Upgraded PDF annotation with Apple Pencil

[SWG Brisbane 10]

I find the PDF annotation features in Evernote slow and cumbersome on iOS with Apple Pencil.  The Pencil annotation features in PDF Expert are near perfect for me, so I find myself exporting PDFs within Evernote notes to PDF Expert and then returning them once annotated.  This is a cumbersome process.

In particular, when you choose the pencil tool, there is a significant delay when you put pen to screen.  I am often 1/2 way through a word before I realise that the 1st couple of letters did not register in time.

Can we have this fixed please - or else better integration with PDF Expert?

[macneilpi 34]

Not just Apple Pencil, but the whole integration/insertion of PDFs needs to be updated to allow for seamless notetaking. 

[safavi 0]

At the very least, I would like an option to disable touch annotations if I have an Apple Pencil. Currently when I switch to annotation mode, I often accidentally annotate with my hand as I try to scroll/pan/zoom. It seems like a toggle option to disable this would be super useful. Without it, I find annotation in Evernote to be a pretty frustrating experience.

[snowbaked 1]

100% agree. The Apple Pencil works well in Penultimate, but apart from that, Evernote is useless for PDF annotation on an iPad.

If they could just allow the native annotation functionality that would be fine (and more than suitable instead of the skitch stuff).

[andrewlwood 6]

You know, I was using the digital inking/sketch feature in Evernote today with my pencil and it's truly great - the tools are good, natural, they have good smoothing and pressure sensitivity, and the results look good. 

I just wish the PDF markup would look like the digital inking, rather than the outdated ex-skitch pink crayon stuff. Just make the markup mirror what already exists in the digital inking capability (maybe with a text tool) and I'd be over the moon.

 

[Charliesjsj38373 8]

Exactly 2 years since this post created. How hasn't this been implemented yet?  Any update on timeline to implementation?

Evernote great if you want to use Apple Pencil to draw on blank sheet (in-note handwriting feature, Penultimate) but annotating pictures/PDFs with Apple Pencil is a nightmare. Clunky, unpleasant user experience.

Bizarre because that's what I use Apple Pencil most for. iOS has this natively while OneNote, PDFExpert, Notability, GoodNotes etc now all do this perfectly. Why not Evernote?

[pgibbz 0]

agreed - the apple pencil interface needs a significant update with Evernote. Its a shame because I love using Evernote and it has great organization ability. Would love to see this update happen so it looks similar to the native iPad markup tools. 

[DTLow 5,743]

14 minutes ago, snowbaked said:

100% agree. The Apple Pencil works well in Penultimate, but apart from that, Evernote is useless for PDF annotation on an iPad.

If they could just allow the native annotation functionality that would be fine (and more than suitable instead of the skitch stuff).

Could you please explain what you mean by "native annotation".

Also, is the with Apple Pencil, or just general pdf annotation in Evernote/IOS.

[aeneascycle 0]

A friend recommended GoodNotes for this purpose, but it would be better if integrated into Evernote.  I watched her take notes on an executive education presentation.  It was better than paper,  and I wished I could do that.  I am seeking such a solution.

[andrewlwood 6]

On 05/04/2018 at 5:15 AM, aeneascycle said:

A friend recommended GoodNotes for this purpose, but it would be better if integrated into Evernote.  I watched her take notes on an executive education presentation.  It was better than paper,  and I wished I could do that.  I am seeking such a solution.

My solution is to import into notability, then export as pdf into Evernote when I’m done. But Evernote should really be able to handle pdf markup natively. 

[DTLow 5,743]

1 hour ago, andrewlwood said:

Evernote should really be able to handle pdf markup natively. 

Evernote has a pdf annotation feature that works with Apple Pencil

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005587-How-to-annotate-images-and-PDFs-in-Evernote

>>My solution is to import into notability, then export as pdf into Evernote when I’m done.

I like the Notability solution.  It offers much more editing features than Evernote's basic annotation feature.

[andrewlwood 6]

37 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Evernote has a pdf annotation feature

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005587-How-to-annotate-images-and-PDFs-in-Evernote

Yes, but as we’ve been discussing, it’s woefully inadequate and needs updating, and doesn’t capitalise on the functionality of the Pencil. 

[snowbaked 1]

On 27/03/2018 at 5:44 PM, DTLow said:

Could you please explain what you mean by "native annotation".

Also, is the with Apple Pencil, or just general pdf annotation in Evernote/IOS.

Native annotation is the annotation that you get when you just open a pdf in iOS from files.

[snowbaked 1]

6 hours ago, andrewlwood said:

You know, I was using the digital inking/sketch feature in Evernote today with my pencil and it's truly great - the tools are good, natural, they have good smoothing and pressure sensitivity, and the results look good. 

I just wish the PDF markup would look like the digital inking, rather than the outdated ex-skitch pink crayon stuff. Just make the markup mirror what already exists in the digital inking capability (maybe with a text tool) and I'd be over the moon.

 

Agreed.

 

[ajar73 1]

Totally agree that native annotation in Evernote must be improved.

[robinnj 10]

I agree, I would happily upgrade to Premium if I could annoyed the way I do in Notability. Going to one notes app would be my goal and my choice would be Evernote if the annotation was like Notability in smoothness and ease of use.

[DTLow 5,743]

27 minutes ago, robinnj said:

Going to one notes app would be my goal

One giant bloated app that contains every feature used by every user?
No thanks, I'm ok with using dedicated editors when I need extended features.

[robinnj 10]

2 minutes ago, DTLow said:

One giant bloated app that contains every feature used by every user?
No thanks, I'm contented with using dedicated editors when I need extended features.

Hi, Not what I meant, sorry. I would like the current features to be better. My experience of using the apple pencil is that it is not as smooth as other notes apps and continually seems to try and straighten your letter as you write. To me this makes the feature unusable which is a shame, it just needs improving.

[stespence 0]

On 4/7/2018 at 9:50 PM, andrewlwood said:

My solution is to import into notability, then export as pdf into Evernote when I’m done. But Evernote should really be able to handle pdf markup natively. 

This is exactly my solution, would love to be able to do this within evernote

[tanakajohn 1]

While I am a premium user, I am very disappointed by the PDF annotation features.I use the apple pencil and the whole experience is really bad. Many times I annotate the PDF with my hand by mistake, the response is really slow and the most disturbing, when the screen goes off, I lose all my annotations (even if I open immediately the evernote app).

The only reliable solution is to export the PDF to PDF Expert and then copy back to Evernote after I finished the annotation. Please find a way to fix these issues.