Goodnotes is a friendly note-taking app, but it leaves room for creativity. If you know how to use it, you almost have unlimited freedom when making notes at work. The Goodnotes app works flawlessly on the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, making the handwriting experience a joy.
The app comes with a nice set of templates to organize classes, write work notes, or even track your habits, but it’s not yet ready to deliver custom digital planners focused on actually getting you productive.
That’s where the best goodnotes templates that are designed to help you thrive at work will make the difference.
How can I get better templates for GoodNotes?
Let discuss about the 10 best goodnotes templates you’ll WANT to use for work and life matters.
I’ve put together a list of digital templates (some of them you can download and try inside the Goodnotes app today), to start taking notes like a pro! Get your iPad Pro and Apple Pencil ready to get down these ideas and put them into practice.
Two GoodNotes All-in-One Digital Planner Templates [DATED PDF templates]
Use these templates to jot plans and write meeting notes on the iPad Pro in minutes.
#1. GoodNotes Life & Work Monthly, Weekly and Daily Planner & Agenda
Do you feel like you’re constantly juggling multiple tasks and never seem to have enough time? If so, you need a planner! And not just any planner, but the best all-in-one modern GoodNotes digital planner: the DATED Outline Planner.
This planner is amazing and has helped me and hundred of customers stay organized and focused. It is easier to use than other planners out there, because it has a clean design, a very well thought structure and smart links to jump from section to section! The amount of planning you can do with this planner is amazing!
The various templates included in a digital planner, ranging from productivity and wellness to social media and meetings. This means that no matter what your needs are, this planner has got you covered!
DATED Outline Planner Overview
✔ Lag-FREE in Goodnotes, Notability & Noteshelf
✔ Yearly / Monthly / Weekly / Daily plans with hyperlinks
✔ WHITE or DARK Background pages
✔ Weekly page — weekdays are stacked one on top of another like a Weekly TODO list
✔ Daily page — hourly slots (standard & military clock)
✔ Review pages available
✔ 150+ built-in Page Templates with links (copy & paste when needed)
✔ 7 built-in notebooks (12 linked chapters each)
✔ Tutorial pages included
Prices available
- Single version for $27 or Bundle version for $47 – click to see the life-work planner (one-time purchase)
- Get all digital planners in the shop for $97 – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Try it FREE when you download the 4 best goodnotes templates samples.
#2. GoodNotes Meeting Notes Planner & Agenda [DATED}
If you’re looking for a digital planner to help boost your productivity during meetings, this template is perfect for you: the DATED Meeting Book.
It includes a wide range of pages to help you take better notes during meetings and is designed specifically for managers and leaders.
The Meeting Book digital planner for GoodNotes comes with a week-by-week view and space for daily handwritten notes. Use the meeting book to take client meeting notes or scribble ideas during team meetings – then keep your meeting notes organized by date, or move the pages to a client folder or team member folder!
DATED Meeting Book Overview
✔ Lag-FREE in Goodnotes, Notability & Noteshelf
✔ 2022 calendar (Monday start) with links to weeks
53x DATED Weekly Appointments with links to daily meetings
✔ 12x MEETING PAGES / DAY (accessible from the weekly page) with hour stamp
✔ 3x CLIENTS SECTIONS (to hold GOALS, TODOs, Group meetings and 1-1 meetings)
✔ 20 Page Templates included
✔ 7x built-in color notebooks with 12 linked chapters each
✔ Instant Digital Download PDF Templates
Prices available
- Single version for $27 or Bundle version for $47 – click to see the meeting planner (one-time purchase)
- Get all digital planners in the shop for $97 – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Try it FREE when you download the 4 best goodnotes templates samples.
“I have started to use OutlinrPlannerVault about a month ago and I just love it! I’ve been used to do digital journaling since two years ago and have downloaded dozens of notebooks as I am a bit passionate about this digital style. I think, however, that I have found the One. So far, I have used mostly the major 2022 digital planner and found out that it fits with my needs for calendar and project planning, my journaling and overall management tasks, which I need to solve as a head manager of a company.“
Jarka H.
Three Goodnotes Templates for Work & Business
I think we can all agree that it is an extremely important to take notes at work. The ability to take notes helps you remember various events or ideas and allows you to do something with them later on. So I’ll show you three notebooks that you can use to take notes for projects, people and content created at work.
