That does look extremely cool. Let's hope they're also working on an iOS version that's a little more stable than the first one (one of the first serious and complex apps for iOS, mind you - a real achievement at the time).

Cheers!
Bill

The blog still says

Aquaminds blog wrote:

The next two weeks are focused entirely on preparing our final software for submission to Apple. We thought we could release by the end of June but it now looks like it's going to be early July.

Well, "early July" has come and gone. This puppy sure takes a long time to get born.

I still get regular updates to the beta. I found a small cosmetic flaw months ago, which they corrected. The betas that I am getting come with a list (usually only a few items) that correct issues if someone is doing s string of actions that create an issue. That is encouraging to me. When I was a beta tester for OmniOutline, I was getting crashes when doing something very mundane, and they would result in a massive fail.

That said, this feels a bit like a pregnancy that has gone a year longer than the gestation period. But the Notetaker of 4 or 5 years ago was crashing on me from almost no provocation, so I appreciate the attention to getting it right now. I've been using the betas for about 9 months now without losing any data. It's my Checklist Manifesto.

According to Aquaminds blog which was updated on July 30, 2019,

Aquaminds "... are now in the official process of submitting NoteTaker 4 to Apple's team for review and approval. It may take a couple of weeks or it may be a few days."

Also,

"Over the next couple of weeks we'll be adding pages and new sections to our website. If you have a problem viewing any of the new pages and you see a typo or have a display issue on your device, please send an e-mail ..."

https://www.aquaminds.com/single-post/2019/07/28/Website-Changes-Coming

Without wanting you to break any NDA-type arrangement, do you have any further info on when NoteTaker will be available?

I see that submission to the App Store was starting and that web pages were bing updated, but no change since late July

Everything has functioned perfectly, though I don't use some of the features (recording sound, etc.). I did think they would have it ready to go in about January, but they continue to find little bugs. I have done beta trials of other software that has crashed reliably when all I was doing was pasting. I was hoping they would have complete documentation by now.

It is solid enough that I have no reservation in using it for important information.

Thanks - that's helpful to know. Just waiting for release now to give a go.

I'm a CPN refugee, so I'm hoping for a similar experience (I know that although the two apps share some ancestry, their development paths diverged, so I'm not expecting the same)

I went back and forth between CPN and Notetaker. CPN was "cuter" and more colorful, but found Notetaker better suited to my workflow.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Everything has functioned perfectly, though I don't use some of the
features (recording sound, etc.). I did think they would have it ready
to go in about January, but they continue to find little bugs.

Any word on an iOS version? I'm asking because with WWDC 2019's demonstration of the new Catalyst framework for moving iPad apps to the Mac I think we're going to see a lot of competition starting to show up by the end of the year or next year from ported apps like GoodNotes (not to mention Notability which is already iOS/macOS).

As far as I know, they are only working on Notetaker and Noteshare. I cannot seem to warm up to iPad outliners, from anyone. Ultimately, I think people who want to do outlining or list-making on an iPad will use a 'net-based app.

satis wrote:

Any word on an iOS version? I'm asking because with WWDC 2019's
demonstration of the new Catalyst framework for moving iPad apps to the
Mac I think we're going to see a lot of competition starting to show up
by the end of the year or next year from ported apps like GoodNotes (not
to mention Notability which is already iOS/macOS).

The site was updated, I noticed. Looks like it is going to be released this month.

Great news. (Though, it's looked like the release is around the corner for a few years now LOL).

I'm interested in getting the updated app, just for the fun of it and old times sake ... but am wondering if it is going to end up as a fresh but outdated anachronism. Does the world need a skeuomorphic notebook app anymore?

marlowe wrote:

The site was updated, I noticed. Looks like it is going to be released
this month.

Paul Korm wrote:

Does the world need a skeuomorphic notebook
app anymore?

I think that next year we'll see the beginning of a potentially mass migration of the better iPad apps to macOS, using Apple's Catalyst framework announced this summer at WWDC. It's rough around the edges now, but I think that there are some iPad notebook apps that are really excellent, and if they become cross-platform with shared code in Mac versions, the ability to use the Pencil on the iPad and share screens using Apple's new Sidecar functionality, then they'll become deadly serious competition for NoteTaker (especially since the apps' development are mainly being funded from iOS sales). I'm thinking specifically of apps like Goodnotes, Noteshelf and My Script Nebo.

