Galaxy Note Tips & Tricks

S Note Tutorial: how to use productivity tools

By 211 Comments · ·

s-note-tutorial-productivity-toolsS Pen is something unique in our Galaxy Note. ICS (aka Android 4.0) update simply made our Note more useful with some new apps specially for S Pen. S Note is one of these new and interesting apps.

However, some Galaxy Note users are not sure how to use S Note, although, Samsung already includes the 6-page S Note tips, 6-page productivity tips, and 6 samples (not sure why Samsung guys like 6, 6=s) in the S Note app.

So, I created this tutorial to give you some idea how to use the productivity tools in S Note.

Table of Contents hide
1) This tutorial works on all Note devices: Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0.
1.1) 1). start and navigate through S Note;
1.2) 2). find and use the productivity tools button;
1.3) 3) handwriting to text;
1.4) 4). shape match;
1.5) 5). formula match;
1.6) 6) export S Note
1.7) Tools used to create this video include:
1.8) More tutorials for S Note app can be found here in the S Note guide page.

This tutorial works on all Note devices: Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0.

For Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, this productivity tools is integrated into S Note app. So in the new S Note app, you can not find this tools directly. Please read this post for more info.

In the 8min 30s video (screen cast with audio), the following topics are covered:

  • 1). start and navigate through S Note;

  • 2). find and use the productivity tools button;

  • 3) handwriting to text;

  • 4). shape match;

  • 5). formula match;

  • 6) export S Note

Enjoy the video.

Tools used to create this video include:

More tutorials  for S Note app can be found here in  the S Note guide page.

More tips on Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1 can be found in Tips and Tricks page.

Galaxy Note 3 online manual (HTML edition) is available here.

If you want to download the PDF version of Galaxy Note 3, Note Ii, Note 8.0. Note 10.1, or read the PDF version on line, you can find all of them in this User Manual page.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Travis says

    How does a person get to their notes that they have made privat? I can not seem to find any of themand or even find a privacy functions to let a person get to then!? :-/

    Reply

  2. U.A says

    Hi I have forgotten my password for my galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition. How can I retrieve it or get back into the device?

    Reply

  3. Adeiza says

    I need help please. I created a file about 2 weeks ago. Named it Week 5 and saved one week of class work on it. I only saved few times but allowed the auto-save functionality to do the saving of my changes for me. This morning however, I tried opening the file and lo and behold! there is nothing in the file. How can I recover the content of this file

    Reply

  4. George says

    I having trouble with typing into S Note. I’m always able to bring up the typing dialog box at the top, but it won’t let me add anymore unless I copy and paste it. What am I doing wrong? Also I’ve followed the help and ran the tutorial and that seems to work, but in a real document, it doesn’t. Any help would be appreciated

    Reply

  5. dwifeb says

    I found one of my files in snote was unable to open and it said “error occured” and the file size was changed to 22 byte. I don’t remember doing something to my snote and I can still open and edit the other files as usual. Do you know why and how to fix it? the error file contained many pics and it’s the biggest file among others. thank you

    Reply

  6. Debasis Pal says

    I used to write note for students in s-note of samsung note pro 12.2 with record sketching and voice memo for each page. I want to upload the same in youtube. How to make it visible in you tube so that student community can enjoy the notes as a video. I need an urgent reply. Thank you in anticipation.

    Reply

  7. Mark says

    Hi, any idea how to delete unwanted (previously opened and added) S-note background image/s from the change background popup window on Note 4.

    Reply

  8. peace says

    Which Samsung galaxy note can I use its pen to design female cloths and add colour to the cloths as well.

    Reply

  9. mj greene says

    Is there a way to “lock in place” an imported image? When coloring in areas of it the blue borders come on and the image moves.

    Reply

  12. ashok says

    Hi when ever am trying to add pics or idea sketch do2nloaded item it stops in between and say error changes cannot be saved am not able to uae any of the pics or sketches

    Reply

  13. Karen says

    I created folders in my Galexy note 1-.1 *2014 edition), now I want to expand each folder by creating more folders but within each folder already created. example in a folder called MY Mail I want a folder called family, another called busuness and a folder called friends. How can I do this.

