Evernote Business Card Scanning and CardMunch Transition

[gbarry 2,658]

 

Alongside today's announcement from both LinkedIn and Evernote, here are some resources to get you going ASAP with business card scanning.

 

CardMunch users: you should at some point receive an email notifying you of the transition, with options to take. If you opt for Evernote, you'll move into an import process where you'll enter your LinkedIn info and receive 2 years business card scanning. You'll also receive an email when the import is complete. CardMunch cards will be translated into Evernote contact notes and placed into your default notebook.

 

We have a Getting Started Guide for CardMunch users here: http://evernote.com/evernote/guide/cardmunch/#1

 

Anyone else: if you are on LinkedIn and would like to start using the Evernote business card scanning feature, activate your LinkedIn account in our business card scanning options, located here on Evernote IOS: Settings>General>Camera>Business Cards. This should also net you 1 year of business card scanning with Evernote.

 

A full rundown of business card scanning on Evernote IOS is here: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/53057988

 

Get the latest version of Evernote IOS in the app store (7.3.4) for the latest improvements to business card scanning.

 

Finally, business card scanning will be making its way to Android in the not too distant future, and is in development.

[marathonman 0]

You default the camera to have the LED torch on while taking a picture, which has caused a glare on every business card pic I have taken, which affects the OCR. I cannot find a way to turn this off so the only way to get a non glare business card pics is to cover the LED torch with my finger. When I do this, the business card pic turns out much better and the OCR works great.

 

PLEASE allow a way for users to shut off the LED torch while taking a picture of a business card.

[Martin Packer 162]

@marathonman the suggestion was to do it at an angle. But I'm guessing you knew that. And that it's ineffective for you. :-(

[gbarry 2,658]

Yup, we actually take into account angled photos and then adjust the image back to a business card shape. I've shuttled about 200 business cards through it personally (one by one) and found that in many cases an angled photo produces a better final image.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

The angle has produced generally good results for me too. Takes a bit of practice, but once you get it, you'll be off to the races.

[Martin Packer 162]

@gbarry Is the intent to reach across to the LinkedIn app if you have it installed? And to offer a single-push way to connect with the person whose business card you've just scanned?

 

It doesn't look QUITE that integrated yet - but I might be missing something.

[BryanJ 0]

Small quibble, but the integration that imports the CardMunch cards could be better.  How about using a tag to indicate "CardMunch Card" rather than adding a suffix to all the converted note titles "Bob Smith - CardMunch Card"?

 

I truly appreciate the service, but am left with no way to correct this, except for manually OR I could export all, find/replace, import and burn my monthly data transfer volume in the process.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

search

intitle:CardMunch

Select all the results

apply the tag 'cardmunch' or whatever you like. 

 

 

Now, removing that cardmunch suffix from the title, unfortunately, is a different story! 

[BryanJ 0]

Now, removing that cardmunch suffix from the title, unfortunately, is a different story! 

 

Yeah, I've got the tag created, but like you said, I'm stuck with the note titles.

[DigitalLynn 1]

I'm excited to have this new feature integrated into Evernote!

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm seeing a couple of strange things:

• When I scan a card, in addition to the card entry itself where it self populates the info in an address book format, I'm getting a second entry titled "Note" in Evernote with just the name and email address.
• I'm not seeing where I save this to my iPhone's contacts and it doesn't seem to be doing it automatically.

Thanks,

Lynn

[bferrell 0]

It seems clear, but is it impossible to take all of my existing scanned/photo'ed business cards and convert/OCR them into contacts or the contact card note style?  I assume it's not possile, but for those of us who have already taken many, many pictures of cards, it would be handy to convert them in bulk rather than take all new pictures.

[C6REW 416]

Not been reading updates. This works really well with the iPad as I don't have an iPhone.

 

Looking forward to getting it on Android.

 

The iPad takes the photo when it wants to, sometimes even though it is not in focus. Is this the same with the iPhone?

