Looking for Note-Taking Options

[MarjaE]

Hi,

I have been using Andropen Office on the Boox Max tablet-monitor to write historical notes. I have also used loose-leaf paper to write notes for these notes.

But lately I've been having worsening rsi. I am using an external keyboard for the actual typing on the Boox, but I've had to reach for the touchscreen for footnotes, tables, and editing, among other things. And of course I have to re-type everything important from the loose leaves.

So I think it would help to have a keyboard-only solution to type up plain-text notes, with inline citations, and combine and reformat everything on my computer instead of the Boox.

I tried using Offline Notepad with a smaller tablet, instead of Andropen Office with the Boox. Offline Notepad had better ergonomics, but it makes it so much harder to export individual notes.

I think a software solution using Android should be possible, otherwise an old Alphasmart electronic typewriter might work.

I currently have a lightweight canvas board with the keyboard and tablet strapped to it. I imagine a sturdier board might work better.

**Visual Accessibility**

I get migraines from eye strain, bright lights, flashing, and animation. Including blinking cursors. Andropen Office uses a static cursor which helps hide the blinking one. Offline Notepad in dark mode at least reduces cursor visibility enough. But Txtpad in dark mode seems to increase the blink rate so it doesn't work out for me.

**Other Accessibility**

I want to minimize reliance on the touchscreen, key combos, and two-handed typing. I find mini keyboards easy enough if they have arrow and nav keys, but micro keyboards harder. Maybe practice will help.

[MarjaE]

After trying a slew of Android txt-editing apps, I've been trying Andropen Office on the smaller device, but with the page size reduced to 4x6 (102x152 mm), and with some toolbars hidden.

[Patchicat]

What about voice recognition software where you can dictate your notes and have them appear on the screen as text? Would that make things easier for you?

[astrangerhere]

You might look at Obsidian. Its a free editor that works cross-platform, saves the work in .md files and is VERY visually adaptable. I've attached a brief snippet of my interface so you can see the color I have mine set to.

[BookCat]

The Alphasmart Neo is great, but formatting is very difficult on it - they're better for drafting, with the formatting, storing and reading being done on another device, such as a laptop.

There are various softwares which allow you to set the laptop screen to black with white (or other colour) text, if that would help with your migraines.

[MarjaE]

Thanks, but no.

My glasses can only do so much, so it wouldn't help. I already need to switch fonts, switch smoothing settings, and increase font sizes to 16 to 20 points. With dark mode, I would need to go to 24 to 30 points.

[Highroller]

I am a student now and for plain-text notes and inline citations, I found using Grammarly quite helpful. Although it's primarily for grammar checking, it's great for drafting notes because it's easy to use and helps avoid re-typing by checking and saving your work as you go.