NotePlan crams a lot of useful information into the familiar
three–panel format, yet it’s all very clear and digestible.NotePlan’s themes range from the sober to the
scorching, with a good mix of light and dark options.92 | MACFORMAT | DECEMBER 2019N
otePlan combines calendar,
notes, and to-do lists to create
an effective day planner. It
has fast, useful tagging and Markdown
formatting, and there’s also the obligatory
iOS companion app that syncs via iCloud.
For users of version 1, NotePlan 2 has some
useful improvements. The redesigned layout
shows calendar, notes and the editor at the
same time instead of the switching required in
version 1. The new Week View is scrollable so
you can see everything, and the date tagging of
To-Dos makes its way from the iOS app to the
Mac. There are other useful changes, such as
a progress ring icon that shows how much of
your to-do stack has been done, easier event
editing, and a new list view for your notes.
The main interface has a three-pane
layout. The left sidebar gives you links to
calendar items, notes, hashtags, and @mentions; then the two large panels are for
your calendar and to-do list respectively. The
calendar can be viewed in list or traditional
calendar mode, and in the to-do section you
can combine calendar events and reminders
with quick thoughts and notes. A single
button switches between the three-pane
window and a focused layout that just shows
the to-do panel. If you use your Mac for work,
personal and extra-curricular calendars, you
can turn off the ones you don’t want to see.Quick-fire notes
The app is based on the popular bullet journal
approach, for quickly scribbling notes and
to-dos and then tagging, categorising and/or
assigning deadlines to them. For example, you
might type “* get @louise to speak to @dave
about #marketing”* to create a to-do and then
click on the More icon to set a deadline and
reminder. The mentions and hashtags are
added to the sidebar for easy searching, so in
our example we could search to see everything
assigned to Louise, Dave or the Marketing
department. It’s not a project management
app, but it’s more than capable of tracking
even complex schedules.
A good productivity app gets out of the
way: the more time you spend messing about
in an app, the less time you spend getting
things done. NotePlan gets out of the way.
CARRIE MARSHALLA progress ring
icon now shows
how much of
your to-do
stack has
been doneNotePlan combines
calendar, notes,
writing, and
reminders to
excellent effect.HHHH H
Fast and effective
Markdown formatting
Effective tagging
No collaborationVERDICT
£28.99 FROM NotePlan, noteplan.co NEEDS macOS 10.12 or laterNotePlan 2
A great day planner for the incredibly busy
Image credit: NotePlan