#3. GoodNotes Business Planner Templates for Projects notes
Digital planners are helpful for organizing notes and projects with ease. The Project Book template allow you to write endless notes for multiple projects at once, and never get them mixed up. Plus, they’re easily share project notes with colleagues or family. Templates are flexible and customizable so you can create the perfect planner for your needs.
Prices available
- One single planner version (like landscape with white pages) – one-off purchase of $27 on my digital planners store.
- All planner versions + everything else I have in the shop – yearly subscription of $97 when you signup to the premium Vault – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Try it FREE when you download the 4 best goodnotes templates samples.
#4. GoodNotes Business Planner Templates for People notes
If you’re looking for a digital planner for business, that emulates the traditional paper planners, then you’ll love our GoodNotes Business Planner Templates. The People Book template can be used for businesses of any size to capture private notes about the people you work with – from colleagues and customers to suppliers and partners. The templates feature plenty of free space for notes, and there is a clickable index on the left to easily jump from person to person. So why not try it out today?
Prices available
- One single planner version (like landscape with white pages) – one-off purchase of $27 on my digital planners store.
- All planner versions + everything else I have in the shop – yearly subscription of $97 when you signup to the premium Vault – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Try it FREE when you download the 4 best goodnotes templates samples.
#5. GoodNotes Content Creator Planner for Social Media
The digital content creator planner is designed to help you master your time by getting more content done in less time. The planner includes space to write about your social media strategy and content, as well as weekly goal planning. There are three versions of the planner: strategy, weekly goals, and social media creative content.
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
“These planners and notebooks are great and the best of all. And trust me, I’ve tried a lot of them.
Ralu (creator and owner) is really dedicated to her customers. Always available and she delivers. I suggested a pet book not long ago. She researched about the subject, created it and it’s now available for review and feedback. I like that she involves her community in her product development.
She always considers my requests and implements them (with improvement !)”
Karine
Five GoodNotes Aesthetic Journal Templates for Personal Notes
#6. Daily Digital Journal & Gratitude Diary
Keeping a journal is a great way to document your thoughts and feelings, as well as track your progress over time. A digital journal can be even more beneficial, if you write on it daily. The Daily Journal is an undated notebook for Goodnotes with a custom designed paper template that will walk you through a journaling flow.
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
#7. Bullet Journal – a GoodNotes DigiBujo
The DigiBujo bullet journal template is a minimalist design to use to track existing tasks, future logs, projects and more. The PDF provides and index page with 100 slots that are each linked to notes pages, so you can literally use it for a variety of things to track.
“I really love this notebook. I love that it has 100 hyperlinked sections. And the best thing is that each sections note pages display the numbered section it is from. So no matter if you have 1 or 100 pages in each section you know where you are! Simple, elegant, very usable. No lagging at all. Great product.”
Suzanne C
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
#8. 6-tab Cornell Notes notebook template
Inside my Vault there are two different types of Cornell Notes notebooks: a simple notebook and one with tabs. My favorite is the Cornell Notebook with 6 tabs. Each tab includes 2 cornell notes pages that you can duplicate as needed.
The templates are designed to be aesthetically pleasing, which makes taking personal notes more enjoyable. In addition, the Cornell Notes multi-page notebooks that can be used for a variety of purposes.
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
#9. Reading Journal
If you’re looking for a way to keep track of your reading habits, or want to start a journal, consider using a digital template for reading: the Reading Book. This template make it easy to keep all of your information in one place, and it looks great too!
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
#10. Recipe Book Goodnotes Templates
The Recipe Book GoodNotes template is perfect for recipe logging. It can be a life-savior when you don’t know what to cook next and need a rescue solution. This aesthetic digital journal template is ideal for keeping track of your favorite recipes. With ample room to write down ingredients, cooking instructions, and notes, this template is perfect for any culinary enthusiast. Plus, the sleek design will make your recipes look great… on paper :).
This planner is available when you signup to the premium Vault – yearly subscription of $97 to get access to everything I have in the shop – opens for 30 days every year, in September.
