The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition remains one of the best Android 4.4 tablets for students who like to take notes in class, business users who attend a lot of meetings or artists that need a tablet with fine-tip pressure sensitive input for drawing. Samsung installs a too much crapware on their tablets, but some of the apps add value to users. We’ll share helpful tips for getting the most out of apps, like S Note, Action Memo, and the built-in keyboard to name a few.

To go along with this guide, we’re also going to offer some tips for getting the most out of the Samsung Touchwiz interface installed on the Note 10.1, and we’ll share some great accessories that we like for use with the tablet. Hit those links to read more and become a power user of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.

S Note Tips

S Note does a lot for an app preinstalled by Samsung. But some users will want more, and MetaMoji Note fulfills the advanced user’s wishes. For most Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition users, though, S Note really is all they need. Use it to take notes, sync them across Samsung devices or back them up to Evernote. Use it for drawing or mind-mapping a presentation. Teachers, speakers and presenters can use it as a whiteboard app while hooked up to an external display. Use the tips below to start the journey to becoming a master S Note user.

Use Templates

S Note templates make it easy to set up notes for meetings, calendars, to do lists or other useful and creative tools.

Upon first launch S Note will let the user choose a cover style and default template for the notebooks. The cover style doesn’t matter as much as the template that shows up on the next screen. Think about what kind of notes this notebook will hold. The Meeting note template organizes notes differently than the Schedule template. When it doubt, pick one of the Blank or Note templates.

Decide how you plan to hold the tablet while taking or typing notes. S Note offers two orientations, one for holding it in portrait mode and the other in landscape mode. The former feels better for handwritten notes while the latter works better for those planning to connect a keyboard or use the onscreen keyboard.

S Note offers templates for taking notes, keeping a list, tracking a schedule or other more specific tasks like one for Travel notes, a Baby diary and even a movie review.

Sync with Evernote

Sync S Notes with Evernote to keep from getting tied into the Samsung ecosystem.

Samsung offers a syncing service that users will log into via their Samsung account that they set up when they first begin using the Note. This same account gives access to the Galaxy Apps store and other services. However, to keep from getting tied into the Samsung ecosystem, consider using Evernote to sync notes. This means the user can use them even if they later replace the tablet with an iPad or some other company’s Android tablet.

The S Note folder shows up in the left side column in Evernote.

When a user first launches S Note and chooses their note cover style and default template, the screen offers the options to set syncing up with either Samsung or Evernote. A third choice lets the user choose later by going into the S Note settings.

If an Evernote account isn’t already logged into on the tablet, S Note will open the Accounts Settings feature in Evernote and offer to log in. Either create an account or log into one already created. When finished the app will return to the sync selection page. Choose Evernote and hit Next and you’re done.

Choose S Pen Only Mode for Better Wrist Rejection

S Note has two modes, S Pen only mode and S Pen and finger mode. S Pen only mode will tell S Note to ignore touches while the app’s running in the foreground. The other mode registers pen and touch at the same time. While S Note and the S Pen does a nice job of filtering out touch while the pen is close to the screen, users who will only use their pen for note taking should consider setting in S Pen only mode.

An icon at the bottom right of the screen that looks like a hand with an index finger that’s pointing up opens the setting to change between modes (see above).

The S Pen only mode doesn’t ignore all touches. It just doesn’t write on the page using the finger. It still registers touches of buttons, like the Settings icon, the Toolbar icons at the top of the page and the other buttons along the bottom.

Set Pen Presets for Faster Custom Pen Choices

S Pen lets the user customize the look of the S Pen drawing and writing. It offers a…

• Fine tip pen
• Pencil
• Paintbrush
• Calligraphy Brush
• Highlighter
• Correction pen (lightens other pen inputs)

Open the S Pen box by tapping on the Pen icon and configure the pen, then tap on Presets and then the pen with a plus next to the X.