    Reply

  14. Ed says

    This is great information. I learned some stuff I didn’t know before, But what I’m looking for is how to copy and paste into an existing S-Note. If I have a bunch of text from say an email and I want to save it into an S-Note, how do I do that? Here is the reason I want to do this. When I’m setting up a calender entry, there is an entry for “Notes”. When you tap the “+”, it wants to know if you want to use an existing S-Note or create a new one. If I create a new one, go to the email and copy the text from there, I cannot figure out how to paste that text into the S-Note.

    Reply

  15. Mnemonic says

    Hey love the Note 10.1 2014 but is there any way to get a full screen white blank template with no lines anywhere? I’m always grabbing an A4 sheet of paper to scribble on but would use the note if it we’re possible.

    Reply

  17. Kong says

    Hi guys, is anyone here met the problem that S Note increase the size incredibly? I got roughly 70 pages of full text in S Note, but the size was 14++ gb … i was surprise indeed, how can 70 pages of full text only been size 14++ gb ? The size keep growing day by day. Can someone provide some aid to me, thanks and regards.

    Reply

  18. dclaar says

    S Note seems to have problems saving input. Even though occasionally an “auto save” message flashes across, I’ve found that, unless I explicitly click the check box on the upper right, it won’t save my handwriting. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that it has lost it even when I’ve done that. It’s really disappointing and frustrating!
    Also, clicking on a notebook from the widget doesn’t bring up that notebook; it brings up whatever notebook you used last!
    (This is on the 2014 note 10.1) I don’t have the “do not keep activities” box checked.
    Hoping Samsung fixes that: I was really hoping to use S Note as my “lab notebook”.

    Reply

  19. ayla says

    dear galaxy note,

    i have the Samsung Note 10.1 2014 edition and the application S Note works well, but it’s very different than the S Note application shown in this tutorial and I’d rather get this version. I don’t really like the layout of the albums of the notes, so is there a possibility to change/download/update the app to this version?

    Reply

  20. Tracey says

    Hi, what page size is s note? When i emailed a note to be printed a lot of the work on the bottom of the page was cut off. How do I make A4 my default page size please? Sorry if this is a really dumb question, I am new to s note 🙂

    Reply

  21. Robi says

    I have mistakenly chosen “Always” instead of “Just Once” when I was choosing to insert objects using the S Pen. How to change it back ???

    Reply

  22. calhce49 says

    I do not have the icons displayed in this tutorial. I have the note 3, but from left to right my icons are the pen tool first and type tool second…the others are missing – please help – or tell me where to go for help. Show me you have superior customer tech support?

    Reply

  23. Berri says

    hi , when i converted some e-books to snb on my laptop then i send it to my galaxy note 10.1 and open them said (error occur) so what did i do wrong ?!!!!

    Reply

  24. Samuel says

    I’m using Note 2. I’ve that button after pull out S pen, but cannot find that button when I add a note from S Note, why?
    Another case is, S Note by pull out S pen have lesser feature than start from the app (no productivity tools), why?

    Reply

    • Galaxy Note says

      by default, when you pull of the S Pen, Popup note is opened. Popup note is similar to memo template, which does not have images and productivity tools.

      In Note 10.1, you can configure it to start S Note (or a few other apps, in addition to the popup note.) once the S Pen is pulled out. Settings–S Pen–Options after detaching pen. Note 2 does NOT have this option in most regions. Wait for the 4.3 update, which will bring this feature.

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      Reply

      • Samuel says

        But for new note, which start from select template (it has productivity tools feature & display in full screen), there was no button for smaller window view, how to make it happen?

        You mentioned multi window mode for S Note, can it be done in Note 2? What you mean by multi window? How many window can be view at a time?

        Reply

      • Samuel says

        Note 10.1 & Note 2 are released around the same period, why Note 2 don’t have the same feature as Note 10.1 in S Note? Esn’t Note 2 higher ability than 10.1?

        When 4.3 update will be release?

        Reply

  25. Eva Kpe says

    for the recorded sketches, how can I share the record file to others? not by only text or image. need the process that recorded of the sketches. How to share that video file?

    Reply

  26. Samantha says

    Also something else I’m not sure of, my phone says I have less than 1gb of storage left and my 8gb SD card has about 5.5gb left, is there any way I can move stuff across to my SD card to make more room on my phone? ..I have already uninstalled heaps of apps (i only have 1game and about less than a dozen apps e.g fb, ebay, shazam etc.) and deleted a lot of music and pictures to try clear up more room but I didn’t see any big change in storage?

