For all users, Notewise supports:<ul><li>PDFs</li><li>Images</li><li>Notewise files (.notewise)</li><li>ZIP files – PDFs, Notewise files, and folders inside the ZIP will be imported.</li></ul>For Notewise Cloud users, the following are also supported:<ul><li>Documents: .docx, .doc, .odt, .rtf, .txt, .md, .pages, .dot, .dotx</li><li>Spreadsheets: .xls, .xlsx, .csv, .numbers, .ods, .xlt, .xltx</li><li>Presentations: .pptx, .ppt, .odp, .key, .pps, .ppsx, .pot, .potx</li></ul>

See all file types you can import into Notewise. Core support for PDF, images, ZIP; Notewise Cloud adds DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, CSV, Pages, Keynote, and more.

What file formats can I import into Notewise?

Feedback

Changelog

Tips and common questions about taking notes with Notewise.

Taking Notes

PDF reading, text selection, translation, and text boxes.

PDF & Text

Make sure that you're in View mode or Single Finger is not set to Draw. Long tap over the PDF text or textbox that you'd like to select.

Select text in PDFs and text boxes

Only hyperlinks (external web urls only) inside PDF files are supported. We currently do not support hyperlinks inside a textbox.

Open links inside PDF

To translate the selected text, make sure that your device has the supporting translation apps installed.

Translate and search selected text

Tap the canvas with the text tool active to instantly generate a new text box and trigger the on-screen keyboard.

Insert a text box

Notewise supports textbox input. Learn more about how to edit and style a textbox.

Edit and style a text box

Document scanning requires functional Google Play Services and remains unavailable on unsupported devices until future updates expand compatibility.

Why is document scan unavailable on my device?

Select the Lasso tool to transform handwritten notes into editable text on compatible iPadOS and Android 14+ devices supporting system-level recognition.

How to convert handwriting to text?

Clear your system's default app preferences through Android settings to prompt a new translator selection when using the Notewise translate feature.

How to reset the default translation app in Notewise

Viewing, locking, exporting, and importing notes.

Others

On devices < Android 12L, you should first enable split screen mode by going into your devices' recent apps screen, then long hold Notewise to enter split screen mode.

How to view notes in split screen

Secure confidential documents using a master password or biometric authentication and configure recovery hints to prevent permanent loss of access to locked data.

Lock your notes with password

Select several documents from the home screen to package them into a ZIP file for backup, including folder support on version 3.0 and above.

How to export multiple notes at once

Toolbar tools, selection, shapes, audio, and editing actions.

Tools

Learn more about our hold-to-draw feature for shapes, curves and lines.

Hold to draw shapes, curves and straight lines

Learn more about how to customise your eraser settings.

Adjust eraser settings

Reuse content faster with duplicate, copy, cut, and Add to Library actions.

Duplicate, copy, cut, and add to library

Select the shape tool to draw new objects on the canvas or adjust existing ones using orange control points for supported modifications.

Create and modify a shape

Lock objects to prevent accidental edits, then unlock them when needed.

Lock and unlock objects

Learn more about Notewise's image cropping feature to boost your productivity.

Create and crop an image

Modify individual drawing tool properties by selecting a tool on the toolbar and adjusting the specific color, thickness, and shape parameters.

How to customize preset colors, stroke width, shapes and more on toolbar

Snap to align is by default turned on, helping you align objects when moving and resizing with lasso.

How to turn Snap to Align on or off

Align your hand-drawn strokes with the red visual indicators to snap squares, circles, and other polygons into precise geometric proportions.

How to create perfect shapes?

Copy text and images from other apps and paste them into Notewise.

How to copy content from other apps and paste into Notewise?

To move the toolbar to top or bottom, long tap the drag indicator at left of the toolbar. Wait until the blue indicator show up, then drag it to your desired position.

How to change toolbar position?

Scribble over specific pen or highlighter strokes with the Pen Tool to instantly delete handwriting from your digital document.

Scribble to erase handwriting

Toggle the lock icon in the resizing menu to switch between freeform scaling and maintaining fixed proportions of your selected objects.

How to keep aspect ratio when resizing?

Adjust ruler units, rotate by specific degrees, and use multi-finger gestures to position or dismiss the measurement guide.

Ruler

Select the color picker icon within the custom color menu and drag the magnifying tool to capture any hex value from your screen.

