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(Archived) Taking notes on the iPad in Evernote


GeorgeCC

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Instead of Skitch, what I would REALLY like to see is something like this:

In Evernote, when I click the button to add a new note I have the opportunity to say my note will be typed or hand-written. Typed would work as it does now. But hand-written would allow me to hand-write notes during my meeting, extending the page as long as needs be. When done, I would expect it to make the round trip to the Evernote server and do as much OCR/indexing as it can now with JPG files.

An alternative would the the option in a note to open a hand-writting window within the note where I could do as noted above.

Bottom line: I want to take my iPad to meetings and take notes in Evernote. Currently I use Lifescribe for this, but with that I have to transfer to Evernote.

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Since the Windows client is the only one with ink notes (and they are basic), probably not going to happen any time soon. This has been discussed a lot on the board, so please use the search function. Some favored third party apps that people use on the iPad are Notability, Noteshelf, Notes Plus & PaperDesk. The first one has similar functionality to Livescribe, I think. The workflow is then to either send the handwritten image to EN (if the app interfaces with EN) or email it. In the case of Notability, you have the option to send the note as PDF only or the PDF & the recording.

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  • Level 5*

You can add Penultimate with Evernote integration (of some sort) to the list:

In my opinion, Evernote should definitely not include this capability in the app. Very few companies have managed to get handwriting right (my favorite after trying all of the major ones is NoteTaker HD), Evernote probably wouldn't, they'd be re-inventing the wheel, it would bloat the main product, and it might cause unexpected usability issues that would affect everything else.

I'd like to see Evernote weed out the bugs the currently exist in the iOS app, and for other features like image cropping, handwriting, and so forth develop separate standalone apps (the Hello, Food, Skitch, etc. model). What I really, really need is a better way to make and edit my Evernote notes (more parity with control over fonts, text size, note links, etc.). I wouldn't mind more bells and whistles, but I would prefer to see them treated as accessories on the iOS platform. Things work better that way there.

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I use NoteShelf on my iPad for handwritten notes. It exports very nicely to Evernote. I haven't tried using the updated version of Penultimate. I've preferred Noteshelf for a while because it's a pretty simple app. It doesn't have as many features as some of the other note taking apps but that's precisely why I like it.

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I prefer to write notes also and have gone through several apps. I used Ghostwriter and NoteShelf for a while mainly for their EN integration. I've since switched to Notability because the ink seems smoother, it has a better directory structure and the zoomable writing area feels faster and scales better.

It doesn't have EN integration (yet) but it auto (or manually) syncs to Dropbox in either RTF or PDF formats which you can then easily stick into EN. Yeah, a couple more steps, but I have to agree with GM and BNF...a great third party app designed specifically for this function is best. And a reply from Notability to my email says that they are exploring EN integration.

The other thing I learned is to pay a little more for a rubber tipped stylus. The cheap foam tip ones aren't nearly as smooth to write with. Most are between 25 and 35 bucks but Best Buy sells one made by Rocketfish for $16.99.

Now...off to try Note Taker HD (GM, you're getting the bill)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

I have tried some of the idea and they come up short. But that is probably my fault for asking for comments on a "solution" instead of posting the actual problem. I will do that in a new post.

But one parting comment.

While I will go along with the idea of not making handwriting a part of Evernote, there is one thing I think they should do.

In the Windows version, if I have a note that is a JPG and I click on it, the JPG opens in mspaint and I can change it if I want to.

Evernote should find a way to do the same thing with imported hand-writtne note. For example, if I export a Skitch note to Evernote, double tapping on it should open it in Skitch. That's just an example. The same should work for any handwriting app that can export to Evernote. You need to be able to make a round trip.

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  • Level 5*

as i understand it, it is impossible/difficult to do this kind of thing in iOS. in OSX it opens the image in Preview (not the same as Paint, but along those lines). iOS doesn't make it easy for apps to play together.

you could "open in" another app (already available) but in order to get it back into evernote, you'd have to make a brand new note. i think this is an iOS limitation.

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That's my biggest gripe with all the apps that claim to have "Evernote Integration". None of them are really "integrated", all they do is export an image which gets created as a new note. As was pointed out above, it would be nice to be able to select the image in the note and use the originating app to edit it and update the note with the changes. I guess that's not Evernote's fault.

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  • Level 5*

That's my biggest gripe with all the apps that claim to have "Evernote Integration". None of them are really "integrated", all they do is export an image which gets created as a new note. As was pointed out above, it would be nice to be able to select the image in the note and use the originating app to edit it and update the note with the changes. I guess that's not Evernote's fault.

it is too bad, but i think this is more an ios limitation than anything else.

in my opinion, even on the computer evernote is not designed well for works in progress that use other apps (pdfs, excel, word, etc.). you can do it, of course, but it costs you upload capacity, and i try to avoid it. this is not a complaint. rather, it is an observation. i am fine with how evernote works now. if you have something in a specific file format, i recommend waiting until you are done with it before you put it into evernote. in other words, evernote is for storing memories and not making them.

in my case, i pretty much store anything that is in a specific format as an unchanging note, and i have a separate note where i make comments (this works well when writing notes about a book or article). if it is a work in progress, i try to keep it in text form in evernote as long as possible before moving on to word.

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