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Getting handwritten notes into EN options


RobD

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I am currently using the Neo Smartpen M1+ which works great.  The only issue is that Neo has stopped supporting the original Neo Notes app on December 31, 2020.  Neo Notes automatically transfers handwritten notes from Neo to EN.  This is the ideal workflow for me. The replacement app, Neo Studio, does not offer this same functionality from what I can see.

 

I am looking for other options that would allow me to take hand written notes in ink on paper and automatically upload them to EN ?  Or manually? 

 

Current workflow is:

 

Hand write notes using Neo M1+ pen onto paper notebooks.  Open Neo Notes app, (Android),  and sync with EN.  Review searchable, handwritten notes in EN

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My handwriting workflow is based on the iPad, Apple Pencil and GoodNotes 5. Works great, but in a different ecosystem. There are plenty of other app choices in the iOS world, like Noteshelf, Notability or Nebo (which is as well providing the engine for other handwriting apps). The possibility to save the handwriting directly in EN was AFAIK cut by v10, so in all cases the primary storage is in the app (and iCloud), and it can be exported into EN.

Personally I think there is nothing comparable on Android.

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13 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

My handwriting workflow is based on the iPad, Apple Pencil and GoodNotes 5. Works great, but in a different ecosystem. There are plenty of other app choices in the iOS world, like Noteshelf, Notability or Nebo (which is as well providing the engine for other handwriting apps). The possibility to save the handwriting directly in EN was AFAIK cut by v10, so in all cases the primary storage is in the app (and iCloud), and it can be exported into EN.

Personally I think there is nothing comparable on Android.

Thanks. I should have specified that I need to write my notes in ink and on paper ( I edited  my original post to reflect this). .  I've tried the ipad route before and I just don't like the feel of inking my notes directly onto something digital. . 

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Take a picture with your phone and import it into EN. It will stay a photo of handwriting, but EN will work on it on the server, and create an OCR overlay to it. By this, it will be searchable even if it stays a reproduction of your writing. I tried it and was positively surprised how well it did on my handwriting (which most people find hard to read).

Use plain or lightly dotted paper for this - lines or squares can interfere with the OCR.

Hint: The OCR lives only on the EN server - it can’t be exported. This is one reason I like GoodNotes 5 - the OCR done by it will be embedded into the pdf used for export. By this it is universally searchable, even if it only shows handwritten content.

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14 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Take a picture with your phone and import it into EN. It will stay a photo of handwriting, but EN will work on it on the server, and create an OCR overlay to it. By this, it will be searchable even if it stays a reproduction of your writing. I tried it and was positively surprised how well it did on my handwriting (which most people find hard to read).

Use plain or lightly dotted paper for this - lines or squares can interfere with the OCR.

Hint: The OCR lives only on the EN server - it can’t be exported. This is one reason I like GoodNotes 5 - the OCR done by it will be embedded into the pdf used for export. By this it is universally searchable, even if it only shows handwritten content.

I am hoping for something more seamless like I am doing now.  Your suggestion is more labor and time intensive. Good to know that the text would still be searchable however.  I may try this to see how it is in reality.  Thanks. 

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I doubt it will get more seamless than „write - grab- throw - catch - process - present“.

If your Android app is terminated, it probably is not because they sold so many copies that the developer is on it’s way to Cayman Island to get some Daiquiries under a palm tree. These paper to digital workflows are tried over and again, and to my observation they all fail. The value added by fancy tools is probably to small to make it work as a business model.

In comparison, the Apple Pencil on the iPad is really a piece of magic, it is like ink is flowing from the tip into the screen. The apps using this on iOS AFAIK run a successful business model and are permanently developed. GoodNotes just added the FlashCards used for learning vocabulary and the like to the app, extending the use case in the education field even further.

