Goodnotes transforms digital note-taking by combining the natural feel of handwriting with advanced AI capabilities and collaborative tools. The platform enables users to write with a stylus, type text, record audio, and sketch diagrams within digital notebooks, whiteboards, and text documents. Real-time spellcheck learns individual handwriting styles and suggests corrections in the user's own script, while intelligent word prediction accelerates note capture.

The app converts handwritten notes to typed text and recognizes mathematical equations for easy digitization. Users import PDFs and images to annotate directly on documents, making it ideal for marking up lecture slides, contracts, or design mockups. Audio recording syncs with written notes, allowing playback tied to specific timestamps. The lasso tool enables selecting and repositioning handwritten content, while shape recognition converts rough sketches into perfect geometric forms.

Goodnotes AI enhances productivity through question-and-answer features that analyze note content, quiz generation for study preparation, and meeting transcription with automatic summary generation. The AI assistant can expand, shorten, or adjust the tone of typed content. For mathematics, the AI solves handwritten equations and provides step-by-step explanations. Collaboration happens in real-time as multiple users edit shared documents simultaneously, with comments and presentation modes facilitating team discussions.

The platform organizes content through unlimited folders and offers powerful handwriting search to locate specific words within handwritten notes. Cross-platform sync ensures notes remain accessible across iOS, Mac, Windows, Android, and web browsers, backed by cloud storage integration with iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. The in-app marketplace provides access to templates, planners, stickers, and study materials created by a community of designers.

Education-specific features include class navigation tools for teachers to monitor student progress, document distribution through class folders, and answer clustering for efficient grading. Business teams benefit from SAML SSO, domain control, consolidated billing, and admin management tools. Enterprise deployments gain advanced security controls, Microsoft Intune support, and the ability to disable AI features for compliance.