with note links.

Conclusion:

The introduction of note linking in Apple Notes has opened up a wealth of new organizational strategies that can benefit both casual users and those with extensive note libraries.