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Import Documents into Goodnotes

Updated

You can import existing materials into Goodnotes and turn them into Notebooks and Lessons easily. These could be PDF teaching materials, documents you have produced in other apps like Word or PowerPoint, or Notebooks you created in Goodnotes.

How to Import a document 

You can import documents as a new item in your library, or straight into an existing Lesson (Goodnotes Education only).

Import as a new Notebook or Lesson

  1. Head to the Document View or Class Folder (if you are using Goodnotes Education) in your Library View
  2. Select the + icon as if you were creating a new Notebook.
  3. Choose Import.
  4. Navigate through your Files using the pop-up window and then select the file you want to import
  5. Select Open in the top right corner of the window

This method will then import your file as a new Notebook or Lesson, ready to be opened and annotated. 

Import into an existing Notebook or Lesson

  1. In Goodnotes, open the Notebook that you want to add your imported document to
  2. Find and select the + icon in the top right corner of the Nav Bar
  3. In the pop-up window, choose Import at the very bottom
  4. Navigate through your Files using the pop-up window and then select the file you want to import
  5. Select Open in the top right corner of the window

Please note: This method will add all the pages of your selected document after the page you have currently selected. 

What kind of files can I Import?

Goodnotes allows you to import different types of files that you can mark up and annotate. You can import files from within the app, from an external app, or by using drag and drop.

  • Supported formats
  • PDF
  • Image (.jpg, .png)
  • Word (.doc, .docx) and PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) (iPadOS/iOS only) (*)
  • Goodnotes document (.goodnotes)
  • Goodnotes backup (.goodnotes.zip). See Back up and restore your library manually.
  • Comma- or Tab-Separated Values file (.csv, .tsv). The app can import a file in this format to create a study set. See Study with Flashcards.

(*) Goodnotes can handle these formats directly, but the internal conversion to PDF may not preserve the original layout perfectly. Importing PDF versions of these files can avoid this issue and give you better results.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing issues with importing documents into Classroom, read these articles for assistance:

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