I would like some suggestions on apps/workflows for sharing notes and documents among family members.
Current workflow:
Notes: shared folder on apple notes. Examples include VIN numbers, serial numbers, packing lists, etc
Documents : shared folder on google drive. Examples include immigration documents, school notes etc
Is there an app that can store both?
Must haves
Should have a quick and easy way to input stuff
Reliable (sync as well as no data loss)
Available on both Mac and iOS.
Current set up works ok. Checking to see if I can combine it into a single app.
How does Apple Notes handle a lot of PDFs (search as well as sync)? Can it search inside of PDFs?
Anything important like driver licenses, vehicle info, software licenses, passports, etc I keep in a shared vault in 1Password. For anything beyond my wife and me I use iCloud shared folders.
I tested Apple Notes as a possible replacement for Evernote. While Apple says Notes can search in images, I found that it can also locate a note by searching the attached PDFs.
Can AN handle “a lot” of PDF’s? I imported approximately 1200 notes from Evernote most of which contain a single PDF. It took several hours before iCloud started syncing the files. During this time I tried rebooting my Mac and iPad, turning iCloud off & on, etc. Nothing helped immediately, but it finally started syncing.
Once it started, syncing appeared to be satisfactory. Then several days later syncing became hit or miss. I did not lose any files and changes & additions always synced, but it didn’t always start immediately. IMO iCloud syncs “when it feels like it”. Others here on MPU say they have never had a problem with iCloud. Notes may work well for you, I suggest you give it a try.
Given from where you’re starting, I would just put the notes into Google Drive as Google Docs and use that for everything. Notes does search inside PDFs but I don’t think you’ll be as happy with how it stores the files, as it doesn’t really do folders of documents, just documents inside notes.
Regarding iCloud reliability, there are (at least) two ways apps can use iCloud. E.g. Ulysses uses “the old way” and this is as reliable as the syncing of iCloud Drive files (i.e. dodgy). KeepIt uses a newer method which, in my experience, has been rock solid. (And iCloud Drive has not been.)