(Archived) We need a way to draw and insert special characters in Evernote for iPad

[erik12478 1]

Hi!

I just started using Evernote on my iPad in school and noticed two shortcomings that should be relatively easy to fix.

The first one is drawing inside of Evernote.

So I was i chemistry class taking notes, when the teacher drew some models on the whiteboard. I wanted to draw these simple models in Evernote with my finger, in case I need to know them later. I found no easy way to do this.

First I switched over to Skitch and drew the model, then I exported it into Evernote, but once there I found no easy way of inserting it in the note I was working on. I eventually solved it by going back into Skitch and exporting the drawings to my camera roll, then importing them to my note from there. Not a very good solution. It takes way too much time and you risk to miss writing down important stuff.

I would like to see a button or something that you can tap on, they you get a drawing board where you can draw whatever you want, which will then be inserted at the cursor. It should also be possible to move, cut, and paste your drawing inside of Evernote.

The second one is inserting special characters

So after chemistry I went to physics. There I needed to insert characters for delta and density, as well as some superscript numbers. I found no way to do that within Evernote. I ended up waiting until I got home, and then I launched Evernote on my Mac, and had to go through all my notes and insert these characters. Again, this takes time. Time that you need to study.

The simple solution would be to add a button that brings upp a popup menu, where you can choose from a bunch of characters (possibly sorted in categories), and the ability to favorite characters for easy access would be very much appreciated.

I hope this is something the Evernote team would like to improve on, because Evernote is just awesome in school other than this. I have my notes both in my iPad, my phone and my computer, so even if I forget my iPad at home I can read my notes on my (Android) phone.

[Mike Wood 139]

You can merge notes but only on Windows/Mac. What you did via the camera roll is what I would do. I also use Explain Everything which allows drawing but is more powerfull for rotating resizing etc... Plus amazing video presentations.

RE special characters just use an app like Unicode Map you paste from it into the note.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

AFAIK, there is no way to add ink notes to text notes other than merging, as Mike Wood mentioned. EN lives across many platforms & so some features that may exist in apps for a limited number of those platforms may not be incorporated into EN for a long time, if ever, due to making sure everything is compatible across all it's platforms.

[P Smith 0]

"I would like to see a button or something that you can tap on, they you get a drawing board where you can draw whatever you want, which will then be inserted at the cursor."

Yes this feature is really important. I am in meetings with my iPad, not a Mac, that's the whole point of the iPad. I need the functionality right there at the time.

[cmarshall1544 0]

This really is a major problem that no notes programs have fixed. Having to pay for another app to draw in then take a screen shot and then import it into evernotes is a massive time waste. What are the chances of this being fixed?

[DrewDavid 4]

+1 "simple" drawing/doodles would be handy in both desktop and tablet versions

[Candy Hurts Pigu 0]

+1! I really wish Evernote could add the in app drawing function. So far One Note from Microsoft has it, and works perfect but it does not have a Mac version...

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

+1! I really wish Evernote could add the in app drawing function. So far One Note from Microsoft has it, and works perfect but it does not have a Mac version...

That whole "Onenote does it except ON is not on ____ platform so EN should add it" thing again. I suspect if adding all the features ON has were so easy to make multi-platform/device that Microsft would have already done it.

[DavidEarl 0]

No one mentioned Penultimate for iPad which takes sketched notes, syncs directly with Evernote, is owned by Evernote and is free.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/penultimate/id354098826?mt=8

 

Also, Google Mail for iPad lets you draw notes (press the attach button paperclip), which you could then email to your Evernote account, and copy and paste the image into any other note.

 

Character Map Free on iPad lets you find, copy and paste special characters from many alphabets, and is free.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unicode-character-map-free/id504833829?mt=8

Includes Greek letters such as delta and rho (density), Hebrew, Arabic, etc., international currency symbols, arrows, mathematical and other symbols.

For more common non-American characters, press and hold a similar key on the ordinary keyboard, for example c-cedilla (ç) is on the 'c' key.

[DavidEarl 0]

Another suggestion (ok, I know it's low tech and not built in etc etc, but it is very easy and more controllable than clumsily drawing on the ipad screen, whatever the app)... draw your handwritten note on paper, photograph into the note at the desired point, discard the paper.