 

Regards

 

Chris

[mcheng 106]

@gbarry Is the intent to reach across to the LinkedIn app if you have it installed? And to offer a single-push way to connect with the person whose business card you've just scanned?

 

It doesn't look QUITE that integrated yet - but I might be missing something.

 

We would like to do this as well but unfortunately the LinkedIn app does not support this at the moment.  It is the same situation with the Login dialog being web-based instead of just picking it up via the LinkedIn app if it is already installed.  We will pick these up when their app supports as well.  

[mcheng 106]

Small quibble, but the integration that imports the CardMunch cards could be better.  How about using a tag to indicate "CardMunch Card" rather than adding a suffix to all the converted note titles "Bob Smith - CardMunch Card"?

 

I truly appreciate the service, but am left with no way to correct this, except for manually OR I could export all, find/replace, import and burn my monthly data transfer volume in the process.

Hi BryanJ

 

Sorry about the inconvenience but automatically creating tags goes against our data policy of touching stuff in users accounts.  The title was the best way we could give you a way to group the migrated cards without randomly creating notebooks and other things in your account unexpectedly. 

[BryanJ 0]

Not to argue your point, but it seems that I gave you permission to import my data. Adding a tag seems well within the rights I granted you.

[mcheng 106]

I'm excited to have this new feature integrated into Evernote!

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm seeing a couple of strange things:

• When I scan a card, in addition to the card entry itself where it self populates the info in an address book format, I'm getting a second entry titled "Note" in Evernote with just the name and email address.
• I'm not seeing where I save this to my iPhone's contacts and it doesn't seem to be doing it automatically.

Thanks,

Lynn

 

Hello Lynn,

 

You seem to be hitting a problematic use case that we have a fix for in the next release.  Please confirm if this is what you are doing:

1. Create a note
2. Launch the camera from the note
3. Scan a business card
4. Save the business card
5. Return to the note - the note now has the name and email from the card

If so, this is the thought process behind this.

 

Most users primarily treat cards as separate notes so we always save each card as a stand alone note.  From what we've learned with Evernote Hello, in a meeting situation, people want to capture information about the meeting including all business cards of the people that they met in a single note as well.  Originally when you create a note, then start the camera from that note, we assume you want the meeting scenario, so we save the business cards separately and insert references to those cards (the name and email address) in the note so that our Related Notes algorithms will show you everything together on the platforms that support Related Notes.  The user can then type up their meeting notes and Related Notes will show everything together, especially on the desktop.

 

However, there are some users that have the mindset of creating a note first, then launching the camera instead of just launching the camera directly from the home screen.  This is not wrong, just unexpected from our end.  We learned about this recently via usability tests and have added a further optimization and better feedback in the next release.  Hopefully this will be less confusing for you going forward.

 

As for how to save to your iPhone contacts, there are 2 ways:

1. If you want to save the contact info from every card to your iPhone contacts, go to Settings > General > Camera > Business Cards and you should see a setting to do this.  Just turn the setting ON.
2. If you want to be selective in the info you save to your iPhone contacts, in the business card note, there is a "..." button on the bottom right that has a menu option to do this.

Both of these options will save to your default contact account on your iPhone.  If you want the contact information synchronized to iCloud or Gmail or Outlook, just make sure whichever of these accounts is set as the default contact account under iPhone Settings > Mail, Calendar and Contacts

 

Hope this helps.

[mcheng 106]

Not been reading updates. This works really well with the iPad as I don't have an iPhone.

 

Looking forward to getting it on Android.

 

The iPad takes the photo when it wants to, sometimes even though it is not in focus. Is this the same with the iPhone?

 

Regards

 

Chris

 

 

The iPad has been challenging because it typically has a lower resolution camera and it doesn't have a flash or LED to help improve the quality of the image.  This has especially been the case with older generation iPads like iPad 2 and older and iPods Touches older than 5th gen.  We have some optimizations in the next release that hopefully will make it auto capture work better on the newer generation iPads and iPod Touches.  For the older gen devices, we will disable auto-capture because it just doesn't work and ends up frustrating the user.

