(Archived) (Archived) Evernote for book cataloging

[awkwardnormalcy 0]

So I discovered Evernote through a lifehacker article (http://lifehacker.com/5937306/create-a-searchable-catalog-of-your-bookshelf-by-snapping-a-picture-into-evernote) and seeing as in my household we have an entire room devoted to books, this sounded incredibly appealing to me, heck, if it works I'd even be willing to get a Premium account for more storage.

Does anyone have any tips on how to use this feature? I've been playing with the app, took a picture of books and even installed the Evernote software on my PC but still haven't gotten it to work on the picture I took.

I would appreciate any help you guys can offer

[CaptainTime 94]

If you have a smartphone, I would download Skitch and take the pictures that way. Skitch has a "save to Evernote" function that will make it really easy. Otherwise, just open the picture in your picture viewing program and then copy and paste the picture into the Evernote note you've created.

[awkwardnormalcy 0]

If you have a smartphone, I would download Skitch and take the pictures that way. Skitch has a "save to Evernote" function that will make it really easy. Otherwise, just open the picture in your picture viewing program and then copy and paste the picture into the Evernote note you've created.

I have an android, and I was already able to take a very clear picture in EverNote, but it doesn't do anything like Lifehacker described, am I missing something on how to activate the OCR software?

Thank you, by the way, for responding.

[Mike Wood 139]

If you have a smartphone, I would download Skitch and take the pictures that way. Skitch has a "save to Evernote" function that will make it really easy. Otherwise, just open the picture in your picture viewing program and then copy and paste the picture into the Evernote note you've created.

I have an android, and I was already able to take a very clear picture in EverNote, but it doesn't do anything like Lifehacker described, am I missing something on how to activate the OCR software?

Thank you, by the way, for responding.

It can take a few hours to OCR (you get priority with Premium sub, usually less than 5 minutes). What are you photographing?

Generally you know its working when you search for a word that is clearly visible in the photo and it finds the note and highlights the word in yellow.

It won't work if you are storing as PDFs unless you have a Premium sub, JPGs are best for free accounts.

[awkwardnormalcy 0]

If you have a smartphone, I would download Skitch and take the pictures that way. Skitch has a "save to Evernote" function that will make it really easy. Otherwise, just open the picture in your picture viewing program and then copy and paste the picture into the Evernote note you've created.

I have an android, and I was already able to take a very clear picture in EverNote, but it doesn't do anything like Lifehacker described, am I missing something on how to activate the OCR software?

Thank you, by the way, for responding.

It can take a few hours to OCR (you get priority with Premium sub, usually less than 5 minutes). What are you photographing?

Generally you know its working when you search for a word that is clearly visible in the photo and it finds the note and highlights the word in yellow.

It won't work if you are storing as PDFs unless you have a Premium sub, JPGs are best for free accounts.

I took a picture of about five books of mine in a very clear picture, uploaded it to the app last night and still nothing. I'm not using PDFs, just normal pictures I took with my phone.

[Mike Wood 139]

Do you mean five books (covers) side by side in one photo, can you attach an example to a post here?

[awkwardnormalcy 0]

Do you mean five books (covers) side by side in one photo, can you attach an example to a post here?

http://tinypic.com/r/23tqpd/6

[Mike Wood 139]

Do you mean five books (covers) side by side in one photo, can you attach an example to a post here?

http://tinypic.com/r/23tqpd/6

Ok... That's not going to work reliably. Try photographing 4 side by side flat on a surface from above. I'd have thought 'Bruce' would be picked up in that photograph though.

[tardis 87]

I wonder if they actually tried it or are just suggesting the idea in theory. I have pictures of my bookcases both for insurance and informative purposes and OCR only works for a handful of very clear, very big, generally horizontally-placed titles. I just ran a bunch of searches for titles and only a couple out of several titles actually came back with a match in my bookshelf pictures.

It's a good idea and it'd be useful if it actually worked that well but, unfortunately, it doesn't. It'd be pretty handy for cataloguing book, movie, and music collections. Until then, you'll have to try as Mike suggested. Or go with text lists. Or go with something like Goodreads (you can use their app to scan barcodes). If you use Goodreads, you can use IFTTT to automatically import the books into Evernote as you add them to GR.

But, yeah, it'd be nice to just be able to take a couple pictures.

[Zebo Stoneleigh 9]

Not sure if you'll see this - months later - but here's an article about doing just what you're describing. Super handy feature of Evernote: the OCR of all photos.

 

http://www.jamierubin.net/2013/04/17/going-paperless-my-virtual-bookcases-in-evernote/