    Reply

  27. Samantha says

    And sorry I have a Note 2…also wanted to know is it possible to get a password reset for my diary under s note as well with factory resetting? As I’ve forgotten it and can’t get back in:(
    Thanks in advance:)

    Reply

  28. Samantha says

    Hi,
    I’m having issues with downloading pictures from Idea sketch, I only have basic pictures I can insert but want too see the others as well but it says you have to download it first…just gives me an error message ‘download failed try again later’ I did that…still not working:(
    Please help:(

    Reply

  29. Sam says

    Is there a list of commands that are recognized by S Note’s Formula Recognition? For example, when entering “sin(” it comes up “s1n(” rather than recognizing the sine function. Thank you.

    Reply

  31. Bia says

    Hi, i just upgraded and S Note said it would import all of my s memo files
    I had a private folder, requiring a password to get into it on s memo (folder name was in korean script) and now i cant find it anywhere on Snote…
    Please could you advise me as to what i can do to get my very VERY important files back??

    Thanks so much in advance

    Reply

  32. Nikhil Ambhorkar says

    I locked a note on my S Note but now I forgot my password to unlock it. How can I delete the note without unlocking it because I cannot unlock it because I forgot my password?

    Reply

  33. Marcelo says

    Hi,

    Does anyone know if there is any way to recover closed documents? I was using it with dual view and ended up closing it by accident and can’t find a way to restore. By the way, it seems like a huge mistake not to have ask for confirmation before closing when a document is open in dual view. When you try to close in fullview, the app asks for confirmation, but on dual mode, no… 🙁

    Reply

  34. Emily Cochran says

    My Note 10.1 tablet was stolen yesterday and when I go onto my Note2 phone to look at my S note files some now have a password on them. I have cleared the data and done a factory reset but I can’t get that password off! Its medical information so I REALLY need it. Is there anyway to remove the password?

    Reply

  35. Farhad says

    Hello,
    I have a galaxy tablet note 10.1 and I use s-note software to take a note at university. One of the missing feature in the s-note software is that it is not possible to copy and paste the handwriting and hand-drawing without background! Specially when the background has pattern, copying part of the handwriting/hand-drawing also contains the background pattern.
    I invite you to take a look to the “LectureNotes” software that is available in Google play. It does not have this bug. This software also has some attractive features which can be added up in to the s-note software. Please take a look!
    I hope for the next version of the s-note at least this bug does not exist!

    Reply

  36. Kartika says

    I have solved the problem 😀 so for Fadila and all who have the same problem with me with ”the document restore after application close”, this is the solution. I have not contact yet the local Samsung service, but i have read some local group community in some web. Open the “setting” , go “system”, under “system” we can find “developer option”, then in “Apps”, please not checked “do not keep activities”. And voila! we can insert any gallery/picture to our S-Note 🙂

    Reply

  37. Kartika says

    I have a problem while insert tools in s note for galxy note 10.1. While i click + button to insert images, it retun to galery/dropbox, so i vhoose one of picture, then i choose save, but suddenly the gallerydropbox closed, and return to my page in s note, nut with the notification “the document restore after the application closed”. Its so silly because i did it as what video tutorial said, i did the same.
    So, i trying another way, before i open s note, i choose which picture i plan to insert to note, and add it to clipboard,so if i want to insert pictur, i choose clipboard, not images. Its so difficult, because the insert images tools be so useless. It also happen to template with image, “tap the image…….”, while i did it, the gallery open, but finally ended like insert images.
    Anyone please, explain to me why its happen, and what the solution?

    Reply

  38. Renrew says

    I would like to know if there is a way to manage and organise already existing notes and putting them inside newly created notebooks?

    Reply

  40. JU says

    Hi, Is it possible to make checklists with the s note program? Like a shopping list with the little boxes on the side that I can check off?

    Reply

  41. ceajs says

    Hi all, I’m a new user and thought the tutorial was great, however I don’t seem to have the productivity tools in the S Note feature. I only have the pen, text and eraser icons (on some templates i have the formula icon. I have tried pressing and holding the Text button as suggested else where. I have also tried seeing if there’s any difference between accessing the S Note when the pen is removed and the side menu appears and accessing the S Note from the applications whilst the pen is still in the device. Alas I still can’t get the productivity tool to appear!
    I’m completely up to date in terms of software as far as I know (Android 4.1.1)
    Any suggestions would be most appreciated 🙂
    Thanks!