[C6REW 416]

 

Not been reading updates. This works really well with the iPad as I don't have an iPhone.

 

Looking forward to getting it on Android.

 

The iPad takes the photo when it wants to, sometimes even though it is not in focus. Is this the same with the iPhone?

 

Regards

 

Chris

 

 

The iPad has been challenging because it typically has a lower resolution camera and it doesn't have a flash or LED to help improve the quality of the image.  This has especially been the case with older generation iPads like iPad 2 and older and iPods Touches older than 5th gen.  We have some optimizations in the next release that hopefully will make it auto capture work better on the newer generation iPads and iPod Touches.  For the older gen devices, we will disable auto-capture because it just doesn't work and ends up frustrating the user.

 

 

 

For interest, if it helps, my iPad is the 5th generation.

 

Best regards

 

 

Chris

[Martin Packer 162]

At a conference this week where net access is surprisingly good. But...

 

... if I were at a conference / place with no net access would the reach across into LinkedIn automatically happen when I re-acquired net access? Would I be able to make it happen manually?

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

At a conference this week where net access is surprisingly good. But...

 

... if I were at a conference / place with no net access would the reach across into LinkedIn automatically happen when I re-acquired net access? Would I be able to make it happen manually?

I think in this case the best practice would be to wait until you get back to a wifi or cellular connected zone (your hotel, a cafe, whatever) to do your scanning. 

[Martin Packer 162]

@ScottLougheed Thanks: That's what I feared.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

@ScottLougheed Thanks: That's what I feared.

I know a lot of people have many existing scans that they'd like to convert to this nice new contact note format, so I hope that Evernote considers making such a posteriori linked-in connections possible. 

[EileenT 0]

Love the idea and already use a company for this exact same thing, would consider using Evernote so everything will be in one place. The concern, your comment that by adding the cards this should give you a years worth of scanning.

 What happens at the end of the year? Is there a charge, do the cards get deleted...what? Thanks, EileenT

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Love the idea and already use a company for this exact same thing, would consider using Evernote so everything will be in one place. The concern, your comment that by adding the cards this should give you a years worth of scanning.

 What happens at the end of the year? Is there a charge, do the cards get deleted...what? Thanks, EileenT

The offer of two years of card scanning was specifically for those transitioning from the now defunct CardMunch to Evernote. 

 

No matter what though, NO, your data will NEVER be deleted and you will never lose access to that data. Once the offer to CardMunch users expires (two years after the accept the offer), they'd need Evernote Premium to continue unlimited business card scanning. Anything they did in those two years will remain in tact no matter what. 

[flug 0]

 

Love the idea and already use a company for this exact same thing, would consider using Evernote so everything will be in one place. The concern, your comment that by adding the cards this should give you a years worth of scanning.

 What happens at the end of the year? Is there a charge, do the cards get deleted...what? Thanks, EileenT

The offer of two years of card scanning was specifically for those transitioning from the now defunct CardMunch to Evernote. 

 

No matter what though, NO, your data will NEVER be deleted and you will never lose access to that data. Once the offer to CardMunch users expires (two years after the accept the offer), they'd need Evernote Premium to continue unlimited business card scanning. Anything they did in those two years will remain in tact no matter what. 

 

Wait, I had downloaded and tried Hello last year, I was not a fan and stopped using it.  I started using CardMunch because it was better and then when they decided to close and start passing data through to you I started to use the Hello app.  

 

When I started using the app it did not give me the unlimited scans, are you saying that I do not qualify for this because I am not technically a new user? 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Not a card munch user so I cannot test, you'll have to try yourself, or contact Evernote support. If you had a card munch account that is still active, it sounds like you should be entitled to free scanning. From the link in the original post:

"Connect to LinkedIn for a complementary year of business card scanning

Business card scanning is a Premium feature in Evernote. As part of the partnership with LinkedIn, Evernote is offering business card scanning to LinkedIn users.

