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New feature suggestion: QR Codes


bbrandon

Idea

I really like being able to photograph business cards and upload them to Evernote. This will be a big help for me in managing business cards that I collect at conferences and Expos. But I am seeing more tech people who have added QR codes to their business cards.

How about a feature that allows us to upload a QR code image to Evernote, and Evernote then reads the QR code, translates it, and adds it to the notes attached to the QR code image? (Hope I said that right and that what I'm asking for is obvious.)

What prompted this is that there is no decent QR code reader for the iPhone (at least not that I've found), and practically every QR code reader available holds the translations in a proprietary database that you have to transfer from manually to get the information into your regular address book. For those of us who are already stashing business card images in Evernote, having a QR reader built in would save a lot of work.

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Please let me second this request. It would be nice to be able to snapshot QR codes with a phone camera (I don't have an Android or an iPhone), and email them into Evernote and have them decoded automatically.

Sometimes I'll just have a digital camera with me and will upload pictures later and add them to evernote. The ability to automatically decode QR Codes that show up in images in Evernote, even as an add-on of some sort, would be useful.

Please count my vote.

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Well, two people who posted about it in this thread in two years.

That doesn't mean that the feature wouldn't be useful and much appreciated by a lot of people who are using cell phones with cameras while QR codes are seemingly gaining in popularity. iPhones and Droid phones have multiple applications which will read QR codes, but it would be nice for people with more basic camera phones or maybe having just snapped a picture with a digital camera and then send the images to Evernote and have it process the QR code automatically.

They already do text recognition. How difficult would it be to do QR code recognition as well.

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  • Level 5

They already do text recognition. How difficult would it be to do QR code recognition as well.

After looking up QR codes and seeing the large number of varieties from version 1 to version 40, I would say it is quite a bit more difficult than recognizing some text.

http://goo.gl/pRDEz

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Haven't been able to find a way to send both images and text via qr codes. It would be great if I could use a qr code to view and/or send a note with a picture and text.

I'm not sure if I understand the problem correctly. It should work easy-peasy. Here's an example for an evernote URL (from my client) which contains text and images:

evernote:///view/7763999/s68/c51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9836d41a/c51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9846d41a/

To create a QR Code, you paste this URL into a QR Code creation tool like http://qrcode.kaywa.com/, and get this result:

img.php?s=5&d=evernote%3A%2F%2F%2Fview%2F7763999%2Fs68%2Fc51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9836d41a%2Fc51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9846d41a%2F

When you scan this code with your smartphone (of course not THIS example code, but yours), the evernote app should open and display the note, images, text and all.

Note 1: Some QR Code scanning apps for iPhone only support HTTP urls and will interpret an evernote://-url as text-only. But there are many apps which do in fact support custom URI schemes like "evernote://". For example "ScanIt" or "QuickMark". The free and popular app "Scan" will get an update in a few weeks after which it support this as well, the developers told me.

Note 2: If you can't find or live with an app that supports evernote URLs, or the codes are to large or difficult to scan correctly, you might want to shorten the evernote:// url by putting it through tinyurl.com. Good old tinyurl supports non-HTTP-urls (many newer shortening services, like goo.gl, don't). For this to work, however, you need a working internet connection each time you scan the code (your smartphone needs to connect to tinyurl.com).

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  • Level 5*

i think I'm getting one of those headaches again...

evernote:///view/7763999/s68/c51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9836d41a/c51ee444-801e-48b8-8d32-8b7a9846d41a/ - To create a QR Code, you paste this URL into a QR Code creation tool like http://qrcode.kaywa.com/, and get this result:

Correct: a QR code is a smartphone shorthand way to avoid typing a long URL

When you scan this code with your smartphone (of course not THIS example code, but yours), the evernote app should open and display the note, images, text and all.

Only if you have Evernote installed on your smartphone and this notebook is set up as an offline asset - otherwise you'll get some interesting errors and have to wait a while for the page..

And why wouldn't you just have a normal shortcut on your desktop or the Droid pointing to the note?

IMHA QR codes are good for letting others know where to look for information - postering out the URL of your shared notebook(s) forinstance.

There are websites that do the URLtoQR conversion. Why lumber Evernote with the means to generate them? And do we then need a way to read them too? So Evernote has to be a camera / converter / browser? (because that's the only way you get to decrypt and view the contents of a QR code).

Anyone got any other convincing case examples for where you'd need to use an EN QR reader / writer?

(Don't get me wrong - I think QR codes are the best thing since.. Evernote.. but I use them to connect visitors to my wi fi network and provide URLs, email and other enhanced content for web pages and printed material. I download Droid apps to my phone with them, but I haven't felt the need to add them to my notes in any way shape or form.. so far.)

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i think I'm getting one of those headaches again...

Way to piss off someone who is trying to be helpful. Can we please have a discussion where no-one is being belittled? Thanks.

What I'm describing is how this is possible with today's functionality of Evernote. Evernote doesn't need it's own QR scanner to use this.

Also, you're criticizing that you need Evernote installed on your smartphone to view the note. Well, this is the Evernote for Mobile forum, so I kinda assumed that this was acceptable.

What I understand is that you're sceptical about real use cases for QR codes with Evernote. There are a few examples here: http://www.touchanote.com/ (just replace the word "NFC tag" with "QR Code"). And I am using them at home a bit, too (a link to a device's manual here, list of next buses leaving the nearest stop there, current shopping list at the fridge (to add stuff). Not all of them use Evernote, though. Some simply link to mobile web sites with a custom search query.