Tap on the Pen button in the upper left corner and configure a pen style the way you want the preset to look. There’s a button that looks like a pen with a plus inside a circle (see above). Tap it to create a preset with the previously configured pen. For example, I added a medium tip blue and black pen as well as a thick yellow highlighter as a few of my chosen presents.

Here’s an example of some present pens in S Note.

Add Media to a Note

S Note lets users add media to their notes via the button on the bottom of the screen to the left. It looks like a square with a plus inside a circle. Tap it and a list pops up showing the kinds of media users can add.

• Voice memo – records a memo and inserts a play icon into the note
• Image – adds images including the ability to take a shot from within S Note
• Video – same as Image but with video
• Easy chart – create easy charts
• Illustration – adds preset illustration images
• Clipboard – copy items previously saved to the Android clipboard
• Scrapbook – insert content from the Samsung Scrapbook (see below for more info)
• Maps – add a map
• Idea Sketch – create idea sketches with preset drawings

Click to see the large version of these S Note media insert examples.

The image and video insert feature lets the user take the content from the gallery or the user can take a shot or video directly inside S Note. One cool feature lets the user draw the box using their S Pen and then insert a photo or video taken from within S Note.

Action Memo Tips

Think of an Action Memo as a sticky note on steroids. It lets users save data in their own handwriting for quickly finding later. But the app also lets users perform a set of actions.

Use action memos to find web sites, create contacts, and more.

Perform Actions by Selecting Written Text

Action memos use the S Pen to not only take quick sticky notes, but also lets the user interact with their handwritten content in order to link memos to actions including the following:

• Create Contacts
• Send email to an address
• Search the web or go to an address
• Find locations on a map
• Create a new task

Search for web content or surf to a web site by writing and selecting the written text in side Action Memos

The feature works by writing the words that make up one of the items on the above list. Tap the icon with the dots in a circle and the arrow pointing to the right. This selects the written text. A menu of icons pops up below the selected handwritten text. Tap on one of the icons to perform the action.

Users can also save the Action memo for future use. If a user attends a conference and meets a new colleague, she can write out the person’s name in an action memo and later go back and create the new contact.

Open Action Memos with S Pen

Quickly open Action memo by removing the stylus so they S Pen menu pops up. Choose the icon furthest to the left. Hover over it to see the name and then tap on it.

If the user already removed the S Pen, she can open the menu by pressing the S Pen button.

Change Action Memo Background Color

Tap the Background icon to change the background color.

With an Action Memo open, tap on the icon that looks like a box with a paint pallette over it. This shows a menu of option pastel colors for the Action Memo.

Clear the Page with A Tap of the S Pen

Tap the eraser icon to clear the whole Action Memo page.

To clear the page quickly, the user can tap on the eraser icon. The Clear All button shows up. Tap it to clear the page with a single tap or just erase strokes by using the pen as an eraser.

Change S Pen Colors

Tap the pen icon to change the S Pen color.

To change the S Pen color tap on the pen icon and the S Pen color options show up in a menu. Tap the desired color to change it.

Minimize an Action Memo without Closing It

Notice the tiny yellow square with a black square inside. That’s the Action Memo minimized.

Close an Action Memo by tapping the check mark in the upper right corner. However, sometimes a user wants to keep it open but hide it to get it out of the way. Do this by tapping the icon that looks like a box with a smaller black box in the upper left corner of the icon.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Keyboard

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition keyboard does a better job than most keyboards preinstalled by Android phone or tablet OEMs. The row of numbers above the letters makes typing numbers and text together for things like addresses so much easier since the user doesn’t need to tap a number button before entering the numbers.

Change the Samsung Keyboards Settings to make it work better for you.

The keyboard can still stand some tweaking to make it work better. First, go to the Settings by swiping down from the top of the screen to show the Notification Panel. Tap on the gear icon in the upper right corner. Tap on Controls from the tabs at the top.

Make sure the Samsung keyboard is selected in the Default keyboards section. Then find the Samsung keyboard in the list of keyboards and tap on the gear icon to open the keyboard settings. Now turn on Predictive text so that as you type, the keyboard will guess what the next word you’re going to type is.