LinkedIn users who connect their Evernote accounts with LinkedIn get one year of complementary business card scanning. CardMunch users who transfer one or more cards to Evernote get two years of complementary business card scanning."

[mcheng 106]

Hello Flug,

 

One aspect we missed as part of the CardMunch / LinkedIn deal was to provide a method to tell users whether or not they've qualified for the promotion.  We may do this via email at a later date.  For now, there are a couple things you could check.

• If you are a Free user using the latest iOS client AND you have logged in with your LinkedIn account, you should be able to scan as many cards as you want currently and can continue to do so for 1 year.  Otherwise you would be limited to 5 "test" scans and be prompted to upgrade to Evernote Premium.  If you do not see these prompts, then you have the benefit.
• If are all of the above AND you migrated your CardMunch cards successfully, you will be guaranteed 2 years of unlimited card scanning.

If you are currently a Premium / Evernote Business user, you already have the benefit of unlimited business card scanning.  However if you were to downgrade to Free within the promotion period you should still get the unlimited business card scanning promotion.  

 

To check, login to the Evernote Web client and the go to Account Settings > Connected Services.  You should see LinkedIn as a connected service if you've logged into LinkedIn.  If this is in place, then you will get either the 1 year or 2 year scanning benefit as well if you were a Free user.

[flug 0]

Hello Flug,

 

One aspect we missed as part of the CardMunch / LinkedIn deal was to provide a method to tell users whether or not they've qualified for the promotion.  We may do this via email at a later date.  For now, there are a couple things you could check.

• If you are a Free user using the latest iOS client AND you have logged in with your LinkedIn account, you should be able to scan as many cards as you want currently and can continue to do so for 1 year.  Otherwise you would be limited to 5 "test" scans and be prompted to upgrade to Evernote Premium.  If you do not see these prompts, then you have the benefit.
• If are all of the above AND you migrated your CardMunch cards successfully, you will be guaranteed 2 years of unlimited card scanning.

If you are currently a Premium / Evernote Business user, you already have the benefit of unlimited business card scanning.  However if you were to downgrade to Free within the promotion period you should still get the unlimited business card scanning promotion.  

 

To check, login to the Evernote Web client and the go to Account Settings > Connected Services.  You should see LinkedIn as a connected service if you've logged into LinkedIn.  If this is in place, then you will get either the 1 year or 2 year scanning benefit as well if you were a Free user.

Hi mcheng, 

 

I have done both connecting Linkedin and importing Cardmunch data and I have not received anything.  I was never a premium user so I am not sure why it is not working.  I even uninstalled and reinstalled the app and nothing happened.  I tried writing the support people but have not heard anything back.  Any advice? 

 

Thanks,

Dave

[mcheng 106]

Hi Dave,

 

As I mentioned there is no notification.  Are you using Evernote Hello or the main Evernote app to scan your business cards?  The promotion is only for the main Evernote app, not Evernote Hello.  I hope this clarifies things.

[flug 0]

Hi Dave,

 

As I mentioned there is no notification.  Are you using Evernote Hello or the main Evernote app to scan your business cards?  The promotion is only for the main Evernote app, not Evernote Hello.  I hope this clarifies things.

I am using Evernote Hello, I did not realize there is a business card feature for the main app.  Does it integrate with Evernote Hello? 

 

Dave

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

 

Hi Dave,

 

As I mentioned there is no notification.  Are you using Evernote Hello or the main Evernote app to scan your business cards?  The promotion is only for the main Evernote app, not Evernote Hello.  I hope this clarifies things.

I am using Evernote Hello, I did not realize there is a business card feature for the main app.  Does it integrate with Evernote Hello? 

 

Dave

 

It isn't so much something that would integrate with Hello as much as something that would replace Hello altogether. 

[flug 0]

 

 

Hi Dave,

 

As I mentioned there is no notification.  Are you using Evernote Hello or the main Evernote app to scan your business cards?  The promotion is only for the main Evernote app, not Evernote Hello.  I hope this clarifies things.

I am using Evernote Hello, I did not realize there is a business card feature for the main app.  Does it integrate with Evernote Hello? 

