REQUEST: (Template) headings and styles

[WonderBro 2]

I just registered to share the one thing that disturbs me in Evernote. The clipping, voice recording and all that stuff is really neat and new, but one basic thing that's missing are templates for Headings. Just like in Microsoft word, but only a handful styles, like e.g. Heading 1, Heading 2, standard.

I believe that just a few templates for headings are of great value for anybody using Evernote to write down thoughts about a topic. Personally, everything I write down needs a heading, and doing this by hand every time is annoying and unnecessary for users. Anybody who writes down her thoughts in a structured way needs this.

So what would I imagine this feature to look like?

Well, there should be a standard style for every notebook, meaning that there is a fixed format for normal input and headings. When you want to write down a heading, there should be a button that increases the fontsize, and makes the text bold. But after pressing enter to start a new line, it should switch back to the standard format again. Just like in Microsoft Word. This will make it much easier to structure your works and put them down in a recognizable way. Also, the only advantage of a real notebook in my eyes is exactly that writing these headings is easy and instant.

I hope that this will be considered as a new feature,

Kind Regards

[peterfmartin 221]

I believe that just a few templates for headings are of great value for anybody using Evernote to write down thoughts about a topic.

...

Anybody who writes down her thoughts in a structured way needs this.

Sorry, I'll prove that wrong: They wouldn't help me—or, at least, 8,500 notes into my Evernote experience, I've never felt the desire to use a pre-set heading. Not all of my notes are as structured as yours seem to be, but quite a few are.

Of course, feature requests are always welcome, and I don't mean to shoot yours down, just to suggest that there may not be the widespread clamor for this feature that you believe there is.

That said, headings have been requested and discussed before, so others do want them. Search the forums for "headings" if you want to read previous conversations on the topic. Here are a few:

http://discussion.ev...or-the-wysiwyg/

http://discussion.ev...fined-headings/

http://discussion.ev...c/16499-styles/

http://discussion.ev...ragraph-styles/

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I think another word for "headings" is "styles".

A style is simply a set of formats (font, size, bold, underline, etc) that can be easily applied with one click to a paragraph.

Styles are not limited to headings, but can be applied to any paragraph.

I would find styles very useful.

Often, after a web clip, I find the need to "reset" the entire Note to my standard Note "style" of Verdana, 14 pt.

Sometimes in longer notes, I need to set formatting for the title of sections.

So, having user-defined styles just one click away would be very helpful.

[peterfmartin 221]

Often, after a web clip, I find the need to "reset" the entire Note to my standard Note "style" of Verdana, 14 pt.

Just FYI, in case it's helpful, here's how I do that, using FormatMatch (my FormatMatch universal hotkey is Cmd+Shift+M, though that's personalizable):

1. Click anywhere in note I want set to standard note style.

2. Cmd+A, Cmd+Shift+M, Cmd+X, Cmd+V.

And if FormatMarch is already on, it's just:

1. Click anywhere in note.

2. Cmd+A, Cmd+X, Cmd+V.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Just FYI, in case it's helpful, here's how I do that, using FormatMatch (my FormatMatch universal hotkey is Cmd+Shift+M, though that's personalizable):

Thanks for the suggestion, but FormatMatch really doesn't remove the need for Styles.

• It's more complex, requires more keystrokes
  
• Need to have more than one user-defined style
  

[peterfmartin 221]

Fair enough. I just meant to offer a maybe-sometimes-helpful workaround with current functionality.

[MJG 16]

What is being asked for here is actually just for a feature that is already available on Evernote in one platform be available in Evernote on another platforms.

Having a small and set of "one click" heading styles so you can easily indicate a change in topic as you take notes is a "it would be nice to have" feature.

The fact that it is available and I can do it in the iOS version of Evernote on my iPad, but can't when I move back to my "real" computer on my desktop makes it a little frustrating.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hello. I think it would be nice to have headings and templates. I imagine they will come along eventually. Until then, I have posted a few of mine at
http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=459

Basically, you just put these into your favorites bar (or on the mobile devices, use a saved search for "intitle:template") and they are there for you anytime. Obviously, you could make your own, but I wanted to add a bit of color, and I think this is a nifty way to leverage the snippet view for that.
http://www.christopher-mayo.com/img/template.jpg

I also have a thread about templates floating around somewhere, but cannot find it using the search. Will post on that here after I have tracked that thing down.

[Hussein 23]

Hi all,

I've created an application called KustomNote.com at http://kustomnote.com. GrumpyMonkey knows about and has been so helpful indeed. Its facilitates styling and having more structure in the notes created. The application allows you to create note templates/forms, pick a theme, send email reminders and pre-define the fields to be used with different types like date, numbers, files, even movies and music and Google Contacts.

Please check it out guys and sure let me know if I can be of any help,

- Hussein

[axehandle 3]

@JMichael, a style is not "simply a set of formats", unless you are referring only to the style markup for a span or div tag, etc. In fact, how a style appears is secondary to its logical value: Heading 1 is above Heading 2, which is above Heading 3, etc. By simply dividing a document with headings, and letting the end user's app do the formatting work, a note's structure can be shared and re-shared and always look appropriate to whoever's got it loaded at the moment. Even better, they paste to and from MS Word, wikis, and other apps without any bizarre forced formatting.

