(Archived) Evernote iPhone: Feature Requests

[soundsgoodtome 155]

I'm very excited about this addition to the Evernote family. To the developers: Thanks! However, a few refinements are needed in the iPhone app:

1. Upon creating a new note, the blank document is entitled "Untitled note." Upon clicking there, to customize my note's title, a cursor was placed in the middle of one of the words. So I had to move the cursor to the end, then use backspace to clear the title. Then, finally, I was able to enter my title.

This is tedious. When the user clicks in the title field, please make "Untitled note" clear completely, so we can simply type.

2. Upen creating a new text note, the entry page is entitled "New Note." Great.... But after creating a new audio note, recording some audio, and tapping "Save," the resulting page is, once again, entitled... "New Note" and looks exactly like the text-note page. There's absolutely no indication that our audio has been (or will be saved). This page should be entitled "New Audio Note." Or -- better yet -- the page should relate to the recording of the audio note, somehow. Perhaps, "Save info for audio note." I realize that's a lot of words, so maybe there's a more elegant solution. But the lack of *feedback* after recording audio is very disconcerting, and the resulting page looks like we're suddently creating a new text note that has nothing to do with the audio we just recorded.

3. When viewing notes, we shouldn't have to stretch the text for it to be readable; it should be displayed in a font and manner that are appropriate for the iPhone.

[engberg 89]

Thanks for the good suggestions. I think we're already looking at the zooming behavior (your #3), but will look into this.

Thanks

[soundsgoodtome 155]

Thanks for fixing #1!

[meme.addict 0]

Hi,

I am still on the search for a mobile tool that actually lets me 1) rapidly view notes and 2) make changes to them as needed. Both need to me extremely fast to use - when you need to remember something or write something, it needs to happen within a few seconds.

the iPhone version of Everquest seems to partially get 1 right, and not 2 at all.

As the other person above mentioned, when creating a note, it asks for too much detail. I just want to get the note content in and save it. I should already be in the edit content/tags field ready to write, with the keyboard up. I can name it later.

as for 2), I have my shopping list in here. I need to be able to click into it and edit it. It appears there is no edit functionality yet? If there is it is very well hidden. Any plans to put this in? This app is unfortunately fairly useless without an edit mode.

Other than that, the layout is nice and simple, and I haven't had it crash yet, unlike many other iPhone apps. Keep up the good work.

-MA

[engberg 89]

I have my shopping list in here. I need to be able to click into it and edit it. It appears there is no edit functionality yet?

The current Evernote iPhone client on the App Store doesn't allow you to edit existing notes, but the next update will add this functionality so that you can edit the notes that you created on the iphone.

[MrT 1]

The current Evernote iPhone client on the App Store doesn't allow you to edit existing notes, but the next update will add this functionality so that you can edit the notes that you created on the iphone.

That's awesome.

Will it support checking checkboxes too? I use that for my shopping list, it would be cool if I can just check off the items I got, cause not always I can get the stuff I need so I mostly use one big list and remove some items once in a while.

[engberg 89]

Will it support checking checkboxes too? I use that for my shopping list, it would be cool if I can just check off the items I got, cause not always I can get the stuff I need so I mostly use one big list and remove some items once in a while.

The next update will not (although you could obviously maintain a text-only list of things to do instead).

[MrT 1]

(although you could obviously maintain a text-only list of things to do instead).

I guess that's better than nothing Thanks though.

[netsyd 0]

Any chance of offline storage? I know it was looked at / mentioned before but I wasn't sure where that went to. I end up in a lot of places where (believe it or not) data connection isn't always available. I know there's some concern about large databases - but could it possibly be worked in such a way that only specific notebooks or tags are stored locally?

[steve555 0]

Hi,

I am still on the search for a mobile tool that actually lets me 1) rapidly view notes

-MA

Absolutely agree, one of the top reason I am using evernote is rapid note searching and viewing. If given the choice to choose only one most desire feature, I will vote for Local searching.

