Jump to content

(Archived) .TXT Files and Evernote Search Indexing


Recommended Posts

Hello,

to save up space on my EN account I have converted most of my PDF library to .TXT files for reference. I've tried to import them to EN but the .TXT file content doesn't seem to be indexed. As such, it's not searchable.

Doesn't EN index .TXT files?

What workaround would you propose?

I have all these .TXT files which would be perfect do have indexed for reference and currently are not much use...

many thanks in advance,

tviseu.

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

Hello,

to save up space on my EN account I have converted most of my PDF library to .TXT files for reference. I've tried to import them to EN but the .TXT file content doesn't seem to be indexed. As such, it's not searchable.

Doesn't EN index .TXT files?

What workaround would you propose?

I have all these .TXT files which would be perfect do have indexed for reference and currently are not much use...

many thanks in advance,

tviseu.

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

I have written several times in the past that .txt attachments are searchable. I thought they were, and I thought I even tested this, but in my tests today, nothing works, so perhaps I was wrong then. At any rate, the comment is wrong now.

The current product guides (http://evernote.com/...te/guide/mac/#6 and http://evernote.com/...uide/windows/#6) are a little confusing on this issue. They state that "Everything in Evernote is searchable, including the contents of notes, tags and attachments. Evernote even searches for typed and handwritten text inside attached images. Evernote Premium users, can also search inside attached PDF files." This is incorrect, as far as I can tell, because you cannot search .txt, .docx, or any other attachments.

I still recommend converting PDF to text before putting it into Evernote if you are concerned about the size of your database (http://discussion.ev...ce/#entry173506). There are other advantages as well. What I have done, though, is to convert my PDF library into .txt and exported the files into Evernote so that they enter my account as Evernote notes, not as .txt files attached to notes. On the Mac, you simply drag the .txt files into the notebook of your choice, or into the Evernote icon in the dock. That's it.

If you have unusual encodings, this will not work (as I have complained about for a while now), but otherwise, you are good to go.

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

I didn't expect that searching a TXT file attachment to a note would work - I've always understood that the content of notes and pictures is searchable, as are PDF attachments; all other file types are just stored. Although with most files types the argument is that there are too many variables to separate the actual content from the codes. Wouldn't have thought that applied to TXT files, so maybe that is a viable request. It does look like the product guides are misleading though - unless the author knew something we don't...

Importing files into Evernote via a folder does give you a note with the same title as the file, so here's another argument for long and descriptive file names as a short-term work around. If there are TXT files with detailed content that's required to be searchable, the only option is a quick cut and paste into the note. If there are a lot of files, I imagine it would be possible to streamline the repetitive cutting and pasting process with an AHK script.

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

Hi guys, thanks for the replies.

The thing is I'm using an automatic web-based service http://wappwolf.com/ that scans a Dropbox "pdf" folder and converts it to TXT before sending it over to Evernote. Seems to create a note with a TXT attachment which is not searchable.

My solution was to use Automator on the Mac to strip all of the text out of my PDFs in Dropbox. Then, I took those files and dragged them into my Evernote account. Watch out, though. You'll crash the Mac if you try to do too many at once. I can't remember the limit, but I think you'll want to only move a few hundred notes in at a time. It only takes a few minutes to finish moving it all into your account. Evernote might take a while to process the content, but that is another story :)

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

I always recommend downloading the Evernote site version rather than the appstore one (http://discussion.ev...-x/#entry173494), but that is probably irrelevant here.

My first guess would be an encoding issue. I believe you need to have UTF-8 in order to get Evernote to recognize it (http://discussion.ev...for-text-files/). Any text editor (my favorite is BB-Edit) will be able to show you the encoding. Assuming it is not UTF-8, you'll need to change it if you want everything to upload properly. Otherwise, Evernote (Windows or Mac) will just create notes with the text files as attachments.

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

GM's saying

On the Mac, you simply drag the .txt files into the notebook of your choice, or into the Evernote icon in the dock. That's it.

In Windows you can also drag to a notebook or use an import folder.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...