Issues Snapping/Scanning Pages from Leuchtturm 1917 A5 notebooks

[theresearchant 2]

I've been using Evernote for a long time, and I've always paired it with an analog workflow. I take notes from meetings/class/etc in a Moleskine and then snap them into EN. I have Premium so it means all my handwritten notes are searchable. I love this workflow because I can get a break from staring at my screen and I pay better attention when writing notes.

Recently though I have switched to Leuchtturm for my notebooks. I love the table of contents, the pagination, the double bookmarks, and the labels, etc. I don't want to go back to Moleskine BUT I've found that EN has a hard time when I try to digitize these pages. It cuts off the edges, which cuts off the page number and often cuts off some of what I wrote. I can manually readjust the crop but that's too time-consuming.

So I just wanted to reach out to the community and see if anyone else had encountered this problem or if anyone had workarounds or suggestions?

Thanks!!
Rachel

[gazumped 11,667]

Hi. What device are you using to take the pics,  and can you show us or link to a pic of a blank page just for the layout?  AFAIK the Evernote app uses light and dark page boundaries to 'see' the margins,  so all-white surrounded by all black would be the easiest case.  If you're looking at a bound page - so also seeing some of the nearby previous or following page - Evernote (again AFAIK) uses the fabric divider (which Moleskins have in a contrasting colour) as the 'edge'.

If the contrast conditions are right,  and the ambient light is good and the camera feature is still getting things wrong,  I'd suggest you have three options.

1. get one or more physical 'frames' - pieces of paper in strong colours with a page-size cut-out that are guaranteed to provide the best contrast with the notes content,  or
2. try out some of the other options for converting a picture into a note.  There are tons of apps that can help with that - my Android devices support CamScanner / MS Office Lens / Adobe Scan - any and all of which I occasionally use for page scans,  particularly if I need to correct for perspective.
3. if the notebooks allow for it - strip out the pages at the end of the day and use a scanner!

For scannable documents you might also like to look at Scribzee (Oxford Notebooks) which supports its own products.

 

[theresearchant 2]

4 hours ago, gazumped said:

Hi. What device are you using to take the pics,  and can you show us or link to a pic of a blank page just for the layout?  AFAIK the Evernote app uses light and dark page boundaries to 'see' the margins,  so all-white surrounded by all black would be the easiest case.  If you're looking at a bound page - so also seeing some of the nearby previous or following page - Evernote (again AFAIK) uses the fabric divider (which Moleskins have in a contrasting colour) as the 'edge'.

If the contrast conditions are right,  and the ambient light is good and the camera feature is still getting things wrong,  I'd suggest you have three options.

1. get one or more physical 'frames' - pieces of paper in strong colours with a page-size cut-out that are guaranteed to provide the best contrast with the notes content,  or
2. try out some of the other options for converting a picture into a note.  There are tons of apps that can help with that - my Android devices support CamScanner / MS Office Lens / Adobe Scan - any and all of which I occasionally use for page scans,  particularly if I need to correct for perspective.
3. if the notebooks allow for it - strip out the pages at the end of the day and use a scanner!

For scannable documents you might also like to look at Scribzee (Oxford Notebooks) which supports its own products.

 

Thanks for your response!

I'm using an iPhone7. I attached a photo taken from within the app - did you want one with my regular camera on a dark bg? Also, here's a link to the product for another image.

By fabric divider do you mean the little markers? That's a good idea - I can start using that to mark the middle.  I think sliding a dark piece of paper underneath the pages is another good idea. I think that Moleskines have a little more bleed with their covers which provides a border. That might be part of the problem.

[DTLow 5,736]

26 minutes ago, theresearchant said:

I'm using an iPhone7.

You might try Evernote's Scannable app.  It seems to have more features than the editor app.

[gazumped 11,667]

What @DTLow said.

Talking about 'frames' - I had more in mind a picture frame idea like this...

...but making it very clear to Evernote which part of the camera view you consider important should get you better conversions.

[theresearchant 2]

I used the Scannable app for a bit right after it was released and was uninspired, but I'll definitely try it again for the Leuchtturm. Good thought.

@gazumped Can you buy frames like that designed for these kinds of notebooks? 

[gazumped 11,667]

23 hours ago, theresearchant said:

@gazumped Can you buy frames like that designed for these kinds of notebooks? 

I actually don't know!  I usually create similar things from one sheet of colored paper guillotined along the long side into 1" (2.5cm) strips and (messily) stuck together with tape,  or just laid around the target.  It's instantly adjustable into the right size and shape and lasts for quite a while...

There might be a commercial version out there,  but paper works fine for me...  😎

[theresearchant 2]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

I actually don't know!  I usually create similar things from one sheet of colored paper guillotined along the long side into 1" (2.5cm) strips and (messily) stuck together with tape,  or just laid around the target.  It's instantly adjustable into the right size and shape and lasts for quite a while...

There might be a commercial version out there,  but paper works fine for me...  😎

Ok I shall try that! Thanks!

[PinkElephant 8,116]

Hello, regarding the scanning issue: I use ScannerPro from readdle on my iPhone 6S+.

The App contains an option to create own workflows to automate the processing of scans. There I have created several workflows for frequently used Evernote imports: Invoices, devices, internet, recepies, music, events etc. Each button has a notebook related to it, and assigns a number of standard tags to the new note. The tags I adapt once a year, by exchanging the standard yearly tag. You do not have to code to create a workflow, you just use the recording mode. When you have scanned something, give it a name (automatic option is available), simply hit the iOS-“share”-symbol, click the appropriate workflow button, and the export to EN is done within seconds.

For me this workflow-to-Evernote-thing is the killer ability of this app.

Besides: The scanning is very good, and if the app “feels” the scan was o.k. it proceeds to the next one.  If it misses an edge once in a while it normally interrupts scanning and asks to correct the scan before proceeding to the next page. I have used the EN-edition by Moleskine as well as cheap notebooks from German discounter Aldi (not bad at all, by the way, and 1/6th the price of a Leuchtturm or Moleskine). It simply works.

My normal scanning setup is white pages on a light-brownish wooden table, indirect daylight or the dinner table lamps - no problem at the 3 edges pointing outwards. To the middle the reading mark cord is sufficient. If there are several cords, pick the darkest one and leave the others outside or behind other pages. A straight dark line is fine as a page separator. Sometimes I place my black pencil in the middle fold, works as well.

The app has other features, and yes it costs some bucks (one-time-purchase, not Abo). I am sure it is worth the gain in scanning quality and workflow performance. If you want a bargain, readdle will run special offers from time to time. Or get a bundle (I love readdle’s PDF Expert on the iPad- it gives full pdf editing power, like programs for the PC costing several times as much).

Probably there are other very good scanning apps. I’ve got ScannerPro in 2015 and never felt a necessity to try another one.

P.S. Not working for or related to readdle ...