ATT 3G is still not available and using edge to do searching will not be fast and the network is not available everywhere.

For me, I don't really need to do a lot of editing since mostly I am using the desktop version. But searching is the most common thing I will do in my mobile and writing note will be on evernote desktop

[KokoroScope 0]

First off, I am loving that you guys have "ever" so quickly ported Evernote for the iPhon/iTouch. I am looking forward to using this more and more each day.

But I am finding a few things that I thought I should add in this Request post.

When I view my notes from my iPod Touch, I'm able to see the images/pictures that I have Ever Noted from the pc or wherever. But when I go to leave my finger on the image so I can "Save Image" to my iTouch, it does not allow me to. Only a small grey pop up with an action/title appears.

Am I doing something wrong or is this feature not yet applicable? If not, it would be nice to have this feature as it is easier for me to access images/pictures that I have Noted earlier. Just a hassle sometimes to launch iTunes just to Sync a dozen images or so. In my view this would be so much easier. And I could also see friends/relatives using their account or even mine, to Evernote images/pictures and push them to my account and or share so that I could save them to my iTouch while out and about at various wifi locations.

Note: My workaround this right now is to email the images/pictures individually from Evernote web while on pc, which can only do one note at time Would be so much easier to just be able to access them via Evernote iTouch version and save from there.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has already been discussed.

Keep up the great work!

[engberg 89]

When I view my notes from my iPod Touch, I'm able to see the images/pictures that I have Ever Noted from the pc or wherever. But when I go to leave my finger on the image so I can "Save Image" to my iTouch, it does not allow me to. Only a small grey pop up with an action/title appears.

I don't have an iTouch handy ... does this operation work with you if you're looking at an image in a web page in the web browser on the iTouch? We're using the same basic web engine as the mobile Safari on the phone, so (in theory) we should work the same way for this.

Thanks

[KokoroScope 0]

When I view my notes from my iPod Touch, I'm able to see the images/pictures that I have Ever Noted from the pc or wherever. But when I go to leave my finger on the image so I can "Save Image" to my iTouch, it does not allow me to. Only a small grey pop up with an action/title appears.

I don't have an iTouch handy ... does this operation work with you if you're looking at an image in a web page in the web browser on the iTouch? We're using the same basic web engine as the mobile Safari on the phone, so (in theory) we should work the same way for this.

Thanks

Ok, I did try it out using the safari browser on the iTouch again, just to be sure I could save images by just leaving my finger on the image for a few seconds, and it does seem to still work. I tried this on various sites even on just the graphics/menu designed jpegs etc. and also on photo sites like Flickr, both on just the thumbnails and when viewing flickr photos at original scale. It seems to work as I have explained. It also works this way within the iTouch mail client. I can save the photos that are in my in-box.

Unfortunately I don't get any options of where to save the photos, they automatically default to a saved folder called "Saved Photos" in the iTouch Photo section.

Well I hope this serves as useful information. Not sure if you guys are going in this direction of supporting this feature, but it would be a great addition!

Anyways keep up the good work!

[engberg 89]

Ok, thanks, we'll take a look at that.

[rachnr 0]

I have a followup to Mr T above and your reply - are there plans to support to-do lists (create them, check them off, etc) for the iPhone? That was the main reason I downloaded it, because in the description in iTunes it specifically says you can create to-do lists, but it seems like it doesn't REALLY have that functionality. It appears the only kind of textnote you can create is the basic kind. I still think Evernote is an awesome product, but I really need simple check-off style to-dos in addition to the great note-keeping piece and may have to look elsewhere if this isn't in the works to be functional soon.

