Take Full Advantage Of Your Apple Pencil With These Underrated iOS Features

An Apple Pencil is an incredible tool for virtually anyone with a supporting iPad. For artists, it can be downright invaluable, yet many of the available tools and features are also great for an office or college setting, such as helping with marking documents, taking notes, or even annotating certain items. An Apple Pencil helps lend credence to the argument that the iPad can be a good MacBook replacement. However, there are some things that even long-time users may not know about. 

You probably already know some of the simpler iPad features, such as being able to swipe left with three fingers to undo actions or swipe right to redo actions in most apps, but the Apple Pencil provides additional features that can further expand the device's capabilities. This includes transforming handwriting to typed text, plus a few tricks for taking notes, including directly from the iPad's Lock Screen. Many of these features are simple quality-of-life shortcuts that Apple fans have come to expect from the company, yet some add to the versatility of this powerful writing tool. While plenty of folks are still hoping that the next-generation of Apple Pencil will work with iPhone, there's plenty of mileage current users can get while working with their iPad.

Apple Pencil owners may already be aware of the Quick Note feature, which lets them sketch ideas simply by swiping with the Apple Pencil from the bottom-right corner of an iPad and selecting the note to begin drafting. It's useful in a pinch, but the Scribble tool can make things even faster by converting the handwriting into text. From your iPad, open the Settings app, scroll down the sidebar on the left, and select Apple Pencil, then ensure that Scribble is enabled. You can then handwrite with the Pencil in any text box, and your iPad will automatically convert it. Now you don't have to set your Pencil down just to type something, which can make things like entering URLs in address bars or quickly filling out a form far simpler. 

Just remember that in apps that offer Markup tools, such as the Notes app, you'll need to select the Scribble tool, which looks like a pen with an "A" on it. If you begin writing and forget about the Scribble tool, don't fret, there's ways to convert handwritten notes to text after the fact. Simply tap to highlight the written text, then tap again and choose Select or Select All to quickly choose what part of the handwritten text you want. Tap again and then select Copy as Text, then tap and paste the text wherever you would like.

Most users already know that adding notes to a screenshot with Apple Pencil is easy. Drag the Pencil from the bottom-left corner of an iPad, select the thumbnail that appears, and then you can add whatever you like to the screenshot with your Markup tools. While this, on its own, is rather useful, it's worth knowing that you can quickly take notes on your Lock Screen as well.

Starting a note from the Lock Screen only requires bringing the screen to life, and then you can begin taking notes or drawing immediately. If your iPad supports Tap to Wake, you can even use your Pencil to unlock the screen and immediately begin writing. By default, this feature is always going to create a new note, however, this can be changed by accessing Settings > Notes > Access Notes from Lock Screen. You can also enable the feature from here if necessary. From this menu, options include Resume Last Note, Always Create New Note, or Off, which disables the feature.

Since we're talking notes, one last bonus tip is to remember that your iPad can highlight any information that may contain interactive data, including items like email addresses, dates, street addresses, or phone numbers. Long-press or tap highlighted data to bring up your options. For example, your iPad may highlight a phone number, allowing you to add it to your contacts or quickly send a message.