Find the perfect color with the Eyedropper Color Picker

Select text or objects with the lasso tool to create interactive hyperlinks between pages, external websites, or specific documents.

Connect your notes with links

Tap the microphone icon in the top toolbar, scrolling horizontally on narrow screens if necessary, to record audio or manage saved files.

How to use audio recording (and where to find the icon)

Enable the Circle to Lasso setting to instantly select and move notes by drawing and holding a circle with the Pen tool.

Use "Circle to Lasso" for quick selection

Page management, templates, outlines, and bookmarks.

Page & Outline

Add new pages to a note from the toolbar, outline, or page actions.

Add new pages

Delete, duplicate, and rearrange pages from the outline view.

Delete, duplicate and rearrange pages

After selecting your desired page size and template, you may choose to Apply to current page or Apply to all pages.

How to change page size and template

Move or copy selected pages into another note from the outline view.

Move or copy pages to another note

Select the dropdown menu on any page thumbnail within the Outline view to change its orientation by rotating it left or right.

How to rotate pages

Navigate through documents using imported PDF tables of contents or by building, organizing, and filtering your own custom hierarchical outlines.

How to view PDF outlines and create custom outlines

You can quickly bookmark any page in your note to find it later.

How to add bookmarks

Page sizes in Notewise are calculated using a fixed 300 dpi standard and scaled to fit supported limits while preserving the true shape of each format.

How does Notewise calculate page size?

Writing input, stylus behavior, and gesture shortcuts.

Stylus & Input

Notewise supports customizing your Single Finger and Double Finger input to achieve different operations.

Draw, scroll and zoom using fingers

Customize Apple Pencil and supported Android stylus buttons in Notewise.

Use stylus buttons as shortcuts

Prevent accidental app exits by enabling the Hide all system bars setting to suppress back navigation gestures while writing near display edges.

Avoid triggering back navigation gestures when writing near screen edge

Notewise automatically smoothes your writing and applies smart algorithms to reduce the latency of your writing.

How to improve smoothness of writing

Learn which gesture shortcuts Notewise supports and where to customize them.

Gesture shortcuts

Speed up your workflow using hotkeys for note creation, navigation, and tool switching in Notewise version 2.8.4 and later.

Keyboard shortcuts

To scroll with your stylus or Apple Pencil, you may switch from Edit mode to View mode.

How to scroll with stylus or Apple Pencil?

Learn about Notewise Cloud, collaboration, and Notewise AI.

Notewise Cloud & AI

Models, privacy, usage credits, and AI setup.

Notewise AI

Notewise AI leverages a dynamic technical foundation to integrate evolving technology while ensuring user data is never used for model training.

What AI models does Notewise AI use?

Your data, including your prompts and the content of your notes, is never used for training any AI models.

Is my data private when using Notewise AI?

Learn how Notewise AI credits are calculated and how different AI features use them.

Notewise AI usage and credit guide

Convert voice recordings into text automatically to enable AI-powered summaries, keyword searches, and direct pasting into your digital notes.

Getting Started with Notewise Audio Transcription

Configure language settings and use Notewise AI to digitize handwriting, enabling search, translation, and copy-paste functionality across your digital notes.

Getting Started with Notewise Text Recognition

Sharing notes, web access, and collaborator permissions.

Collaboration

Open your notes in a browser with Notewise Cloud sharing and web access.

How to view notes on the web

Notewise Cloud users can generate a public link to their notes by enabling the sharing toggle within the title bar's share menu.

How to share notes with everyone

This feature is only available to Notewise Cloud users.

How to share notes with others for collaboration

Adjust a collaborator's permissions from the Sharing menu by selecting either Editor or Viewer roles from the dropdown menu and saving your changes.

How to change a collaborator's access

Manage shared note permissions by assigning Editor or Viewer roles to control who can modify content or distribute access to others.

Collaborator access explained

Storage, syncing, subscriptions, and account behavior in Notewise Cloud.

Notewise Cloud

You may upgrade to Notewise Cloud both inside our app and on our website.

How to upgrade to Notewise Cloud

Upgrading to Notewise Cloud migrates your local notes to secure online storage, enabling multi-device synchronization while preserving your existing Unlimited license for offline use.

What happens when I upgrade to Notewise Cloud if I'm already on Unlimited?

Local notes migrate to cloud storage upon upgrading, requiring an active sign-in for access while ensuring cross-device synchronization and data security.

What happens to my existing notes after upgrading to Notewise Cloud?

