How to write neatly on an iPad – My top 10 tips!
Hi everyone!
Here's my top 10 tips on how to write neatly on an iPad:
Using a paper feel screen protector will give the screen a less smooth surface and will help you to control your writing better and it is also great for drawing. The downside is the screen can look a little bit less clear and will be rougher to the touch but I think that benefits outweigh the downsides.
I've actually just purchased a bunch of screen protectors so I'll be doing a separate video to review them but a popular option is Paperlike.
I also recommend getting a grip for your Apple pencil. This is just a rubber cover that goes over your apple pencil that can help you to get a better grip when you're writing.
Where you can, write on lined or grid paper. However if you need to write on a page that doesn't have lines i have some freebies in my freebies vault that will help with that so I've made these overlays in a variety of different formats.
This one is lined so you can just put it onto your page as an overlay and then you can also resize it to be narrower or wider and then you can just zoom in and write on it.
Once you're done writing you can just tap on that overlay and delete it. I've also made a grid overlay a dotted version and the same overlays for black paper as well. I’ve previously made these paper widgets which basically works like a sticky note:
You can just place these on your page, resize them to fit and then you can just write over the top of them.
You can also try writing on black paper as I personally think this makes your handwriting look neater as helps the writing stand out.
If you're having trouble with your handwriting, I suggest zooming in and in goodnotes it's very easy to do this. You can just bring up this second screen and you can zoom in or out and then just write onto this second zoomed in screen.
If you find someone's handwriting or a font that you really like the look of, there's an easy way to practice writing that style. You can just swipe your pencil from the left screen on your iPad to take a screenshot (or do this manually for other devices) and then tap on full page and then you can share this into good notes as a pdf. Then you can just trace the handwriting with a different pen for practice.
My next tip is to play with the pen settings and find one that works for you. I personally prefer to write with a ball pen. This is a mono line which means that the stroke size is all the same width, whereas if you pick something like the fountain pen or the brush pen these can be pressure sensitive so i personally find these harder to write neatly with.
Also play with different pen thicknesses. I personally prefer somewhere around the 0.5 millimeter mark. If you're using an app like GoodNotes, you can go into settings and play with the stylus and palm rejection settings.
Under writing posture section, you can pick the one that most closely mimics your actual writing posture. Also under palm rejection sensitivity, there is high, medium and low so you can try these different options too. Different apps have different writing engines, which are worth trying to see if you have preference for a particular app.
My next tip is to practice. The more you practice at anything, the better you will get at it and the same applies for handwriting. You can buy handwriting worksheets and instead of printing them out you can just use an annotation app like Goodnotes. It's really easy to practice your handwriting in these by tracing over the letters and if you find yourself messing up on a particular letter then practicing those letters will definitely help you to get better at them.
I suggest finding a handwriting worksheet where the handwriting looks nice to you and you can use this to practice i've also made these practice handwriting overlays that you can place into any blank page and use this to practice your handwriting writing neatly on the ipad takes practice
If after going through the above tips you still want that perfect neat handwritten look here's a quick way to cheat (shhh!) for the iPad. In settings, under Apple pencil, make sure you have scribble turned on and then inside an app like GoodNotes you can just put down a text box and then write with your Apple pencil. You'll just want to make sure that you have some neat handwriting fonts installed in your ipad.
I hope you like these tips!
Rina
Here's my top 10 tips on how to write neatly on an iPad:
- Use a matte or paper feel screen protector
- Get an Apple pencil cover to give you better control
- Insert lined or grid paper (FREE insert) to help guide your writing
- Try writing on black colored paper
- Try different zoom levels to find what suits your writing
- Slow down speedy! Try writing slower.
