After years of managing my daily tasks, notes, and time blocking across multiple apps, I tested NotePlan, a tool that promised to be an all-in-one solution. Over the last two weeks, I’ve immersed myself in its features, testing them in my daily routines.
My journey with NotePlan began unexpectedly while listening to episode 756 of the Mac Power Users podcast Exploring NotePlan with David Roth. An entire show was dedicated to exploring its capabilities, which is rare. That discussion pushed me to sign up for a two-week free trial to see what NotePlan had to offer.
Getting to Know NotePlan: A Basic Layout Overview
In the past, I used several different apps for my notes, tasks, and calendar. To make a daily plan, I looked at my calendar app and task manager and wrote a list of tasks and a primary task for the day in my journaling app. If I wanted to time block these, I had to go back to my calendar, make an entry, and select the proper calendar to appear in.
NotePlan changes the game by combining these elements in one cohesive view, interacting seamlessly, creating a more fluid and less fragmented experience. Instead of juggling multiple apps, I now open NotePlan to find my tasks, calendar, and notes all in one place—allowing me to focus more on getting things done and less on managing tools.
Often described as a digital bullet journal system. NotePlan excels at integrating notes, tasks, and events into one cohesive place. While I’ve never ventured into bullet journaling, I can certainly appreciate the benefits of having everything centralized.
The ability to seamlessly add notes to tasks and checklist items is a game-changer for staying organized. I also love how NotePlan makes it effortless to access my quarterly, monthly, and weekly reviews with a single click. Moving tasks from Reminders into my daily notes is as easy as dragging and dropping, and reassigning tasks to future dates is just as simple—dragging them onto the calendar or adding a date after the task.
NotePlan’s interface is structured around three main panels, each serving a distinct purpose.
•The left panel – Lists daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly notes, followed by your non-time-based notes and templates. This is where you organize your notes inside or outside folders.
•The center panel – Typically displays your daily note. When I plan my day and work through the day, I keep the center panel open to my daily note, which acts as my command center for tracking tasks and setting up time blocks. The center panel displays a note when I review or create a note.
• The right panel – Has a calendar that can be set to display between 1-7 days and also includes a monthly calendar. It shows events from the calendars I select to view, time blocks I have created, and also the tasks in Apple Reminders due today.
Why NotePlan Stands Out: Key Benefits
• What sets NotePlan apart from other apps I’ve used is how it seamlessly integrates checklists, tasks, a calendar, time blocking, and notes—typically spread across multiple apps—into one cohesive tool.
It’s designed from the ground up so that these elements work together instead of being tacked on, as in Obsidian, where you must use multiple plug-ins to gain a somewhat similar functionality.
It’s designed to use the daily note as the hub. Here, you can plan your daily checklists and tasks, make notes, and do time blocking.
• There’s no need to spend much time setting up the app, as in Obsidian or Notion. It’s ready to use right out of the box. Have you ever spent more time organizing your productivity tools than actually using them? With NotePlan, there’s a built-in system that you can jump in and start using.
• It makes time blocking simple, fun, and easy. Drag tasks and checklist items onto the calendar to turn them into time blocks. Or, type the starting and ending times at the front of the task or checklist item and create a time block.
The time blocks are displayed graphically on the calendar and listed on your daily note. This makes it simple for me to review the past week to see what I worked on when I do my weekly review that starts with the question, “How did I do last week?”
• It’s a visually appealing app. It includes several themes. Additional themes can be downloaded. You can easily customize themes to suit your preferences.
• NotePlan has an excellent support system. The developer responds quickly to requests for help. I’ve had the developer, Eduard Metzger, respond to my requests within a couple of hours. There’s also a NotePlan help center with helpful articles and FAQs. In addition, there’s a very active Discord community where members help each other, and the developer is also an active participant.
• It has native Mac, iPad, and iPhone apps. Many popular apps (Obsidian and Notion are examples) are electron apps designed for all platforms. You can tell by their structure and functioning, which is distinctly foreign to the Apple universe. NotePlan was explicitly designed for the Mac, iOS, and iPad OS. It follows Mac and iOS conventions and integrates well with other apps.
• NotePlan integrates seamlessly with Apple Reminders. Reminders sync automatically with NotePlan. To place Apple Reminders tasks in your daily notes, drag them from the calendar Reminders filter into the daily note.
• It includes bidirectional linking. Like Obsidian, NotePlan includes bidirectional linking. I find this linking useful for limited purposes, but others depend on it to link their PKM systems. For instance, I use bidirectional linking to link my Roles List note in my weekly review template so I can click on the link to open the Roles List for my review and then click on the weekly review template link to go back to the review.
• NotePlan is based on Markdown files saved to your local device, so it’s easily backed up and transportable to other apps. Because it uses Markdown files, I could import my entire Obsidian vault with one click.
• NotePlan syncs using iCloud. There are no proprietary syncing systems or third-party requirements for fast, reliable, and secure sync to all your devices.
• It’s simple to set up and use templates. I have templates for my daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly templates. To turn a note into a template, drag it into the template folder or create it in the folder. To insert a template, I bring up the actions menu with a key command and select “insert template.” That gives me a list of my templates.
The Downsides of NotePlan: Challenges and Limitations
• The cost might be a sticking point for some, priced at $10 a month or $100 a year. However, the cost is similar to other comparable apps, such as Craft ($10 a month, $96 a year), Notion ($12 a month, $120 a year), or Obsidian with syncing and publishing ($12 a month, $144 a year).
It’s also available as a part of Setapp at no additional cost. I save at least $50 on yearly subscription fees, including NotePlan.
• There’s a learning curve, but it’s not steep. While the learning curve isn’t steep, getting accustomed to NotePlan’s unique interface and feature set might take a few days. Fortunately, the developer offers a series of daily emails with tutorials, and there’s a wealth of community-driven content in the Discord group available to help you hit the ground running. In addition, there are multiple YouTube videos by long-time NotePlan user Stacey Roshan and others.
If you’re coming from a more complex app like Obsidian, you’ll likely find NotePlan’s learning curve refreshingly manageable. But if you’re new to productivity apps, take your time exploring its features—you’ll quickly see how intuitive it can be.
• So far, I’ve only found one feature I’d like that’s missing: indefinite repeating tasks. The task management system in NotePlan does not include indefinite repeating tasks. You can go up to 365 days, but not indefinite.
This seems like an essential requirement of any task management system. The lack of indefinite repeating tasks initially felt like a dealbreaker. However, I found that integrating Apple Reminders for this specific need was a seamless solution that didn’t disrupt my workflow. There’s also a plug-in called @Repeat Extension that allows for indefinitely repeating tasks, but it was a little too graphically messy for my tastes.
Why I’ve Switched to NotePlan as My New Daily Companion
After two weeks with NotePlan, it’s clear that this tool isn’t just another app—it’s the backbone of my daily productivity. While Obsidian served me well for note-taking, NotePlan’s all-in-one approach has brought a level of simplicity and focus I didn’t know I was missing.
Switching to NotePlan has been more than just a tool change; it’s transformed how I approach my workday. I no longer feel the need to cobble together multiple apps—instead, I have a single, powerful tool that meets all my planning needs. I wholeheartedly recommend a test of NotePlan for anyone looking to simplify their productivity tools.
If you’re tired of juggling multiple apps and want to reclaim your productivity, don’t wait—try NotePlan today and see if it can transform your daily routine.