Turning your Notes Digital with a Rocketbook

I want to start this by saying thanks to my chemistry lab partner for telling me about the rocketbook. I learned about it during my sophomore year, and I immediately bought it.

This is now my favorite notebook 1. because it saves me money (by not buying more notebooks) 2. I can access my notes from any phone or computer and 3. BECAUSE IT'S SUSTAINABLE (aka eco-friendly).

What is a rocketbook? It’s a reusable notebook that allows you to digitize your notes.Wild right? Its pages are made of a special type of material that allows you to write on its surface, upload what you’ve written to your computer, and then erase what you’ve written with water.

Here’s a little break down of how it works:

Step 1: buy a Rocketbook

It comes with the notebook, a micro-fiber cloth to erase with, and a special type of eraseable pen.

Step 2: Start writing or doodling or taking notes.

Make sure to only use Frixion pens, otherwise, the ink is not going to come off the pages

Step 3: Download the Rocketbook app if you haven’t already

Step 4: Click New Scan

The app will use your camera to scan the page and turn it into a pdf for you

Step 5: Tell it where you want the pdf to go

Rocketbook allows you to send this pdf to your google drive, dropbox, onenote, email, text message recipient, and more.

Step 6: Erase

When you downloaded your image and need to make more space in your notebook, simply apply water to the page and wipe clean. You can do this by spraying water on the page and wiping, or by wetting the cloth and wiping off the words that way.

I started using this notebook in the Spring 2020 semester, and I’ve really liked it so far. I bought some different colored pens by the same Frixion brand cause I like to be extra with my note taking.

Pros

I am not going through a bunch of notebooks just to throw them away at the end of the semester. As long as I have wifi, internet service, or have downloaded the images, I can access my notes at any time. Makes your backpack lighter. It’s more expensive than normal notebooks, BUT could potentially save you more money in the long run. It comes in different colors!! Saves space inside of your school drawer or cabinet or file folder; you don't have random notes lying around everywhere.

Cons

Pens run out of ink quicker than normal pens. You have to wait longer for the ink to dry...if you don’t it will smudge and the app won’t be able to read it. If your writing isn’t bold enough, the app won’t be able to read it. If you leave it in the heat or spill water on it by accident, you could lose what you wrote. After some use, the cover started to bend, this makes a little black line on the pdf once you upload notes, but it doesn't affect functionality.

In the first semester I used the notebook, I took 4 classes (2 biology, 1 spanish, and 1 health class). I used the same Rocketbook for all 4 classes and used different colored pens so that I knew which class each set of notes are for (I also had different files in my google drive that I saved my notes to).

One of the cons I listed was that then pens run out of ink quicker than usual. I used the same black pen for all 4 classes, and it lasted me a month and 10 days. The colored pens all still have ink, primarily because I only use them for one class, so they are not getting as much use as the black one. So hopefully that helps you to estimate how long the pen would last you.

Here are some examples of the notes I took