[engberg 89]

I have a followup to Mr T above and your reply - are there plans to support to-do lists (create them, check them off, etc) for the iPhone? That was the main reason I downloaded it, because in the description in iTunes it specifically says you can create to-do lists, but it seems like it doesn't REALLY have that functionality. It appears the only kind of textnote you can create is the basic kind. I still think Evernote is an awesome product, but I really need simple check-off style to-dos in addition to the great note-keeping piece and may have to look elsewhere if this isn't in the works to be functional soon.

Yes, we plan to add additional capabilities like this, but the lack of a rich-text editor for the iPhone makes that difficult. I.e. all that they give us to work with is a block of plain, unformatted text. We're considering options, but this means that we won't have anything in the immediate future.

Thanks

[soundsgoodtome 155]

I have a followup to Mr T above and your reply - are there plans to support to-do lists (create them, check them off, etc) for the iPhone? That was the main reason I downloaded it, because in the description in iTunes it specifically says you can create to-do lists, but it seems like it doesn't REALLY have that functionality. It appears the only kind of textnote you can create is the basic kind. I still think Evernote is an awesome product, but I really need simple check-off style to-dos in addition to the great note-keeping piece and may have to look elsewhere if this isn't in the works to be functional soon.

Yes, we plan to add additional capabilities like this, but the lack of a rich-text editor for the iPhone makes that difficult. I.e. all that they give us to work with is a block of plain, unformatted text. We're considering options, but this means that we won't have anything in the immediate future.

Thanks

You could always create your own rich-text editor. :-) http://macenstein.com/default/archives/1536

[meenophoto 0]

Here's another feature request from someone who loves the aesthetics of his iPhone as well as the functionality. I was immediately intrigued by this app when I saw the screen shot with the elephant head and the speech bubble buttons that lead you to sign in. I found it's indeed a great app and I'm enjoying the full thing on my desktop too. But what I'm a little let down by is that when I open the app on my iPhone I don't get that cool green elephant with the graphic, spacial bubbles. Instead I get that same ol' boring list view of so many other apps. Sure it works to give me the four offerings of what kind of note do I want to make, but this could be done with the same well branded, unique-to-a-touch-screen spatially as opposed to hierarchically placed elephant and bubbles for choosing notes that that first page has for choosing to sign in. Also, the elephant and the bubbles could come up right away - like Twitterrific does with its full page logo of the bird while it loads and connects in the background. This would be better than a blank screen, and then the bubbles could fill in with the choices of note you want to make. It would make for stronger branding and a friendlier home page. It's nice to be reminded that staying organized is an art form.

[engberg 89]

... when I open the app on my iPhone I don't get that cool green elephant with the graphic, spacial bubbles ...

Ooh, our marketing guy is going to love you. I'll pass this along, thanks.

[iphonemarc 0]

Here's some other feature suggestions from this thread (so that it's all collected in one thread):

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=6969

Among the mose useful IMHO would be

- ToDo Evernote (or editable tags on the iPhone, ie. a tag could be named "ToDo" and another "Done"),

- simple text entries or annotated existing Evernote entries on iPhone side

- clickable URLs in Evernote texts (that would open the link on iPhone Safari)

[MrT 1]

Among the mose useful IMHO would be

- ToDo Evernote (or editable tags on the iPhone, ie. a tag could be named "ToDo" and another "Done"),

- simple text entries or annotated existing Evernote entries on iPhone side

- clickable URLs in Evernote texts (that would open the link on iPhone Safari)

I totally agree. Exactly those 3 items is what I seem to miss every other time I launch Evernote to do some stuff

[iphonemarc 0]

Just to explain annotated notes for those who don't have time to entire other thread: The Evernote entry would remain read-only (since the developers explained this would be too hard to have complex entries editable on the iPhone, I agree and understand that), but you could add a simple text note to the original entry.

In addition or as an alternative, you could post simple text-only entries on your mobile phone.

This way, Evernote would remain mostly read-only on the iPhone, but you could add short texts / reminders in "emergency" situations (same for ToDos / labels, where you could "tick off" or label stuff you accomplished)

[michaelalf 0]

I love Evernote and want to support it. I will be paying for it even though my monthly usage would let me get a way with the free status.