 

Dave

 

It isn't so much something that would integrate with Hello as much as something that would replace Hello altogether. 

 

 

Ah, now I am following, thanks for the help.  

Now that I am using it in the Evernote app, any idea how I can add fields after it scans?  It isn't doing an amazing job of scanning and it misses things like address, I've tried to go into the note and it will not allow me to add things that it missed.  Any help you can offer? 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

1) When you are scanning the card itself, immediately after scanning you should be given the option to modify/add/correct basic fields such as phone, fax, address, name, etc. 

2) After you are finished scanning, locate the newly created contact note, if you are on your iOS device, when you are in the contact note, you should see "edit" in the top right (on iPhone). Tapping "edit" allows you to add/remove/modify fields. 

[flug 0]

Gotcha, is that not possible on the desktop version of the app (mac)? 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Strangely it is not. I imagine we'll see that in an update in the near future. 

[mcheng 106]

> It isn't doing an amazing job of scanning and it misses things like address, I've tried to go into the note and it will not allow me to add things that it missed.  Any help you can offer? 

 

I feel we do a decent job of parsing addresses in Latin script based languages and are actively improving the recognition in Asian languages.  Would you mind contacting support with a few example cards that have issues so that we can look at what may be the cause?

 

Thanks.

[flug 0]

> It isn't doing an amazing job of scanning and it misses things like address, I've tried to go into the note and it will not allow me to add things that it missed.  Any help you can offer? 

 

I feel we do a decent job of parsing addresses in Latin script based languages and are actively improving the recognition in Asian languages.  Would you mind contacting support with a few example cards that have issues so that we can look at what may be the cause?

 

Thanks.

One issue I have seen is that it clicks the picture too fast, you have to get it centered fast or you take a picture of your desk.  

[flug 0]

> It isn't doing an amazing job of scanning and it misses things like address, I've tried to go into the note and it will not allow me to add things that it missed.  Any help you can offer? 

 

I feel we do a decent job of parsing addresses in Latin script based languages and are actively improving the recognition in Asian languages.  Would you mind contacting support with a few example cards that have issues so that we can look at what may be the cause?

 

Thanks.

 

I have another question, is it possible to take a pic of the back of a biz card too? Some have information on both sides and it would be good to have both sides accounted for, but I am not seeing how.  

 

Thanks! 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

> It isn't doing an amazing job of scanning and it misses things like address, I've tried to go into the note and it will not allow me to add things that it missed.  Any help you can offer? 

 

I feel we do a decent job of parsing addresses in Latin script based languages and are actively improving the recognition in Asian languages.  Would you mind contacting support with a few example cards that have issues so that we can look at what may be the cause?

 

Thanks.

 

I have another question, is it possible to take a pic of the back of a biz card too? Some have information on both sides and it would be good to have both sides accounted for, but I am not seeing how.  

 

Thanks!

Not currently but it will be possible in a future release.

[mcheng 106]

One issue I have seen is that it clicks the picture too fast, you have to get it centered fast or you take a picture of your desk.  

 

 

 

The way auto capture works is that we look for the edges of the card.  This is where the contrasting background (e.g. white card on dark surface, etc)  helps because it makes it easier for our image algorithms to pick out the edges.  Once we find something that looks like a card, we tell the camera to auto focus and then take the picture.  We've tried to optimize the algorithms to distinguish cards from other things that may look like it has edges but isn't really a card but this isn't perfect.  For example if you stand up and hold the biz card camera over a macbook pro keyboard, the aspect ratio of the set of black keys in the middle of the grey aluminum body is enough to trick the camera into taking the picture.

 

If the camera seems to be misfiring for you it could be one of two things:

1. There is something or some pattern on your desk that makes the camera think there is a card there when there isn't.  Try taking the picture of the card on some other contrasting surface to see if this helps
2. There is something about the animation or camera flash that is making you think we've already taken the picture when we are still in the process and you've already moved the camera by the time the actual picture has been taken.  If you think this may be the cause, wait a few more moments after you think the picture has been taken to see if this improves the process for you.

