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Is there a way to attach a file in the iPad Evernote App?


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No problem doing it on my Mac or via Web access when I am at a "real" computer ...

But is there a way to attach a document (PDF, Word, Excel) in a note within the iPad Evernote app? The file is accessible on the iPad. I can always forward it to Evernote as an email and then combine the separate notes later when I am at my computer. But is there anyway to just click attach and identify the file in the iOs app itself?

(And yes, I know I can embed a link to the file in the note ... but Evernote is my ultimate file cabinet archive ... i want to get the file itself there (for example, embed an attachment from a meeting into the notes for that meeting while I am in the meeting taking notes on my iPad.)

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I'm searching a way to add multiple pdf attachments on a note.. This would be very useful I could consider to go premium, I have a free account for now..

Also, is there any way to view a pdf file on a note, like if it was a photo without having to use my Mac??? Only iPad or iPhone. The reason is simple, in meetings or surveys I don't have my Mac, so I'm mostly interested to see what the mobile app can offer.

Thanks in advance!!

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No problem doing it on my Mac or via Web access when I am at a "real" computer ...

But is there a way to attach a document (PDF, Word, Excel) in a note within the iPad Evernote app? The file is accessible on the iPad. I can always forward it to Evernote as an email and then combine the separate notes later when I am at my computer. But is there anyway to just click attach and identify the file in the iOs app itself?

(And yes, I know I can embed a link to the file in the note ... but Evernote is my ultimate file cabinet archive ... i want to get the file itself there (for example, embed an attachment from a meeting into the notes for that meeting while I am in the meeting taking notes on my iPad.)

Hi. You can only make attachments to an existing note using images (stored in your camera roll). Otherwise, it is not possible at this time.

The situation is exacerbated by Apple's decision that users don't need a file system, and with the eviscerated operating system I think you would need for the developers to be pretty determined to work around the obstacles to get this done. I can imagine ways in which they might accomplish it, but in the end, it will probably still be easier to wait until you get home to a "real" computer so that you can just drag and drop the attachments.

As someone who spends a lot of time working on his iPad, I find this state of affairs to be quite sad. I had hoped that Windows RT on the Surface would give me an alternative to the iPad, but there are so many issues there, I'd say it is not even close to being ready for prime time. Perhaps Windows Pro + Evernote will do the trick if/when it comes out. Or, maybe Apple will beef up things in iOS 7 :)

The only alternative I know of at the moment is to remotely login to your desktop from your iPad. In fact, this is a pretty nice workaround, so you might want to give it some thought, even if it kind of defeats the purpose of using the iPad!

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Yianniss asled: "Also, is there any way to view a pdf file on a note, like if it was a photo without having to use my Mac??? Only iPad or iPhone. The reason is simple, in meetings or surveys I don't have my Mac, so I'm mostly interested to see what the mobile app can offer".

As GrumpyMonkey has indicated, there is unfortunately no way to (or no GOOD way) to add PDFs to an existing note (or multiple PDFs to a note) on the iPad or iPhone.

BUT: There is absolutely NO problem opening or viewing any PDFs that are already part of a note from ANY of your devices.

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Hmmm there's an iOS App 'Group Email' in which one uploads the -say- pdf files, one by one to a kind of App's clipboard and from there, one can attach multiple documents to an email.. Is that so difficult to be achieved???

What I've learned from using Pages, Numbers etc is that you better rely on the mobile version when creating a document in order to be on the safe side, regarding compatibility between mobile and desktop versions of the same App.

Same here, I need to get the most from Evernote mobile, in order to be good enough to buy it and in my case I absolutely need to be able to add multiple pdf files in a note. No problem, I'll wait :)

Thanks for your time!!

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If you are waiting for multiple PDF attachments to existing notes, then it is unlikely to come soon, in my opinion, because there are barriers to this kind of thing within the operating system itself.

My recommendation would be to do one of two things:

(1) Have one attachment per note. This is a rule I've followed for almost every note I make. It makes more fine-grained searches possible. If they are all related, then just make an "index" note with note links to all the notes containing the PDFs. Or, stick a random code at the bottom of each note so that a search for "73hdbek" turns up all the notes (I have a note listing all of my reference codes). It is quite convenient, and useful if you are only using mobile devices, which are unable to create note links.

