How To Use Apple's New Freeform App

Рет қаралды 316,946

Күн бұрын

macmost.com/e-2857 With the latest version of macOS, iOS and iPadOS we get a new tool from Apple to combine text, images, shapes and more. You can use this as a collaboration tool, but it is hard to say where this fits in with other existing tool like Note and Pages.
FOLLOW MACMOST FOR NEW TUTORIALS EVERY DAY
▶︎ KZfaq - macmost.com/j-youtube (And hit the 🔔)
▶︎ KZfaq Email Notifications - macmost.com/ytn ⭐️
▶︎ MacMost Weekly Email Newsletter - macmost.com/newsletter ✉️
SUPPORT MACMOST AT PATREON
▶︎ macmost.com/patreon ❤️
00:00 Intro
00:43 Freeform Boards
01:21 Board Elements: Sticky Notes
02:37 Board Elements: Shapes
04:23 Board Elements: Text Boxes
04:53 Board Elements: Images
05:50 Board Elements: Links
06:32 Arrangement Tools
06:55 Freeform On the iPad
08:50 Freeform On the iPhone
09:17 Not Meant To Be a Document Creation App
10:27 Collaboration
11:09 Export Options
11:34 How It Fits In With Other Apple Apps
#macmost #mactutorial #freeform

Пікірлер: 325

@dadofeagans Жыл бұрын

I save more of your videos than anyone. You go fast and don’t waste my time. I can always rewind.

@veritas.ve.42 Жыл бұрын

Hi Gary 👋🏻 As always, clear, concise, relevant information & easy to comprehend. A rare gift, keep it up. 👍🏻

@Tajhad Жыл бұрын

I’m a big Notes user - but one thing I noticed Freeform does better( besides the obvious of the endless board) is the ability to write anywhere. It seems like Freeform allows you to write anywhere and on anything ( shapes, photos, next to sticky notes etc). A great feature that I wish Notes had ( instead of the creating a new handwritten section ). Thanks for the in depth view of Freeform. I am using it for planning ( solo not collaborative). Time will tell if it replaces other apps for me.

@alecsharp3172 3 ай бұрын

I love how your video was (as others have said) clear, concise, and to the point. No wasted time. Well done!

@alancookuk8154 Жыл бұрын

It would be great to also have tables as an option added to it.

@LJ-jq8og Жыл бұрын

WOW.... Best explanation of ALL the FREEFORM videos I have watched ! 💪❤

@georgevrontakis1106 Жыл бұрын

Great tutorial as always! I think the main advantage of this app is that you have a complete freedom to write, put pictures and videos everywhere you want. Also, you have a lot of space, if you put it at 400%, so you can work more comfortable. Thanks again!

@CanonPaulHamilton Жыл бұрын

I’m loving it. It’s great for making quick notes and a more expansive, graphical note taking. It’s got some way to go to catch up with apps like Endless Paper, but it’s very good.

@loisskiathitis8926 Жыл бұрын

A very fun and informative video tutorial today! The memo notes and the photographs were most impressive. Happy Holidays! Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️

@dangreller3103 Жыл бұрын

What this has that is unique is the zoomable, almost infinite canvas. A useful additional feature would be "live" links. That would allow you to create customized dashboards of widgets with real time information.

@drval Жыл бұрын

Great video as always: clear, direct, easy to follow. I think you likely haven’t found much use for Freeform yet and that’s fine, of course. I’ll be interested to see follow up videos from you as that app itself is updated. It is missing features that would make a difference like the Lasso and handwriting to text option in OneNote and the search for text (written, typed, in pictures, etc) also in OneNote, but it’s really brand new, out of the gate and will undoubtedly expand and improve over time. Keep up the good work Gary!

@carolinebarlow4795 Жыл бұрын

Thanks very much, Gary, for this brilliant and comprehensive overview of FreeForm! Can’t wait to try it out.

