If you’re completely new to digital planning and you’re not quite sure whether you want to take the plunge into the world of paperless planners yet – a digital notebook is the perfect starting place.
It’s a cheap and easy way to dip your toes into the digital planning game and see if it’s the right fit for you.
That’s why I’m so excited to announce that Bold Visionary Planner has released a completely FREE digital notebook for Goodnotes for our subscribers!
You read that right. It’s a completely FREE digital notebook that you can download for your iPad or Android tablet.
This way, you can easily test out Bold Visionary planners to see if you like digital planning and test whether they work on your device without any monetary commitment.
So, if you love free stuff, keep reading to see how you can sign up for your free digital notebook today!
Get a FREE Digital Notebook for Goodnotes!
To claim your completely FREE digital notebook, simply sign up via the form below.
Then, wait a few minutes and you will receive a welcome email from Bold Visionary Planner with a password to our exclusive resource library!
Inside, you can download the FREE digital notebook and then transfer it to your note-taking app like Goodnotes 5 or Noteshelf.
As well as this digital notebook, there are plenty of freebies inside this exclusive resource library like digital stickers, sticker books, notebook front covers and more.
Sign up below!
What’s included in the free download notebook for Goodnotes?
Are you wondering whether digital notebooks are worth it? Well, there is no risk in trying it out for free!
Here’s everything that is included in this digital planning freebie:
You get a hyperlinked, interactive PDF for Goodnotes 5 or Noteshelf
It has 6 hyperlinked sections that can be accessed via an index page plus the 6 tabs are entirely clickable – so you can find what you’re looking for in seconds! They are left blank so you can personalise these to what you like.
There are 3 digital paper templates that you can use in your notepad. These are lined, a checklist and dotted paper/bullet journal! You can move these paper templates to your divider sections and duplicate them as many times as you like
Want to customise it even further? We have free digital notebook covers and free digital stickers inside our freebie library too!
Read more – get your hands on this complete list of Digital Planner freebies!
Want to see the full version of the digital notebook? Watch this video!
Shop this digital notebook on Etsy
Not sure what digital notebooks are? No problem!
If you’ve never used a digital notebook before and you’re not sure how they work, don’t worry!
In the next part of this post, I’m going to explain everything about digital notebooks.
This includes what they are, how they work and how to use one in a note-taking app like Goodnotes 5!
By the end of this post, you’ll be an expert on digital notebooks. But, if you’re still unsure – make sure to check out my digital planning tutorials here.
There are plenty of videos to show you how to use your FREE digital notebook.
Prefer dark mode PDFs? See my FREE Dark Mode Digital Notebook sample here
What is a digital notebook?
A digital notebook is just like a paper notebook but instead of flipping through your notebook tabs with your fingers, you’re clicking on hyperlinks.
A digital notebook is essentially a hyperlinked PDF that you can use within a note taking app or PDF editor app like Goodnotes 5, Noteshelf, Notability etc.
The note taking app will allow you to write on that PDF with your stylus pen.
Unliked paper notebooks, digital notebooks are intuitively hyperlinked throughout, so you can easily find the notes or scribbles you’re looking for in seconds!
The digital paper templates you’ll receive in your interactive notebook look exactly like real paper that you would see in a notepad. But, they are just digital paper.
So, you’ll never run out of paper in these notebooks. You can duplicate your paper templates as many times as you like!
Why bother using a digital notebook?
I’ve always been a paper planner girl. In fact, at first I was solidly against Digital Notebooks haha!
I didn’t really see the point in them and I didn’t understand the hype.
But, then I actually tried one and I was completely blown away.
I was amazed at how they can be completely customisable to how YOU would like to use your notepad.
I don’t know about you, but I always find it a little difficult to find the right paper I like when I buy a notebook in a shop. There’s always something I don’t use and then I feel guilty about wasting the paper.
