GoodNotes 5.9.8 — macOS

If you already keep handwritten notes on your iPad with GoodNotes, the Mac version does the same job on a bigger screen. It’s the same app, made for macOS, so your notebooks and edits stay in sync through iCloud.

Create and organize notebooks

You can make new digital notebooks on the Mac, add PDFs or images by dragging them from the Finder, and build custom tables of contents to jump around long documents.

Edit notes with familiar tools

The writing and drawing tools carry over, including a Shapes tool for clean lines and a flexible eraser. The eraser can remove a whole stroke or just part of it, and there’s an option that erases only marker ink.

A full workflow: annotating a PDF syllabus

Here’s one practical way to use GoodNotes 5 from start to finish. Drag a course syllabus in PDF from the Finder into a new notebook folder. The PDF opens as a document inside GoodNotes, and you can start marking it up right away. Use the pen tool to underline due dates, switch to a different color for reminders, and draw a shape around the grading rubric. The Shapes tool snaps your lines straight, so the page stays readable. When the instructor sends a revised version, drag the new PDF into the same folder. GoodNotes keeps both copies, and you can reorganize them or move older ones into a subfolder.

Students sharing a MacBook and iPad

Students working across a MacBook and an iPad are the obvious fit, but the app also suits anyone who manages paperwork in a few languages. The interface is available in fourteen languages, including Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Turkish, which makes it useful for people who take notes in one language and study materials in another. Document organizers who sort PDF contracts or reference sheets will appreciate the folder and subfolder structure, plus the ability to tag items as Favorites rather than digging through folders each time.

Eraser modes and drag-and-drop export

• Eraser modes. You can set the eraser to remove only marker ink, which leaves your handwritten text untouched when you want to clean up highlights.
• Drag-and-drop export. Export a whole page or a single notebook page as a PDF by dragging it out of the window. No need to open a dialog box.
• Live hyperlinks in imports. If your PDF has internal links — a table of contents, for instance — they stay active inside GoodNotes. Tapping a link jumps you to the referenced page.
• Recoloring without rewriting. Select existing handwriting and change its color, resize it, or rotate it. Useful when you want to recolor a heading after the fact.
• Custom table of contents. For a long research PDF, you can build your own navigation by adding entries that point to specific pages.

These aren’t headline features, but they add up once you live with the app for a week. The eraser option that skips marker ink, for example, saves time during exam review when you want to clear highlights without losing your own notes.

Changes you make on the Mac sync through iCloud to your iPad and iPhone, so the same notes are always current on every device.

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs