Clipper or Skitch?

[bobzani 17]

I'd like to know if there's any advantage to using "Skitch" that the web clipper doesn't offer? It appears to me that they are about equal. Yes or no?

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Depending on what platform you're on...

 

• On desktop, in your browser, the web clipper includes Skitch functionality when you choose to clip a screenshot. After you've taken the screenshot, you have the chance to annotate it with the Skitch tools before saving.
• The Evernote apps themselves have Skitch tools built in so that you can annotate images and PDFs within a note.
• As a separate app on mobile device, it seems that the Skitch app gives us the baked-in Skitch features of the web clipper, which we would otherwise not have in our mobile device browsers. 
• A recent development is that we can now, on iOS, annotate a web page using Skitch, via the share menu. This would require that you already have the Skitch app installed.
• The Skitch app itself allows one to start with a blank page, while within the Evernote app itself, one would have to have an image on which to annotate or alternatively a screenshot to mark up via the web clipper.
• The web clipper itself, besides annotating screenshots, allows one to clip the HTML of web pages, which one can later edit. Skitch works on images or PDFs. In the case of images, of course, you cannot edit text. 
• The web clipper allows one to clip an article, an entire web page or a selection of text among other rich features.

So basically, Skitch is a baked-in feature that is omnipresent in the Evernote clients and the web clipper, besides being a separate app on mobile device. It really depends on what platform you're on. If you're on mobile device, it's a must for annotating screenshots outside of the Evernote app/ directly from a web page. If you're working in your browser with the web clipper, Skitch is an additional feature.

 

It's not the web clipper VS. Skitch. They both go hand in hand. Clip a couple of web pages using all the options at your disposal, and compare that to the Skitch feature. You'll get what I've laid out through hands-on practice. 

 

Additionally, when on certain web pages, such as YouTube, Gmail, Amazon.com or Linkedin, the web clipper has extended features. There are also some other tucked away features such as Simultaneous Google search which you can activate in the settings. Then, of course, there's the "Clearly" extension. You would do well to see if that might extend your use of Evernote browser utilities...

 

EDIT: Seems like I gave a blow-for-blow comparison... when I overlooked the possibility that you're probably talking about the Skitch desktop app. I've never found any use for it, since it's baked in to the web clipper and the Evernote clients. It seems like you get identical functionality to what you have in the desktop app. So it really seems redundant if you have the Evernote desktop client installed.

 

Keep in mind that Skitch was acquired by Evernote, and so it may still exist to fill that gap for people who were Skitch users prior to it being bought (and may not be into Evernote) or alternatively want to annotate images, etc. and not put them into Evernote... but, in a nutshell, one has all the Skitch desktop app features baked into the Evernote desktop clients and the web clipper. 

 

Even the "Screen Snap" is a part of the desktop app.... and the set of keyboard shortcuts one has for the annotation tools... such as Ctrl+Alt+A to switch to the arrow annotation tool, is usable in the Evernote client Skitch annotation feature.

 

As with the mobile app, it seems the one feature that is included in the Skitch desktop app (not an Evernote client or web clipper feature) is the ability to annotate a blank document which you can save as an image.

 

The other thing I pick up right now is that the Skitch desktop app seems a lot snappier. It's a lighter tool... so it may suit your workflow if you do a lot of annotating. You can save to Evernote once you're done.

[bobzani 17]

Many thanks, you've answered my Q. I appreciate the help.  R.Z.

[CalS 5,280]

Frank,

 

You lost me at depending...  

 

Just kidding, very informative explanation.