Exceeding storage limits triggers a seven-day deletion grace period, restricting note editing until you upgrade, clear space, or switch to Notewise Unlimited.

What happens when I run out of storage?

Signing out removes cloud-synced notes from your local device while retaining them in storage for retrieval upon your next login.

What happens after I sign out?

Unpaid accounts enter a 14 to 30-day grace period before cloud-stored notes are permanently deleted, requiring a renewal to restore access.

What happens when Notewise Cloud subscription expires?

Initial synchronization times range from 30 seconds to several minutes depending on data volume and require the application to remain open for completion.

Syncing with Notewise Cloud is slow

Minimal storage usage results from saved preference data, while larger discrepancies often stem from items in the Bin or pending server processing of recent deletions.

It shows some storage usage even if I do not have any notes

Resolve Notewise synchronization errors by ensuring a stable internet connection and restarting the application before contacting technical support.

The cloud indicator shows an error, what should I do?

View and edit your notes without an internet connection, but keep in mind that cloud synchronization pauses until you reconnect to a network.

Does Notewise Cloud work when I'm offline?

Notewise Cloud secures data using Google Cloud and AWS servers in Europe and Singapore with full GDPR and CCPA compliance and encryption at rest.

Where is my data stored in Notewise Cloud, and is it secure?

Manage active subscriptions by accessing the Settings app for iOS, the Google Play Store for Android, or the Notewise billing portal for Stripe purchases.

How to manage my subscriptions?

Incomplete uploads remaining in the cloud for over 14 days are removed as corrupted data to optimize storage and maintain account integrity.

How does Notewise Cloud handle incomplete uploads?

Migrate your data to a new email address by exporting notes in .notewise format and re-importing them into a newly created account.

Change Notewise Cloud email address

We recommend reviewing the content of your notes before deleting any duplicates to ensure that no important information is lost.

All my notes are duplicated

Export all your cloud notes for local re-import before signing out of your subscription to ensure a seamless transition to Notewise Unlimited.

How to migrate my notes from Notewise Cloud to Notewise Unlimited?

Calculate your storage needs based on an average of 110 notes per 1GB, noting that capacity varies with the inclusion of images, PDFs, and audio recordings.

How many notes can I store with 1GB of Notewise Cloud storage?

Upgrade to Notewise Unlimited, restore purchases, and manage activation.

Notewise Unlimited

Upgrade to Notewise Unlimited and understand how activation works.

How to upgrade to Notewise Unlimited

Sync your Notewise Unlimited subscription by using the Restore Purchase button while signed into the same Apple ID or Google Play account used for the original transaction.

Restore a purchase for Notewise Unlimited

Troubleshoot missing Notewise Unlimited activation codes for Stripe purchases.

I did not receive an activation code (for Stripe purchases)

Restore your purchase by signing into the original platform account on your new device or by using your unique Stripe activation code.

Activate Notewise Unlimited on a different device

Cross-platform access requires a Notewise Cloud subscription because standard Notewise Unlimited licenses are restricted to the original purchase platform.

Can I use Notewise Unlimited across Android and iOS devices?

Follow these simple steps to activate Notewise Unlimited after purchasing from our website.

How to enter an activation code in Notewise for Android

General

General FAQs about backups, storage, refunds, and other app topics.

Disable the automatic background adjustment and app-specific overrides in your device's system settings to resolve dark mode display issues.

Dark mode doesn't work correctly on my device

Notewise Cloud maintains redundant copies of your notes, while local-only users must avoid app reinstallation or storage clearing to prevent permanent data loss.

Will I lose my data?

Send technical inquiries to support@notewise.dev with your account email and relevant media to receive a response within three business days.

How to contact us

We rely on in-app purchases and premium subscriptions to sustain our platform and continue developing new features.

Why does free version only support 10 notes?

Transfer files between a Windows PC and Notewise on Android with Quick Share.

How to transfer files between Windows PC and Notewise app?

Secure your data by enabling automatic Notewise Cloud synchronization or manually exporting a ZIP archive of your library to external cloud storage.

How to back up my notes

Submit feedback regarding language inaccuracies to support@notewise.dev to join the official translation project and directly improve the app's interface.

Report translation errors in the app interface

Deleted notes and folders stay in the Bin until they are recovered or deleted permanently.

Recover deleted notes and folders from the Bin

Enter the recipient's email address during checkout on the pricing page to send an activation code or link a subscription directly to their account.