Feature Request - Add Icons or Stamps so that I can create "sketchnotes:

[jive 5]

I'm a pretty visual person.   And I like to scan notes rather then read gobs and gobs of text.  Icons, pictures, and image stamps would be really great to be able to drag and drop right next to a set of notes to help separate them out and make them glance-able. (like sketch icons of representing different things....).

 

I'm not sure if this is the place to make a feature request, but it would be great.

 

for example: http://d.pr/i/19u8K

 

It seems like it would be useful to be able to simply select these types of symbols from a pool of symbols and drop them beside your text...

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I'm not sure if I understand your request, but you can do these things now:

1. Add an image (like an icon) to the text in your Note, and that image will show up in the Snippet view, Card view, and Expanded Card view.
2. If you have another app, or even another EN Note, with all of the images you want to use, you can drag/drop those images into any EN Note
3. Using a tool like TextExpander, you can add an image to any note just by typing the trigger code, like ;im.person (or whatever shortcut code is meaningful to you).

Hope this helps.

 

If I've missed your point, please clarify.

[jive 5]

hello JMichael,

 

First off, thanks for the response.   I really appreciated it.   I realize that my post didn’t exactly convey my request.

 

So yes, evernote gives you the ability to add images, drag and drop etc.  And this is great!

 

But when I’m taking notes, it’s usually in a meeting, or during a conference or some other on the fly situation that requires rapid and efficient note taking.   the “sketch notes” method has proven to be a strong methodology for me and several others, - http://rohdesign.com/sketchnotes/  . But there seems to be very little support for this in the note taking space all around.  Most current note taking apps support importation or bringing in images etc, and this is cool, but it’s usually very linear and limited. And requires you to open up a folder, sift though you images, drag and drop on.   It’s clunky, and time consuming, and in the case of event, you can simply place the image/icon above or below your block of text (I may be wrong?).   You can’t even place an image besides a list of items, or even resize them:

example: http://d.pr/i/18HZL

 

I’ve tried this on one note and got a bit of a better result… - http://d.pr/i/1jdZ1

at least the images are resizable and I can place then next to lists of text…  but the painful process of going into a icons folder, finding the right one. dragging it in is still clunky. 

 

So I guess what I’m asking for, is a easy way to do this.   A pool of readily available icons that are easy to find, and add on the spot, and drag next to the blocks of notes that I am writing right from the application itself, allowing me to create “sketch notes” right in evernote. 

 

I hope this clarifies…. Sketch notes is such a useful thing not only in note taking but referring to and glancing at your notes for quick reference.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 

So I guess what I’m asking for, is a easy way to do this.   A pool of readily available icons that are easy to find, and add on the spot, and drag next to the blocks of notes that I am writing right from the application itself, allowing me to create “sketch notes” right in evernote. 

 

OK, I think I have a better understanding now.

 

This may not be your ideal solution, but it might be worth considering/trying:

You could use a text expander tool like TextExpander on the Mac, and PhaseExpress on Win.

I'm not sure about PhaseExpress, but with TE you can store images as snippets, which can be instant inserting into whatever your typing into by using short text (I call it a code) that you have associated with a snippet.

 

for example, to insert a stop sign icon:

;icon.road.stop

 

I use a naming convention to help organize and remember the snippets.

So "icon" refers to all my snippets that are icons

"road" is for road icons

"stop" is, of course, for a stop sign

 

Using the TE search, if I type ";icon.road" and then press CTRL-S, it will show me a popup list of all snippets that begin with that text, which in this case would be all road icons.

 

For a more general search, you could keep TE open, but in the background, and then when you need it just switch to it and enter any text to search on.  It will then show you all snippets that have that text anywhere in the name, code, or snippet text.

 

Hope this helps.  Most, if not all, text expander tools have a free trial version, so you could test it out.

[jive 5]

I have, and use text expander (though I used it not frequently- I tend to use dash  more).   I understand what you are saying with this, and I guess it would work with a bunch of set up, but yeah not ideal (and I'll likely just not do it.) And it still doesn't address the layout and size limitations.

 

I guess it's something for evernote to consider... it would have to be a specifically developed feature for it to deliver the kind of experience to make it a really useful tool.   The concept is easy enough.  A icon to click the would produce a display of images to choose from - and then drag and drop to the desired place, but know that concepts are always easier to come up with then develop.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I have, and use text expander (though I used it not frequently- I tend to use dash  more).   I understand what you are saying with this, and I guess it would work with a bunch of set up, but yeah not ideal (and I'll likely just not do it.) And it still doesn't address the layout and size limitations.

 

No matter what tool you use, even if it be one that Evernote provides, there would be significant setup to use.  

Until/IF Evernote decides to provide such a tool, you'll need to deal with workarounds.

 

I'm out of ideas.  Good luck.

[jive 5]

yeah. probably.  Anyways thanks for your responses. They actually have been helpful.  It's making me think about text expander again, anyways.

[jive 5]

ok. I'm using your suggestions to create te snippets and combining it with tables go create somewhat of what I'm looking to do:

 

http://d.pr/i/1iO9p

 

It's not perfect, but it seems promising.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Look very good to me!  Keep up the good work!

[righteousdork 203]

Hey Jive,

I tried to see if Annotation would help and there's not a lot of options there for what you're wanting.

Couple of suggestions.  

1) I know the Android app supports handwriting.  That would give you some more free form options.

2) Have you tried looking into something like Penultimate or Skitch?  I just played around with Skitch on my phone and you can take photos and immediately start marking them up.  You can mark up webpages and maps as well.

 

I know this doesn't meet your needs exactly.  I can't think of a great way to paste icons in on the fly.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 I can't think of a great way to paste icons in on the fly.

 

I mentioned this above.

You can use a text expander to instantly paste icons on the fly.

For example, I have a TE snippet that uses ;icon.en to paste an icon of Evernote.

If I just type ;icon and the CTRL+S, it shows me list of my icons.

Of course you can make the abbreviation be anything you want, like ;i.en for example if you use the ;i code a lot.