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Evernote for mac


Ned Gu

Idea

I find the text editor on Evernote for mac does not support rich text. That means I can't set margin and the text fills in the width of the whole windows and front size won't automatic adjust. So it is really painful to read text only note in a large window. 

Do you guys have any solutions?

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Indeed things like margins do not exist in Evernote's text editor... The only thing I can recommend is to simply resize your window appropriately. Resizing the window should be a reasonably workaround. If you set margins and make the window much larger than those margins, all you are gaining is useless white space.

You can double click any note to open it in its own window which I you can resize to your hearts content and without white space.

or if it is really important, create an rtf file that you then place as an attachment within a note.

Personally, I like the lack of margins, as sometimes I like to scrunch the window really narrow as I take notes about another document that needs more desktop space. If I had to deal with margins, my evernote note window would constantly best rolling horizontally which would be a real pain.

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I have tried to use Evernote to take lecture note. But unfortunately I find the text editor in Evernote does not meet my requirement at all. 

1) I cannot type up a complicated outline

2) Text won't automatically change line. It will simply filled all the width of the window. Too wide margin is hard to read and edit. Only way as you mentioned is resized the window. It gives me a feeling that what I type is a bunch of words, not a formatted document.

3) When I paste something which is "rich text" into Evernote, many formats are just gone. 4

4) When I add a photo between text, it just looks ridiculous.

5) I cannot search text in PDF and Doc in Evernote. But I can do it with spotlight in Mac OSX.

 

Overall, I think Evernote is good for typing in something casual, like no more than 200 words. (which can be a waste to make it a doc. or pdf) However, if you want to edit something "premium", you'd better use a real word editor and attach the document in Evernote. (although it is not searchable) It is even worse than the Web editor I am using to type this reply. 

 

I alway compare Evernote with could document sync services like iCloud, google doc and skydive. These services do pretty good to make your complicated document available on cloud as well. So I decide to type note in Word and sync it via Google doc and classify them in classical way-- folders. 

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1) What counts as a complicated outline? Bulleted lists allow for many levels of note elements. Is that what you are referring to?

2) You are correct. This is, in part, because Evernote is not a word processor, it is a note-taking/storing application. If you need a line break, you can just hit "return" to create a line break. Is your problem with the lack of margins mostly an issue with respect to appearance? 

3) Yes, pasting formatted text into Evernote is a bit of a mixed bag, though I don't find that to be unique to Evernote. Pasting formatted text from one application to another usually brings up questionable results! 

4) Yea, since all pasted images appear in-line rather than floating, organization can be limited in this respect. One workaround is to place the image in a separate note and use an evernote:/// note link to the photo note so the image doesn't take up a ton of space in your original note. This also means you can link to that image from several notes. Not a perfect solution, but one possible workaround

Can you explain how you might want images to be handled better? 

 

5) PDF and DOC files ARE indexed for premium users. Unlike Finder/Spotlight, however, Evernote (premium) will also index PDFs that contain images of text, that is, text that is non-selectable. Spotlight cannot do this. 

That being said, if you find that Finder/Spotlight is more effective for you to find these files, then you should continue to use them. 

 

Evernote has never really claimed to be a word processor, it is primarily for making notes, though people have been able to make some remarkably well-formatted notes in Evernote. If you attached a word document, remember it is searchable for premium users. 

 

I think it is a mistake to compare Evernote to iCloud, Google Docs, Dropbox, Skydrive etc. They are entirely different services. The only uniting feature is that they all offer some form of synchronization.

 

I use Dropbox to store 95% of my PDFs and word processing documents because

1) it is better at storing them.

2) Dropbox (or icloud, or skydrive or Box or Bitcasa) syncs changes immediately, so there is less chance of losing data for files actively being edited. 

 

I think you need to use what works for you. If you find, as I do, that storing large quantities of PDFs or .docx files in Evernote is onerous, than don't do it.  

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Kind of agree.

I always believe Evernote is a "swiss army knife" style application. I can handle bunch of things. You can use it as diary book, reminder, to-do-lists, cook book, clipping book and so on. And like many other "multiple-functions" application, it is not specialized into any one of these function. You can find Day-one does better as diary app, remember the milk does better as a reminder, onenote or word does better as a serious note taking app.

However, I do agree if you do not have a specific demand, Evernote can make life much easier because it brings all things together. You won't need to install ten apps but only one. You won't need to have ten accounts but only one. 

Still, as I mentioned, if there is anything I urgently need it to be improved, that is its text system. I need a text editor at least as functional as google doc. So I can seriously type in some long note directly in app instead of typing it in word and pasting to Evernote. I need a "reading model" that can offer consistent note reading experience on laptop, phone and laptop. So I will no longer struggle about to choice "whole article" or "simplified article" when clipping web article with photos and charts. To be honest, it isn't that hard for Evernote team to do this, is it?

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As far as the text editor goes, it has been stated by Evernote that they have been and will continue to improve the text editor. Now, as you will see if you browse the forum, what needs improvement varies wildly from "native plain text support" to "markdown WYSIWYG" to "GIMME MICROSOFT OFFICE IN A NOTE NOW!". Clearly Evernote cannot do all these things, so what they choose to do will inevitably disappoint some users.

 

My personal prediction is that we will not be likely to see many more advanced word processing features added. I can see a refining of the current offerings of: font colours, sizes, faces, and styles; tables, bulleted lists, numbered lists; horizontal rules; and highlighting. What tools are missing that prohibit you from writing longer notes? (I am not trying to trivialize your point, just trying to understand your need). Is it just margins and text wrapping that you need?

 

As far as reading goes, I do now know what you mean by "reading model" could you explain that a bit? If you clip something with "simplified article", it should appear identical on all of your devices, no? And wouldn't the decision between "whole article" and "simplified article" be defined largely by whatever is most appropriate for the content being clipped? In what situations are you encountering difficulty deciding which to do? 

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