Yes, I agree. In fact, GoodNotes abandoned it’s earlier approach to creating a new Mac version (v5) the old way, and adopted the Catalyst approach. There is now a beta available on Catalina of GoodNotes 5 created from the iOS app via the Catalyst framework. No doubt there will be many other apps that do the same.

satis wrote:

I think that next year we'll see the beginning of a potentially mass
migration of the better iPad apps to macOS, using Apple's Catalyst
framework announced this summer at WWDC.

It's shipped - £28.99 or equivalent. As I recall, that's a lot cheaper than the previous version

marlowe wrote:

The site was updated, I noticed. Looks like it is going to be released
this month.

Got it. Looks pretty much the same as the old version. A lot has happened in macOS since the last version (e.g., share extensions, menubar extras) but the new version doesn't seem to take advantage of that. No iOS version yet.

NickG wrote:

It's shipped - £28.99 or equivalent. As I recall, that's a lot
cheaper than the previous version

Notetaker 5 is now available in the Apps store.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Notetaker 5 is now available in the Apps store.

You mean NoteTaker 4. :) $29.99

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notetaker-4/id1254949442?mt=12

Oops! Version 4 was so long in coming, I skipped a version!

satis wrote:

Jeffery Smith wrote:
> Notetaker 5 is now available in the Apps store.

You mean NoteTaker 4. :) $29.99

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notetaker-4/id1254949442?mt=12

I’m toying with a purchase; I used to love the old version, although it was horribly unstable. I like the look of some of the new features very much.

But: no iOS version… no trial version, either. Hm. Can I trust Aquaminds with my hard-earned cash? I’ll have to think about it...

I can't help but feel that the world has passed NT by - the app landscape is very different from 2016, when I had to start finding a replacement for Circus Ponies. I landed at Curio, which has worked well for me (despite there being no IOS equivalent) and Curio's done well at keeping up with the changes in MacOS.

If there was a trial, I'd happily spend time figuring out whether it worked for me.

MadaboutDana wrote:

I’m toying with a purchase; I used to love the old version,
although it was horribly unstable. I like the look of some of the new
features very much.

But: no iOS version… no trial version, either. Hm. Can I trust
Aquaminds with my hard-earned cash? I’ll have to think about it...

This looks too good to pass up for me. It may be something very close to OneNote that I've been looking for on macOS for a while. More powerful than MS's current OneNote version and very much a real Mac app. If I regret my $30, I'll let you know.

It isn't markedly different for my typical usage. I think the world has probably passed me by as well.


NickG wrote:

I can't help but feel that the world has passed NT by - the app
landscape is very different from 2016, when I had to start finding a
replacement for Circus Ponies. I landed at Curio, which has worked well
for me (despite there being no IOS equivalent) and Curio's done well at
keeping up with the changes in MacOS.

If there was a trial, I'd happily spend time figuring out whether it
worked for me.

MadaboutDana wrote:
I’m toying with a purchase; I used to love the old version,
>although it was horribly unstable. I like the look of some of the new
>features very much.
>
>But: no iOS version… no trial version, either. Hm. Can I trust
>Aquaminds with my hard-earned cash? I’ll have to think about
it...

Would love to hear how those who've purchased it find it. Especially the publishing function. I have to say that if they're looking to sell NT4 their website is really poor. No images, no video, no documentation. I don't buy apps in the blind.

I emptied the penny jar and bought it, used it for 24 hours or so. I think I'll just write off the cost to excess enthusiasm. I won't delete the app, but I won't be keen to experiment more. I see nothing different from what NoteTaker's previous version did. Maybe it's there, but it's not obvious what's better about NoteTaker 4. It's dated. It's not cross-platform. It's clunky. It's been overcome by better tools.

Simon wrote:

Would love to hear how those who've purchased it find it. Especially the
publishing function. I have to say that if they're looking to sell NT4
their website is really poor. No images, no video, no documentation. I
don't buy apps in the blind.