    Reply

  43. steph says

    Hi, I recently updated the software on my galaxy note 10.1 and since then the productivity tool button disappeared from the s note app.
    Doe anybody have any idea on how to get it back?
    I tried to reboot the tablet and did not work…
    Thanks

    Reply

  44. hugo says

    Hi, my s note only allows handwriting input languages english and korean. is there a way to get spanish as well? i tried searching the internet but couldnt find a clue. help please!

    Reply

  45. rekcart says

    Hi. Is there a way to lock the screen when zoomed in to avoid auto scrolling when the pen is near the edge of the screen? It is quite annoying. If only there’s maybe someway to toggle it on/off. Thanks.

    Reply

  46. Jorge Rodriguez says

    Hi all,
    I have used Snote to take lecture notes twice and both times I have saved the file, yet when I come back to the application to review my notes the file is gone or just plain empty with none of my handwriting. Has anyone else experienced this? Where am I able to access whatever file samsung is backing? I have the auto sync feature turned on, yet I have no idea where these files are being saved at? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

    Reply

  47. rana says

    i have note I. I have created a note on Snotes but thrn accidentally deleted it. Is there a way to retrieve? Thanks.

    Reply

  49. Amani says

    Hi, I recently flashed the JellyNote Beta ROM onto my Note 10.1. Previously I was using the stock ROM however I rooted it. I’m familiar with the SNote app on the stock ROM, however the SNote app on the JellyNote ROM (though similar) has a few differences from the one in the stock ROM. One of them being that the ‘add page’ icon that is normally next to the ‘next page’ icon at the foot of the page is missing; so I can’t add a new page to my notes 🙁

    Is this a new version of SNote (because I also noticed that I can now record my sketches on all templates)? How can I add a new page?

    Reply

  50. adriana says

    Hi, I´m sorry, I´m new at Samsung galaxy Note, I have 10.1 and I still didn´t get how to make automatic space when using handwriting text in S-note. Thanks many times

    Reply

  51. T.Roz says

    Hi, thanks for this tutorial, but 1 still have some questiona about the S-Note!!

    1) Supose I am hand writing something (Without productivity tool) and I decide to take it to another place in the paper. Is it possible to crop ít and drag somewhere else? The same goes for figures…

    2) When 1 am using the writing productivity tool, everything I write is transformed to text but with the letter sized 38. Is it possible to switch the default to another letter size??

    3) Is there anywhere in the tablet, where 1 can See what are the standard shapes for each letter and simbols, the seftware does not understand many of my letters Can 1 teach him how to read my handwriting?

    Thanks a lot

    Reply

    • Galaxy Note says

      1). Nor quite clear what you want to do. Basically, there are not so many third-party apps to take advantage of S Pen (although the SDK was released long time ago). For text input with handwriting recognition (without using productivity tools), most keyboards, including the stock one, support this.

      For drawings, you can export them as JPEG, and use them as normal images.

      2). as I know, you cannot change the font size for text from handwriting recognition. Although one reader mentioned it is possible in Note II, but I did not find this feature in Note II. Please note, in Note II and Note 10.1, for text through text input in S Note, you can change the font size and font as well.

      3). No, there are no way to calibrate your writing/drawings, as I know.

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      Reply

  52. Hannes Zietsman says

    I find it very strange that one can only export part of the note format. For examp if you have a picture with some doodoodling and text only the picture and text are shared to pdf or image. I kind of pointless If you have arrows and lines to explain things.

    Reply

  53. Ethan says

    I’m really interested in using S Note for college and was thinking of using it to create notecards for study and possibly exams. The only problem is that I would need to be able to resize the note to 3inx5in and I can’t see any way to do that. Is there a way to change the dimensions of a note in S Note?

    Reply

  56. Dudley says

    Hi,
    When creating a new note, I can only choose between the 8 templates provided by Samsung. I would like to make my own business templates similar to the ‘meeting note’ template, but using our company logo, for phone notes, project planning, service reports, etc. Is this possible? Otherwise, is it possible to remove the template (background) when sharing the note? Tried to e mail and print a pdf version of a memo based note, and my printer ran out of yellow ink straight away.