- Take a screenshot and practice tracing over specific fonts
- Change pen settings so you can try writing with different pen styles and widths
- Use some handwriting practice worksheets
- Cheat! Use the scribble handwriting to text feature
Tip 1 - Use a matte or paper feel screen protector
Using a paper feel screen protector will give the screen a less smooth surface and will help you to control your writing better and it is also great for drawing. The downside is the screen can look a little bit less clear and will be rougher to the touch but I think that benefits outweigh the downsides.
I've actually just purchased a bunch of screen protectors so I'll be doing a separate video to review them but a popular option is Paperlike.
Tip 2 - Get a grip! Use a Apple pencil cover to give you better control
I also recommend getting a grip for your Apple pencil. This is just a rubber cover that goes over your apple pencil that can help you to get a better grip when you're writing.
Tip 3 - Use lined or grid paper/inserts to help guide your writing
Where you can, write on lined or grid paper. However if you need to write on a page that doesn't have lines i have some freebies in my freebies vault that will help with that so I've made these overlays in a variety of different formats.
This one is lined so you can just put it onto your page as an overlay and then you can also resize it to be narrower or wider and then you can just zoom in and write on it.
Once you're done writing you can just tap on that overlay and delete it. I've also made a grid overlay a dotted version and the same overlays for black paper as well. I’ve previously made these paper widgets which basically works like a sticky note:
You can just place these on your page, resize them to fit and then you can just write over the top of them.
Tip 4 - Try writing on black colored paper
You can also try writing on black paper as I personally think this makes your handwriting look neater as helps the writing stand out.
Tip 5 - Try different zoom levels to find what suits your writing
If you're having trouble with your handwriting, I suggest zooming in and in goodnotes it's very easy to do this. You can just bring up this second screen and you can zoom in or out and then just write onto this second zoomed in screen.
Tip 6 - Slow down speedy! Try writing slower.
Try writing slightly slowly as often this will help you gain more control over the stylus you're using, which will help you write more smoothly.Tip 7 - Take a screenshot and practice tracing over specific fonts
If you find someone's handwriting or a font that you really like the look of, there's an easy way to practice writing that style. You can just swipe your pencil from the left screen on your iPad to take a screenshot (or do this manually for other devices) and then tap on full page and then you can share this into good notes as a pdf. Then you can just trace the handwriting with a different pen for practice.
Tip 8 - Change pen settings so you can try writing with different pen styles and widths
My next tip is to play with the pen settings and find one that works for you. I personally prefer to write with a ball pen. This is a mono line which means that the stroke size is all the same width, whereas if you pick something like the fountain pen or the brush pen these can be pressure sensitive so i personally find these harder to write neatly with.
Also play with different pen thicknesses. I personally prefer somewhere around the 0.5 millimeter mark. If you're using an app like GoodNotes, you can go into settings and play with the stylus and palm rejection settings.
Under writing posture section, you can pick the one that most closely mimics your actual writing posture. Also under palm rejection sensitivity, there is high, medium and low so you can try these different options too. Different apps have different writing engines, which are worth trying to see if you have preference for a particular app.
Tip 9 - Use some handwriting practice worksheets
My next tip is to practice. The more you practice at anything, the better you will get at it and the same applies for handwriting. You can buy handwriting worksheets and instead of printing them out you can just use an annotation app like Goodnotes. It's really easy to practice your handwriting in these by tracing over the letters and if you find yourself messing up on a particular letter then practicing those letters will definitely help you to get better at them.
I suggest finding a handwriting worksheet where the handwriting looks nice to you and you can use this to practice i've also made these practice handwriting overlays that you can place into any blank page and use this to practice your handwriting writing neatly on the ipad takes practice
Tip 10 - Cheat! Use the scribble handwriting to text feature
If after going through the above tips you still want that perfect neat handwritten look here's a quick way to cheat (shhh!) for the iPad. In settings, under Apple pencil, make sure you have scribble turned on and then inside an app like GoodNotes you can just put down a text box and then write with your Apple pencil. You'll just want to make sure that you have some neat handwriting fonts installed in your ipad.
I hope you like these tips!
Rina