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3 hours ago, RobD said:

I am currently using the Neo Smartpen M1+ which works great.  The only issue is that Neo has stopped supporting the original Neo Notes app on December 31, 2020.  Neo Notes automatically transfers handwritten notes from Neo to EN.  This is the ideal workflow for me. The replacement app, Neo Studio, does not offer this same functionality from what I can see.

 

I am looking for other options that would allow me to take hand written notes in ink on paper and automatically upload them to EN ?  Or manually? 

 

Current workflow is:

 

Hand write notes using Neo M1+ pen onto paper notebooks.  Open Neo Notes app, (Android),  and sync with EN.  Review searchable, handwritten notes in EN

Search can be your friend.  This might not work but it does say it interfaces with Evernote.  Buyer beware.

My process for meetings has always been a paper template which I scan in after.  Always felt goofy clicking on a keyboard when I am supposed to be paying attention.  Use the Microsoft Office Lens app most of the time now to capture the image.  It does a good job of squaring everything up automatically and it will add the image or PDF right to EN.  FWIW.

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There once was a cooperation of EN and Moleskine. They even had special business notebooks and stickers, that interacted with the app. The pages were split between 2/3 upper and 1/3 lower part. The idea was that you put the official meeting notes into the upper part, and your personal notes into the lower one.

When scanning you could decide to scan with or without the lower part.

Brilliant idea - unless I took notes that ran for more than one page. Because in a multi page scan the app was not able to exclude the private part from scanning any longer. This made for shorter meetings - or a nasty surprise if you ever send your boss your multipaged meeting notes, with your little in-meeting drawings, some bullshit Bingo counter and general thoughts about modern management methods applied to the workforce in this very meeting. LOL

I claimed with EN support and learned that even when the notebooks were still on sale, the cooperation had been buried, so sorry.

But the notebooks were top notch, very black and green and important looking, so I continued to use them anyhow.

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2 hours ago, RobD said:

I should have specified that I need to write my notes in ink and on paper ( I edited  my original post to reflect this). .  I've tried the ipad route before and I just don't like the feel of inking my notes directly onto something digital.

If you haven’t tried an Apple Pencil on an iPad with a “paper” texture overlay, you may want to give it another try. I find the experience surprisingly very good. I had been using Nebo but recently switched over to Noteshelf which auto syncs with Evernote.  

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1 hour ago, s2sailor said:

If you haven’t tried an Apple Pencil on an iPad with a “paper” texture overlay, you may want to give it another try. I find the experience surprisingly very good. I had been using Nebo but recently switched over to Noteshelf which auto syncs with Evernote.  

Thanks, but I don't want another electronic device in my life.

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1 hour ago, CalS said:

Search can be your friend.  This might not work but it does say it interfaces with Evernote.  Buyer beware.

My process for meetings has always been a paper template which I scan in after.  Always felt goofy clicking on a keyboard when I am supposed to be paying attention.  Use the Microsoft Office Lens app most of the time now to capture the image.  It does a good job of squaring everything up automatically and it will add the image or PDF right to EN.  FWIW.

"Search can be your friend."   Sorry, but what are you insinuating?  That I don't search?  lmao. K.  

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2 minutes ago, RobD said:

Thanks, but I don't want another electronic device in my life.

1 minute ago, RobD said:

"Search can be your friend."   Sorry, but what are you insinuating?  That I don't search?  lmao. K.  

My bad.  Sounded like Neo was a dead end so I did a quickie to see if there was something that transcribed from paper to EN.  No insult intended.  Teach me to try and be helpful I suppose.  Well hopefully you find something that gets you back to where you were.  🤷‍♂️

 

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5 hours ago, s2sailor said:

If you haven’t tried an Apple Pencil on an iPad with a “paper” texture overlay, you may want to give it another try. I find the experience surprisingly very good. I had been using Nebo but recently switched over to Noteshelf which auto syncs with Evernote.  

I was just going to suggest this type of screen protector. I have a kiddo on the spectrum and he hates the feel of writing on an iPad. For the short time he did try we used one of these and he did say it was better and felt more like paper.

