I am always looking for a good note taking app. Until I met Good, I still hadn’t found exactly what I wanted. My needs are very simple. Apps should be easy to use, efficient, and unobtrusive. I’ve tried a lot and often find that they’re too intrusive, offer more features than I need, or don’t work as promised.
That search ended when I found tot. Tot is an easy-to-use app that lets you collect notes and texts on macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and WatchOS devices. It offers a single window to interact with your notes, both dark and light modes, iCloud sync, bookmark support, and keyboard shortcuts donate.
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To be fair, I only use Tot on macOS, as I don’t own or use any Apple mobile devices (other than a MacBook Pro). And while Tot might be the perfect note-taking app for those mobile devices, I find it outstanding on desktop as well.
What makes Tot stand out from the competition? The app doesn’t pretend to be anything but a medium for recording and editing notes. One thing to keep in mind is that Tot doesn’t limit you to the number of “views” it provides. You get 7. The view is basically a tab that you can use to compile and categorize your notes.
Now, you can do with those views what you like. For instance, one view might be a shopping list, while other views might be project notes, random passages you want to keep, notes for yourself, a list of web pages for later viewing or any kind of notes you want. Ultimately, I like to think of views as categories that I’ll take notes as much as I like.
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With Tot, you can add lists, emojis, basic formatting (only italic and bold), etc. You can work with plain text or rich text (switch between them). by clicking “a” in the bottom right corner of the window).
The app is free and installed from the Apple App Store. There is no premium version of the app, so what you see is all you get. And that, my friends, is why I like Tot. Not because it’s free, but because it’s not trying to be better. Tot is a medium for taking notes and that’s it. It is not a collaboration, project, or task management tool. Tot notes and no more.
Let me show you how I use Tot.
How to configure Tot
There’s no need to explain how to install Tot, because you just open the App Store, search for Tot, click Get, then Install. However, once it’s installed, you’ll have a choice to make.
You have two choices: Use Tot from the toolbar or the Menu Bar. I prefer to use the Menu Bar option, because I have my toolbar set to auto-hide and I want Tot to be as accessible as possible. To set this option, open Tot (from Launchpad) and click the gear icon in the top right corner of the window. You will see a drop-down menu labeled Control With. From that drop-down, select Menu Bar Icon, which will place a small circle on your Menu Bar.
Configure Tot to show in Menu Bar or Dock Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
In that same Settings window, you can set the theme for Tot, between Matching System, Light or Dark. You can also create a keyboard shortcut to open the Tot window, so you don’t have to click the Tot icon in the Menu Bar.
That’s it for configuration. All is really simple.
How to use Tot
Tot is as simple to use as it is. Click the circle icon on the Menu bar and the main window will open where you will see 7 different circles, each representing a view. Click on the leftmost view and read the text Welcome to Tot. Click continue to read what Tot can be used for. Finally, click on the third view and access the entire Tot guide.
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Once you’ve read through those welcome views, you can delete all the text inside and start using each view for a different purpose.
Create a list
As you add to your view, you’ll eventually want to create a list. With lists, there’s one thing you need to know. To create a list, click the asterisk near the bottom right of the window. A pop-up will appear, where you can choose the type of bullet you want to use for your list. After you select the bullet, it appears in your view. Type an item for the list and press Enter on your keyboard to activate the next list item. Keep doing that until your list is complete. At the bottom of the list, press Enter twice to exit the list.
Add a bulleted list to the Tot view. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Share views
You can also share a view. To do that, click the up arrow in the bottom corner of the view you want to share, then choose from Mail, Messages, Notes, Reminders, or any other supported app and install it. put.
Sharing views for different apps is simple. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
When you share a view, it doesn’t create links or allow collaborators to be added. For example, if you share via email, Tot will just paste the content of the view into the mail.
And that, my friends, is the basic usage of Tot. If you’re looking for a note-taking app that does the trick, you can’t find a better app than this one. Tot is simple yet highly effective at what it does.
