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Combining handwritten and typed text in a note


MJG

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I am a longtime Evernote user, and it is my core and single point where all knowledge is capture and stored. 

I take handwritten notes on my iPad in meetings, seminars, etc.  I capture and store them in ink and do NOT often convert handwriting to text.  All I want to do is to be able to capture both handwritten and typed text inputs into a single note in Evernote.  I have tried ALL the big note taking apps (Noteshelf, Notability, Nebo, Apple Notes, etc.).  The handwriting experience is superior, but getting things into Evernote is a tedious, multi step process, and it does NOT allow me to combine/mix/alternate between typed and scribed. 

Here is my use case:  I can import a typed agenda into an EN note.  I now want to go in and add handwritten notes of various length under each agenda item. So, essentially, create space between typed lines of text, and nest my handwritten notes on that agenda item under the appropriate typed text.  

I know that this is precisely what Evernote allows you to do by inserting a sketch, but to be frank, the Evernote handwriting feature is poor.  It doesn't feel like a pen or pencil, the resulting handwriting is sketchy and even worse than my own poor penmanship.  I need another way to do this and still end up with an Evernote note entry. 

Once that's done, I may come back to that same note and add additional typed notes, document attachments, etc.  So solutions like Penultimate and Noteshelf, which segregate the notes into synced notebooks and don't allow editing in Evernote won't do.

So far, the best "integration" I have found is with Apple Notes.  It's handwriting capture feels natural and looks great.  It lets me insert handwritten space between lines of typed text.  (Albeit, often leaving a lot of white space before and after the handwriting, but I can live with that.)  I can then send a copy of the Apple Note to Evernote, but Evernote takes all the handwritten sections as separate images and moves them to the bottom of the note, leaving the originally typed text at the top of the note.  (My handwritten notes are no longer connected to the written text item they are associated with.)

Does anyone have a better solution or app to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish?

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12 minutes ago, MJG said:

Does anyone have a better solution or app to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish?

My favourite editor is the Notability app    
I save the documents in Evernote as note attachments  (jpeg/pdf format)q

>>but getting things into Evernote is a tedious, multi step process

Click on the share icon

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Thank you for taking the time to respond, DTLow.  

I know that (like Noteshelf and GoodNotes) Notability allows you to combine text, ink and images on a single page.  But the specific thing I am looking to be able to do is this:

  1. Copy 8 lines of text from a Word document (for example, eight topics from a meeting agenda) and paste them into a note.
  2. Create space between any two lines of text, where handwritten notes can be created (and everything else shifts down to accommodate the ink)

Neither Noteshelf nor Goodnotes can do that.  Can Notability? 

Apple Notes can do this, but can't handle the transfer to Evernote. 

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13 minutes ago, MJG said:

But the specific thing I am looking to be able to do is this:

>>Copy 8 lines of text from a Word document (for example, eight topics from a meeting agenda) and paste them into a note.

Yes

>>Create space between any two lines of text, where handwritten notes can be created (and everything else shifts down to accommodate the ink)

Yes - it's just inserting line breaks

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I am afraid Notability shares the same defect as Noteshelf and Goodnotes in this regard.

All those lines of typed text (including any blank lines in between) are contained in a single text box. It is a possible, but crude solution to add blank lines of text between lines to create space for ink - but all that does is increase the size of what is still a single text box that a single layer of inked notes are  added on top of.

The rub with that: Say I insert line breaks to the typed contents and add inked notes after the first agenda item, and then do the same after item 2.  If I need to go back to add additional inked notes  under item one, I need to add additional line breaks from my keyboard, and now the inked notes that come later are out of place and overlapping other typed text.

What I need is something that will allow be to actually INSERT an adjustable ink “canvas” to write on BETWEEN separate lines of typed text - not create white space within a text box that I can write on top of.  Apple Notes lets you do that, but there are other problems with transferring the final note to Evernote.

If the meetings I am in always proceeded in a direct, linear fashion, and I could always predict how much space for handwritten notes would be necessary under each item BEFORE the meeting began, I could construct a template to work around this ... but that’s not real life for me. 

Thanks anyway. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My question isnt spot on to your issue (which I would also like). But rather, as a very new user to EN -- can you please tell me how I turn off handwriting to text conversion? Its taking my handwritten not and converting them to text automatically.

--Am I missing a setting where I can turn this off?

--Is there a way, like in Notability, where I can *choose* to convert handwriting to text in EN?

 

Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

On your iPad, open a note containing typed text. Press and hold your Apple Pencil between the lines of text where you want to insert inked notes. A space is created where you can ink. (You can expand or shrink it with the triangular buttons on the left margin. 
 

This works fine on your iPad. But it doesn’t work so well if you print to PDF to add the content to Evernote. All of the typed text appears on the resulting page first; all your separate inked insertions are pushed to the bottom of the page. 
 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/29/2020 at 4:15 PM, MJG said:

I am a longtime Evernote user, and it is my core and single point where all knowledge is capture and stored. 

I take handwritten notes on my iPad in meetings, seminars, etc.  I capture and store them in ink and do NOT often convert handwriting to text.  All I want to do is to be able to capture both handwritten and typed text inputs into a single note in Evernote.  I have tried ALL the big note taking apps (Noteshelf, Notability, Nebo, Apple Notes, etc.).  The handwriting experience is superior, but getting things into Evernote is a tedious, multi step process, and it does NOT allow me to combine/mix/alternate between typed and scribed. 

Here is my use case:  I can import a typed agenda into an EN note.  I now want to go in and add handwritten notes of various length under each agenda item. So, essentially, create space between typed lines of text, and nest my handwritten notes on that agenda item under the appropriate typed text.  

I know that this is precisely what Evernote allows you to do by inserting a sketch, but to be frank, the Evernote handwriting feature is poor.  It doesn't feel like a pen or pencil, the resulting handwriting is sketchy and even worse than my own poor penmanship.  I need another way to do this and still end up with an Evernote note entry. 

Once that's done, I may come back to that same note and add additional typed notes, document attachments, etc.  So solutions like Penultimate and Noteshelf, which segregate the notes into synced notebooks and don't allow editing in Evernote won't do.

So far, the best "integration" I have found is with Apple Notes.  It's handwriting capture feels natural and looks great.  It lets me insert handwritten space between lines of typed text.  (Albeit, often leaving a lot of white space before and after the handwriting, but I can live with that.)  I can then send a copy of the Apple Note to Evernote, but Evernote takes all the handwritten sections as separate images and moves them to the bottom of the note, leaving the originally typed text at the top of the note.  (My handwritten notes are no longer connected to the written text item they are associated with.)

Does anyone have a better solution or app to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish?

I don’t understand why Evernote just doesn’t integrate penultimate into its flagship Evernote app?   I use penultimate as I (studies prove this) find that I remember more when I hand write my notes.  

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Try a real handwriting tool for a change, and you will feel how far off the top Penultimate ranges.

Because you will only use it when you like it, I would try several apps to find out. Personally I use GoodNotes 5, other apps with a good reputation are for example Notability, Noteshelf and Myscript Nebo. Many apps (GN as well) use the Nebo engine to improve their script handling.

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20 hours ago, cbscott said:

I don’t understand why Evernote just doesn’t integrate penultimate into its flagship Evernote app?   I use penultimate as I (studies prove this) find that I remember more when I hand write my notes.  

Penultimate already does offer a very rudimentary level of integration within Evernote. But it has such a poor handwriting experience and is so limited and clumsy in its functionality, as compared to any of the numerous alternatives that I would not view Penultimate as a viable or desirable path towards integrating typed and handwritten notes within Evernote.  

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