Digital note-taking is great for people who want to organize their thoughts and reach their goals. It also eliminates dozens of notebooks, highlighters, and stickers, making it better for the planet and your bank account.
You can find all sorts of note-taking templates. There are templates for every college course imaginable, journal templates, and even just day-to-day planners.
what are digital note-taking templates?
Taking notes can feel daunting, especially when you are faced with a blank page. Templates solve this problem by providing built-in titles, sub-headings, and prompts that are centered around your goals.
Artists, illustrators, and fellow notetakers create note-taking templates that you can purchase online. If you can dream it, there is probably a template for it.
Note-taking templates are typically sold as PDFs. Once you have purchased the PDF, you can upload it to your preferred note-taking app and start annotating.
does my note-taking app already have templates?
If you have downloaded one of the many note-taking apps on the App Store, chances are that you already have access to templates. You can use the preset templates on note-taking apps like Goodnotes, Notability, and NoteShelf, or you can look further afield.
So, where should beginner digital notetakers start? Here are our nine favorite note-taking templates on Etsy.
LiveLovePlanner’s Digital Note Paper
Price: $3.24 on Etsy
Features:
- Range of templates. There are over 60 templates!
- Selection of textures. Choose from smooth, rough, watercolor, and grainy textures.
- Customize the colors. Explore 20 colors, and you can even ask the Etsy seller to create a custom color for you!
This note-taking template is great for people who want to explore their options and customize their notes. Once you have chosen from dotted, grid, narrow-lined, lined, and blank pages, you can plan by the hour, day, week, month, and year.
There are 64 note-taking templates, including eight in the popular Cornell style. And with 20 neutral colors to choose from and a fully stocked tab with 1,000 pre-cropped stickers, it is easy to personalize each page.
Fortunately for beginners, this template comes with a detailed how-to guide. If you want to start your note-taking journey with a comprehensive, all-in-one template, look no further.
CreativeJamCo’s Digital Meeting Notes Template
Price: $7.79 on Etsy
Features:
- Specific sections. Instantly take notes and organize your thoughts into sections.
- Multiple notebooks. You can create up to ten different notebooks with 30 pages each.
This is the ultimate note-taking template bundle for busy professionals. It is hyperlinked for easy navigation, allowing you to stay organized even if you’re late for a meeting.
There are sections to take notes on attendees, agenda items, action items, meeting minutes, decisions, summaries, and more. If you are a very thorough notetaker, you will appreciate the level of detail in this bundle.
The only downside to this bundle is the lack of background color options, but you can still add highlights, stickers, and graphics to your notes in whichever app you prefer.
PaperArtPlanet’s Cornell and Oxford Notes
Price: $4.80 on Etsy
Features:
- Strategic approach. These note-taking templates are designed to encourage strategic note-taking.
- Versatile. Choose from lined, dotted, and blank pages.
If you’re an experienced notetaker, you might’ve heard of Oxford and Cornell notes.
- Cornell notes method. A simple yet practical note-taking method that prioritizes separate sections, key ideas, and minimalist design.
- Oxford notes method. A strategy that avoids copying down facts and instead encourages notetakers to actively engage with the material.
Can’t decide between the two? This digital download bundle has templates that appeal to both types of notetakers. And, even though it doesn’t take much time to create your own Cornell template, having a pre-made note-taking template can massively streamline your workflow.
There are 60 templates in total, 30 with topic tabs and 30 without. They are linked, dotted, or blank.
TheStudentStrategy’s Topic Summary Sheet
Price: $2.52 on Etsy
Features:
- Customizable colors. Choose from five colors.
- Organized. Separate sections encourage you to compartmentalize important information.
Here’s another one for improving recall. This topic revision sheet isn’t just good for students who want to ace a test, it’s also great for professionals who want to better their understanding of a new marketing strategy, hobbyists learning new skills, and professionals studying for a career change.
It’s simple but seamless. There are four sections: summary, key concepts, extra reading, and notes. You can also write the topic, subject, and date at the top.
Ultimately, it combines functionality and versatility. There are three PDF sizes, including A4, A5, and US-letter size. To make the deal even sweeter, you can choose from five colors: pink, purple, blue, green, and grey. The colors aren’t overbearing, so your favorite color will simply complement your notes instead of overshadowing them.
BloomindPlanner’s Dark Digital Notes Template
Price: $3.43 on Etsy
Features:
- Stickers. Over 1,000 stickers included.
- Pre-set templates. There are so many templates to choose from, and you can use the stickers to personalize them.
For the same price of some of the simpler note-taking templates on our list, this bundle has everything you could possibly want to create practical, clean-cut notes.
