Unable to bring PDFs into Evernote iOS with Premium Subscription

[beaker353 3]

After being pissed off one too many times by OneNote sync issues, I'm planning my move to Evernote. I'm trying to double check that Evernote will support with fair ease the critical parts of my day-to-day workflow. I've figured most things out, however dealing with getting PDFs into Evernote on my iPad is throwing me for a complete loop. As an electrical engineer, my iPad spends most of the day beside me on the bench looking up datasheets and taking design notes. I would estimate that half of my notes start out as PDFs datasheets from manufactures and then I add notes in the margins, highlight text, circle important graphs. However, when I open a PDF in Safari and send it to Evernote, it just sends a link to the URL to Evernote. I can't imagine Evernote thinks this is the workflow people are expecting. Am I missing something obvious, or is this really just the way it is. I really want to move to Evernote and have no problem continuing paying for Evernote premium, but if it can't handle a basic part of my day-to-day workflow, I have to stick with OneNote, yuck...

 

- EM

[mathiepe 44]

Hello there!

 

Are you using the Safari share-icon to send the PDF-tile to Evernote? If so, try tapping anywhere into the PDF-file: you should see an 'Open with...' option appear on top of the window. Select Evernote there. The PDF-file should be sent into a new Evernote note. From within the note you can make basic annotations to your PDF-file.

 

See more here: https://www.evernote.com/l/ADMBsWouJ_1CZb-SZE8GpZZOKfg6-jpo6Qg. I hope this helps?

[beaker353 3]

Thanks mathiepe! That worked exactly like it should. i figured both the "open with" and the icon at the bottom were recalling the same internal procedure, but I was obviously wrong. However now I'm running into the problem that Evernote can't annotate protected PDFs. Gives me a soft error "Encrypted PDF, Annotate does not support encrypted PDFs". Not all, but many of the manufacturers I deal with daily have some form of protection on their data sheets (not sure why these days as it's trivial to get around PDF security). I really wish there was a "print to" in Evernote iOS so I could store and annotate these types of files. This limitation makes Evernote a useless product for me. Anyone from Evernote corporate want to chime in with a solution to keep me paying my premium subscription?

- EM

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

However now I'm running into the problem that Evernote can't annotate protected PDFs. Gives me a soft error "Encrypted PDF, Annotate does not support encrypted PDFs". Not all, but many of the manufacturers I deal with daily have some form of protection on their data sheets (not sure why these days as it's trivial to get around PDF security). I really wish there was a "print to" in Evernote iOS so I could store and annotate these types of files. This limitation makes Evernote a useless product for me. Anyone from Evernote corporate want to chime in with a solution to keep me paying my premium subscription?

- EM

 

I'm not sure you can expect Evernote to provide you with a tool to break the password/encryption of PDFs.  I suspect there could be legal consequences.

Also, I think you're running into a lot of issues because of the iPad iOS.

 

Some time ago I found the iPad OS to be too restrictive, and the EN iPad app to not be as full featured as the desktop apps, so I gave up on trying to use the iPad as my primary content creation too.  I have been using a MacBook Air since about 2011 and find that it works great.

 

There are a number of tools for the Mac and PC that will un-encrypt most PDFs easily.  When I run across one of these PDFs, I just run it through that tool before I attach to Evernote on my Mac.

 

This probably not what you wanted to hear, especially if you have standardized on the iPad.  But due to the limitations of the iPad iOS imposed by Apple, I don't expect much to change any time soon.  So, you might want to consider the use of a MBA.  The MBA-11 is just as portable as the iPad, and much more powerful.  The new MBAs just released are very powerful and come at a decent price.  If you want to minimize the expense, you can look for refurbished models on the Apple web site at substantial discounts.

 

Sorry for the somewhat off-topic discussion about the MBAs.  I just wanted to share my experience with iPads and let you know about other options.

I find Evernote to be a great tool by using my Mac for most Note creation/editing, and my iPhone and iPad for mostly viewing, and for short Notes (like a quick list or a reminder while I'm away from my Mac).

 

Good luck.  Hope you're able to resolve your issue soon.

[beaker353 3]

I would never expect a company like Evernote to provide a code-breaking feature. I'm not sure why they don't treat PDF annotations like two separate files layered on top of one another. OneNote does that and it works perfectly (until the sync goes sideways...). I guess I'll cancel my premium subscription and keep an eye on Evernote adding features in the near future to allow my workflow.

 

- EM