If the problem is the 2nd cause, we'd really appreciate some feedback to our support team as to what part of the picture taking flow is making you think we have taken the picture.  Thanks.

[btsg 0]

I started the transition on the LinkedIn site about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have not received an email and none of my contacts have  migrated to Evernote. In addition, when I scan a card in Evernote I have no idea how to issue a LinkedIn invitation. So far, not a very smooth transition for me.

[Jammyamerica 0]

Nice post thank yu..

[DancingDavidE 0]

I'm a former CardMunch user and the transfer had worked fine before now, and I was enjoying the new app in iOS, however in the last week or so (seems approximately tied to a recent app update June 6th?) I've been getting crashes when taking the business card scans.

 

I haven't tried reinstalling the app yet, but that may be the next course of action.

 

Othwerwise, can any of the users provide tips if you have had this same problem and solved it somehow?

 

It works sometimes, but I would say less than 50% of the time.

[mcheng 106]

I'm a former CardMunch user and the transfer had worked fine before now, and I was enjoying the new app in iOS, however in the last week or so (seems approximately tied to a recent app update June 6th?) I've been getting crashes when taking the business card scans.

 

I haven't tried reinstalling the app yet, but that may be the next course of action.

 

Othwerwise, can any of the users provide tips if you have had this same problem and solved it somehow?

 

It works sometimes, but I would say less than 50% of the time.

 

 

I started the transition on the LinkedIn site about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have not received an email and none of my contacts have  migrated to Evernote. In addition, when I scan a card in Evernote I have no idea how to issue a LinkedIn invitation. So far, not a very smooth transition for me.

 

 

These issues are best resolved by contacting our support.  They can collect detailed information about your problem and have a direct escalation line to our developers.  Please use the links below to file support tickets.  

 

Thanks.

[mrgoerend 89]

Does this data get synced over to Google Contacts?

[mcheng 106]

Hi mrgoerend,

 

We save to the local Contacts on iOS and Mac.  From there if you have your Contacts app sync'ed to Google you will see them there.

[Paul_K 0]

Hi MCheng,

 

I too have experiencing the exact same symptoms as BTSG (Just finding the discussion forum now).

 

I opened a support request (with both evernote and linkedin) as you advised David on June 20th, I have not received any response from Evernote support yet (Almost 1 month). Linkedin support replied the same day stating that this was an evernote issue and there was nothing they could do.

 

Do you have any other advise? 

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

I'm a former CardMunch user and the transfer had worked fine before now, and I was enjoying the new app in iOS, however in the last week or so (seems approximately tied to a recent app update June 6th?) I've been getting crashes when taking the business card scans.

 

I haven't tried reinstalling the app yet, but that may be the next course of action.

 

Othwerwise, can any of the users provide tips if you have had this same problem and solved it somehow?

 

It works sometimes, but I would say less than 50% of the time.

 

 

I started the transition on the LinkedIn site about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have not received an email and none of my contacts have  migrated to Evernote. In addition, when I scan a card in Evernote I have no idea how to issue a LinkedIn invitation. So far, not a very smooth transition for me.

 

 

These issues are best resolved by contacting our support.  They can collect detailed information about your problem and have a direct escalation line to our developers.  Please use the links below to file support tickets.  

 

Thanks.

 

[bush911 0]

So, what about Android?

[funfunfun1 2]

So, what about Android?

 

 

X2 I couldn't figure out how to do this on my android.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

 

So, what about Android?

 

 

X2 I couldn't figure out how to do this on my android.

 

I don't believe business card scanning is available on android yet... still. 

[drwho 0]

Support is non existent

I really liked the business card scanning but it has not worked (transition from cardmunch) for months now. iOS crashes after taking picture as others have reported

I submitted support requests and zero response. 

 

VERY disappointed the Evernote cannot follow through with the agreements with Linked in. Cardmunch had its issues but worked - and was more reliable at parsing information.

