This Application for Bookmarking Content Allows for Text Emphasis and Annotation
There's a realm of read-later apps and another of note-taking apps, seldom intermingling. Typically, read-later apps are straightforward, and if you crave features like highlighting, it often demands a monthly premium of around $10, like with Matter and Readwise Reader. Conversely, full-featured note-taking apps abound, jam-packed with capabilities more than what most individuals would ever need, such as Obsidian or Notion.
GoodLinks strikes the perfect balance. It's a native read-later and link collection app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, which syncs securely using iCloud and swiftly adds and displays articles from anywhere. What sets it apart, though, is the inclusion of research aids typically reserved for note-taking apps.
Web article highlighting and note-taking
It's surprising how challenging it is to find a dependable tool for highlighting web articles (Chrome extensions fall short). And it was refreshing to discover how effortlessly the highlighting functioned on the GoodLinks app. It simply feels like you're utilizing Apple Books or a Kindle.
On Mac, select your text, right-click, choose Highlight, and your default highlight color is automatically applied. You can revert this by right-clicking again and choosing a new color. iPhone or iPad users can select their text and choose the Highlight option from the pop-up menu, allowing them to alter the color by tapping the text again. To change the default color, navigate to Settings > Highlights > Default color.
GoodLinks also offers contextual note-taking. You can add notes to a highlight, or any selected text. Any text where you add a note will automatically become highlighted. On the Mac, the Add Note function is found in the right-click menu, and on iPhone, you'll find it in the pop-up context menu.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Just type anything you want, and GoodLinks will save it along with the highlighted text.
One of GoodLinks' standout design features is the scroll bar, which displays little color labels corresponding to your highlights and the color of your highlights itself. This makes it simple to track or swiftly jump to a highlight by using the scroll bar. On Mac, clicking on a highlight in the sidebar does the trick, and on iPhone, tapping on a label works as well. You can even add a widget displaying your latest highlights on the iPhone home screen.
Sharing and exporting notes
Highlighting tools are most beneficial when they allow you to share your work. GoodLinks excels at this.
By default, you can export all your highlights and notes in a single Markdown file. The file will include the title of the article, URL, highlights, and all your notes, presented in a cohesive package. On Mac, navigate to File > Export Highlights. On iPhone, the Export feature is located inside the three-dot Menu button in the toolbar.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
To share individual highlights, simply right-click on any highlight (or note) to directly share it to any app (please note the integration with the Notes app). You can simply copy it as plain text.
The GoodLinks experience
GoodLinks offers features other reading tools don't, and the best part is that it doesn't rely on the web.
When it comes to pricing, GoodLinks differentiates itself. The app costs $9.99 to purchase for all Apple platforms. The highlighting and note-taking features are included with GoodLinks Premium, which isn't a subscription. If you pay $4.99, you'll gain access to all new features released for a year. If you opt to cancel your payments, you get to retain the features released during the year you paid for.
The GoodLinks app, being an iPhone read-later app, offers a unique feature that integrates web article highlighting and note-taking, often considered a tech feature typically found in note-taking apps like Obsidian or Notion. Later in the article, it's mentioned that GoodLinks allows you to export your highlights and notes in a Markdown file, showcasing its advanced tech capabilities.