@KikaWaiAlae Жыл бұрын

I’ve been trying to learn how to do quick basic drawings on notes and procreate. It’s just not that easy. Apparently I downloaded Freeform awhile ago and rediscovered it the other day. Well that is the exact app that I needed. Easy to figure out and good amount of KZfaq videos showing how to use it. I then went to my go to guy, you and searched for your video on it. Amazing video and app. It’s my number one now for quick designs of my ideas on on shelves, cabinets etc. I’m sure I’ll find more uses for it. It’s been only a few days that I started using it.

@GunsAddiction Жыл бұрын

A kind of hyperlink between freeform to notes would be amazing

@barryjhk Жыл бұрын

I love your tutorials! They're clear & concise. You always have subjects I'm interested in.

@brixtonbanner2899 Жыл бұрын

I’ve been waiting for this since I first heard of it. It’s a great way to create ideas and projects for visual learners like me. For example I’m customising my bike and in this I can add pictures of bike parts, Stills of bikes from movies that I like, even screenshots of game adverts that pop up on my phone (that zombie killing one especially)

@mirth-n-magic Жыл бұрын

Would love an import feature to import from Notes. Or, an export feature in Notes to send to Freeform.

@hiltoniusmusic Жыл бұрын

excellent overview, thanks. i feel like it's 1985 and i'm looking at the latest version of "MacPaint". this is a very welcome addition to the toolbox!

@anandmalkari1158 Жыл бұрын

Gary, it would be great to see annotations improved in keynote. As UI of keynote supports inserting videos in it, annotating, doodling and labelling could be also possible there. A non animated slide, that can serve a purpose of explaining few points during presentation. Just like free form, if that annotation and drawing / sketching becomes available in keynote slides, that may prove to be much useful utility. Thanks. I have been using your tips since many years so far. 🙏

@2alejandro2008 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Gary, always to the point and helpful

@CraftsmanontheLake Жыл бұрын

Just downloaded 13.1 on my mac. I am now a fan of freeform (Then again I'm a fan of stage manager too which isn't a universal opinion). Gary, your tutorial just hit a button with me. Finally organization of some of my personal, most used stuff that is easy and makes sense to me. Thank you again.

@sundaynightdrunk Жыл бұрын

Stage Manager has completely changed the way I use my Mac and I'm in love with it. Wouldn't want to be without it now, even though there are some improvements I'd like to see implemented.

@soldbyrise Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for this overview. I saw the app after updating this morning, and instead of just removing it, I may actually find a way to integrate!

@dennisdksing Жыл бұрын

This really is Apple's version of Miro/Mural - which are popular tools for collaboration. They are awesome for remote workshops, so now I can use the same (similar) tool at home to plan my personal stuff with the family!

@aestechtv Жыл бұрын

Apple user literally got Miro/Mural for FREE and it support all the devices natively, such a great news!

@AhmedYahya18 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the video Gary, great walkthrough. Freeform (as the name suggests) makes more sense in terms of flexibility; I can brainstorm and throw my thoughts anywhere without worrying about the arrangement. In a way, it does help me stay in the moment and dump everything out there without interrupting my train of thoughts. Personally I am a visual person, and this really helps in seeing the bigger picture, especially considering the expansive canvas where I just drag things around. On a side note, I think the guys at Miro (and other similar products) will have to get creative and differentiate their base tier from Freeform. It's all about how to convince new (Apple) users to buy into you products. Looking forward to future updates and marketing schemes within the segment.

@JandeBloois1952 Жыл бұрын

Great tutorial, Gary! I did not know the App. I use Notes a lot, and off course Pages, with which I even published some books in de Bookstore! I think I can use Freeform in the planning proces of making a movie, which is one of my hobbies (I am a retired IT guy). Thank you!

@Hyperion509 Жыл бұрын

Love your channel, thanks for sharing! ✌️❤️

@Geemeel1 8 ай бұрын

I always turn to you, already for years for a reliable explanation , Great Vid !!! ✅🙏🏽

@georgee3401 Жыл бұрын

Excellent tutorial. Many thanks!

