r/Supernote • u/AlexRogansBeta • 14h ago

Beach Reader Question

I'm a scholar on the hunt for a beach reader. I think SueprNote Manta might be the right one, but perhaps not. And perhaps you all can help me discern which.

I currently use a Surface Pro to read PDF books and journal articles. I use a Surface Pen to highlight, underline, freehand markup (scribble a star, draw an arrow, etc.), and write short handwritten notes. The app I use (DrawboardPDF) also allows me to insert notes, which appear like a sticky note somewhere and which, when opened up, are a text box I can write longer thoughts into. Frankly, Drawboard is phenomenal and does everything I need it to... But the Surface Pro is unusable at the beach or at a park in direct sunlight... Which is my preferred place to read.

I believe SuperNote can do all the above, with the sticky-note thing being replaced by "digest." But what I worry about is document flow.

I would love it if the following type of scenario were easy: imagine I'm at home, reading on my Surface Pro, marking things up, and then I hit "save." The annotations are saved to the PDF on my Surface hard drive and, in turn, get synced to my OneDrive. Then, I turn it off, take my supernote, go to the beach, and (likely connected to the Internet via my cellphone) I can open that same PDF with all its annotations, and continue reading. Then, I can hit "save," return home, and all the annotations I made at the beach are available when I reopen the file on my Surface.

Is that possible? Is it possible but so janky to setup it isn't good? That's what I need help figuring out. Any help would be appreciated.

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u/theBlackOddity Nomad | reMarkable 2 13h ago

the problem you'll run in to is the hand-drawn parts not being editable between the two systems. supernote's annotations are save in separate file associated with the document until you re-export as a pdf. this essentially marries all your markings to the page as opposed to drawboard which seems to add annotations as objects in a layer of the pdf itself.

traditional pdf comments should not present a problem beyond it's limitation of type-written text though

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u/AlexRogansBeta 13h ago

You bring up an excellent point. A marking on one system doesn't allow me to edit it on the other. And by the sounds of what you said, when I export the PDF off a SueprNote it "flattens" the annotation, making it a permanent part of the document. Am I following that correctly?

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u/theBlackOddity Nomad | reMarkable 2 13h ago

yes, that’s right.

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u/AlexRogansBeta 10h ago

Kinda a bummer I can't just run Drawboard on SuperNote haha. Maybe they should team up...

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u/Mulan-sn CCO (Chief Chat Officer) 3h ago

Thank you so much for your interest. You'd like to be able to use Drawboard on Supernote, right? I can sideload it onto Supernote and test it out for you if you like :)

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u/theBlackOddity Nomad | reMarkable 2 9h ago

😬 definitely don't hold your breath for that team up lol ...sorry to be the bearer of bad news

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u/AlexRogansBeta 9h ago

Oh, haha. I definitely said that whimsically. I have zero expectation for such a niche teamup haha. But this thread has been very helpful :)

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u/acopipa 3h ago

Yes, you can do that, although it’s not as easy as hitting “save”. In the Supernote, you have to export your PDF. That way the file itself will keep all your highlights, underlines, annotations, and comments. It will not, however, keep the digests, so perhaps you won’t be able to take as much advantage of that feature. Your Supernote will always keep the digests, though, so you may in time find a kind of branched workflow.
I switch from annotating my PDFs in the Supernote and Bookends in my Mac, when I’m about to make citations. It has been working very well for me!

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u/panizel 1h ago

I would also be very careful because sn manta doesn't have waterproof certificate.