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How to merge a bunch of PDFs into one big note


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Hello:

 

I am a new user trying Evernote Free.  I guess I only get five forum posts until the 27th, so I'm going to try to make this one count.  And since I may need to post followups, I'll have to thank you all before the fact.  :D

 

I have a Windows 8.1 PC, iPad 3, and iPhone 5, and I want to use (mostly) PC and iPad to hold my textbook content for a class I'm taking, so that I can mark it up with my own drawings and handwriting (in class) right on screen and add my own typewritten notes too (in class or at home).  At home I mostly use a desktop Windows 8.1 PC and in class or when studying, I'll have my iPad or a Windows 8.1 laptop.

 

The first textbook is about 200 page "sides" that I scanned in with a document scanner that converted the content into PDFs.  The original paper size was "B4", which is about 8 inches tall and 5 inches wide (give or take).  The scanner I used could only do about 30 pages at a time, so I had to scan the content in 6 "jobs", so now I have six separate PDFs.

 

Here are the first things I would like to do with Evernote:

 

1.  I can't function if each textbook is split into six different notes or notebooks, so I would like to bring each PDF into Evernote and merge it all into one big ... um, Evernote "document".

 

The textbook PDFs contain drawings and charts that I didn't think would translate well so I did not scan them in with OCR; they're just regular PDFs.

 

Q1a:  How do I merge multiple PDFs into Evernote so that they will become one big document?  I don't care if the files are kept in PDF format as long as I can access them equally as well on all devices.

 

Q1b:  200 pages is a lot, and it won't do for me to be flipping pages one-at-a-time in class.  Does Evernote on PC and iPad have a "bird's eye view" of the pages (like Adobe Reader has on the right window pane) or a Table of Contents function that I could use to make navigation faster on these devices? 

 

2.  In PDF format, each of these textbooks is expected to take up about 50 MB total.  On top of that, I have another four textbooks to be added within the next couple weeks, and then a few more after that.  I'm just lucky I was able to have them separated into loose sheets that took well in a document feeder or I'd be crazy by now!  :blink:

 

I am prepared to buy a premium membership/subscription if this first textbook works well for me in class and during studying, so that's not a problem.  But I do want to be sure that I don't overshoot any size limits for "notes" or a "notebooks" on any of my devices.

 

Q2:  Are my expected sizes going to pose any problems down the road?

 

3.  When I scanned the textbook, the document page sheets ended up way to the left of a landscape page of paper.  On one hand, it leaves me with a lot of room for note-taking (without having to add pages).  On the other hand, it makes the text small (which could make it difficult to use on my iPad).  I'm keeping an open mind for now until I get the content merged and synced to the iPad. 

 

Q3:  If I do need to "trim" some whitespace off of the right side of the pages, can this be done in Evernote, or should I start thinking about re-scanning the document?

 

Q4:  After the class is over, I would like to export my annotated textbook back into PDF form for my personal historical archives.  It will probably stay on Evernote too, but I'm oldschool and I want the archives.  Can I do this?

 

Okay, that's enough for now.  Thanks in advance for your help!

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  • Level 5

I doubt that either the free or premium version of Evernote will do all that you are looking for.

Scalability is not an Evernote strong point.

 

There have been many posts on this forum about the problems associated with storing large quantities of huge PDF files. Another user, GrumpyMonkey, has posted his method which is to convert PDF to text. I'll see if I can find a link.

 

Found it: http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=551

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