Paste internal links as functional URL to other applications (Outlook, Excel, Word, ...)

[AlbertR 540]

If I create an internal link to a note in EN10.60, ...

• ... and insert that link to any other note propperly - it appears as a clickable URL 👍
• ... and paste it to text in any other application like Outlook(dates), Excel(cells) or Word(text), it appears as simple text in form "evernote:///view/..." 😡

 

This behavior is ugly and might be better implemented. I've described it in a normal thread before some months but found no final solution so far. So I come back to here with a next try to explain it and hopefully find some attention. 🙏

 

Example:

1. I have a note called "Development meeting"
2. I create an internal (app) link in EN10
3. I paste this link to an other note and see "Development meeting" 👍
4. I paste this link to an Outlook date (or Excel cell or Word text or...) and see "evernote:///view/..." 🤔
   • but not a note title 😞 and not automatically formatted as a clickable URL
5. I change the text "evernote:///view/..." to any meaningful (like "Development meeting") 
   • and assign this text a link URL (by Ctrl-K and pasting "evernote:///view/..." as link address)
     • I see "Development meeting"
     • ... can (Ctrl-)Click on it
     • ... EN (re-)opens and will show my note ...

 

==> Steps 4 and 5 should work as simple as Step 3!

 

Explanation:

• It works within EN because a paste-operation recognizes "evernote:///" as being an URL to a EN note.
• It is possible if EN would store the "internal link" in an advanced shortcut format that allows any other application to gather all information of interest in a best fitting format.
  • This is Windows functionality and can be achieved by EN itself 😉

[Mike P 2,650]

I also like this idea. The interesting thing is that if you sanitise the link by pasting into a text editor, copy it from there and then paste it into a new note, it instantaneously converts that link into the title of the linked note. I always assumed that it was copying both the link and the title, but it appears not.

[Boot17 1,462]

I like this, but is it really possible from a technological / API / clipboard format perspective?

• Edit -- yes it is.

 

4 hours ago, AlbertR said:

 It is possible if EN would store the "internal link" in an advanced shortcut format that allows any other application to gather all information of interest in a best fitting format.

• This is Windows functionality and can be achieved by EN itself 😉

Do you have an example of this working with other apps? I know that it can work for a web url since an app/program can call the URL and grab the <title> value from the html, but does it work for general inter-app linking?

[gazumped 11,689]

Hmmn.  I use Evernote notes as my "detail" filing cabinet with an index and calendar link elsewhere.  The notes I create in Evernote are linked to and from there simply by using (in Windows) Ctrl+Alt+L to generate an app link,  and Ctrl+V to paste it into the parent note,  where it shows as the note title.  I'll copy/ paste it from there to my linked third party application(s) and delete it from the parent note.  Simples.   

[Boot17 1,462]

On my Windows machine I have a little tool called "ClipView" (http://www.peterbuettner.de/develop/tools/clipview/) which will show the underlying raw details of the contents of the Windows clipboard after something is copied.

When I copy this Evernote internal link below:

It shows this for the contents of what was copied to the Windows clipboard:

Part of that "StartFragment" tag has this:

<a href="evernote:///view/165236690/s786/f0b993d6-364d-dx04-8x08-xxxxxxxxx/a7x2da24-8x63-f29e-8x8e-xxxxxxxxx" rev="en_rl_none">7 Things That (Quickly) Cured My Procrastination</a></div><!--EndFragment-->

So the Windows clipboard does indeed have the in-app note URL and the title of the note. Then I would guess it is up to whatever program it gets pasted in to interpret that correctly and display it as a text title with underlying link.

Perhaps I just don't use any programs (outside of Evernote) that interpret that correctly as I've never seen it work anywhere except in Evernote (and not that I usually link to Evernote from a different app very often)

@gazumped What program do you paste it into that interprets it as title text with an underlying link? Workflowy and what else?

[Boot17 1,462]

Btw - None of those "7 Things That (Quickly) Cured My Procrastination" from above were "visit the Evernote discussion forums". Just in case anyone was wondering... 🤦‍♂️

[Mike P 2,650]

10 hours ago, Boot17 said:

So the Windows clipboard does indeed have the in-app note URL and the title of the note.

Well yes and no. If you go to a note and press alt+ctrl+L and then look at the clipboard using ClipView you get:

No html option available and the note title is nowhere to be seen. That's what I did when I did my trial above. So to have any chance of an external program having the note title, you need to copy a link that has already been pasted into EN not the link iteself created with alt+ctrl+L

[AlbertR 540]

15 hours ago, Boot17 said:

Do you have an example of this working with other apps?