I do need a few feature requests.

1. Emailing of notes.

2. Web links.

3. Offline viewing and entering of notes.

4. Editing of notes.

5. Check boxes.

I also use the desktop app on the mac and would like to enter voice and video notes with the iSight. At this time you only allow Photos.

Keep up the good work and hope to see some of these features.

[sweet_mercury 0]

I have my shopping list in here. I need to be able to click into it and edit it. It appears there is no edit functionality yet?

The current Evernote iPhone client on the App Store doesn't allow you to edit existing notes, but the next update will add this functionality so that you can edit the notes that you created on the iphone.

So notes made on a desktop client will still be read only? I really want to be able to edit notes completely across platforms. Is that ultimately the goal?

One of the reasons I had decided to try Evernote, then got so excited about it, was anticipation of it's usability on the go when I got my phone.

Keep up the good work guys.

[engberg 89]

So notes made on a desktop client will still be read only? I really want to be able to edit notes completely across platforms. Is that ultimately the goal?

If you just type some text into a note on the desktop client, that will be recognized as a "text only" note, and you'll be able to edit it. If you have something more fancy like a web clip with images, then you can't safely edit that on the text-only note editor on the iPhone. At some point, we may find a way to do full richtext editing on the iPhone, but the current platform capabilities don't offer this ability.

[SamF 0]

First off, the app is amazing. And FREE! Wow.

Two small suggestions for the iPhone version that would make my life complete:

1) List view

2) Being able to sort by Title

Thanks so much for all of the awesome work so far!

[darrylo 3]

Here's another vote for some kind of offline viewing/caching of notes. Given the potential size of the database, I understand if you're reluctant to do a full synchronization, but being able to cache individual notes or maybe (partial) notebooks would be useful.

As it is, the evernote iPhone client is a potential replacement for the awful notes app, but the evernote client needs to have some kind of offline capability.

[MrT 1]

Why do you want offline notes?

I mean, it would be nice, but I think there's more important stuff to work on than offline notes. Most of the iPhone contracts come with some kind of cheap / free data anyway and it's not like it takes gigabytes to download a few text notes in Evernote

[crane 40]

Most of the iPhone contracts come with some kind of cheap / free data anyway

You obviously haven't seen the iPhone data plan costs in Canada

There's not even an unlimited data plan.

[MrT 1]

Still a good deal I think The danish version only comes with 300mb data, no way to get more or less. I don't have that contract (as mine is jailbroken 1st gen) but I'm on a 50mb plan and have no problems. Of course it varies alot from user to user and I'm sure lots of people use "heavy notes" lots more than I do. Still, alot of notes can come through in a 400mb plan

[darrylo 3]

Why do you want offline notes?

You must live in an area with excellent wireless service, and not travel in airplanes.

If you're on an airplane, you have no wireless service, and thus no access to Evernote.

If you're in an area with poor to nonexistent wireless service, you have no access to Evernote.

Not everyone is as fortunate as you are.

[MrT 1]

You must live in an area with excellent wireless service

Not always excellent, but there's pretty much always wireless service no matter where I'm at

and not travel in airplanes.

Well, I do ... about 2x 6 hours a month. But I usually spend that time watching tons of video podcasts that I don't get to watch during weekdays

But, I see where you're coming from and you're absolutely right (so I agree), but still for me, I won't need offline notes, though I understand why some would like it.

[sweet_mercury 0]

So notes made on a desktop client will still be read only? I really want to be able to edit notes completely across platforms. Is that ultimately the goal?

If you just type some text into a note on the desktop client, that will be recognized as a "text only" note, and you'll be able to edit it. If you have something more fancy like a web clip with images, then you can't safely edit that on the text-only note editor on the iPhone. At some point, we may find a way to do full richtext editing on the iPhone, but the current platform capabilities don't offer this ability.