@XCaliKev Жыл бұрын

👍😎 As a Laryngectomy ( no voice box) I use notes a lot and a white board app to communicate (I can speak but can be hard to understand sometimes). Haven’t tried this yet, but from your tutorial makes me want to. It looks like a great combo of both that I use many times a day.

@pebar Жыл бұрын

This looks like a modern version of the old Apple HyperCard app that I used to love using on my first Mac SE with its 9” mono CRT screen!

@c------- Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing this with us Gary, it is really useful! {iPad mini6 User here} I'm currently using goodNotes5, I like the function of being able to zoom in to write, then zoom out, seeing the entire page as a whole. Unfortunately, apple notes did not offer that.. But I really liked the pencil 'ink' on Notes, that goodNotes does not offer. Now I can have what I want without needing to download more apps!

@nidostar2013 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Gary. Watching this I wondered how I might make use of this software bearing in mind you, yourself, repeatedly said that much of what it can do can also be done in Pages, Notes etc. It wasn't until 9 minutes in that you explained what the purpose of Freeform was and I'm not sure I was much the wiser! I'm not writing it off though I'm not sure I, as a home user of a Mac, will have much need for it since there are already apps that do much of what it does. Though from the comments below there is clearly a need for it in certain specialist areas.

@fcsolis Жыл бұрын

I can go left, right, up, down, copy and paste, scan and insert, write over the pasted items. Perfect in my profession. Thanks.

@larissamarinapereirasilva2360 Жыл бұрын

I’m really enjoying to use this app on my Ipad. Thank you for all the information

@ryanhite9537 Жыл бұрын

Most useful tutorial on KZfaq! Thank you!

@thanujakularathna6710 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video. I prefer Notes at this moment as it allows me to organise them in folders.

@chasti5754 Жыл бұрын

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this app before :))) looks great. Thank you for explanation. I just bought IPad and this app seems to be great

@charlesk7691 Жыл бұрын

Gary - as a former Enriched LA teacher ... author now, who also works with kids on writing projects, this will be a great tool for kids writhing short or medium form essays or fiction. They'll be able to use the sticky notes to arrange events in the story, drop URLs in where they've done research for the piece, move notes around as they consider how to construct their piece, much as writers used cork boards a couple of decades ago. They could use separate boards for two or three characters and the lines to generate character arcs, too. I can see kids using this as they build a collaborative presentation, too ... notes with parts of the presentation that can be moved as needed, different color stickies for different presenters ... approximate time each section takes ... and it would give the visual learners something to see. As always, great tutorial. Thanks.

@simonduckworth5941 Жыл бұрын

Great video, I’m going to give it a try, I work on lots of concurrent projects and this would be great to quickly drop idea notes, inspiring etc. Thanks 👍 PS. Small niggle, I would’ve preferred your summary about the purpose of the app upfront so I could bare the purpose in mind when watching the video. But that’s a tiny aside. Thanks again

@briankinnaman6532 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Very informational. I feel like I have a much better understanding of this new app now. Also, there is something very gratifying when you enter exactly the text you would say, e.g. something or some text. Haha! I know I’m weird… Anyway, thank you very much for sharing this in-depth video! 🤘🏼

@Meekismwisdom Жыл бұрын

I love it . I wishe they added the hold to make a perfect figure with the shape recognition feature.

@romeredubost6971 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for explaining

@howardlevinger4571 Жыл бұрын

Hi Gary. Thank you for this very informative discussion about Freeform, which I found a little baffling when Apple first mentioned it. I’ve never really gotten into group collaboration projects, using other tools from Google and Microsoft. However, I am going on a trip with a friend and I do think Freeform will be useful for exchanging information on places to visit and points of interest. Thank you so much!