[mcheng 106]

Support is non existent

I really liked the business card scanning but it has not worked (transition from cardmunch) for months now. iOS crashes after taking picture as others have reported

I submitted support requests and zero response. 

 

VERY disappointed the Evernote cannot follow through with the agreements with Linked in. Cardmunch had its issues but worked - and was more reliable at parsing information.

 

Can you provide the support ticket number or send a private message with your email address so that we can identify what happened?  

 

Thanks.

[fcaz 0]

Card munch automatically synced a scanned card into my Outlook contacts.  How do I get Evernote to do that?  Without it, I'm afraid Evernote is useless to me.

[mcheng 106]

Hi fcaz,

 

Both the Android and iOS clients allow you to save the contact information scanned from business cards to your device contacts.  Once in your device contacts, you just need to setup Contact sync with Outlook to get those changes synchronized from your device contacts to Outlook.  iOS has a setting that can save the contact info for every card you scan, if that is your preference.  This setting has not been implemented on Android yet but is on the roadmap.

 

Hope this helps.

[SKelley 0]

Hi GBarry, If all I have is Android, it sounds like Evernote for business card scanning is a little ways out?  Any interim apps/solutions you suggest?  Steve

[BryanJ 0]

I have been enjoying the free 2 years of business card scanningpromised during the LinkedIn/Evernote Cardmunch transition.  However, the mobile app just told me that I needed to upgrade to keep it.  

 

Evernote, please tell me that this is a bug and you're not taking away the 2 year promotion!?!?

[BryanJ 0]

Or should I use the scannable app which seems quite content to add business cards? Frankly I'm not sure why there exists a scannable app when picture taking is already baked in Evernote.

[gidian9 0]

Quick question to anyone who can answer it.  I use an IPhone and a Macbook with Evernote.  When scanning in business cards I do not seem to be able to search entries by the business name, only by the person's name.  When I try this same thing on my Mac, it searches just fine.  I was wondering if you could tell me what I was doing wrong.  

Thanks in advance.

[mcheng 106]

Hi gidian9

 

This shouldn't be the case.  We don't really do any type of special search for business cards on either platform.  What happens with contact notes is the same that happens with all notes in Evernote.  The formatting is stripped from any typed information and the words are indexed for search.  Images are passed through our text recognition servers and any words we find in images are also indexed for search.

 

In the case of scanned business cards, the name, company, phone number, etc are all indexed.  Similarly any text from the business card images, front or back are index and should be available via normal search.

[mcheng 106]

Hi GBarry, If all I have is Android, it sounds like Evernote for business card scanning is a little ways out?  Any interim apps/solutions you suggest?  Steve

 

Hello SKelley,

 

Business card scanning on Android has been a part of the main Evernote for Android app since Nov of last year.  See this blog post.  https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2014/11/20/business-card-scanning-arrives-on-evernote-for-android/

[mcheng 106]

Or should I use the scannable app which seems quite content to add business cards? Frankly I'm not sure why there exists a scannable app when picture taking is already baked in Evernote.

 

Hi BrianJ,

 

We haven't done anything to the LinkedIn promotion.  If you don't seem to have this, on the iOS app, check under Settings > General > Camera > Business Cards.  There is a LinkedIn section at the top of that setting page.  If it says Connect - you are disconnected from your LinkedIn account and you need to login to LinkedIn.  If it says Disconnect, there may be some issues with your LinkedIn connection (e.g. maybe the login token expired).  Try hitting Disconnect then Connect to login again.  

 

If this doesn't fix it please contact support via one of the links below.

 

As for why Scannable exists, its for a different set of use cases.  We built Scannable as a way to introduce new people to Evernote who may not understand all the benefits of capturing everything in Evernote.  It's geared towards helping people who need to scan documents on the go, like real estate agents, field reps, inspectors, etc and uses Business Card scanning as a way to introduce them to Evernote.

 

You are right in that the same tech exists in both apps.  We do this on purpose to ensure that both Evernote and Scannable are able to improve on each other as they learn more from each type of use case.  You are free to use whichever app suits your work flow the best.

