Introduction
In iPadOS 15, Apple Notes received a couple major updates. Along with Quick Notes, the introduction of tags in Apple Notes was a notable announcement.
Here's what I've learned about using tags in Apple Notes over the past week.
Tags In Apple Notes
In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple introduced the ability to easily organize your notes by adding tags.
Adding Tags
Users can add tags anywhere in a note, even the title. To add a tag to a note in Apple Notes, simple type # followed by a keyword (like #BlogPost or #AppleNotes). In addition, you can add tags in a note by drawing # and a keyword using an Apple Pencil. And yes, you can add tags to Quick Notes.
Note: Tags cannot be added to locked notes, and you can't create a locked note if it contains a tag.
To add tags to multiple notes, go to the folder with the notes you want to select. Tap the ellipsis ("More") icon, and then tap Select Notes. Select the notes you want to tag, and tap Tags at the bottom of the screen. Choose the tags you want to add to the notes, and select Done when you're finished.
Keyword Rules
The keyword in a tag has to be continuous, but you can use hyphens or underscores for multiple words (like #Blog-Post or #blog_post). Capitalization in tags does not matter, as keywords will automatically be adjusted for capitalization. For example, if #blog-post is a preexisting tag, #Blog-post, #Blog-Post, and #BlOg-PoSt will be automatically corrected to #blog-post.
View Notes With Tags
To search for a tag or multiple tags, simply head to the search bar in the Notes app. Because Apple Notes will recognize handwriting as text, any tag typed into the search bar will show notes containing that tag.
Another way to find tags is by going to the Tags Browser (section under Folders), which brings up a list of tags. To find notes with a specific tag, simply tap that tag. To find notes with multiple tags, tap the tags you want to include. This will bring up a list of notes that meet your criteria.
Removing Tags
To remove tags, delete all text including the tag and erase all handwriting containing the tag.
Smart Folders
Smart folders are simple ways to organize notes into different categories based on their tags. In addition, notes in Smart Folders also appear in their original folders. In other words, Smart Folders provide a filtered view of your notes.
Creating a Smart Folder is easy. Tap the New Folder icon, tap new Smart Folder, enter a name, enter the tags you want to include, and that's it! Your Smart Folder is now created.
You can also create a Smart Folder by opening the Tags Browser. Tap the tag, then tap the more button, tap Create Smart Folder, add a name, and tap save.
In addition, you can convert an existing folder into a Smart Folder. To do so, tap the More button in the existing folder and tap Convert to Smart Folder. You cannot convert shared folders, a folder with subfolders, or a folder with locked notes. Note: this conversion cannot be undone.
How I Use Tags
Personally, I use tags in Quick Notes. This helps me organize my Quick Notes, especially if I have multiple notes about the same topic.
I personally haven't seen any problems with using tags in Apple Notes. Everything Apple has done so far appears to be perfect, and I can't think of any further improvements they could make. If you do, let me know by replying!
Conclusion
Tags in Apple Notes is a fantastic feature. It adds another dimension of organization to Apple Notes, which, in my opinion, already has very good organization tools.