@pedropuckerstein4670 Жыл бұрын

:), I share a reminder shopping list with my wife, but I can see where this can be handy for real time discussion, like if she takes a photo of a product label, etc. or can't find something in a Home Depot aisle, she can take a picture and I can circle what I really want ....

@darcysalas3042 Жыл бұрын

Thank you this just came my iPhone after a update and I wanted to know more. This will help me because I have a short term memory with my disability and I think that this will help everyone that has this problem.

@HMaxTube11 Жыл бұрын

Another good one, Zweigs🌟👏👍

@HomeLifeWithLove Жыл бұрын

I absolutely love GoodNotes. I use it every day, and my son is using it now too. It can be used like Notes. The only feature it’s missing for me is the ability to align text boxes, which Freeform seems to do. Freeform seems useless on a phone except for viewing.

@rcarendsen Жыл бұрын

Woow i was not expecting this,,, i thought it was a drawing program 😁 thank you for explaining. But to be honest I don't see the extra value of this program .... But i guess if you colaberate with people it will be fine... thank you for this great video ... explained in detail... like always 👍

@petermarin Жыл бұрын

You are a great person!

@javascript_developer Жыл бұрын

Nice. thanks. very useful

@binayakkumardubey3773 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing.

@ochanyamichelle Жыл бұрын

I’m a notes and notability user, I’m a teacher and a student. I will be switching to Freeform for lesson planning, I love the flexibility it provides.

@adelhussen9180 Жыл бұрын

Thank u so much 🎉🎉

@nickjp264 Жыл бұрын

Have found that shapes can be drawn in Notes (the kind that complete for you if you hold for a second or two) and can then be copied and pasted into Freeform… hopefully this will be included in a later version of Freeform

@drosamamigahid9592 11 ай бұрын

Thank you

@kimballfink-jensen1921 Жыл бұрын

Hi Gary, good video as usual. You probably know this by now, but at 5:36 you have a callout saying there doesn’t seem to be a way to mask an image on iPad and iPhone. In fact you can by putting the shape on top and selecting both the shape and image at once, then tapping the ellipsis and choosing mask

@vegmoto Жыл бұрын

what a great little treat his app was when i updated my phone! I immediately went and updated my computers so I could use it across all of my toys.

@tomcool7246 Жыл бұрын

Thanks 😊

@desertpatient Жыл бұрын

Thanks bunches

@Mikel8v Жыл бұрын

Most complete and easy to understand run through I've found so far - thanks macmost! Dictation button doesn't come up for me tho?

@pompuridayusavadee9794 Жыл бұрын

Thank you sir❤❤❤❤❤

@dougscott188 Жыл бұрын

Reminds me a little of Milanote and I guess Notion as well.

@robweaver9953 Жыл бұрын

Seems like a good option to plan and rearrange a website.

@Pyxhel Жыл бұрын

Nice new background, very neat !

@macmost Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@friscodog Жыл бұрын

I've been looking forward to this for a long, long time. I find Notes to be extremely limiting. The limited canvas, and the fact that text and drawing are separated is extremely frustrating for an Apple Pencil user. I just downloaded the iPadOS upgrade, so I haven't had occasion to use FreeForm yet. However, I'm looking forward to it as the perfect brainstorming platform.

@JerryN7970 Жыл бұрын

I’ve been curious about Freeform so I opened it up today on my iPad and started messing around with it. As a graphic designer, I’m hoping I could maybe use it to sketch out design ideas and maybe add in any reference material. And this just crossed my mind as I was typing all this… if I could copy and paste a sketch from Freeform and paste it into Adobe Illustrator, that would be awesome!

@randallyons8745 Жыл бұрын

Thanks today I made my first iPad freeform. The problem was how to rotate an element. Problem solved thank you

@RaySawhill Жыл бұрын

Nice video. Smart, snappy and clear. I can’t see any use for the app, though. Who will really be using this? And for what?

