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(Archived) REQUEST: Simple table math functions

nasukaren

Asked by nasukaren,

Idea

nasukaren

nasukaren 2

Posted
Posted

Dear Evernote -

Love your product, blah blah blah. :-)

I use my evernote constantly. Use it for all sorts of things. One thing I use it for is jotting down my budget expenses.

I'd love it if Evernote had a simple math function in its tables. Nothing fancy, nothing spreadsheetish.

It'd just be nice if I could do a table like:

John $100

Jane $200

Bill $300

Total =COLSUM

where =COL gets replaced with the sum of that column. You could also have =COLAVE where it's the average. That's about the only two functions that are essential for me.

What do you think?

Karen

12 replies to this idea

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JMichaelTX

JMichaelTX 4,119

Posted
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Posted

That would be nice, but it begs the question of just how many spreadsheet functions do you provide?

I would propose this alternative: Display the contents of Excel (and Word) files that are attached to a Note.

This would allow you to quickly see your spreadsheet table, and then quickly edit it by a simple double-click.

This gives you the full power of Excel viewable in Evernote.

AndyDent

AndyDent 114

Posted
Posted

I"m with @nasukaren but I wouldn't get too fancy.

I have really been enjoying using Soulver on the iPhone and iPad. I suggest playing with it, if you have those devices, to get some ideas on how a feature like this should work.

Currently I'm sizing some picture frames so I have a calculation page that looks a bit like:

Big Yelllow

2 x 1125

2 x 900

Mostly Red

4 x 900

Little X thingy

2 x 785

2 x 600

Off on the right-hand-panel the results of these calculations are shown and the sum is always calculated at the bottom without me doing anything special

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

Posted
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Posted

Dear Evernote -

Love your product, blah blah blah. :-)

I use my evernote constantly. Use it for all sorts of things. One thing I use it for is jotting down my budget expenses.

I'd love it if Evernote had a simple math function in its tables. Nothing fancy, nothing spreadsheetish.

It'd just be nice if I could do a table like:

John $100

Jane $200

Bill $300

Total =COLSUM

where =COL gets replaced with the sum of that column. You could also have =COLAVE where it's the average. That's about the only two functions that are essential for me.

What do you think?

Karen

Hi Karen. Welcome to the forums!

I imagine this kind of feature would be great for people doing budgets, and I think there are other users would welcome it, so thanks for posting!

Personally, though, it does not appeal to me much. If it wouldn't add too much complexity to the code (remember, they have to code this for at least the desktop versions in Mac and Windows, but also for every other client if possible) then I wouldn't mind. The truth, though, is that I probably wouldn't use it much, because at best it would simply be doing calculations I can already do in my head. If it isn't anything fancy, it wouldn't be useful (for me). To become really useful, it would have to be fairly complex (formulas and the like), and at that point I'd say Excel is the way to go.

Ideally, I'd like to see the app be lean, quick, and really good at basic note editing. Like you said, nothing fancy. For spreadsheet functionality, I prefer dedicated software that comes with all of the bells and whistles I need to get things done. Then, when I have finished the spreadsheet (for a home budget, maybe at the end of every month), I save a copy of the Excel / Numbers file and a PDF version of it into a note in Evernote.

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jbenson2

jbenson2 2,149

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Posted

Slippery slope - seen it happen to other software.

Today: sum and average

Tomorrow: frequency distribution and exponential regression curve

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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Posted

Slippery slope - seen it happen to other software.

Today: sum and average

Tomorrow: frequency distribution and exponential regression curve

Exactly. To be fair to the OP, she was clear about not wanting this to balloon into all sorts of other stuff. However, I think that is the tendency.

BurgersNFries

BurgersNFries 2,407

Posted
Posted

Exactly. To be fair to the OP, she was clear about not wanting this to balloon into all sorts of other stuff. However, I think that is the tendency.

And that's what all users tend to say. :) I just need the one thing I want...

