A smartphone is a bit like a Swiss army knife, with the difference that you can add almost an infinite number of functions through apps. Unfortunately, many apps also offer more than you need. The note-taking app Ruff keeps it simple and lets you start organizing your thoughts right away. We’ll show you how to use it!
Ideally, you should be able to start immediately with an app, without too many distractions, while the important functions are of course accessible and easy to find when you need them. An effective example, when it comes to writing notes, is Ruff. It is from the same makers as the accessible weather app Appy Weather. Ruff ensures that you can write immediately after starting the app, but also offers useful extras if you look a bit further. The app turns out to be very useful for organizing your thoughts or taking some notes during a meeting. Isn’t it quite what you’re looking for? At the end we list some alternatives.
1 Installation
ruff can be downloaded from the Play Store. The app is free, but offers some paid extras, which are discussed later. The app is characterized by its minimalistic appearance. For this, it was rewarded by Google in 2019 with a Material Design Award. You can still hide all elements – and there are not many by default – so that you are left with nothing more than a canvas to write in. Ruff has also released a similar app for Windows; however, there is no synchronization option (yet) between the versions for Android and Windows†All notes are on your device, but you can export or share them with other apps.
2 Getting started
When you open Ruff, you immediately see a sheet of text with explanation. This is your work area and you can immediately start writing texts or modifying the existing text. If you want to empty the notepad, open the menu via the floating action button at the bottom right, and choose To empty†Your progress is always automatically saved and restored; so you don’t have to worry about file management. That doesn’t mean you’re bound to one sheet of text. You can save texts for later, by resting your finger on the work area for a while and then swiping to the left. If you slide the toolbar up, you will see all stored texts. You can open them but also, via the menu, copy them to the clipboard or share them with other apps. The same toolbar also shows the number of words, letters and the reading time of the text.
3 Processing texts
A toolbar at the bottom gives access to simple formatting options while typing texts. For example, you can make text bold, strike out, italicize or underline. You can also add bullets or create a numbered list. On the left of this toolbar you see a few more buttons, including for changing the font size, switching between light and dark mode and for copying the text to the clipboard. On the far left you will also see a settings icon, with which you can set the app in more detail. The floating action button on the right also gives you some useful options. For example, you can export the current text to a file, or share it with another application. This allows you to easily use texts in other apps.
4 Additional settings
If you open the settings via the aforementioned toolbar, you can set the appearance of the app, such as the font size and font, but also influence the behavior of the app. For example, you can specify when the toolbar and toolbar should be shown and what Ruff should show at startup. By default, the app will pick up where you left off and keep the keyboard closed. However, you can also choose to immediately start with a new sentence or paragraph, and with the keyboard ready, so that you can continue working on your note in no time. There are also some other handy tricks to work faster. For example, you can place the ‘cursor’ with a vertical swipe up or down in one go. For a one-time payment of 2.19 euros you can remove the advertisements that Ruff shows. In addition, the upgrade gives you the right to store an unlimited number of texts. By default you can save up to ten texts.
5 Alternatives
Of course, there are plenty of alternative apps that help you write notes. Good examples are BasicNote and BlackNote. Google itself has also released a practical note-taking app, called Keep. Organizing these notes is reminiscent of the yellow sticky notes. It is useful that you can make this even more clear by adding tags. With Keep you can not only write notes, but also, for example, make a drawing, keep shopping lists or record an audio note via the microphone. If you’re a fan of Microsoft’s Office apps, you can’t ignore OneNote. The app is not complex, despite the many features. Especially for organizing notes, in a way that is reminiscent of the binder, OneNote offers a lot of flexibility. Moreover, you can record things in all kinds of ways, for example by writing or drawing, but also by scanning. If you want to keep it simple, you can use the OneNote badge as a notepad to immediately put your thoughts down on paper as soon as something comes to mind. A big advantage for office workers is that you can quickly continue working on your notes on other devices thanks to the automatic synchronization.