@TM-vg4mx Жыл бұрын

I would like to use it for teaching, but do not know how it compare to notability, in particular when export as pdf file. thanks for the nice video

@martipw Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of old flowcharting apps, but with more

@win2kpioneer Жыл бұрын

The grid format of Freeform with the arrows and shapes kind of reminds me of Microsoft Visio.

@anthonydauer Жыл бұрын

I think this will get to be a stronger tool once there are some templates to work with if that’s possible.

@supratiksarkar6336 Жыл бұрын

This is a really good app

@diamanten1592 Жыл бұрын

Freeform seems as an Apple version of Jamboard. My company has been using Jamboard as a virtual collaboration tool since the pandemic

@tomkees5307 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Thanks. I just wonder why the drawing tool is missing in the browser version. It could be controlled via a tablet.

@garagegeek4863 Жыл бұрын

Probably someone else has mentioned Jamboard on Google. This seems similar but with waaaay more options. Jamboard is great for real-time classroom responses where all students are adding their own sticky notes - however it can go very wrong if students don’t follow rules (and when do they?!?!). Lol.

@peterbreis5407 Жыл бұрын

It's looking very promising, I'm looking forward to integrating it with Pages, Numbers and Keynotes.. How do you bring in vector shapes you have created in Pages without them becoming bitmapped? How do you easily create organisation charts? How do you bring in charts and tables, as directly viewable graphics (not files that you have to click on to view)?

@stevengeorges9046 Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a useful tool. I know Apple want's to keep this simple, but hopefully, they will improve it with each OS update rather than treat it as a create-and-forget application.

@catalinandro3913 Жыл бұрын

It seems to me it shares quite a lot with Microsoft Visio. If we could add customized icons and shapes, it would be quite a good replacement.

@artgamesforfun Жыл бұрын

Freeform seems to be the "visual" version of Mac Notes and although there is a lot of crossover between those apps, i'm sure there will be a group of people who prefer using Freeform. Not sure if i'm one of them, tho i'll give it a try.

@olivia8979 Жыл бұрын

I found you can actually change the color of a note - at least on the Mac. You can pull up the color picker. I am not sure what I am going to use it for. I use my Mac and iPad for personal use only and don't really tend to collaborate. I guess it is not impossible that I could collaborate with someone on something, but off hand I don't see it happening. But I have several hobbies and do a lot of planning and brainstorming. I could use it for that. I'll play with it.

@friscodog Жыл бұрын

Collaboration may be the selling-point Apple has settled on, but to me this is first and foremost a creative tool, and only secondarily a collaboration tool.

@BugBobsWildWorld Жыл бұрын

Nice review. Already thinking of ways I can use it. Thank you, Gary. Interesting: Freeform sharing via iCloud was on by default on my iPhone 14 Pro, but off on my M1 MacBook Air.

@rdfuhr Жыл бұрын

Regarding iCloud sync: I found that iCloud sync was enabled by default on iPhone and iPad but was not enabled by default on Mac. After the sync was enabled, I could see all Freeform documents on all devices.

@buknar456 Жыл бұрын

I've been writing to Apple for like 5 years trying to get them to make an app for Screen Shots, apps like Milanote are insanely helpful for making mood boards with images, screenshots, writing etc.I actually can't believe it's finally happened, they made the app. Notes has come a long way but it could be so much better.

@macmost Жыл бұрын

Screenshots? I don't see how this relates to that. Do you mean take a screenshot and mark it up? You can already do that using the built-in screenshot tool. I don't see how Freeform would be better in that case.

@indigofruit8710 Жыл бұрын

There is an important difference to notes. The ability to handwrite anywhere using the Apple Pencil means I can paste in a PDF or JPG drawing or document and annotate it, adding comments and labels from outside the document but arrowing into the image. You can't do that in Notes, when you try to do it, notes creates a new section and you cannot arrow into the image.

@ithinkaboutthings9052 Жыл бұрын

Freeform appeared in my most recent phone update and I had no idea how I could use the app. Now I’m off to see if anyone is using it to create YT thumbnails or social media stuff. Hopefully, Gary tinkers with it more and shows off some different uses.