Personally, I think that the value in QR codes is not to store static information (limited capacity! have to be printed new with every change!), but to link to possible dynamic information which, itself, can be stored in Evernote. They can also help performing "actions", like e.g. pre-fab SMS texts for particular situations that occur frequently in a particular physical situation, doing a particular web transaction, etc.

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Unreserved apology: was trying for smart@ss, not snarky. I agree QR codes are the bees knees for a variety of different uses, but thought you meant Evernote needed a QR reader/ writer. You can achieve everything that touchanote suggests with Evernote's current note linking facility, any one of several QR&barcode readers and something like ZXing http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/ (choose URL in the drop-down) to give you a QR code for a single note URL. Print to label, stick label on object, scan when required.

(Very good for cataloguing to boxes when you don't want to show "jewellery and tiaras" on the box sticker..)

I dislike the thought of Evernote becoming one of those applications where functions you want are buried under several levels of dropdown menu (MSWord anyone?) and I think we ought to be as protective as possible of the KISS attitude that the E-team seem to embrace.

That said, this is a valid suggestion and you may have started a useful thread. I'm sorry if I seemed to disrespect that.

G

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You can achieve everything that touchanote suggests with Evernote's current note linking facility, any one of several QR&barcode readers and something like ZXing http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/ (choose URL in the drop-down) to give you a QR code for a single note URL. Print to label, stick label on object, scan when required.

(Very good for cataloguing to boxes when you don't want to show "jewellery and tiaras" on the box sticker..)

i second this... i have a 20 x 15 storage unit filled to the brim with computer parts, dvds, cds, and books. my old method of cataloging them was tedious to say the least. i used all of the various collectorz.com software (before they 'nerfed' it). now what i do is:

1) lay everything out on a folding white table

2) take photos

3) import photos into evernote

4) copy note link

5 ) paste note link into http://www.qrstuff.com/, you can use website URL or plaintext, qr code comes out the same either way (i use qrstuff.com because they let you pick the color, so i print green qr codes for evernote stuff)

6) export the qr codes, and print them on labels.

7) stick said labels on boxes

i realized that the above seems overcomplicated, but believe me, when you are searching for a specific cable amongst 200 identical boxes, it helps enormously.

I dislike the thought of Evernote becoming one of those applications where functions you want are buried under several levels of dropdown menu (MSWord anyone?) and I think we ought to be as protective as possible of the KISS attitude that the E-team seem to embrace.

G

again, i second this as well. barcode scanner (pretty much the standard for android) handles evernote links in qr codes just fine. i don't want evernote to get bigger and buggier just for the sake of new features. better integration with other apps is always better IMHO. i have been waiting FOREVER for inknotes in the android app, but now that skitch is here, i'm loving the integration.

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Unreserved apology: was trying for smart@ss, not snarky. I agree QR codes are the bees knees for a variety of different uses, but thought you meant Evernote needed a QR reader/ writer. You can achieve everything that touchanote suggests with Evernote's current note linking facility, any one of several QR&barcode readers and something like ZXing http://zxing.appspot.com/barcodegenerator/ (choose URL in the drop-down) to give you a QR code for a single note URL. Print to label, stick label on object, scan when required.

(Very good for cataloguing to boxes when you don't want to show "jewellery and tiaras" on the box sticker..)

I dislike the thought of Evernote becoming one of those applications where functions you want are buried under several levels of dropdown menu (MSWord anyone?) and I think we ought to be as protective as possible of the KISS attitude that the E-team seem to embrace.

That said, this is a valid suggestion and you may have started a useful thread. I'm sorry if I seemed to disrespect that.

G

 

But I have my own format to generate qr code. So I wonder how can I generate qr code that is encoded with own formatted information?

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  • Level 5*

 

Unreserved apology: was trying for smart@ss, not snarky. I agree QR codes are the bees knees for a variety of different uses, but thought you meant Evernote needed a QR reader/ writer. You can achieve everything that touchanote suggests with Evernote's current note linking facility, any one of several QR&barcode readers and something like ZXing http://zxing.appspot.com/barcodegenerator/ (choose URL in the drop-down) to give you a QR code for a single note URL. Print to label, stick label on object, scan when required.

(Very good for cataloguing to boxes when you don't want to show "jewellery and tiaras" on the box sticker..)

I dislike the thought of Evernote becoming one of those applications where functions you want are buried under several levels of dropdown menu (MSWord anyone?) and I think we ought to be as protective as possible of the KISS attitude that the E-team seem to embrace.

That said, this is a valid suggestion and you may have started a useful thread. I'm sorry if I seemed to disrespect that.

G

 

But I have my own format to generate qr code. So I wonder how can I generate qr code that is encoded with own formatted information?

 

 

If you're saying you want to embed your own information in a QR code,  please search the internet - that's not something connected in any way with Evernote.

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I know this post is old but I want to request this feature. 

Maybe in the US is not a useful feature but in Asia it is. Every advertisement has one. Today I was in a concert venue and they had a QR Code to see the schedule of events, as everything else I need to remember, I wanted to scan it and save it in Evernote. I found out that is impossible with Evernote or Scannable. Who came to the rescue?... Microsoft! 

I think this should be a feature in Evernote specially since is one of the few Western apps that is widely used in China. 

Thanks!

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