Use the Moto Note app

Jot a quick note with the stylus

Write and save a quick note, no unlocking required.

  1. Remove the stylus.

  2. If your phone was locked, just start writing.

    If your phone was unlocked, tap on the stylus menu.

  3. Write or draw your note.

    Your note automatically saves in Moto Note.

  4. To save it to another app or share it, tap more options icon > Share, then select an option (if your phone was locked, unlock to share).

  5. To exit a note, tap .

    If you use gesture navigation to get around your phone, these gestures (like swiping middle to go back one screen) are disabled when you're working in a note, so you can create notes without interruption. Once you exit a note and are back on the All notes screen, you can use gesture navigation again.

These quick notes are Drawing notes. You can create text, audio, and checklist notes too, in the Moto Note app .

Create text, drawing, audio, or checklist notes

  1. Open the Moto Note app.
  2. If needed, tap to go to the All notes page.

  3. Tap and select the type of note:

    Text note: Add text, pictures, tables

    Drawing note: Doodle and draw anything

    Audio note: Record multiple audio files in one note

    Checklist note: Create a checklist, mark items off, add reminders and links

  4. When working in a note:

Organize, find, delete notes

In the Moto Note app , you can categorize and label notes to find them easily, and delete old notes.

Add or edit titles

  1. Open the note.

  2. Tap Title and type a title.

    Or, tap the current title to edit it.

Categorize notes

To categorize a saved note:

  1. Open the note.
  2. Tap the title.
  3. Tap Uncategorized and select a category (To-do, Personal, Work) or tap Add a category to create another.

To categorize a note when you create it:

  1. Tap menu icon to see the categories.
  2. Tap the category.
  3. Tap to create the note.

Find notes

To view notes by category, tap menu icon and select the category.

To search for a note:

  1. Tap menu icon and select All notes or a specific category to search.

  2. Tap and type a word from the title or content.

    Notes containing the word appear as you type.

  3. Tap a note to open it.

Delete notes or categories

To delete saved notes:

  1. Touch & hold the first note to delete, then tap any others to select them.
  2. Tap delete icon.

To delete a category you created:

  1. Tap menu icon > Edit.

  2. Tap delete icon.

    This doesn't delete any notes. It just moves them to Uncategorized.

In a Text note

To add text, tap the screen to place your cursor, then write directly on the screen and your handwriting will be converted to text. Or, switch to the keyboard on the handwriting bar.

Select text

  • When handwriting, circle text to select it.
  • When using the keyboard, double tap a word to select it, then move the sliders to select more.

Format text

Tap to set the text format.

To format existing text, select the text first.

Add/remove table

To add a table, tap , then drag through the squares to select cells for columns and rows.

To add/delete a column or row, tap inside the cell where you want to add/delete, then:

  • Tap to add/delete a column.
  • Tap to add/delete a row.

To delete a table, tap inside a cell to select the table, then tap .

Choose background color or add lines/grid

  1. Tap more options icon > Set background.
  2. Select a blank background, lines, or grids.
  3. Select a color.
  4. Tap Set.

Capture text from picture and paste into note

Tap , then:

  • To take a photo and copy text, tap .
  • To copy text from an existing image, tap .

In a Drawing note

Use different types and colors of pens, and tools to create your drawings.

Change pens

Tap the current pen icon, then:

  • Select the pen to use. Tap its picture to see the stroke.
  • Move the slider to adjust the stroke thickness.
  • Tap a color to change the one in use.

Use a straight-edge

Tap to draw lines and check angles.

Use two fingers to move or rotate it.

Draw a perfect shape

Want to use perfect circles or squares in your drawing? Draw the shape and pause on the canvas for one second to see it replaced by a matching, symmetrical template shape.

If this doesn't work, turn on the setting.

Add text, images, audio, more

Tap more options icon and select an option to add:

  • Images captured from the note or previously
  • Text boxes you can reposition and resize
  • Audio you record from the note
  • Background colors and patterns

Copy, delete, resize a selction

  1. Tap and circle the object to select it.

  2. Then:

    • To copy and paste it elsewhere in the note, tap Copy, touch & hold where you want to place it, then tap Paste.
    • To remove it, tap Delete.
    • To change its size, tap Resize, then drag a corner or side of the frame to the size you want.

Erase

You can erase a stroke, pixels, or everything you added to your note.

To select the type of eraser to use:

  1. Tap twice.

  2. Choose the eraser type:

    • To adjust the eraser's size, move the slider.
    • To erase an entire stroke, tap Object eraser, then tap the stroke to remove.
    • To erase part of a stroke, tap Pixel eraser, then tap the portion you want to remove.
    • To erase everything, tap Clear all.

After you've set the eraser type, tap to switch to it and erase.

In an Audio note

  1. Touch to start recording.
  2. To pause, touch .

  3. To stop recording, touch .

    You can add more audio recordings to this note, now or in the future.

    You can't delete individual recordings from a note; you must delete the audio note and all of its recordings.

On the primary Moto Note screen, you'll see microphone icon on audio notes.

To listen to a recording in an audio note, touch .

In a Checklist note

  1. Touch to add an item to your list.

    You’ll see the cursor blinking in the first empty textbox for the list.

  2. Use the stylus to write directly in the textbox. Your handwriting will be converted into text.

    To switch to the keyboard, touch .

  3. Optionally, to add a reminder or a link to the checklist item, touch .
  4. To add the next checklist item, touch .

To mark items as done, touch the circle on the item. The item is moved to the Completed section of the list.

To unmark an item, touch Completed, then touch the checkmark to remove it. The item is restored to the list without a checkmark.

Back up and sync your notes

Back up and sync your notes on Google Drive to access them wherever you sign in with the Google account you use on your phone.

  1. Open the Moto Note app.
  2. Tap more options icon > Settings.
  3. Turn Auto sync on toggle on switch.

  4. Optionally, adjust how syncing works:

    • To allow syncing over mobile data when Wi-Fi is unavailable, turn Use mobile data to sync on toggle on switch.
    • To sync over Wi-Fi only, turn Use mobile data to sync off toggle off switch.

Adjust Moto Note settings

  1. Open the Moto Note app.
  2. Tap menu icon > settings icon.

  3. Adjust settings:

    • To draw shapes and have them replaced by matching, symmetrical template shapes, turn Auto-shape on toggle on switch.
    • To include a watermark when you share images from Moto Note, turn Watermark on toggle on switch.
    • To adjust whether or not you hear a sound when writing with the stylus in Moto Note, tap Stylus settings and turn Sound on toggle on switch or off toggle off switch.