(Archived) When will EN address viewing docs in sidebar

[tassiecelt 57]

Until the issue of viewing PDFs in the sidebar on an iPad so that docs can be viewed instantly and without downloading, until then EN will never be the total solution for travel and other uses that it claims to be.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,296]

"but I know of no other app that can do what you are suggesting.." well GoodReader does a good job of the same thing.

It may be that I don't understand your request, because GoodReader also takes time to process PDFs. In fact, in my testing, iAnnotate is slightly faster than competitors like GoodReader and PDF Expert. So, Evernote would have to design PDF functionality into their app (they currently just use Apple's native viewer) while also doing everything else they do in order to achieve results that are not especially impressive?

Maybe something more could be done. I don't know. I have just never seen it, so I wonder if it is possible. That's all.

[Metrodon 2,155]

Evernote don't discuss their roadmap. You can add PDFs to notes and have them available in Offline notebooks, so I doubt they will add another method of viewing content.

[tassiecelt 57]

Thanks for replying, Viewing of pdfs is great on my Macbook and iMac, but not on iOS devices. Is it a limitation of the device? strange.

[Metrodon 2,155]

No, you should be able to view them fine - what happens?

[tassiecelt 57]

Lef hand pane shows a thumbnail of the file, right hand side (if a pdf) just show the name pf the file with a pdf icon. Clicking the file downloads it fairly quickly, if the file is an image then it shows immediately.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,296]

I think what you are describing is (perhaps) a design decision that Evernote has made in order to have the app work well within the iOS environment. I do not think the device has the kind of processing power and/or RAM that would be necessary to do what you are suggesting.

For example, looking at iAnnotate (a PDF reading app), it takes a some time to view the content of a PDF, and it (apparently) can only handle loading a few pages at a time into memory. Switching among PDF files (it has tabbed viewing), something that would be analogous to scrolling through your Evernote notes, produces significant lags as it attempts to render pages.

I am just guessing of course, about the reasons, but I know of no other app that can do what you are suggesting, so I think this is a device limitation. As far as getting work done on Evernote on the iPad, it is my main device (travel and work), so I am keenly aware of the missing functionality, but I consider it a trade-off that has to be made when you choose the iPad over the Macbook Air.

Here is a suggestion: how about storing your PDFs in Dropbox, and have "reading notes" that comment on them, with the name of the files mentioned. Then, you swipe, go to DB, and open them up. The benefits? Smaller Evernote database footprint, and you can move back and forth between the PDF and Evernote (not possible if you open up the PDF inside of Evernote) in order to take notes on it. I am doing that right now with a paper that I am reading for a presentation later on in the day. If you were going to be on the Macbook Air, you might want to think differently about it.

This brings us to the underlying issue: it helps to design your workflow to fit your needs and devices. Each Evernote client is different, and it takes some experimentation to find out where the strengths and weaknesses are. I am hoping that Evernote will soon begin to supply users with rich documentation not only of clients, but of comparisons between them, along with suggestions for use cases that make the most of each client's strengths.

[tassiecelt 57]

"but I know of no other app that can do what you are suggesting.." well GoodReader does a good job of the same thing.