5 ways to level up your writing game with reMarkable

It’s no surprise that handwriting is good exercise for the brain. Not only does it require vision, touch, and fine motor skills, but research reveals that writing by hand also helps with learning, creativity, and retention.

In today’s fast-paced society, putting pen to paper has its disadvantages, especially with our work and personal lives becoming more dependent on digital efficiency. It’s all too easy to ditch the ballpoint for a keyboard and mouse.

But what if you could keep all the benefits technology offers and gain back the mental focus and concentration of writing with a pen on paper?

It turns out you can.

reMarkable was designed to give you the value of handwritten notes with the perks of being digital. Here are five essential tools packed into the paper tablet that will open you up to entirely new possibilities when writing by hand.

1. Grab a starting point

Our days have become a continuous juggling of several different activities. In addition to staying on top of tasks, there's jotting down notes and completing to-do lists.

Much of this daily note-taking is actually repetitive work done consistently from week to week. Instead of starting over every time, why not give these recurring actions and tasks a jump-start with one or more of 79 different templates pre-installed on reMarkable.

From daily and weekly planners designed to help you organize your time to checklists perfect for crossing out completed work, each template has been purposefully created to offer your handwriting efficient convenience.

Certain templates offer flexibility with line spacing, grids, or dotted paper to match up with whatever type of note-taker you happen to be. Plus, to make things even easier, the templates are divided into five categories: All, Creative, Grids, Life/Organize, and Lines.

Once you have selected a template from the sidebar menu, it will remain open for all new pages within the notebook. It can also easily be changed at any time, allowing you to switch effortlessly between as many templates as you need or would like.

2. Pick the perfect tool

When you’re writing notes to yourself, checking off completed tasks, or visually sketching out solutions to complex problems, finding just the right writing tool for the task becomes an essential part of the process.

We get it.

That’s why reMarkable has eight different writing tools to choose from. Not only can you instantly switch from a ballpoint pen to a paintbrush, but you can also select your stroke thickness and toggle between three different colors: black, grey, and white.

As a matter of fact, the newly released software update focused on giving the highlighter writing tool some extra attention. No more messy lines or wonky highlights. The highlighter now snaps perfectly to the text you're working on, for neater note-taking.

We also recently held a follower survey on Instagram to discover favorite writing tools. Turns out, when taking notes most preferred to use the ballpoint pen or the fineliner, adding that they were both smooth and precise, with the consistency that reminded them of the real thing.

3. Convert to text

Whether at home, school, or work, we all accumulate a lot of notes. Most can agree that having a laptop open for note-taking is distracting. Not just because of the physical barrier imposed by a wall of screens, but also because of the continuous pop-ups and notifications begging for our attention. Taking notes by hand and then having to type them up presents its own set of annoyances few of us have time for.

However, an upside to working with digital notes on reMarkable is the ability to do things not possible with ordinary handwritten ones, like write them onto the CANVAS display and easily convert them into typed text. Once your notes are converted, you can review, edit, and then simply send them off by email.

4. Refine your notes

Imagine you’re working on a mind map, conceptual diagram, or any task that requires the type of divergent thinking you reserve for pen on paper. When using the reMarkable selection tool, you can ‘circle’ certain words or concepts and move them around the page or into a whole new notebook. This can shake up your thinking or provide just the right insight needed to sharpen your focus.

Another way to get the most out of your brainstorming sessions is rotating or resizing different words for emphasis. Resizing is also great for titles, drawing, or just when you’re close to running out of room on a page and want to squeeze in a final point. In addition to scaling and rearranging your notes, the selection tool lets you copy, cut, and paste whatever it is you’re working on.

Cutting and pasting can be useful when you have created your own set of designs or templates that you would like repeated throughout the notebook. Once you have copied the item, you’ll be able to paste it as many times or on as many pages as you’d like.

5. Clear up the imperfections

Not everything needs to be perfect on the first try. With reMarkable, you can erase mistakes with a simple tap of the undo button or by selecting the eraser tool from the sidebar menu. The eraser works just like one of the writing tools but with the added bonus of allowing you to select an area, much like the selection tool. Thus, making it the perfect tool for erasing large blocks of text. You also have a third option, which is erasing the entire page.

If you are using a Marker Plus to tap at the eraser tool, there’s no need. Instead, just flip the Marker Plus over. With a built-in eraser on its top end, you can use it just like a regular pencil to scrub out any careless strokes.

Reintroduce yourself to writing by hand

Although the act of writing by hand seems to defy the tech-assisted lifestyles we’ve grown accustomed to, it brings us back to the fundamental skills needed for increased focus, creativity, and critical thinking. When combining those qualities of handwriting with the digital tools of reMarkable, unlimited opportunities are at our fingertips.

So, what will you do with the digital powers of reMarkable? Head over to our product page to learn more.