All I really need is the ability to edit my text-notes. It's working great now, great product.

[daflip 0]

Like the programm really much. Use Windows version. iphone offline version would be great....! thanks for great work

[sweet_mercury 0]

Why do you want offline notes?

You must live in an area with excellent wireless service, and not travel in airplanes.

If you're on an airplane, you have no wireless service, and thus no access to Evernote.

If you're in an area with poor to nonexistent wireless service, you have no access to Evernote.

Not everyone is as fortunate as you are.

This is why I was going to suggest an offline notes feature as well. Ever since the switch from Verizon to AT&T, I'm definitely missing the CDMA coverage I had. AT&T's GSM coverage is definitely fine, but its ability to penetrate buildings is pretty bad. I sometimes use evernote for grocery lists, things like that. It would be great if I could take a single note and have it say "make available offline" so when I go into a building I still have that note's data. (If I edit it at all, it can be placed in the "pending" folder to be synced.) Then to be able to remove offline access (to save memory) for that note would be great.

[soundsgoodtome 155]

• I'm using the voice-note feature extensively, and it would be extremely helpful to see the length of recorded notes expressed in terms of seconds, instead of (or in addition to) kilobytes.

• Also, unless I've missed something, it seems we can't edit voice notes on the iPhone -- that is, its title or notebook location, not its content. :-) Often, when in a hurry (or when driving), I won't title a note. But later, I wish I could go back and edit that info from the iPhone. Presently, that has to wait until I get home (or to a desktop browser).

Thanks.

[darrylo 3]

Different sort options would be nice. I prefer sorting by create time, but sorting by title (see above) would be nice, too.

[cstewart 0]

One more request for offline viewing of Evernotes on the iPhone.

[shryn 0]

I don't know if this has been already requested, but I would like to be able to create a quick note from my doodles on my Touch. At the moment my workaround is to take a screenshot of a drawn note and then add it to Evernote through the "Saved Photo Note" function. Quite a few steps to accomplish.

[londondude 0]

I am now obsessed with evernote and use it everyday. It took me 2 days to upgrade to the premium. I use it on mac/iphone and pc at work.

I have a couple of little requests:

offline view on iphone

Add tick boxes on iphone to-do items

Able to sync to do with outlook to-do..... (a bit of a long shot really).

List view

pdf or tiff input to mac version

other than that its awesome!

[engberg 89]

pdf or tiff input to mac version

You can drag PDF files into your Mac client, or print from any application to Evernote via the PDF button in the print dialog. Is this what you mean about PDF input?

[londondude 0]

pdf or tiff input to mac version

You can drag PDF files into your Mac client, or print from any application to Evernote via the PDF button in the print dialog. Is this what you mean about PDF input?

Wow I didnt see this, another amazing feature. thanks!

[engberg 89]

You can also view the PDFs in your account from the iPhone ...

[ahallam 0]

Another vote for offline notes.. As a student, I've been using Evernote for little things like clipping call numbers for library books I'm looking for and carrying my iPod around as I hunt things down. Being an iPod user however, I don't have the luxury of ubiquitous data access a la iPhone, and quite honestly, the reception on my cell gets a little spotty in the middle of a library anyways, to say nothing for the wi-fi. Being able to sync certain notes wirelessly when I have a decent connection so that I can have my notes with me all the time and not kill my battery would be a godsend.

[heather 604]

Offline notes are definitely something that are in the pipeline for the iPhone - and there's always the possibility that someone could use the Service API to create an AirShare app integration (or something...)

[LaundryCzar 0]

Another request for offline viewing.

Let me explain to those who don't understand why this is important.

I travel where there is either no data service or no wifi or both. I used to keep emergency travel information as well as itineraries and temporary phone numbers in the memos on my Treo 650. I had my emergency notes whenever and where ever I was. Now, if I have a crisis outside the US and away from an open wifi network, I am lost. Last week, I was in London and had to keep a stack of papers and printouts with all my stuff on them while my iPhone sat tauntingly in front of me. In this case it wasn't vital data anyway, but sometimes I am in places less friendly than London and where wifi is non existent, not just behind a password.