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8 hours ago, Sayre Ambrosio said:

I was just going to suggest this type of screen protector. I have a kiddo on the spectrum and he hates the feel of writing on an iPad. For the short time he did try we used one of these and he did say it was better and felt more like paper.

I was surprised that it worked as well as it did.  I find the iPad surface a little slippery for writing and the overlay adds some texture and slows down the pen movement a little mimicking paper writing pretty well, at least to me.  The overlay also cuts the glare from the glossy screen which I prefer and touch performance isn't affected much so I've kept the overlay on.

The Apple pencil was also a pleasant surprise.  My last attempt at writing on a tablet was with a pen with a rounded soft rubber tip.  I found it more of a novelty than useful.  The experience with the Apple pencil and iPad overlay is nice.  The last piece of the puzzle was using using Noteshelf which syncs and auto updates to Evernote.  Kudos to @stocky2605 for that pointer.  I no longer use a paper notebook.

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4 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

I was surprised that it worked as well as it did.  I find the iPad surface a little slippery for writing and the overlay adds some texture and slows down the pen movement a little mimicking paper writing pretty well, at least to me.  The overlay also cuts the glare from the glossy screen which I prefer and touch performance isn't affected much so I've kept the overlay on.

The Apple pencil was also a pleasant surprise.  My last attempt at writing on a tablet was with a pen with a rounded soft rubber tip.  I found it more of a novelty than useful.  The experience with the Apple pencil and iPad overlay is nice.  The last piece of the puzzle was using using Noteshelf which syncs and auto updates to Evernote.  Kudos to @stocky2605 for that pointer.  I no longer use a paper notebook.

Unfortunately, I am not at all in the Apple ecosystem.  Thanks for the recommendation. I am going to *try* to take a picture of handwritten notes directly from the EN Android App and see if this meets my needs.  At least now I can invest in a decent pen and notebook, lol. I appreciate everyone's advice, suggestions and guidance!  :) 

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  • 5 months later...

Can you just sync Neo studio with Google drive, and the make Drive synced with EN by ifttt or something?

I agree just to write in note pad and then synced to EN is very comfortable. 
I’m in the same situation, so I continue to use old app, Neo Notes, even though it’s not been supported.

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  • 7 months later...

I went the same path:

- Scanned my handwritten notes with my phone

- wanted something with less overhead; used my iPad

- but eventually preferred paper and used Moleskine Smart Pen (which is a Neo N2 clone) and their initial application that was capable of synching with evernote is no longer supported (still works though).

The new app by Moleskine synchs with OneDrive or Google Drive. I will test a setup where evernote on my computer would synchronize the folders in OneDrive to Evernote... looks like a step backward but would support my workflow if I really can't use the old app at some point.

I could also use cloudHQ to have that synching process happen in the cloud... I would prefer Evernote to provide such a synch mechanism like they do with Calendar.

I find it too bad to require an intermediate storage ... that will cost money sometime.

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  • 7 months later...
On 1/27/2022 at 12:14 PM, FX Cormontagne said:

I went the same path:

- Scanned my handwritten notes with my phone

- wanted something with less overhead; used my iPad

- but eventually preferred paper and used Moleskine Smart Pen (which is a Neo N2 clone) and their initial application that was capable of synching with evernote is no longer supported (still works though).

The new app by Moleskine synchs with OneDrive or Google Drive. I will test a setup where evernote on my computer would synchronize the folders in OneDrive to Evernote... looks like a step backward but would support my workflow if I really can't use the old app at some point.

I could also use cloudHQ to have that synching process happen in the cloud... I would prefer Evernote to provide such a synch mechanism like they do with Calendar.

I find it too bad to require an intermediate storage ... that will cost money sometime.

Couldn't you use the EN import folder to automatically import the notes from Google Drive Desktop?  Why did you opt for the Moleskine version and not the Neo N2? 

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