TL;DR
- User research showed people work in a seek–sense–share cycle, so Goodnotes AI was designed around that: generating custom templates to beat blank-page paralysis, and offering three interface modes — floating, sidebar, and window — so it sits alongside your work rather than over it.
- The guiding principle is "seamless, but not invisible": you preview and modify any AI changes before they land, the AI shows the steps it took, and its contributions use a dedicated colour system so they're always distinguishable from your own.
Goodnotes AI is an AI-powered assistant built into Goodnotes that helps you organize, summarize, and co-create content within notebooks, whiteboards, and text documents. This article explains the design philosophy behind Goodnotes AI and how it fits into the way you already work.
Key Goodnotes AI capabilities at a glance:
- Custom template generation that turns a blank notebook or whiteboard into a starting point tailored to your task, such as a study schedule or a meeting agenda.
- Three interface modes — Floating, Sidebar, and Window — so you control how much of your screen Goodnotes AI occupies while you work.
- Transparency features, including preview-before-insert, step-by-step task visibility, and a dedicated color system, so you can always tell what Goodnotes AI has changed and verify it before relying on it.
As Goodnotes evolves, we've been studying how people actually work—the messy reality of capturing ideas, making connections, and shaping them into something meaningful. Understanding that is critical to ensuring that everything we build, particularly Goodnotes AI, helps you in ways that fit into your natural workflows.
Here's a peek inside our product development process for Goodnotes AI with product manager Xiu Ting and designer Leo. (For more on how we're building a better Goodnotes for you, catch up on Designing AI as a True Collaborator and Building Whiteboard.)
Fitting into how you naturally work
Through ongoing user research with professionals, educators, and students, we saw a common pattern: start by seeking information, work to make sense of it, then share the resulting insights and ideas.
Seek, sense, share: the pattern of seeking information, making sense of it, and sharing resulting insights is a natural workflow that Goodnotes AI is designed to amplify.
We decided to design Goodnotes AI to amplify this type of intuitive workflow. After all, we know AI is only truly helpful when integrated thoughtfully into how you actually work.
Tackling blank page syndrome
Getting started is often the hardest part of any task. Many of you already use templates in Goodnotes to overcome that "where do I start?" paralysis. But it's not always easy finding the right template for your specific task and context.
To make sure you never have to struggle with a blank page again, our first area of focus was to ensure Goodnotes AI can get you from 0→1. In this case, that means generating custom templates based on your specific needs—whether you're hosting a brainstorm on a Whiteboard or prepping to take notes in a sales call. For example, a student can use Goodnotes AI to generate a study schedule template from lecture notes, while a professional can create a structured meeting agenda tailored to their team's workflow.
The key is context: Goodnotes AI understands not just what you're asking for, but where you're working and what's already there.
What are the Goodnotes AI interface modes?
User feedback made it clear that as you're reviewing, synthesizing, and building on your notes, you need AI that's able to work right alongside you—but never get in the way.
To find just the right balance, we built three interface modes for Goodnotes AI:
- Floating — best for quick questions or edits. It appears as a minimal, movable overlay so it stays out of your way.
- Sidebar — best for complex tasks that need history. It occupies part of the screen and shows an organized conversation view.
- Window — best for deep collaboration. It takes full focus and gives you a dedicated workspace for iteration.
And also in the works is a better way to prompt Goodnotes AI with the Lasso tool, letting you simply circle what you want the AI to focus on or draw context from. This feature is currently in development as of November 2025.
Seamless, but not invisible
We understood from users that AI should both feel natural in your workflow and also be transparent about what it's doing.
Some examples of how we're putting this principle into practice:
- Preview-before-insert, so you can review AI-generated content before it's added to your notebook or whiteboard.
- Step-by-step task visibility, so you can see what Goodnotes AI is doing as it works rather than only seeing a finished result.
- A harmonized color system that visually distinguishes AI contributions from your own handwriting and text.
- Experimental thinking indicators, such as cursor labels and animations, that show what Goodnotes AI is currently doing.
Features like these are designed to enable you to always know what Goodnotes AI is doing and maintain control over the results, even as the interaction feels effortless. As with any AI-generated content, we recommend reviewing what Goodnotes AI produces before relying on it.
Help shape the future of Goodnotes AI
Whether during the beta period or after Goodnotes AI ships more broadly, it's your real-world usage and needs that shape every feature we build.
We can't wait to see what you do with Goodnotes AI and hear how we can make it even better for how you seek, sense, and share!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Goodnotes AI? Goodnotes AI is an AI-powered assistant built into Goodnotes that helps users organize, summarize, and co-create content within notebooks, whiteboards, and text documents.
What are the three Goodnotes AI interface modes? Goodnotes AI offers three interface modes: Floating (minimal and movable for quick tasks), Sidebar (organized view with conversation history), and Window (focused view for deeper collaboration).
How does Goodnotes AI maintain transparency? Goodnotes AI maintains transparency through preview-before-insert functionality, step-by-step task visibility, a harmonized color system for AI contributions, and experimental thinking indicators like cursor labels and animations. Goodnotes recommends reviewing AI-generated content before relying on it.
How do I access Goodnotes AI? Goodnotes AI is accessible directly within the Goodnotes workspace. You can invoke it through the AI interface and choose between floating, sidebar, or window modes based on your preference.
What platforms support Goodnotes AI? Goodnotes AI is available within Goodnotes across supported platforms. Check the Goodnotes website for the latest platform availability and version requirements.
Is Goodnotes AI included in all plans? For current information on Goodnotes AI availability and subscription plans, please visit the official Goodnotes pricing page.
