Trying to tell links to web-based notes to only open in EN for Windows

[AllAndNothing 9]

I'm using SmartSheet as a process manager or follow-up control system for lead and customer management, and am using Evernote as the repository for all notes etc on the contacts that the SmartSheet system is controlling.

 

I'll use an ID system so each row in SmartSheet corresponds to the note in Evernote for that contact.

 

Within SmartSheet, each contact has its own row.

 

SmartSheet allows links to be inserted for each contact/row that will open the chosen note in Evernote.

 

This makes for a really sweet integration whereby I click to open that contact’s note in Evernote... except for one huge problem:

 

The link SmartSheet inserts for the Evernote note is the web link, not a path to the local copy of the note. I'm using Evernote for Windows on my office and home machines. Clicking the link in SmartSheet first launches a browser window with the basic data for the note and then immediately automatically launches the local note in Evernote for Windows, which is fully editable and works great.

 

(If I click a note link within Evernote for Windows, the browser window doesn't occur. It's just when I click that URL from within SmartSheet. It behaves as if I pasted that link into the address field for Chrome. The web-based note is not as editable as notes in Evernote for Windows -- for instance, opening a PDF doesn't open it in the local PDF editor. I need to work in the Windows version of the note.)

 

I have a dual-monitor setup. I'm keeping Evernote (Windows) on one monitor and SmartSheet on the other. Again, this makes for a sweet setup.

 

The problem here is that even though the note opens in Evernote (Windows) on the monitor where I have Evernote (Windows), the browser window that opens first is in front of my SmartSheet screen, blocking its view.

 

(A secondary problem is that each time I click a link in SmartSheet to open a note in Evernote, it's opening a new browser window for each web-based Evernote note -- and I end up with lots of browsers windows open that are in the background but that eventually need to be closed.)

 

It would theoretically be somewhat convenient to just use the keyboard to close the web-based Evernote browser window as a procedural routine each time it launches a new one, but that's not even possible since the focus only stays there for an instant, until it automatically launches the local Windows-based version of the note and the focus moves to that window.

 

So, each time I click on a link in SmartSheet to open an Evernote note, I have to immediately manually close the browser window to the note it just opened in front of SmartSheet (and then I work on the note within Evernote for Windows).

 

I'm not getting my hopes up, but I would sure love to find a way to tell SmartSheet or Chrome or Evernote to open those links to web-based notes only in Evernote for Windows – and either have it not open the browser windows at all, or have it open and immediately close them automatically.

 

I'm even willing to pay a programmer to customize something for me if it's possible.

 

Thanks so much!

 

 

[gazumped 12,049]

Hi.  There's a bit of history to all this that you can look up on the forums here,  but the short-form fix may be:  when you copy the note link,  press Ctrl and then 'Copy Note Link'.  That should give you a 'classic note link' which starts out 'evernote://...' rather than 'www..."

 

It's a nuisance to use Ctrl each time,  but there's no way (AFAIK) to get a classic link as a default.

 

There seems to be some smarts behind the linkage in that in other circumstances,  the standard link should work as advertised - it automatically opens the note on your local machine,  and the web page elsewhere.  Looks like the SmartSheet link doesn't quite work properly for some reason.  Opening the note with a classic link should automatically mean it does so on the correct monitor,  too.  I use three monitors and Evernote sits on the extreme right or left (depending on what else is going on) and opens windows quite happily wherever it is.

 

One caveat - I'm on the latest Windows Beta version,  so YMMV!

[AllAndNothing 9]

Thanks. I just tried it, though, and it turns out SmartSheet won't even accept the URL for the local note ("evernote:///view/...") as a valid URL entry in the field for inserting links.

 

What I'm thinking I might be able to do is use some other utility to control how this works.

 

A. Maybe I can create a Windows macro with a key-and-mouse input utility (I'm on Windows 7) that does the following when I hold Ctrl while clicking on the link in SmartSheet to the Evernote note:

 

1. Mouse click (clicks the link to launch it, like normal).

2. Alt-tab (switches the focus back to the browser window -- from Evernote Windows).

3. Escape (closes the browser window).

4. Alt-tab (puts the focus back to Evernote Windows).

 

B. Maybe I can use my windows tiling app, Mosaico (http://www.soulidstudio.com/), which remembers window positions, and at least tell it to open those browser windows on the monitor where I have Evernote Windows, which will keep them behind Evernote Windows (which gets the final focus and therefore ends up in front).

 

C. Maybe I can use a macro in my X-Keys 24 (http://xkeys.com/xkeys/xk24.php) to create the same sequence as in A above.

 

I'm hoping A will work, once I find a suitable utility, because B and C seem pretty unlikely.

[gazumped 12,049]

Good luck with the options - you might want to ask SmartSheet nicely whether there's a workaround to get the evernote:/// link to work too. 

[AllAndNothing 9]

A solution I found is to use ActiveWords. I created three sets of command strings, using Alt-Tab, Ctrl-W, and Esc as needed. One closes the browser and dialog box and puts me back to Evernote for Windows, one closes the browser and puts me back at the dialog box, and one closes the browser and dialog box and leaves me in SmartSheet.

 

I execute the given command string after it's put me into Evernote for Windows.