(2) Use something like Logmein to remotely access your desktop. Problem solved :)

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  • 7 months later...

When you have the file open, just click the send to button and it should give you the option to open in evernote. It will then open in Evenrote as an attachment. It works for pdfs anyway.

 

Hi there!

 

In which program should I open the PDF file so I can have the option to open it in Evernote?

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Here is a workflow how I solve this problem on my iPad.

1. Send the files via Email into my evernote inbox. If I have 3 PDFs I want to have in one note I will send 3 emails with each email containing one file (this email could come from mail app, but also from other programs that allow you to mail. And of course you could also do it with other file types).

2. I use an app called MoveEver to then combine the 3 notes into one. Voila - 3 PDFs merged in one note.

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Using an app which allows you to send multiple PDFs in one email to your Evernote email address (eg. Goodreader), all the PDFs would end up in the same note.

 

iOS only allows apps to push files to other apps, so you can't pull files in from another app.

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This is one of many reasons that I gave up on using the iPad (or any tablet) as my primary device.

 

Like GM says, I don't see any real solutions (by Apple or Evernote) within the next year or so (or maybe never) to this problem.

 

Now that the MacBook Air has much longer battery run time (up to 12 HRS), the MBA-11 is, IMO, a much better choice than the iPad, yet it is just as portable.  If you can live with the 5-hr run-time of the 2012 MBA-11, you can get some great deals right now that make it not much more than a fully loaded iPad.

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  • 5 months later...

Actually it would be dead simple for evernote to fix this. Ok, you can't pull in files from other apps - but you can easily go to the other app (eg PDF Expert) and "open in..." To evernote. Evernote receives the file fine, but it only allows you to create a new note, not add the file to an existing one. Basic software fix. The problem is Evernote - if hey enabled you to choose the note to add to - hey presto, problem solved.

Please Evernote, ios has come along in leaps and bounds on terms of inter app operability, and you're lagging behind on this one. It would make such a huge difference to be able to bring in PDFs to existing documents - it's a big part of research.

Easy fix - so why not?

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Actually it would be dead simple for evernote to fix this. Ok, you can't pull in files from other apps - but you can easily go to the other app (eg PDF Expert) and "open in..." To evernote. Evernote receives the file fine, but it only allows you to create a new note, not add the file to an existing one. Basic software fix. The problem is Evernote - if hey enabled you to choose the note to add to - hey presto, problem solved.

Please Evernote, ios has come along in leaps and bounds on terms of inter app operability, and you're lagging behind on this one. It would make such a huge difference to be able to bring in PDFs to existing documents - it's a big part of research.

Easy fix - so why not?

 

Great idea and, in principle, seems like the perfect solution. Anyone with inside knowledge care to share why this isn't implemented? It seems like such an easy fix. I for one would love this ability. I'm tired of having to go to the desktop version of Evernote in order to move attachments around or to add an attachment to a note. 

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Hi,

 

I wonder why nobody mentioned that it is possible to append a note to an existing one via e-mail. Instead of the method "open in Evernote" for a PDF file you could use "open in e-mail" and send it to Evernote using as subject the title of an existing note with a ' +' at the end. This will append the note including the PDF file to the existing one. Doing this several times should exactly achieve what you want.

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Thank you, Scott.  You are correct that emailing PDFs then combining notes gets the job done, but that is an extremely Rube Goldberg kind of work around.  Multiple steps and time delay and live internet connection necessary to accomplish something simple.  I am better off waiting until I get back to my desktop and just adding the PDFs to meeting notes after the fact, when I can do it in a few clicks of the mouse. 

 

I think the tenor of this entire discussion is not that it is impossible to accomplish an end objective (attaching a PDF to a note from the iPad ap).  Yes, it is possible to get there. 

 

The issue is going through a multiple step process in order to do so defeats the purpose of the utility ... taking notes on the fly and adding non-textual content.  I can do that on the full desktop version,  But most of my live note taking is in meetings without my laptop (that is, on the iPad).  If adding attachments means getting out of the note taking process in order to execute multiple steps, it isn't worth it.  It is faster, simpler to just go back after the fact when I am next at my desktop to fill out my notes. 

