How to Use (Uni:Note)

Introduction

Use these real screens to follow the main Uni:Note operations. You can keep writing with Apple Pencil, or turn on Draw with Finger to write with one finger.

Requires an iPad with iPadOS 17.0 or later. Recording transcription requires a supported environment with iPadOS 26 or later.

Basic use

Create a subject and its first note

1. Tap + at the bottom right of Home, then choose New Subject.

2. Choose the name, ruling, paper color and cover color.
3. Open the subject and name its first note. Leave the name blank to use today’s date.

The same + menu creates folders. Drag subjects into them; deleting a folder returns its subjects to Home. Long-press a subject to edit its name and paper settings.

Button Guide

Tap ? at the top right of Home, Problem Sets or Timetable, or choose Button Guide in a note’s More (…) menu, to show what the buttons and gestures do over the screen; tap anywhere to close it. On a new installation, it appears automatically once the first time you open each screen; in a narrow window, widen the window first. New installations also include the sample subject Getting Started with the note How to use Uni:Note, which you can delete by long-pressing its card. In Problem Sets, ? first shows the button guide, and View the Detailed Guide opens the four-page guide.

Choose a tool and write

1. Select the pen, highlighter or eraser in the palette.
2. Write with Apple Pencil. When Draw with Finger is on, you can also draw or erase with one finger.
3. Writing on the last page adds the next page automatically.

Draw with Finger is directly below the current-plan card on the main Settings screen and is also available in the first-run guidance. When it is off, one finger scrolls, unless Scroll with Two Fingers is on in Settings → Note Settings. When it is on, one finger draws, so scroll with two fingers. Pinch with two fingers to zoom in either state. Apple Pencil remains available in both states.

Move the palette by dragging it. Show the ruler from the note toolbar, move it with one finger, then rotate its visible handle with one finger around the ruler center. Draw along its edge with Apple Pencil; Draw with Finger also works when enabled. Range Move selects whole handwriting strokes. Photos, PDFs and sticky markers are handled separately. Vertical notebooks scroll sideways, and their orientation cannot be changed after creation.

Switch notes and search titles

Type part of a note title in Search note titles on Home and tap a result. Search covers titles, not handwriting, page text, PDFs or subject names.

Inside a note, Notebook List opens other notes in the subject and lets you create one. In note lists and recent notes, tap a note to open it. Long-press a note to show Edit, Protect and Delete; a protected note shows only Unlock. Delete moves the note to Trash immediately, without confirmation. Drag the ≡ handle to reorder notes. Pages opens thumbnails: tap to navigate, long-press to delete.

Two-pane Home and timetable

Tap Switch to Two-Pane Layout at the top left of Home, next to Trash, to show folders and subjects on the left and switch notes quickly. Choose the starting layout with Settings → Display Settings → Use Two-Pane Layout by Default.

Tap the calendar button at the top left of Home to open Timetable. Assign subjects to weekday and period cells, then tap a subject cell to open its note list. Settings → Display Settings → Open On Launch offers five choices, including showing the timetable or opening the note for the current class.

Attach photos or PDFs and export

1. Open More at the top right of the note.
2. Choose a photo, document photo or PDF attachment. For photos, choose Take Photo or Choose from Photos.
3. Select the PDF pages to insert; use the spread-splitting option for facing-page documents.

With Draw with Finger off, double-tap a locked photo or PDF to unlock it, then tap once to select it. Double-tap it again to lock it. With it on, tap the Edit button on the side opposite the palette so it turns blue, then tap the object. Drag it or use its resize handle; tap blank space or Edit again to resume finger writing. Pinch with two fingers to zoom the note. To rotate a photo, document photo, PDF, text or shape, move the rotation handle at its upper right in a circle with one finger; it snaps every 45°. You can still write over the document with Apple Pencil.

Export from More → Export PDF. To leave the paper color out of exported PDFs, use Remove Paper Color from PDF Export in Settings → Display Settings → PDF Export Settings.

PDF Export Settings also offers Include Sticky Notes (on by default) and Include Sticky Markers (off by default).

Add typed text, shapes and tables

Choose More → Text, tap the page and type. To place the text, tap outside the input, choose Text again or tap × on the Text Input label at the top; hiding the keyboard alone does not end input. You can move, resize or rotate placed text, but cannot edit its wording afterward; it is not included in note-title search. Choose More → Shapes to create a rectangle, circle or ellipse, callout or table. Set its color, line width and style; for a table, choose rows and columns. Drag the placed shape or its handles to move, resize or rotate it. With Draw with Finger on, tap Edit before selecting an existing shape. Table cells do not accept direct text entry, and rows or columns cannot be changed after placement.

Record a lecture

1. Tap the microphone above the note.
2. Tap the red record button; pause and resume when needed.
3. Stop to save, then select the saved recording to play it.

