Almost everyone starts organising information in a notes app. A notepad, a notebook, Samsung Notes, Google Keep or the notes app that came with your phone: they are fast, simple and always there. For shopping lists, ideas and meeting notes, they are perfect.
But at some point many people notice their notes have turned into something else: a list of customers with phone numbers, a log of payments, a record of deliveries. That is when a plain note starts to fight you, and a table works much better.
Signs your notes should be a table
- Every line has the same shape. "Ravi, 98xxxxxx, paid 500, 12 Oct" repeated fifty times is a table pretending to be a note.
- You need totals. Adding up amounts scattered through a note means doing the maths yourself.
- You search for the same things again and again. "Who hasn't paid?" should be one tap, not a scroll through the whole note.
- Someone else needs to see or add to it. Sharing a long note and hoping nobody overwrites a line doesn't scale.
- You want to attach things. A photo of the receipt, a signature, a location.
What a note table gives you
A note table, a table built for notes, keeps the quickness of a notes app but adds structure. In Table Notes, each line of your old note becomes a row, and each piece of information gets its own column:
- Columns with types: Date, Amount, Phone, Checkbox, Select and more, so you tap instead of typing.
- Totals on number and amount columns, like an Excel sheet.
- Filters and search to find "unpaid", "this month" or one customer instantly.
- Attachments in the row: Photo, Audio voice notes, Signature and Location.
- Sharing with collaborators who can view or edit.
And you keep a free-text Notes column for anything that doesn't fit a box, so you never lose the flexibility of a note.
Why not just use Excel or Google Sheets?
You could. But Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are full spreadsheet programs built around a cell grid, which is awkward to type into on a phone. Most people who outgrow their notes app don't want spreadsheet formulas and formatting; they want a structured list that is easy to fill in. Table Notes sits in between: as easy as a notes app, as organised as an Excel sheet. If you do want to compare the spreadsheet options, read Table Notes vs Microsoft Excel vs Google Sheets.
Turning a note into a table: an example
Here is a typical note a tutor might keep:
"Aarav – class 8 – fees 1500 – paid 5 Oct. Diya – class 6 – fees 1200 – pending. Kabir – class 8 – fees 1500 – paid 9 Oct…"
As a table it becomes:
- Student (Notes)
- Class (Select: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- Fees (Amount)
- Paid (Checkbox)
- Paid on (Date)
- Parent phone (Phone)
Now "who hasn't paid this month?" is a filter, the total fees collected is shown at the bottom of the column, and calling a parent is one tap on the phone number.
Notes that work well as tables
- Customer lists with phone numbers and what they bought.
- Payment and fee records for tutors, landlords and small shops.
- Daily logs: trips for taxi drivers, readings, deliveries.
- Attendance for staff, students or a gym.
- Timetables for students and teachers.
- Expenses, with a photo of each receipt (see our expense tracker guide).
- Stock lists for a shop (see inventory tracking on your phone).
Keep your notes app for what it does best
This isn't about deleting your notes app. Ideas, drafts, to-do lists and meeting notes belong in a notepad. The moment a note becomes a repeating list of the same kind of thing, move it to a table. You get totals, filters and sharing, and you stop scrolling through a wall of text.
Getting started
Download the Table Notes app on Android or iPhone, create a new table, add a column for each piece of information in your note, and start adding rows. Your tables work offline, sync to the cloud, and can be opened on your PC at tablenotes.net. If you'd like a step-by-step setup, follow how to make an Excel sheet on your phone.