It works fine with EN-Legacy 👍😉:

The following is an example of an internal link created in Legacy Ctrl-Alt-L:

Legacy stores format "49438 HTML Format" that contains a href=evernote:///... together with the note title. Other consuming apps like Outlook calendar, Word or Excel take this as valid links. 

EN10 installs itself as an app to display links of kind evernote:///... 👍

But it often fails to display the correct note if told to do so from outside. 😡 This is a bug that really should be fixed be EN.

13 hours ago, gazumped said:

I use Evernote notes as my "detail" filing cabinet with ... calendar link(s) elsewhere. 

Exactly one of my daily use cases. If I want to point to a detail note from outside (calendar entries for meetings, excel sheets for calculation overviews, ...), I add evernote:///-links there. But I do not want to...

13 hours ago, gazumped said:

Ctrl+Alt+L to generate an app link,
and Ctrl+V to paste it into the parent note,
copy/ paste it from there to my linked third party application(s)
and delete it from the parent note.

I want to Ctrl-V to paste it to my 3rd party app directly. This is simple...

@AllHere: If you agree with that, please vote this idea up to get it re-implemented 🙏

[AlbertR 540]

5 hours ago, AlbertR said:

But it often fails to display the correct note if told to do so from outside. 😡 This is a bug that really should be fixed be EN.

Just found: This is only true for URLs generated by Legacy. Its format is

• evernote:///view/<account>/<???>/<note-GUID>/<note-GUID>
  • <note-GUID> is mentioned twice (redundant - unnecessary)

EN10 creates URL with the following format:

• evernote:///view/<account>/<???>/<note-GUID>/<new-INFO>
  • <new-INFO> seems to be a GUID - but I don't know of what 🤔

EN10 works correct with self-generated URL (that contain the <new-INFO>)

But it fails to display a note with Legacy-generated URL (that are technically complete to describe a note in my account)

I just placed a support ticket #3735902 to 

1. enable EN10 to display Legacy-created URLs (because I have a lot of foreign documents that already contain such links)
2. enable EN10 to create HTML-links with Ctrl-Alt-L (as requested here...)

I'll keep you informed about answers 😉

[AlbertR 540]

Short updates:

To (1) they wrote: "... internal note links are designed to be available exclusively within the EN ... [using it from outlside is] not useful."

• I cannot accept this because EN installs itself as a protocol-handler for "evernote:" ... to make in useful 😉 

To (2) they wrote nothing so far 

• I repeated my request because it's very easy to implement (i.e. ask Legacy developers)

Around <new-INFO> part in EN10 URLs they told me "... is actually the GUID of the notebook"

• EN10 creates URLs like evernote:///view/<account>/<???>/<note-GUID>/<new-INFO>
• <new-INFO> is a <notebook-GUID>
• URLs of this form are accepted by EN10 and Legacy
• <notebook-GUID> is theoretically unnecessary because a <note-GUID> is sufficient to find a note
  • URLs like https://www.evernote.com/u/0/client/web#/note/<note-GUID> work perfectly to show a note in WEB app - without any notebook-GUID
• using a <notebook-GUID> in URLs together with a <note-GUID> might lead to descrepancies if note is moved to an other notebook later
  • But tricky: Even if I do so, a formerly created internal links with an invalid <notebook-GUID> works correct 🤔
  • So EN10 does not use the self-generated <notebook-GUID>...
  • ... but does not accept URLs without <notebook-GUID> 😡
• I requested to enhance EN10 to accept and use evernote:///view/<account>/<???>/<note-GUID> without <notebook-GUID>
  • .. which would enable EN10 to work with Legacy created links in other applications.

All-in-all: Internal link handling seems over-developed but not ready this time.

[AlbertR 540]

Another update from my conversation with support:

 

(1) to use internal links from outside EN:

EN document Note Links states "They can be used to link ... to a note from another context, such as a calendar invitation."

Hope they will believe their documentation and fix it up. 🙏

 

(2) to store an internal link in HTML format in clipboard

Is accepted as "great feature to have especially if it will help our customers in improving their Evernote experience" 😀
But not agreed to be done in next time so far... - OK, let's wait...

 

(3) regarding format of internal links

Legacy's format   evernote:///.../<note-GUID>/<note-GUID> is noted in former mentioned EN-documentation

EN10 new format evernote:///.../<note-GUID>/<notebook-GUID> is not documented so far.

I hope they will not update only the documentation but will enable EN10 to accept both formats 🙏