That doesn’t happen when you use a digital notebook…
No, with digital notebooks you get a series of paper templates that you can use throughout your notebook – so you can customise it completely around you and how you like to jot down your thoughts!
These are just some of the benefits for using a Digital Notebook;
- They’re light – no need to clutter your home with notebooks!
- They save time – you can find your notes in seconds through the hyperlinked dividers
- They are customisable – you can customise your notebook around your needs
- No need for tipp-ex – note taking apps allow you to erase notes!
- They are eco-friendly – you can duplicate pages as much as you like a keep reusing your notebook!
How does a digital notebook work?
So, unlike a paper notebook where all of your pages are provided for you and there hundreds of pages inside already.
An interactive notebook comes with a series of paper templates and some blank page divider tabs. These tabs are hyperlinked so you can find your sections easily.
For example, the Bold Visionary Digital Notebook comes with over 40 pages templates to choose from and 12 divider tabs that you can personalise!
The freebie sample comes with 3 paper templates and 6 hyperlinked page dividers.
You can typically find all of your paper templates from the paper template menu found at the front of the notebook.
In the Bold Visionary notebook, you can access all of your paper templates by clicking on the paper tab found to the right of the PDF pages.
These paper templates can easily be placed inside your hyperlinked page dividers by either copying the pages or making them paper templates in the note-taking app itself.
How to use a digital notebook in Goodnotes?
So, firstly, you’ll need to make sure that you transfer your PDF notebook to your Goodnotes App.
Once, you’ve downloaded your freebie, hit the ‘share’ icon at the top right of your screen and then select Goodnotes in your app choice.
Goodnotes 5 is currently £7.99 in the app store at a one time purchase.
Then, once you’ve clicked on ‘Goodnotes’ as your note taking app of choice, click ‘Import as New Document’.
Once you’ve done that your notebook should be transferred! Make sure your pen icon is toggled off so that you can click on the hyperlinks.
If you click on your ‘Contents’ page via the burger menu, this is where you can click on the boxes to find your divider pages. Also, you can easily find your sections from the hyperlinked tabs to the right of your pages – wherever you are in your notebook!
When you first open your free digital notebook, your page dividers will be blank – but don’t panic.
We’re going to start filling up your notebook with some of the paper templates included in your notebook!
In the freebie sample that will be lined, dotted and lists.
How to use page templates in a digital notebook?
So, there are a couple of ways that you can start using the page templates provided in your notebook in order to start taking notes!
Firstly, head to one of your paper templates. You can find the Bold Visionary paper templates from the paper symbol tab.
Then, select which page template you would like to use.
Head to the three dots in the upper right hand corner in your Goodnotes app.
From the menu, select ‘Copy Page’.
Then, head to one of your divider tabs eg. 1
Once you have clicked on the divider tab, click on Add Page icon (It will be a paper symbol with a plus button in the middle).
Then, click on ‘Paste Page’ – Make sure that the ‘After’ button is toggled at the top of the menu.
Sucess – you have now inserted a page into your divider tab!
From here, you can easily duplicate the page by clicking on the ‘Add Page’ Icon again and then selecting ‘current template’.
You can repeat this in your digital notebook with whatever page templates you like!
Just remember that notebook templates taken from outside of the notebook will not have the hyperlinked tabs attached and so you may break your links…
You can also break links by removing pages! So, make sure to save a copy somewhere in case this happens.
Need more digital planning tutorials?
If you’re new to digital planning, it can be quite a confusing time!
That’s why I decided to create a hub of digital planning tutorials to help people who want to make the change.
To access my digital planning 101 page, click here and you can watch a video series.
Or, read my ULTIMATE guide to Digital Planning here.
Thank you for reading and enjoy the freebie! If you wanted a dark mode version, you can read more about that here.
Sophie x
Save this FREE Digital Notebook for Goodnotes post for later!
Niceee
Your designs are so beautiful!!! I like them so much!
Thank you so much!