How to use a Rocketbook before you get your Rocketbook...

[Dien Rice]

Hi,

I've decided to get myself a Rocketbook, which Gordon posted about in the past...

However, I'm too impatient for waiting things to be delivered, so I decided to go ahead and just "do it myself" until I get it!

First, what's the benefit of the Rocketbook system?

Essentially, you can write or draw and get a professional digital version of your writing or your drawing, quickly and easily...

This can be great for note-taking (and saving a neat, crisp digital copy), and also for creating drawings and hand-written notes, to use in creating reports or online courses...

You can of course take a photo of your notes or drawing with your phone camera. However, the photo is likely to be tilted, or have extraneous stuff there... All that jazz that makes it look unprofessional.

You can also use a scanner... But, while you get a good image, it's definitely a lot more hassle...

The Rocketbook system fixes that... (and more...)

You can have the digitized image automatically saved where you want, with up to 7 possible places specified.

(I've only specified one place to save my uploads so far, which is a special folder for Rocketbook uploads on my Dropbox account. Google Drive is also another option, or to your email, as well as many other possible places...)

I haven't tried it yet, but you can also specify in the document the title, by using two hashtags (##) before and after the title, in writing at the top of the page... Rocketbook will then incorporate that into the file name...

Anyways, what do I think of it?

I love it!

So far, I've just used it for "thinking on paper" and making notes, and uploading the notes so I have a digital version of it.

How do I do it without having yet received the Rocketbook notebook itself?

Well...

Rocketbook actually provides free pages you can download and print out...

https://getrocketbook.com/blogs/news...cketbook-pages

You can download those pages, and use them, and the Rocketbook app will work with them...

Now, I already wrote on pieces of paper, so I didn't use their pages. The key on the Rocketbook pages are the black border, and the bottom line of symbols and the QR code...

I just placed my already-filled (non-Rocketbook) sheet of paper on top of a large, black notepad carrying case I have.

By putting the white paper on the larger black notepad carrying case, it gives it a black border when you go to take a photo...

If you don't have a large black notepad carrying case, you could buy yourself a large piece of black construction paper or card stock paper, and place your pages on top of that, so your white page will have a black border in the image...

(The black border is important, as that's how the Rocketbook app senses where the edges of the page are.)

Also, I printed out Rocketbook's paper sheet, and cut out just the bottom strip of the sheet, with the symbols and QR code. I then placed that strip at the bottom of my already-written sheet of paper...

I found that, doing this - using their strip with symbols, and the "on the fly" black border - the Rocketbook app worked!

Now, getting the actual Rocketbook notebook is a good idea, as it is a kind of "erasable notepad" which you can use over and over... (and save on paper)... Well worth the money, I believe...

But until you do, the above works!

I hope someone finds it useful...

Dien

P.S. Gordon linked to this video in his earlier post, which is also great for ideas, so I'll link to it here too... I also got ideas from him for my system I've described above...



RocketBook Hacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekz698A8rZk

[GordonJ]

Well.

With a blush.

I am holding a 12 pack of 0.7mm FRIXION fineliner colored pens, still in the pack. They sit unused, right next to my unused Rocketbook. And on my whiteboard on the wall there are four orange colored tabs I bought also.

I confess. I was excited. I dove in. I bought it.

And have never gotten around to actually DOING anything with it.

And, and...while in confession...the Rocketbook sits next to a two video cameras I bought, tested, and have also NOT used for anything.

Now I could just excuse myself and say it was for research reasons...but the honest truth is, I too, will sometimes, ACT first and think later.

Something I preach against, have gotten it down to just an occassional impulse now and then...but I plead guilty about the Rocketbook...it just didn't work for me the way I thought it would...

And more accurately, I didn't WORK at making it useful.

Dien, if the shipping wasn't more expensive than getting a new one, I would send you mine along with the pens. Let us know HOW you use them, since they are just sitting there, maybe I can still get some use from them.

Gordon

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi,

I've decided to get myself a Rocketbook, which Gordon posted about in the past...

However, I'm too impatient for waiting things to be delivered, so I decided to go ahead and just "do it myself" until I get it!

First, what's the benefit of the Rocketbook system?

Essentially, you can write or draw and get a professional digital version of your writing or your drawing, quickly and easily...

This can be great for note-taking (and saving a neat, crisp digital copy), and also for creating drawings and hand-written notes, to use in creating reports or online courses...

You can of course take a photo of your notes or drawing with your phone camera. However, the photo is likely to be tilted, or have extraneous stuff there... All that jazz that makes it look unprofessional.

You can also use a scanner... But, while you get a good image, it's definitely a lot more hassle...

The Rocketbook system fixes that... (and more...)

You can have the digitized image automatically saved where you want, with up to 7 possible places specified.

(I've only specified one place to save my uploads so far, which is a special folder for Rocketbook uploads on my Dropbox account. Google Drive is also another option, or to your email, as well as many other possible places...)

I haven't tried it yet, but you can also specify in the document the title, by using two hashtags (##) before and after the title, in writing at the top of the page... Rocketbook will then incorporate that into the file name...

Anyways, what do I think of it?

I love it!

So far, I've just used it for "thinking on paper" and making notes, and uploading the notes so I have a digital version of it.