@BrunoSeverin Жыл бұрын

This is great! But isn’t it Apple’s Old Claris Works?

@akshatrastogi9063 Жыл бұрын

This could be one of the best apps apple has built.. It is not limited by space like notes app.. we can even write on shapes.. so high flexibility. I hope apple just integrate notes into Freeform. It would be worth doing a comparison video between these two apps btw.

@YT-qx6ol Жыл бұрын

great video about tools but how can I benefit of those, when sharing a document is problematic

@BreeCRossi 10 ай бұрын

I have an iMac and a wacom tablet connected. Is there a way I can add the writing/pen tools to my current freeform?

@Christian-ql4vw Ай бұрын

big thanks or doing what you do.

@Christian-ql4vw Ай бұрын

How come there's no button to give "Thanks?"

@MartinKli56 Жыл бұрын

Hi Gary, Thanks for this introduction. I also tried it and was not sure what to use it for. It seems that the existing tools are better targeted to specific use cases. After watching your video I am still not quite sure how and whether I will use it in the future.

@NOT_A_TOP_FAN Жыл бұрын

I see it as a repository to gather ideas and brainstorming. Like if you are designing something and want to have a board with inspiration youve found and want it all in one place

@MartinKli56 Жыл бұрын

@@NOT_A_TOP_FAN Understood. But I already have "one place" which is notes and to some degree also the todo app. So now I have a third place which has a worse user experience than key note. I still do not get it. For me this is redundancy. Apple should have integrated this functionality into notes.

@msl9528 Жыл бұрын

It will be superb if short videos can be created w the freeform elements, tracing the strokes. 😅

@sundaynightdrunk Жыл бұрын

I expected more flow chart tools, as those are pretty universal on these "white board" apps. Honestly this is something I will probably only rarely use, and it's a bit of a surprise to me that Apple saw a need for this, but there must be corporate users somewhere who were asking for it or they wouldn't have devoted the resources to creating it.

@cakewatcher Жыл бұрын

It does seem rather redundant

@MisterKN Жыл бұрын

Thanks Gary, One issue is that when you import a file like a MS word .docx into Freeform, When you click it Freeform just shows you a preview with no way of opening the file in MS Word.

@rohitashavpal4876 11 күн бұрын

Very informative video, easy to navigate. I use free form to change backgrounds on images but the export on iphone is inconvenient. I end up taking a screenshot and editing it to size it. If I export as a photo, it's hard to figure out the layout; I did not see an option to see the grid. I guess I could find out what a photo size is and then align myself accordingly.

@macmost 11 күн бұрын

I wouldn't try to do this through a screenshot, as you are losing quality like that. Are you just trying to remove the background from an image and take the resulting subject and put them into another photo? I'd use an image editing app for that. If you only have an iPhone, maybe Pixelmator Pro.

@damian9303 Жыл бұрын

So it’s like a virtual bulletin board?

@IwanTamimi Жыл бұрын

I think Keynotes has already similar features for collaboration and has similar tools

@abdawson1 Жыл бұрын

8:34 This states iCloud sync is OFF by default. I actually just paused the video to fix it and noticed my was already ON. Can’t answer why. I did just upgrade to iPadOS 16.2 specifically to use this app though.

@ActivityPhoto 2 сағат бұрын

OK very neat, but what do you do with it?

@christang1427 Жыл бұрын

I try freeform for a week and really like it to use as my daily record app, as to record down ideas, what I read, what I learn, what I like, what I have to do next. I then unsubscribe evernote and think it is a substitution for simplemind. The reason I like is that it is "free", not only free of charge for Mac user, but free to put anywhere, not like Note or Evernote, as idea is flowing and I can input them as how it is organised in my mind. My only concern is that I am a iMac user with Wacom pencil, that I cannot draw anything like Ipad does. If apple allow this on iMac, that will be perfect to me.