Error when selecting text in native pdf reader

[mlu 24]

I do a lot of copying of text strings from Evernote pdf's into other applications, and have noticed that quiet frequently when marking a text string and I press ctrl+C, the marked text is not copied to the clipboard. Therefore you need to be extremely alert not to inadvertently paste the text selected earlier. 

As the text is clearly marked and visually indicated as being selected, this must be an error in Evernote. Has anyone observed this too?

Edited August 5, 2017 by mlu
a little clarity added...

[mlu 24]

Anyone? This is an error - where to formally post errors? My guess is that perhaps one out of ten attempts to copy fails, where you in good faith believe you paste the text just copied, but in stead the text from the last successful copy is pasted. Very annoying and something that has remained unchanged in the last many releases of the program. 

[gazumped 8,274]

Hi.  Sorry for the slow resonse - we're a (mainly) user-supported forum,  so you get a comment when there's a spare  body around to read your initial post.  Over a weekend that can be a while.

What version of Windows do you have?  Windows clipboard can be temperamental,  and that's (I think) what you're using to move the clip from one window to another.  Not sure there is an option.  You will find that a restart will clear temporary memory and give you a better experience - for a while...

If it is causing you issues,  you can reach Support directly if you're a paying customer on https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new or tweet them if not via https://twitter.com/evernotehelps

[CalS 4,852]

I forget, but if you have a PDF which has not been OCRd can you still highlight the text but not have copy capability.  Seems like that has happened to me in the past....

[mlu 24]

47 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  Sorry for the slow resonse - we're a (mainly) user-supported forum,  so you get a comment when there's a spare  body around to read your initial post.  Over a weekend that can be a while.

What version of Windows do you have?  Windows clipboard can be temperamental,  and that's (I think) what you're using to move the clip from one window to another.  Not sure there is an option.  You will find that a restart will clear temporary memory and give you a better experience - for a while...

If it is causing you issues,  you can reach Support directly if you're a paying customer on https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new or tweet them if not via https://twitter.com/evernotehelps

This has been a consistent error - at least for me - over a long period of time. I paste info from pdf's into an accounting program, and occasionally I have experienced that I first copy and paste the invoice number, then copy the amount and when I paste the amount (believe I'm pasting), the invoice number is pasted. Quite unfortunate, but of course due to my control procedures, does not lead to actual errors. However all in all it gives an uncertainly and lacking trust to the copy/paste functionality.

This does not happen very often, perhaps once every 20-50 selections. I have though at times when I notice that this happens, tried to go back to Evernote and repeat the copy (based on the original selection), and the copy still does not work. So therefore I do not believe this has to do with Windows Clipboard, but the selection functionality (don't know whether this is Windows or Evernote though)

I'm running Windows 10 version 1703 build 16257.1 and Evernote 6.6.4.5512 (305512), but the same issue has prevailed over the last many windows and evernote versions.

[mlu 24]

13 minutes ago, csihilling said:

I forget, but if you have a PDF which has not been OCRd can you still highlight the text but not have copy capability.  Seems like that has happened to me in the past....

I'm quite sure that you will not be able to select ant text if the pdf has not been OCR'ed. When/if Evernote make the OCR at their end, they do not put searchable text into the pdf, so also in those situations the text is not selectable. When experience this situation very often I can copy/paste other strings from this pdf, but for unknown reasons it fails for other strings. However when I find out, I normally can go back and re-select the string, and then the copy paste works again for this particular string. Maybe it has to do with invisible character being included into the selection and that somehow blocks the selection function, or something else particular with the selection as such?

[gazumped 8,274]

Hmmn.  Don't believe I've ever had PDF content that can't be copied - not that I copy and paste text from PDFs that often.  I agree that if the PDF hasn't been OCR'd,  the text you see is just part of an overall image,  so isn't selectable.  I'm on Win 10,  having run the gamut of Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 too...

So is it something to do with the PDF file you're copying from?  Could you copy and paste the whole content into the note body,  or export the content to a TXT or RTF file?  If you copy from the note version rather than the original PDF your copies should be more reliable.

I still recommend that you raise this with Support - maybe they can offer some suggestions.

[CalS 4,852]

Not near my PC so can’t test, but not sure you can copy anything that is rendered in the PDF.  

I’ve done searches where a note isn’t in the search results but the search term is clearly visible in the note.  It’s because the text is in a rendered part of the PDF.  Fix is to print the PDF and then OCR the result.  Any chance the search term is such?   Or it could just be a bug.