It’s based on dark background colors, perfect for people who want to take notes at night or write with light colors. There are 18 backgrounds to choose from, ranging from standard black to deep purples and blues. In short, it’s subtle, stylish, and elegant.
64 original templates give you more than enough breathing room to try out different note-taking styles and find something that works for you. Lines, dots, grids… you name it, it’s here.
That being said, the templates aren’t as detailed as some of the other digital downloads we’ve mentioned, with most of them containing literally just lines, dots, or grids. But each page is hyperlinked, so you can return to the color select screen at a moment’s notice.
As if that isn’t enough, you get 1,350 stickers for free! Timers, shopping trolleys, stars, clouds, pre-built to-do lists, tabs, trackers… There’s a sticker for every mood, task, and reminder.
EliteDigitalPlans Tabbed Digital Notebook Bundle
Price: $7.20 on Etsy
Features:
- Stickers. Make your notes more aesthetically appealing with hundreds – even thousands – of stickers.
- Tabs. Tabs, tabs, and more tabs!
Have we mentioned that this bundle has a lot of tabs? If you want to organize your notes with tabs, this is the bundle for you. It contains seven variations, with six, seven, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 24 tabs, and each notebook has five color options. Essentially, you’ve got 35 notebooks in one!
On top of all the notebooks, you can choose from 85 note-taking templates and 2,500 stickers. You know the drill: there are grids, lined pages, Cornell notes templates, and every other standard template you can imagine. It’s also got ten daily, monthly, and weekly templates to plan your day-to-day life.
See those logos in the top right-hand corner? They link to Apple Calendar, Reminders, and Google Calendar. And, as we mentioned before, there are handy color-coded tabs on the right-hand side of each notebook that allow you to seamlessly move between pages.
Once you’re finished taking notes, you can add a pop of color with any one of the 2,500 stickers, which include Post-it notes, graphics with dates, stars, and more.
AHNsDesign NoteTaking Paper Templates
Price: $7.50 on Etsy
Features:
- Simple design. Instantly take notes and create revision prep.
This bundle has lots of blank space, which is ideal for students, professionals, and hobbyists who appreciate a clean slate. There are 160 templates to choose from, but all of them are relatively simple.
You can choose from dozens of colors, from plain white to deep purple. You can also switch between lined, gridded, and blank backgrounds. Basically, this bundle contains something for every kind of workflow.
DotDotTrace’s Printable Lecture Notes Study Planner
Price: $4.99 on Etsy
Features:
- Built-in prompts. The titled sections encourage you to organize your notes by topic.
- High-resolution pages. Forget blurry lines, this template is high-resolution.
This is a brilliant note-taking template for college students. Choose from five note-taking templates, including blank, square, dotted, and two types of ruled templates. You can use the square template during math class and the ruled templates during literature studies.
Each template includes built-in titles and subheadings. You don’t have to spend precious time perfecting your own layout, which is ideal for busy students. If you want to jump straight into taking notes, this is the perfect bundle for you.
Discover the best iPads for college students in 2024.
CreativeJamCo’s Mind Map Template
Price: $5.18 on Etsy
Features:
- Four templates. Use all four templates to organize your thoughts.
- Detailed notes. Explore your ideas in detail with these in-depth mind maps.
Take your note-taking process to new heights with mind maps. Mind maps provide visual cues, allow you to link different ideas, and develop your understanding of any given subject.
This note-taking template bundle comes with four templates, which are available in landscape and portrait orientations. Once you have uploaded the templates to your chosen note-taking app, you can add stickers, illustrations, and eye-catching colors.
how do I import note-taking templates?
If you want to upload a note-taking template to a note-taking app, simply go to the app and click the import button. Once this process is complete, you should be able to start taking notes as usual.
Not sure which app to choose? Find the best note-taking apps for iPads.
Rock Paper Pencil: A Pen-On-Paper Experience for iPad
Most of us are accustomed to taking notes with pen and paper. The transition to writing on an iPad and using a digital notebook can feel strange. On its own, the iPad’s glass screen is a slippery surface that can cause messy handwriting. Luckily, a small but mighty market has emerged for paper-feel iPad screen protectors.
Rock Paper Pencil includes a magnetic, paper-feel iPad screen protector and two ballpoint Apple Pencil tips. Built with nano-texture technology, Rock Paper Pencil adds subtle friction between your screen and Pencil, giving you more control while drawing or writing.
- Magnetic Screen Protector: Easy application, removable and reusable.
- Matte Texture: Subtle friction mimics the feel of paper (no more slippery glass!)
- Precision Apple Pencil Tips: Smoother, more controlled strokes