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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Posted

Exactly. To be fair to the OP, she was clear about not wanting this to balloon into all sorts of other stuff. However, I think that is the tendency.

And that's what all users tend to say. :) I just need the one thing I want...

LOL. Except, I want stuff that has been removed, or stuff that exists on other clients. It's not just one thing. I want it all! If jbenson keeps posting screenshots from his Windows client with the list view I am liable to go out and buy an ultrabook, even though I really shouldn't. With Apple's wonderful updates later today, the tension might make me dissolve like a certain "engineer" in a certain film that just came out (you know what I mean if you saw it, and if you didn't see it, then I don't want to spoil anything).

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jbenson2

jbenson2 2,149

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Posted

LOL. Except, I want stuff that has been removed, or stuff that exists on other clients. It's not just one thing. I want it all! If jbenson keeps posting screenshots from his Windows client with the list view I am liable to go out and buy an ultrabook, even though I really shouldn't.

Not trying to push GM to the dark side, but for folks who haven't seen my other post, here is another example of the superb Windows Evernote vertical view which I have tweaked for maximum visibility of the content. (notes pertaining to California's problems.)

http://www.evernote....f362efc882a2f29

.

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

Posted
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Posted

LOL. Except, I want stuff that has been removed, or stuff that exists on other clients. It's not just one thing. I want it all! If jbenson keeps posting screenshots from his Windows client with the list view I am liable to go out and buy an ultrabook, even though I really shouldn't.

Not trying to push GM to the dark side, but for folks who haven't seen my other post, here is another example of the superb Windows Evernote vertical view which I have tweaked for maximum visibility of the content. (notes pertaining to California's problems.)

http://www.evernote....f362efc882a2f29

.

Stop it. Please, stop it. I had to pull my hand away from the netbook just now. 38 notes visible at a glance, 17 (?) sorting options, search explanations, persistent display of metadata, editable metadata, etc. It is an amazing interface.

bellamerighi

bellamerighi 2

Posted
Posted

I imagine this kind of feature would be great for people doing budgets...

Personally, though, it does not appeal to me much...

think at "budgets" like "outcome"; with this feature you can have notes to track simple, like daily or weekly activities. this way the app can manage a new class of notes.

in other words: awesome ;)

-marco

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

Posted
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Posted

I imagine this kind of feature would be great for people doing budgets...

Personally, though, it does not appeal to me much...

think at "budgets" like "outcome"; with this feature you can have notes to track simple, like daily or weekly activities. this way the app can manage a new class of notes.

in other words: awesome ;)

-marco

What I'd like to see is Evernote focus on its core competencies so that it becomes the best repository for our memories. Rather than an app that tries to do everything with our data, it stores it and organizes it so that we can use other apps to perform amazing task in conjunction with it. For example, we already have an intriguing app in the trunk.

https://www.expensify.com/evernote

This may well be what the OP is looking for. I haven't used it myself, but these kind of integrations are the really exciting thing for me. It beats creating some kind of chimerical monster app :)

BurgersNFries

BurgersNFries 2,407

Posted
Posted

What I'd like to see is Evernote focus on its core competencies so that it becomes the best repository for our memories. Rather than an app that tries to do everything with our data, it stores it and organizes it so that we can use other apps to perform amazing task in conjunction with it. For example, we already have an intriguing app in the trunk.

https://www.expensify.com/evernote

This may well be what the OP is looking for. I haven't used it myself, but these kind of integrations are the really exciting thing for me. It beats creating some kind of chimerical monster app :)

Absolutely agree, GM!!! Like I said the other day, IMO, EN is (still) a niche product. Sure, there are many apps that have some overlapping capabilities. But none that really even come close to being a competitor. EN's focus on collecting, organizing & retrieving our information from a variety of platforms is what makes it stand out. I would hate to see it lose it's momentum by adding in tasks that many other apps already do.

Additionally, handing off those tasks to third party apps or one of EN's other apps (Skitch), provides flexibility for the users b/c we can each use the spreadsheet/document or image editor/etc of our choice.

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