 

There seems to be some debate in this thread as to whether making the iOS version act like the desktop version in this regard is simple (sjm88 seems to think so).  Others seem to differ.  I just don't know.  I am not an app writer.  Just trying to take notes. And wishing I could do it on my iPad with something close to the facility I can do it on the desktop. 

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Hi,

 

I wonder why nobody mentioned that it is possible to append a note to an existing one via e-mail. Instead of the method "open in Evernote" for a PDF file you could use "open in e-mail" and send it to Evernote using as subject the title of an existing note with a ' +' at the end. This will append the note including the PDF file to the existing one. Doing this several times should exactly achieve what you want.

Wow, that's a terrific tip and an absolute godsend. I feel like it's still a little bit of an unnecessary workaround, but it'll certainly suffice for now. May I ask where you learned about this? I wish Evernote just had one central and easily accessible repository for all these shortcuts.
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Wow, that's a terrific tip and an absolute godsend. I feel like it's still a little bit of an unnecessary workaround, but it'll certainly suffice for now. May I ask where you learned about this? I wish Evernote just had one central and easily accessible repository for all these shortcuts.

Well, I don't recall when I learned about this but It's been a while. It is true that there are many, more or less secret tips and tricks for each of the different platforms and versions of Evernote. Evernote is just not one application it is a complete infrastructure. This sometimes makes it difficult for beginners but there are many resources in many languages helping Evernote users everywhere, especially this forum and I am glad I could be of assistance.

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Hi,

 

I wonder why nobody mentioned that it is possible to append a note to an existing one via e-mail. Instead of the method "open in Evernote" for a PDF file you could use "open in e-mail" and send it to Evernote using as subject the title of an existing note with a ' +' at the end. This will append the note including the PDF file to the existing one. Doing this several times should exactly achieve what you want.

One point of clarity. The first couple of times I tried this it did NOT work, but the problem was that I didn't carefully read the instructions. What I did is put a "+" (plus) at the end of the existing note title. In actuality, you have to put a "space" and then a "+" after the existing note title. You must have a space between the end of the existing note title and the "+" sign. Now, it works great and as stated, you can send multiple attachments to an existing note as long as you send them individually. Thanks for this great tip.

Is there a list of "hot tips" for Evernote somewhere...?

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Now, three years later, we write the year 2015 anno domini and we have iOS 9 with iCloud - any chance to see a file picker in a note (OneNote App got this)? It could be for iCloud or for Dropbox or for ... This would be really a big step ...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Pleas note that all the steps described bellow are for iOS:

I have tried the "append to existing note" via email & after a lot of trial & error I got it to work. The main issue with was with how Evernote interpreted things like hyphens & quotation marks.  So it works, but man, you have to jump through some hoops. Note that you can copy & paste an attachment (PDF, Word, image, etc.) WITHIN a note but when you copy an attachment in one note & then select another note & chose "paste" you can briefly see the attachment appear in the selected spot but then promptly disappears.

The thing that frustrates me here is that when I repeat the above in OneNote, there are no such issues. I can copy & paste within a note, within a note book & even across notebooks. So I am currently wrestling with the thought of transferring all of my lesson plans (I'm a teacher) to OneNote. I have invested in an iPad Pro & want to be able to hand write solutions to the Physics worksheets (PDFs) in GoodNotes & then place them in a particular spot in a particular lesson plan note in Evernote. And in case you are tempted, please do not suggest that I use Evernote's annotation feature. A few seconds with that, quickly killed off any desire to use it.

I would dearly love to have an iPad only workflow with Evernote as I much prefer it to OneNote. Right now I'm playing around with a Surface Pro & apart from the whole Windows 10/Surface Pro bugs frustrations it is just a far more straightforward proposition. 

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  • 1 year later...
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1 hour ago, martinf said:

Any changes in the last 2 years?

In the latest version, I can open a note, click on the paperclip icon and select files to append to a note

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This is true. At least there is now a roundabout way of achieving this. Probably the best way is to have PDF Expert installed & open a file in there, make changes & then re-attach from Evernote via the file attach button. Cloud services would also work but I'm not sure about up & downloading files unnecessarily. 

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