by When Drafts for iPad hit the App Store just over a year ago, it immediately turned heads for its minimal workspace and lengthy series of actions that turned a simple note-taker into a powerful and versatile text editor. A year later, the file-less file system is no longer a novel concept, and a crop of recent utilities have given Drafts a run for its money, offering tighter Dropbox integration and quicker navigation.
With the new version 3.0 release, Drafts (also available on iPhone) looks to put a bit more space between it and its competitors. While the actions and outputting options we’ve come to rely on are all still there, Agile Tortoise has completely revamped the way that the app handles notes, with a unique management system that lets you prioritize your drafts and quickly organize your thoughts so you can send them where they need to go with ease.
Drafts can even help write… this review.
Just like before, the app instantly opens to a blank screen, ready to capture your words; but instead of storing everything in a giant receptacle, Drafts organizes your notes into three panes: Inbox, Archive, and Pinned. As you type, notes are automatically saved to your Inbox (with no need to name the file, of course), but they don’t have to stay there. Notes can be moved between panes with a quick swipe, but it’s far more efficient to utilize Drafts’ enhanced action scripts. If you compose a tweet, for example, it can either be automatically moved to the Archive after posting (to keep your Inbox clean) or “pinned” for quick access later.
The deceptively powerful list of actions adds a few new tricks — including slick integration with Reminders — and takes its famous customization a step further, using another set of panes to make your favorites easier to find. Moving actions between panes isn’t quite as easy as drafts management, but it’s probably not something you’re going to be doing very often. The extended keyboard adds even more functions, but we were hoping for a level of personalization (though that may be an Apple limitation), and we also would like the ability to rearrange the hierarchy of notes in our Inbox without editing or shuttling them to another pane.
The bottom line. Whether you’re a longtime user or a first-time downloader, Drafts 3.0 will show you a better way to organize your thoughts.
Review Synopsis
Product:
