Goodnotes Smart Textbooks are an amazing new way to study; bringing textbooks to life with special tools to help individuals of all ages and across all subjects study effectively, whether self-studying or in a classroom setting. We've worked with the biggest publishers to produce a whole range of Textbooks that you can download right in the Marketplace.
What is a Smart Textbook?
Smart Textbooks are downloadable textbooks, designed by publishers, and brought alive in Goodnotes. Smart Textbooks include features to make studying smoother, track progress more efficiently and give options to different types of learners. The exclusive features you may find in your Textbook are:
- Study Navigator to track your progress in a book.
- Multimedia Elements to play audio and video directly within the app without leaving.
- Question and Answer Linking to navigate seamlessly between questions and their answers.
- QR Reader to access additional content and resources easily.
- And more features to come!
We will be rolling out new features one by one. Even if you purchase Smart Textbook before some features are released, you can simply update your app version in the App Store and/or update in our marketplace to access new features at no additional charge.
Please note: Different textbooks will utilise different sets of features based on how the publisher decided to produce their materials. You will be able to see what features are available in your textbook before purchasing by reading the item description in Marketplace.
Study Navigator
The Study Navigator is a feature exclusive to Smart Textbooks. It is much like the Sidebar in your regular Notebooks, however, it includes a helpful progress bar, so you can see how far you've come, mark chapters as completed and organise your studies.
In the picture below, you can see chapters marked in green are completed. In the current chapter, you can see a progress bar to let you know how much you've worked through it and at the top of the Study Navigator, you can see the overall progress bar for the whole Textbook.
Multimedia Elements
We have now enabled publishers to integrate video and audio into their textbooks. This means you can view and listen to linked content from external sources like YouTube or study blogs from your textbook, without having to leave the app.
Videos
To use the embedded videos, simply look for the links on your Textbook's pages, often indicated with a QR code. Tap on them to open the corresponding media.
You will also see the video link in the Sidebar as shown in the picture below.
Audio
You may see Audio playback bars in your notebook. Tap on these to play the corresponding audio track. You can also adjust the audio playback speed by tapping on the audio name to bring up the pop-up options.
Question and Answer Linking
Gone are the days of having to skip to the back of your textbook, look for the answer section and pour through pages of answers to find out if you are on the right track. All question fields are now linked to the corresponding page in your answer book and will open in a side-by-side view, allowing you to quickly reference and review.
To use Question and Answer Links, you can use one of two methods:
From the Page
- On your test Page, you should see a link in your Publisher has provided one
- Tap the Link to launch the corresponding answer page
From the Sidebar
- Open the Sidebar to launch your Study Navigator
- Your Test pages will be open
- Tap on the Page you are using in the list
Purchase a Textbook
We collaborate with top publishers to bring you the best content. You can purchase any Smart Textbook right in the Marketplace, so you don't need to leave the app! Simply head over to Marketplace and look for the Smart Textbook category in the top navigation.
- Choose any Textbook you need.
- Tap Buy and checkout with your Apple ID.
- Your Textbook and all associated files will be downloaded to your Library.
Please note: If you accidentally delete your Textbook or the download gets interrupted and can't complete, your purchase will be remembered and you can always head back to Marketplace to download it again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I export or print my Textbooks?
No, due to copyright reasons you cannot export or print any of the materials in Smart Textbooks as the rights belong to the publisher.
Will I get any new features in the future?
Potentially, we are always looking for ways to improve all our products and features. Updates will be communicated to you within the app or via email. While most updates to features are planned to be free, some features may require an additional cost. Stay tuned for continuous improvements and exciting new functionalities!
I accidentally deleted my textbook, can I recover it?
Yes, you can redownload your textbook from the Marketplace for free. However, any annotations you may have made will not be saved. You can also check your Trash Bin to see if it can be recovered.
Are Goodnotes Smart Textbook only available on Goodnotes 6?
Yes, Smart textbooks take advantage of multiple features of Goodnotes 6 and as a result, they are not available to purchase for older versions of the app.
I am a Goodnotes 6 free user. Do I need a paid subscription?
No, any Goodnotes 6 user can purchase Smart Textbooks, however, please be aware that free users are limited to 3 Notebooks so you may not have the capacity for all the materials needed.
I want a refund
You can request a refund from Apple for any purchase made in our Marketplace. Unfortunately, In-App Purchases cannot be directly refunded by us as the developer.