[BryanJ 0]

 

Or should I use the scannable app which seems quite content to add business cards? Frankly I'm not sure why there exists a scannable app when picture taking is already baked in Evernote.

 

Hi BryanJ,

 

We haven't done anything to the LinkedIn promotion.  If you don't seem to have this, on the iOS app, check under Settings > General > Camera > Business Cards.  There is a LinkedIn section at the top of that setting page.  If it says Connect - you are disconnected from your LinkedIn account and you need to login to LinkedIn.  If it says Disconnect, there may be some issues with your LinkedIn connection (e.g. maybe the login token expired).  Try hitting Disconnect then Connect to login again.  

 

If this doesn't fix it please contact support via one of the links below.

 

Thanks mcheng.  I followed your suggestion to disconnect and reconnect to no avail.  Support ticket submitted.

[gidian9 0]

Hey mcheng,

Thanks for the info, I figured it was not supposed to be working like that.  I am trying to search the scanned information that is imported when you take the picture. It just wont search those fields for some reason.  Am I doing something wrong or is that just the way things are?

[mcheng 106]

Hi gidian9

 

It really depends on 2 things:

- Was the field from the card and converted into text in the note?

- If not, is the field you are looking for on the card image in some fancy logo or font?

 

if the field was converted to text, then there really shouldn't be a reason that you shouldn't be able to find it via search.  I would contact support where we will most likely ask you for a screen shot of the note and the card so that we can try to reproduce the problem ourselves.

 

If the field wasn't converted, that is a good indication as to why you can't search for it.  Sometimes its just text that we can't categorize properly as a name or title, etc.  However many times there is text on the card that our brains can read but the OCR process cannot because they don't look like text.  Things such as stylized fonts, company logos or insufficient contrast between the text and the background of the card make it difficult for our OCR servers to recognize the text.

 

Here is a note I put together on biz card scanning which outlines some of the more common problems we have with recognizing information from cards and why.  

https://www.evernote.com/l/AAz7tuwwknNKnKB7ESe6SfQbNTkKYG-KP_8

 

In the last couple of years, we've been able to improve our image recognition algorithms quite a bit which is why the new Evernote iOS camera and Scannable experiences feel like magic.  However there will always be fonts and card designs that will stymy our algorithms.

 

Hope this helps.

[gidian9 0]

yea it saved as text and still won't search.

[gidian9 0]

also I am not a paying member so support won't talk to me

[mcheng 106]

If you're comfortable with this, can you share a screenshot of the scanned business card note and a picture of the card with me via a private message?  

[curtmuell 0]

I'm having the same problem as BryanJ.

I was supposed to have two years of free business card scanning starting July of last year due to the CardMunch transition.

 

But now the iOS app is asking for me to sign up for premium and won't let me scan cards as I used to.

 

I disconnected LinkedIn and reconnected to reestablish a token as mcheng suggested, but to no difference.

 

And since I'm not a premium member, I can't submit a help ticket.

 

What avenue is there for me to address this?

[mcheng 106]

@brianj @curtmuell

 

In general, support does look at Free tickets but the current backlog is quite high at the moment.

 

We found a bug with the latest version of iOS (version 7.7.6) which broke the CardMunch promotion logic.  If you file a support ticket and post the ticket number here, I'll ask support to contact you directly to provide a workaround.

[curtmuell 0]

Hi mcheng,

 

Thanks for your attention to this.  I've submitted a support ticket (thanks for the heads up about that) and the ticket number is #1119074.

 

Best!

[Dr K 0]

Zombie Thread Revival...

mcheng notes above that scanned Evernote business cards can be sync'd with iOS contacts, but earlier in the thread the description how to do this is to go to Settings/General/Camers...  Well, in iOS 10.1.1 there is no "Camera" choice under "General." Is there an update on how to sync the scanned business cards with contacts? Without this, scanning business cards is useless to me (and about 50% of why I want Evernote). Thanks in advance.