“These notebooks and planners have changed my life. I suffer from PTSD, severe depression, anxiety and a couple of other mental health issues. So its hard for me to stay organized, focused and hard for me to keep a schedule. But with outline planner and notebooks I can now stay focused, write everyday in my daily journal, keep detail notes and never miss an appoint. You have no idea how much you have helped my life become a little easier to live and manage.”
Enola H
How to Use Custom Goodnotes Templates Inside the GoodNotes 5 app
If you’re looking to get more organized in your personal and professional life, you may want to try using custom planning templates inside of the GoodNotes 5 note-taking app. So, before I show you the list with my 10 Best Goodnotes Templates, I’m going to show you how to import PDF files as custom templates into GoodNotes, how to use the hyperlinks within these templates to jump from section to section, and how to write notes and delete text on the page.
How to import a PDF with hyperlinks in GoodNotes?
To get started, go to App Store and install GoodNotes 5 on your iPad Pro.
Once it’s installed, open up the app and tap on the “+ New” icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen.
Next, tap on “Import” in the pop-up screen. You’ll then be prompted to select a file from your iCloud Drive or other cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive. Select one of the recommended PDF planners (see list below) and tap on it to automatically open.
Repeat this step for more good notes templates.
How to use the hyperlinks inside my best goodnotes templates?
Now that you’ve imported a few of my best goodnotes templates into Goodnotes 5, let’s take a closer look at how the hyperlinks work!
Each PDF template includes hyperlinks which allow you to jump quickly between different sections of the planner. For example, if you want to go to the “Calendar” section, simply tap on the hyperlinked icon for the calendar and you’ll be taken there immediately.
However, the very first time you open the PDF template you’ll see that the hyperlinks are NOT working!!
Don’t worry! The fix is simple: you need to be in “Read-Only” mode to make the hyperlinks work.
GoodNotes has two modes:
- “Read-Only” mode, when the hyperlinks are active but you can’t take notes, and
- “Edit” mode, when you can write notes, type content or add stickers, but you can’t use the hyperlinks.
To switch between the two modes, tap the crossed out pencil icon in the upper right hand corner. Tap once to activate the “Read-Only” mode (you’ll notice the pen toolbar disappearing). Tap again to activate the “Edit” mode (you’ll notice the pen toolbar appearing again).
Tip: when you’re in the “Edit” mode use your finger and long press a hyperlink until it says “open link.” Click the “open link” and it will take you to the new section without switching modes.
How do you write notes in GoodNotes?
You can also write handwritten notes, type text and delete text on the page just like you would in any other note-taking app.
Use the Pen tool to start writing annotations in seconds. Here are the steps to start handwriting in Goodnotes:
- choose the Pen tool and select the Pen style (like Ball Pen), then close the pen’s settings pop-up
- pic a color (from the right side of the editing toolbar) and start writing
To delete a handwritten text:
- use the Eraser tool or,
- use the Lasso tool, select the text you want to delete, tap once inside the selection and then tap Delete.
Use the Text tool to type text anywhere on the page. Here are the steps to start typing in Goodnotes:
- choose the Text tool in the toolbar and tap anywhere on the page
- the text box will appear and you can leave it as is or drag the corners to make it bigger
- before typing, choose a font (like “HelveticaNeue“), a text size (like 18pt) and a color (like red).
- to use a background for your typed text (similar to a post-it) tap the Text Box Style feature (is the transparent rectangle with a red cross)
To delete a Typed Text use the Lasso tool, select the text you want to delete, tap once inside the selection and then tap Delete.
Takeaway
To sum up, using a custom GoodNotes template is not hard at all. Once you know what template you need it can take less than 3 minutes to download it and get started. Lastly, no matter the design you’ve chosen, make sure you’re using lag-free digital planners (optimized PDF planners) to avoid the lag when writing or scrolling the pages.
If you’re new to digital planning also read the GoodNotes App Ultimate Guide.
BONUS: Also check the Goodnotes vs Notability vs Noteshelf review
Although I’m talking about Goodnotes templates, you should know that all PDF planners can be used in other apps too. If you’re just starting and not sure which app to look into, check my complete apps review:
Which is Best for Handwritten Notes?
5 | GoodNotes vs Notability vs Noteshelf—Settings, Flows (coming soon)
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below.