    Reply

  57. Harshita says

    Hello!
    I have galaxy note II. I wanna know how that how do I change the font type in S note? Like..when writing a text or something..there are not enough fonts..I want more and good one..
    Can you help me?

    Reply

  58. Muthanna says

    Hello,
    I need help. I’ve created a note on the S note app on my Galaxy Note II. And now I really need the Date I created this note and the time. I tried my best to find it but I couldn’t. Is there any way to show me the date this note created?!
    thank you ..

    Reply

  59. JohnBH says

    I love my Samsung Note 2. I love S note. But I can’t figure it out. I can’t get features to work. Nor find them after I save them whether they are finished or not. I’ve pecked the screen to get features to the point of damaging the screen.

    Can’t someone put out a written manual that we can download, read, and study.

    Reply

  60. Wendy says

    How do you restore an accidentally deleted template? I deleted one of the business ones and can’t figure out how to get it back!

    Reply

  61. Okeu says

    Hello im new in SNote.

    In the text box and Handwriting text are they using the same font? can i change the font (ie: Times new Roman, Callibri etc) ?
    One more question, the size of the font can i minimize it? if i minimize it, they automatically resize the box and this is annoy.

    Many thanks.

    Reply

  62. Meleio says

    I have a question…

    How can I export the ‘magazine’ S Note so that the video is viewable/playable on other devices? For example, I attended party at my sons school today. Took some pictures and created a ‘magazine’ style note with the a video slide-show of the pictures & some copy below with the intention to share it with the teacher & other parents. But when I export it as a .pdf the video is only a big picture with a play button in the center.

    At the very least, I’d like to include a link to the video slide show, but have no idea how add that to my note either.

    Any help you could offer is greatly appreciated.

    Reply

  64. Nisha says

    Hey thankyou for the video. It was quite informative. I’d like to add another query.

    How do you change the background once you’ve selected the template?

    Reply

  65. Watanuki says

    i particularly liked the recording sketches function on S Note. i was wondering if you would happen to know how to export the sketch in a video file format as opposed to the entire file as a jpeg or pdf. i would love to create some how-to videos using S Note but unless someone else has the same device, they can’t open it!…failing that, would you recommend a separate converter program for the purpose?
    thanks in advance!

    Reply

  66. mahjong says

    Nice tutorial.

    I got a question. I don’t know how the “Edit Pages” option works at all. I thought this was for coping a page from one doc to another. So I choose Edit Pages in a doc, select some pages and click con Copy. Then… what?

    I couldn’t figure out how to paste the pages in other document… or… what is all this Edit Pages thing about?

    Thank you in advance.
    Javier

    Reply

    • Merpus says

      I’ve got the same problem. Its useful to be able to change the order of pages in the edit pages mode though, but i’d also like to copy pages to new notebooks.

      Reply

  67. myrthe says

    I’ve just got my Note and I directly wanted to paint en do thing on the S Note app. But I saw that I didn’t had the productivity tools button. Does anybody know why?

    Reply

  68. Daniel says

    I have a bug in my Snote, it does not import any other documents apart from notes. Its killing me. I have seem many people with this bug, probably everyone has this problem.

    Reply

  69. Roger says

    Hi Simon
    Would S-Note be available on other devices such as the new Nexus 10? Or is it exclusive to Samsung Note?
    thx!

    Reply

  71. paul says

    Hi Simon, thanks for the tutorial. The application is nice but lacks some ergonomics…no idea why Samsung is not more zealous in debugging and increasing usability.

    For example:
    – once you add, size and position an image there is no way to change it or delete it, at least I have not figured out how to get the blue resize and move handles….many times you press outside the image and you have to redo the entire operation by deleting the page including text you have typed.
    – the first line where you are supposed to type the title always disappears ” so if you select “add image” and forget to tick the dropdow arrow top right, the image or text will start on the second line.
    – undo with image does not work and is greyed out..

    It is an interesting experience but far from perfect as probably an apple app would be. I hope Samsung dedicates more effort…..it is a pity…. Would cost so little. Hey, I am even willing to spend some time in Seoul to help them debug 😉

    Reply

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