I've created an application called KustomNote.com at http://kustomnote.com. GrumpyMonkey knows about and has been so helpful indeed. Its facilitates styling and having more structure in the notes created. The application allows you to create note templates/forms, pick a theme, send email reminders and pre-define the fields to be used with different types like date, numbers, files, even movies and music and Google Contacts.

Kustomnote is a great start! Many of its features are things I've wanted in Evernote for a while. I can't wait for Evernote to buy it and integrate it with the desktop app. KustomNotes look good, but even better is the attempt to embed data in fields. Nice!

[Seanpiking 1]

I agree 110%.

Headings (and an outline tool which can be toggled on and off) would dramatically increase the value of Evernote to me.

Between the two, one can really manage large, complex subjects.

[Seanpiking 1]

I agree 110%.

Headings (and an outline tool which can be toggled on and off) would dramatically increase the value of Evernote to me.

Between the two, one can really manage large, complex subjects.

[Hard Cat 0]

Solution: On the Evernote iPad app there is a styles function (with a letter 'P' icon in the toolbar just above the on-screen keyboard in edit mode) 

(required: 1 iPad)

 

In this you can create a Section (h1) or sub section (h2) style - even block quote or normal. Its pretty cool. Also you can remove formatting with 'P' with a slash through it.

 

The Evernote mac app needs this function too. 

[Nick5a1 2]

+1

[Martin Packer 162]

Note, while we're talking about styles, you can only use an inline style in a note. I don't yet understand why the elegance of expression of a <style> element isn't allowed.

[mhelephant 10]

To join in here... The one thing that irritates me about Evernote (iPad and MacBook) is that I can't apply styles to paragraphs. Eg one or two levels of headings; body text with my preferred typeface and font size; quotations.

 

Whenever I work with words on the page/screen I'm making a document, not just archiving a stream of text. So paragraph styles for basic document formatting are something I'm never without in a word processor - and I'm unhappy being without them in Evernote. Styled documents are far more useful to me than documents as found 'in the wild' - they communicate much more information at first look, when I'm scanning for resources in my Evernote 'scrapbook'.

 

Please Evernote team... add user-defined 'styles'. How hard can that be? Although, if you're working in an HTML world behind the scenes, I appreciate that on-screen layout in HTML documents is fundamentally pretty klunky.

 

PS: Outlining - mentioned by others - isn't of any interest to me as it happens. If I'm doing serious writing or editing, I'll do it in a proper document-creation App (word processor). My use of Evernote is for holding and marshalling resources, not for creating.

PPS: Others mention a 'P' icon in the iPad version, associated with the on-screen keypad, which makes 'styles' of some kind available. I don't see it. Is it still supposed to be there (Feb 2014)?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

To join in here... The one thing that irritates me about Evernote (iPad and MacBook) is that I can't apply styles to paragraphs. Eg one or two levels of headings; body text with my preferred typeface and font size; quotations.

 

Whenever I work with words on the page/screen I'm making a document, not just archiving a stream of text. So paragraph styles for basic document formatting are something I'm never without in a word processor - and I'm unhappy being without them in Evernote. Styled documents are far more useful to me than documents as found 'in the wild' - they communicate much more information at first look, when I'm scanning for resources in my Evernote 'scrapbook'.

 

Please Evernote team... add user-defined 'styles'. How hard can that be? Although, if you're working in an HTML world behind the scenes, I appreciate that on-screen layout in HTML documents is fundamentally pretty klunky.

 

PS: Outlining - mentioned by others - isn't of any interest to me as it happens. If I'm doing serious writing or editing, I'll do it in a proper document-creation App (word processor). My use of Evernote is for holding and marshalling resources, not for creating.

PPS: Others mention a 'P' icon in the iPad version, associated with the on-screen keypad, which makes 'styles' of some kind available. I don't see it. Is it still supposed to be there (Feb 2014)?

There was a P icon on the iPhone (I don't remember for sure whether it was on the iPad). At any rate, it is not therr anymore. Now it is an anti-P.

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=1840

[nhan 0]

+1

 

I also miss styles like Heading 1, Heading 2, quote, preformatted etc. I also miss a table of content for longer notes. That can be generated from the Headings.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Here are 2 quick and dirty workarounds using PhraseExpress (Mac and Windows):

 

[sentya 0]

On the web client you can add headings manually by editing the HTML via "inspect element" and adding <h1>, <h2>, etc tags. Obviously this isn't an ideal solution but sometimes its better than nothing.

[KenSkove 1]

I see this thread began in 2012. Years and years go by and such a basic feature, styled headings, still don't exist in the desktop version of Evernote. I find this astoundingly ridiculous. An application that has "note" in its name doesn't provide customers with a way to style heading which are key to being able to  organize content. 

PLEASE implement this feature!