Recording, playback and transcript viewing require Premium or Premium Plus. Recordings split after 30 minutes, with up to five per note. When Uni:Note moves to the background, for example to the Home Screen, another app in full screen or sleep, the recording is saved and stopped automatically. When you leave the note within the app, a confirmation lets you save and end the recording. Supported iPadOS 26 devices can transcribe during recording. Set the language in Settings → Study Support → Recording Support. AI summaries use transcript text and AI Balance; review the estimated usage before starting.

In Settings → Study Support → Recording Support, turn Prioritize Transcription Accuracy on to favor accuracy or off to favor speed. Changes apply from the next recording.

New installations of 4.0.0 start with Prioritize Transcription Accuracy off.

Review with sticky markers, sticky notes and problem sets

Select Sticky Marker in the palette, then tap it again to open its details and choose Sticky Marker in the switch at the top. Cover text with Apple Pencil, and tap a marker with your finger to reveal or hide it. To delete a marker, long-press it and tap the trash button.

To write on a Sticky Note, switch the details to Sticky Note, choose one of nine shape and size presets and one of four colors, then tap the page to place it and write on it. Drag the glue strip at its top to move it; long-press the strip and tap the trash button to delete it. Tapping the note makes it semi-transparent so you can see the page below. Adding, moving and deleting can be undone; size and angle cannot be changed after placement.

Tap Circle to Solve on the navigation bar, enclose a problem with Apple Pencil, check the area and request an answer. Show or hide the button in Settings → Note Settings → Note Screen.

To send the result to another app, tap Copy on the left or Share on the right at the upper-right corner of the answer sheet.

For problem sets, choose More → Create Problem Set, select pages, keep or discard candidates and save the set. Open Problem Sets on Home to review it. AI answers and generation use AI Balance; check results against your learning materials.

Review Questions now looks like a study card: a progress bar with “3 / 10” at the top, the answer shown from the start and the source page at the bottom. Below the Reject and Add buttons, the hint Swipe left: Reject / Swipe right: Add is always shown.

In Problem Sets, the + menu offers Create One at a Time (handwriting or keyboard), Create from Paste and Create from File (TSV/CSV, up to 300 questions; Premium or Premium Plus). While studying, swipe right for Learned and left for Not Yet. After a round, redo only the Not Yet questions, or resume later. You can open the source note beside the question. Problem sets are grouped by subject. ? first shows the button guide; tap View the Detailed Guide to open the four-page guide.

You can also create and edit problem sets manually without using AI Balance. For focus sessions, open Pomodoro from the note toolbar and choose the focus and break durations when you start it; Sets Before Auto Stop and Character are in Study Support settings. Select Laser Pointer to trace a temporary path with Apple Pencil; the path is not saved as handwriting. Customize note toolbar buttons and palette tools under Settings → Note Settings → Note Screen.

Protect, delete and restore

Long-press a note and choose Protect to prevent writing, or Unlock to remove protection. Settings can require biometric authentication when removing protection.

Restore deleted subjects and notes from Home’s Trash. Deleting a folder keeps its subjects. Deleted pages, problem sets and permanently erased Trash items cannot be restored. Deleting the only page clears its contents instead.

Subjects and notes in Trash are permanently removed during cleanup after 30 days. Restore anything you need before then.

Plans and AI Balance

Free allows 10 subjects and 6 notes per subject. One-time Premium and monthly Premium Plus remove those limits and enable recording and Easy Backup. Premium grants 500 AI Balance at the start of each month; Premium Plus grants 10,000 for each subscription period. Unused period grants do not roll over. Purchased AI Balance has no expiry. AI answers, problem-set generation and AI summaries use AI Balance under either plan. Check the current plan, balance and StoreKit price in Settings; use Update Purchase Status if a purchase has not appeared.

Creating problem sets in bulk with Create from Paste or Create from File requires Premium or Premium Plus. Creating one question at a time and studying are free.

Keep a backup

1. Open the gear on Home, then Settings → Backup.
2. To listen in Pocket, enable including recording audio before exporting.
3. Export a backup and choose its destination.

Easy Backup update and restore require Premium or Premium Plus. They save and load an iCloud file, not automatically synchronized notes. Zip export and Restore from File also work in Free. Restoring starts immediately without confirmation and replaces the current data, so export your current data first. Reopen the app after restoration as instructed. Problem sets are included in backups; to load one in Uni:Note Pocket, update Pocket to the latest version. Language, left-handed controls and Name for Bookshelf Items can also be changed in Settings.

Use two iPad windows

Use iPad window controls to place Uni:Note next to a document or video. You can also open two Uni:Note windows.

The Draw with Finger setting is shared by all Uni:Note windows on the same device. Changing it in one window also changes whether one or two fingers are used for scrolling in the other window.

Dock gestures and names such as Split View or Slide Over depend on the iPadOS version and window settings.