This article is the English version; if you are interested in the Italian version, you can find it here: Evernote Web Clipper — una Piacevole Riscoperta.
Foreword
I have been an Evernote member for ten years; I have been since 10 March 2011 (I checked my profile information because I did not remember it).
More and more often, however, in recent years, I have used Evernote less and less as I tried the various alternatives that were born periodically (for curiosity and because I probably use Evernote badly, without a real organization), then I always ended up going back to using Evernote for its immediacy of use.
For example, I am writing this article using a competitor with whom, however, this time I am getting along well, and I have been using it for some time for its “power” (in reality, perhaps this could also be also its disadvantage), the desire to return to Evernote, however, is very strong.
The need
In recent days I had the need to save some web pages of a writing course so that I can read them later on an e-ink tablet (the reMarkable 2 mentioned in this article 7 Weeks with reMarkable 2), this “need” to reduce the use of a normal screen and instead use an e-ink.
I did not need a well-finished but functional document (in this case, I was not very interested in the structure but the actual content).
What I used
I tried to save them with the tablet’s web clipper, but unfortunately, I was not entirely convinced how it saved the information.
It allows you to collect information in two ways (as indicated in the relevant options):
- As text — Saves the information in text format (so that it can be easily changed from the settings but with the note that images are not included)
- As PDF — Save the information in PDF, or instead start the PDF print preview from which you can change something, but you are quite limited to PDF printing.
Unfortunately the first, as text, has strangely lost the title of the single article and the related images (but in reality, this is indicated); the result is however interesting as saving as text only allows a better representation.
The second one (as a PDF), on the other hand, did not have an optimal layout (depending on the page I probably wanted to save); for example, at the bottom, it had the comment box that didn’t interest me.
To overcome these (minor) problems, I tried other web clippers with even worse results (for example, it only saved the page’s link but without the content), I did not study them carefully but used them quickly.
Luckily I remembered that Evernote also had a functional web clipper, and I installed it again (I have never used it particularly, and in these ten years I have changed several computers for which I ended up not installing it anymore). I used it with satisfaction as it allowed me to save the information I needed easily.
Specifically, it allows you to cut out the information in various ways:
- Article (allows the selection of the entire article or to reduce its sections)
- Simplified article (select the entire article, thus excluding banners/outline/images/other articles)
- Full page (save the entire page)
- Bookmark (saves the URL with a concise preview)
- Screenshot (allows you to take a screenshot of the page of the size you want)
Problems
Although the collection through the Evernote Web Clipper was very functional, the next step of transforming the collected note into PDF (printing it as PDF) presented a problem with the page change for which the first and last line of some pages were cut, in my case, it was not a problem. Still, it is something to consider in other cases (this problem did not arise with the saving as text of reMarkable 2 but presented the other problems indicated above).
What to improve
Surely several alternatives can do even more and better (I have not check many alternatives), but the Evernote web clipper seems to be complete. The only feature that could make it even more practical could be allowing an automatic conversion in PDF (more efficient than printing it in PDF with the limitations mentioned above).
Hope/good wishes
In recent years Evernote has lost more and more audience in favor of other more recent applications with more advanced (and even complex) features.
For some years, however, Evernote has been working to modernize itself. In the last quarter of 2020, it released the stable version of the “new Evernote” for the various platforms (iOS / Mac / Windows / Android) of which it is continuously releasing updates, there have been some problems, and someone did not like this renewal, mainly because with the first versions of the “new Evernote” they had not converted all the previous features but only the most used ones, gradually adding the others with subsequent updates (for example, the use of keyboard shortcuts) (as well as introducing new features such as the dashboard).
Thanks for reading; if you liked it (or even if you didn’t like it) or if you have any considerations about it, let me know in the comments.
