I'd like to use my scanner

[Sidney1994 1]

It would be nice to scan documents, etc. directly into Evernote from my own personal scanner. I use Evernote on my personal Android phone, my work iPhone, and my Windows laptop and desktop. Using my phone to take a picture of the document is fine, but it's never as good quality as a scanned document. I looked around a little bit, and there does seem to be a special scanner and scanner app, but I don't think there is anything that lets me use my own scanner. I know I can scan to a pdf document and just load that into Evernote, but I thought something direct would be a natural for a notes application.

[gazumped 11,652]

9 hours ago, Sidney1994 said:

It would be nice to scan documents, etc. directly into Evernote from my own personal scanner

Hi.  It should be possible to do exactly this - no need for a 'special' scanner;  just talk to your own scanner support team to find out if a direct connection is possible.  If it is not,  you can presumably scan to a PDF file stored on your own desktop.  If that is the case,  then use an Import Folder to import those PDFs into Evernote automatically.  I actually scan to one folder on my hard drive,  then edit titles,  add keywords and generally mess around with my PDF files as necessary.  At the end of a scanning session I'll move all those PDF files en bloc to my import folders.  (It's possible to link several import folders to different notebooks if you wish...)

How to create import folders in Evernote for Windows

[Thresha 3]

It likely boils down to the software your scanner uses, there may be an option to upload directly to cloud services. For example I have used a Doxie scanner and their software does have an option to send directly to Evernote, Dropbox, etc. But as gazumped states, the "Import Folders" feature in Evernote does work very well and could be a great way to work around your scanner software limitations.

[dconnet 529]

When using import folders, it is best to scan to a separate folder and then move the files in (as gazumped is). Evernote grabs files as soon as Windows tells it a file has been created. Which means we may try importing it before the scanner is done writing it.

[gazumped 11,652]

1 minute ago, dconnet said:

Evernote grabs files as soon as Windows tells it a file has been created

I have that t-shirt.  Couldn't understand for a while why my Import folder still had the full PDF and there was no import...  files dropped into the folder worked...  Aha!  Scan to a different folder,  and move them across!!  Only took me about a week....  ?

[dconnet 529]

2 minutes ago, gazumped said:

I have that t-shirt.  Couldn't understand for a while why my Import folder still had the full PDF and there was no import...  files dropped into the folder worked...  Aha!  Scan to a different folder,  and move them across!!  Only took me about a week....  ?

You know, I think I'll create an 'improvement' bug - we should have something into the text in the import folder dialog that calls this out...

[Thresha 3]

Haha, I've been there too, thanks for the reminder! There is another method that could be used to handle this, though rather complicated but I've had to use systems like such before. You can connect cloud services using IFTTT and could set up an automatic transfer from a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive TO Evernote. So theoretically the scanner could dump the files (if they are photo's) to a directory that is used by a cloud service (like Dropbox) and IFTTT would make the transfer automatically by using the "Create image note from URL" Evernote IFTTT action. I just tested it myself and it worked great, there is a delay before IFTTT picks up the photo's so should be enough time for the scanning to complete. Only potential issue is that the folder connected to the cloud service would likely have to be routinely purged as the IFTTT trigger does not do so.

[DTLow 5,736]

5 hours ago, dconnet said:

Evernote grabs files as soon as Windows tells it a file has been created. Which means we may try importing it before the scanner is done writing it.

We have import folders on Macs as well, but a script is required to do the actual import.
Same problem; I was able to add a delay in the script to allow the download to complete

[CalS 5,280]

4 hours ago, dconnet said:

When using import folders, it is best to scan to a separate folder and then move the files in (as gazumped is). Evernote grabs files as soon as Windows tells it a file has been created. Which means we may try importing it before the scanner is done writing it.

I've been lucky with my ScanSnap.  I have been scanning and OCRing to an import folder with no mishaps from the start.  It and Windows must be playing nice.  YMMV.

[Don Dz 165]

54 minutes ago, CalS said:

I've been lucky with my ScanSnap.  I have been scanning and OCRing to an import folder with no mishaps from the start.  It and Windows must be playing nice.  YMMV.

I have that scanner as well, that thing produces a file so fast Windows doesn't know what hit it, so to speak.  ?