My digital workflow had a dramatic change in 2024, so much that in 2025, I have a more complex work setup.
Apple Notes
I seem to have completely given up handwriting notes for work because handwritten notes are simply not that flexible. In 2025, I am keeping my handwriting to random thoughts and rough ideas than structured notes. I do those in Apple Notes, and most of them end up being deleted after a certain time period. In a nutshell, Apple Notes has become my pocket notebook. It’s a lot easier to work with on the go because a phone that fits right in your pocket.
Pages
My go-to app for writing scripts and planning courses is Pages by Apple. Initially, I planned to do this in Apple Notes, but after a couple of months I realised the app had a lot of limitations that I couldn’t work with. The limited tables and document structure in Apple Notes were the main reasons I stopped using the app in favour of Apple Pages. The app gives me more control of tables, which I need for our app databases, and also to structure our course plans. I love that I can easily switch pages to landscape and create columns. That is something Apple Notes can’t do.
Apple Reminders
Reminders is hard to replace. I thought I would love the Calendars app by Readdle, but after a couple of months; the calendar view felt overrated. Especially when we had to work with a production line where a single video needs different people working on it. Again, the columns in Apple Reminders proved invaluable for that. They are simple, yet functional. Some automation would be nice, but, the current set up works. I know when it’s my turn to do something, and I just check the list we’re collaborating on and it’s done.
I have also been taking notes in Apple Reminders, lately. Where I add information about the task at hand when I create it. It just helps to keep me on track, to make sure I am not wasting time trying to figure out what I was thinking when I created it. So, most of my to-dos inherently come with some notes, and a link to Pages so I don’t have to go looking around for a document when it’s time to do some work. I miss the ability to drag and drop notebooks from Apple Notes to create new reminders. Pages doesn’t seem to support that, which is one of many inconsistencies that bug me with Apple apps.
Numbers
After trying Excel, using Google Sheets (which started acting out at some point), I circled back to Numbers for our databases. It took some workarounds, trimming out a few things and fixing up others to really come up with a system that works well in Numbers. I am happy that we managed to do that because our databases are shaping up in Numbers. Of the three apps, I have to say, I prefer Google Sheets, even though it didn’t work for my case. The app has a healthy balance between functionality and complexity with Numbers sometimes feeling too simple and inadequate, and Excel being extremely complicated. But then again, the more complex an app is, the more it can do for you. So, for our databases, we’re settling with Numbers.
MarginNote 4
MarginNote 4 has completely transformed my Bible study. I even managed to convince Uncle Dan to move to the app from Apple Notes for his Bible study. We’ve had to extensively test and try MarginNote 4 for the course we’re working on. It’s been fun, but hectic, but I have to say that MarginNote is the most useful research app I have tried so far. I love that you can even annotate videos in the app. If that is not amazing, I don’t know what is. MarginNote 4’s making me curious to really sit down and study ZoomNotes. I can’t help but wonder if it would deliver the same amount of satisfaction and capabilities. It being complicated and all.
When I am not working, studying an app, writing up a course; I am studying the Bible. The irems I have found in it! It’s incredible. So, Bible study is part of my productivity routine. I use MarginNote 4 with my Olive Tree Bible app as a supplement. When I am not able to sit down and do some deep study, I just read the Word on the go. I try to listen to it, as much as I can.
Final thoughts
Naturally, I use the Mac more because of the apps I am using. But, MarginNote only makes sense on the iPad and Apple Notes, mostly on the phone.