PDF email attachments clipped from Gmail not saved properly

[Paul A. 619]

This issue and some of the downstream effects have been referenced in several posts and in comments to other posts, but I couldn't find a single topic which addresses the root of the issue. @Jay-Bob, I appreciate you commenting on the status of other web clipper issues. Would be grateful if you could confirm whether this issue is on the web clipper team's radar. I plan to use this post to keep track and periodically bump this issue.

Issue

When using the Web Clipper extension for Chrome, PDF (and possibly other non-image file types) are saved inside the "Web Clip." From this location, they cannot be opened in the mobile apps, they cannot be previewed inside the note on desktop/web, they cannot be annotated, and in fact they cannot be viewed at all without saving the attachment to the local file system and then viewed with an installed PDF viewer.

Proposed Solution

Web clipper should save pdf attachments outside the "Web Clip" box, similar to the Gmail extension (see workaround # 2, below) where they will be able to be viewed and annotated on web, desktop, and mobile clients.

Workaround # 1

On desktop, choose the "simplify and make editable" option. Insufficient workaround because: Loses most of the email formatting; doesn't work on mobile.

Workaround # 2

Use the Gmail extension, which does save file attachments outside the web clip box. Insufficient workaround because: The Gmail extension does not allow individual emails within a large conversation (email thread) to be selected. This is critical functionality for me as I often need to save just one important email inside a thread that could contain dozens of emails.

Last reproduced with Chrome web clipper v7.2.1, released March 25th, 2022.

[gazumped 11,664]

Hi.  Thanks for the comprehensive summary,  though I'm not sure all of that is achievable in one package much less three or more separate blocks of code attached in some cases to third party applications.  I'd suggest you contact Support directly for more feedback rather than running a campaign for improvement here - you're highly unlikely (all respect to Evernote staffers) to get ongoing updates and discussions.  It's the nature of corporations that decisions well above a coders pay grade will be taken for reasons that mere mortal users - and probably developers - could not possibly understand.  And logic is not always an option...

[Paul A. 619]

Thanks @gazumped. Documenting my issues in various threads in these forums is partly for my own purposes, and so that I may share links to Evernote support when I do report issues. Unfortunately, since I let my subscription lapse, my options for contacting support directly are limited, but I do note that Evernote staff do occasionally post in the forums and I do believe they are reading many of the forum posts.

So, a quick update:

Evernote Web Clipper 7.23.0 on Chrome for Mac 102 continues to exhibit the same issue as above when clipping Gmail emails which have attachments.

However, the Evernote extension for Gmail (version 1.3.0-b9) has been updated with a solution! The extension settings now has a "Conversation view" setting (screenshot below) that defaults to off. When toggled on and after clicking the "Apply Changes" text, I am now able to select individual emails in a thread to save, and attachments are saved properly.

While I'd prefer the web clipper be improved for this use case (it's the first tool I reach for when I'm saving something from my browser to Evernote), I'm pleased that there's another option that works for my use case.