The right way to get coloration textual content within the Apple Notes app

I lately needed to Google learn how to get coloration textual content within the Apple Notes app, as a result of the way in which to do that is quite deeply hidden!

Particularly if you wish to do it within the iPhone or iPad app, you’ve got two use certainly one of three workarounds, as a result of – surprisingly – the characteristic isn’t immediately supported …

Worry not: I’m not going all Comedian Sans about this. Coloration textual content is one thing I exploit exceedingly sparingly, however there are just a few events the place it’s helpful, akin to highlighting textual content that I need to instantly bounce out at me when scanning a observe.

Technique 1: Pasting from one other app

One potential workaround I got here throughout was to create the textual content in one other iPhone app, then paste it into Notes.

That technique apparently works … typically. I attempted pasting in some crimson textual content from Pages, and nope: It pasted into Notes in superb technoblack.

Technique 2: Creating the Observe on the Mac

The one dependable technique is to create the textual content within the Mac Notes app. This does help coloration textual content, although I’ve to say it’s fairly nicely hidden!

Yep, that’s spotlight the textual content after which Format > Font > Present Colours.

At that time, you get the standard system selection of coloration palettes:

I personally discover the pencil palette is one of the best one to make use of for any such factor, the place you need to have the ability to choose from a manageable variety of precise colours – and even right here you must stick with the darker or extra intense choices to be readable towards a white background.

When you’ve created the colour textual content on the Mac, then it exhibits up on the iPhone and iPad.

Technique 3: Paste coloration textual content from an present observe

After getting a observe with coloration textual content, then you’ll be able to copy and paste that textual content on the iPhone or iPad, and the colour attribute will likely be included.

If you need some blue textual content, for instance, spotlight a blue phrase within the present observe, paste it, then double-tap the phrase and overtype. The brand new textual content will likely be in blue.

However that’s a bit finnicky for greater than very occasional use, so utilizing the Mac is by far one of the best method.

Time for Apple to indicate Notes some extra love

Method again within the Nineteen Eighties (most of you will want to lookup this date in your historical past books, I do know), I saved miscellaneous info as a set of textual content recordsdata in a Notes folder. This had the nice benefit of common help – those self same notes travelled with me throughout CP/M, MS-DOS, BBC Mannequin B, TRS-80, and Macintosh – however very poor search performance.

There lastly got here a time after I put aside just a few hours to filter out those now not wanted, and paste the remainder into Notes. That was additionally the purpose at which I organised my notes into nested folders. My SQL-using mates are after all horrified at this, however I have to say that Notes does make for a really efficient searchable database, accessible on all my Apple gadgets.

However I wish to see Apple present the app some extra love. It might be method extra highly effective than it’s, with out making it any extra difficult to make use of – even when the corporate does select to maintain the UI easy by burying new options in the identical method it has coloration textual content.

What are your views? Ought to Apple make investments some work within the Notes app? What are the options you’d most prefer to see.