Maybe not ALL the notes need to be accessible offline but there needs to be an option so that at least some, maybe one category, can be viewed offline.

When there is offline viewing, notes viewable without data access, even if limited, Evernote will truly be the best and most useful software for the iPhone. People are clamoring for this feature.

Please make it soon.

Your humble user,

LaundryCzar

[dice1976 0]

Seems there is a lot of requests for the offline iphone feature. I also would love to carry my notes around with me... it sure would help when I'm in the New York Subway and there is absolutely no internet what-so-ever anywhere underground... Thanks evernote! can't wait for this to be available!!

Is there an eta on this?

[engberg 89]

The next release of the iPhone client will include the ability to specify your Favorite notes to cache on the phone, and view offline.

[darrylo 3]

The next release of the iPhone client will include the ability to specify your Favorite notes to cache on the phone, and view offline.

Nice, thanks! Perhaps you've already done this, but it would be nice if we could specify that all notes attached to specific tag(s) could be cached (tags are better than notebooks because they can span multiple notebooks). Specifying notes to cache via the iPhone UI would be ugly if we had a lot of notes to cache.

[iphonemarc 0]

I also have two small feature requests:

- URLs as links: Option or default bevahiour to make URLs (at least those starting with "http://www..". or "www. ...." in notes) active links so that you can tap them to open the link with Safari Mobile on the iPhone.

Especially because there is no copy-paste on the iPhone (not your fault, I know ).

In case of long URLs you have to literally write them down on paper before typing them again on Safari Mobile, which is very painful.

- To Do checkboxes: These show up very small and are sometimes hard to tap/hit for checking and unchecking.

[joechrysler 0]

I have a relatively specific use case (college student using evernote as a replacement for paper notes), but it requires some of the features everybody else has been asking about:

1. 
   [*:axboyiu1]offline note editing prior to sync: If I hit save on a note, it's impossible to edit it before syncing with the server. This presents a problem when taking notes on lectures from professors who have a tendency to remember other things they wanted to say after I've already saved the note. Granted, I can just combine the notes later (in the desktop or web interface thanks to no copy/paste on iPhone), but it's not quite as elegant as evernote could/should be.
   [*:axboyiu1]offline notebooks/tags: With class notes being mostly text, the database shouldn't be too large, and not having to manually mark every note as favorite would be a pretty big time saver.
   [*:axboyiu1]slicker, quicker interface for taking notes: Apple's built-in notepad demonstrates that a title field is unnecessary. Just use the first line of text like in the desktop evernote. As for tags or notebooks, those could be accessed on the back of a note via a fancy little (i) button. Same idea as album art in coverflow, tap the (i) to flip the album and see the track list, only in this case, we're talking about note properties, not tracks.
   [*:axboyiu1]freehand drawing notes: It's practically impossible to take notes on a subject like math when using the built-in keyboard. It would be relatively easy if one could simply draw the various equations, graphs and such. It'd would be great if we could dynamically switch between freehand and typing within a single note too.

Can't wait to see this interface get better and better.

Keep up the good work!

Joe

[iphonemarc 0]

[*]slicker, quicker interface for taking notes: Apple's built-in notepad demonstrates that a title field is unnecessary. Just use the first line of text like in the desktop evernote. As for tags or notebooks, those could be accessed on the back of a note via a fancy little (i) button. Same idea as album art in coverflow, tap the (i) to flip the album and see the track list, only in this case, we're talking about note properties, not tracks.

This sounds very useful. By default, an "untitled note" would take the first few words of text as title - unless a user manually adds a title on his own.

Sorting/Filtering the existing notes by title or tag have come up before in this thread but I would like the mention them in the context of titles.