How do I do it without having yet received the Rocketbook notebook itself?

Well...

Rocketbook actually provides free pages you can download and print out...

https://getrocketbook.com/blogs/news...cketbook-pages

You can download those pages, and use them, and the Rocketbook app will work with them...

Now, I already wrote on pieces of paper, so I didn't use their pages. The key on the Rocketbook pages are the black border, and the bottom line of symbols and the QR code...

I just placed my already-filled (non-Rocketbook) sheet of paper on top of a large, black notepad carrying case I have.

By putting the white paper on the larger black notepad carrying case, it gives it a black border when you go to take a photo...

If you don't have a large black notepad carrying case, you could buy yourself a large piece of black construction paper or card stock paper, and place your pages on top of that, so your white page will have a black border in the image...

(The black border is important, as that's how the Rocketbook app senses where the edges of the page are.)

Also, I printed out Rocketbook's paper sheet, and cut out just the bottom strip of the sheet, with the symbols and QR code. I then placed that strip at the bottom of my already-written sheet of paper...

I found that, doing this - using their strip with symbols, and the "on the fly" black border - the Rocketbook app worked!

Now, getting the actual Rocketbook notebook is a good idea, as it is a kind of "erasable notepad" which you can use over and over... (and save on paper)... Well worth the money, I believe...

But until you do, the above works!

I hope someone finds it useful...

Dien

P.S. Gordon linked to this video in his earlier post, which is also great for ideas, so I'll link to it here too... I also got ideas from him for my system I've described above...



RocketBook Hacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekz698A8rZk

[Dien Rice]

Hi Gordon,

I didn't mean to make you blush...!

I think for me it's a good thing, as I'm already doing something similar, but in an inferior way...

Inspired by yourself and Glenn, I'm now making more handwritten plans and "brainstorming"-type sessions...

(As opposed to typing them into the computer or on my phone... which I still do in addition sometimes... I use Google Docs for this...)

My usual method is to take a photo of the handwritten page afterwards. (I'm always losing paper... But once it's digital, I'm good at keeping it stored where I can find it...)

The Rocketbook system is simply better than my simple photographing-a-piece-of-paper method!

But, the acid test is whether I'm still using it in a month or so, as I also abandon ideas too (if I find something that doesn't quite work for me)...!

Best wishes,

Dien

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Well.

With a blush.

I am holding a 12 pack of 0.7mm FRIXION fineliner colored pens, still in the pack. They sit unused, right next to my unused Rocketbook. And on my whiteboard on the wall there are four orange colored tabs I bought also.

I confess. I was excited. I dove in. I bought it.

And have never gotten around to actually DOING anything with it.

And, and...while in confession...the Rocketbook sits next to a two video cameras I bought, tested, and have also NOT used for anything.

Now I could just excuse myself and say it was for research reasons...but the honest truth is, I too, will sometimes, ACT first and think later.

Something I preach against, have gotten it down to just an occassional impulse now and then...but I plead guilty about the Rocketbook...it just didn't work for me the way I thought it would...

And more accurately, I didn't WORK at making it useful.

Dien, if the shipping wasn't more expensive than getting a new one, I would send you mine along with the pens. Let us know HOW you use them, since they are just sitting there, maybe I can still get some use from them.

Gordon

[GordonJ]

I like the idea.

I loved the idea when I bought it, and was all enthused.

But for me, the problem has become I just don't have the ability anymore to LEARN new things (for the most part). I got tons of youtube videos saved, and want to watch and learn...

NEED to in many cases...

But dang, at my age and health, I'd rather get real and focus on what I can do easily, quickly and APPLY these last 60 years of learning into the fastest and most productive use of my time.

And, still being a human bean...I too get shiny object syndrome, I like the new, sparkly tech, I want in on AR VR AI and all that...and there is plenty of great new tech and ideas to get one

DISTRACTED.

But, I also know the TIME constraints too. We senior folk may think and sometimes act as if we were 25, but the realities of the body put a short leash on our bodies and what we really can do.

I wish, and even take care of my body, and hope to be in the shape Harvey Bordy is in at 90, but sometimes heredity overpowers even the best of habits.

So, I want to default to my less pain (of learning) to more pleasure (doing what I know) and try to have a nice flourish of meaningful activity without wasting time chasing butterflys over rainbows and riding unicorns.

Staying FOCUSED, especially for us ADD/ADHD, older folk...is one way to remain productive and hopefully useful to society.

That was my long version EXCUSE. And today, like Jimmy Durante used to say, "ah cha cha cha, I got a million of em!".


Gordon

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Gordon,

I didn't mean to make you blush...!

I think for me it's a good thing, as I'm already doing something similar, but in an inferior way...

Inspired by yourself and Glenn, I'm now making more handwritten plans and "brainstorming"-type sessions...

(As opposed to typing them into the computer or on my phone... which I still do in addition sometimes... I use Google Docs for this...)

My usual method is to take a photo of the handwritten page afterwards. (I'm always losing paper... But once it's digital, I'm good at keeping it stored where I can find it...)

The Rocketbook system is simply better than my simple photographing-a-piece-of-paper method!

But, the acid test is whether I'm still using it in a month or so, as I also abandon ideas too (if I find something that doesn't quite work for me)...!

Best wishes,

Dien