I use Evernote to store a boatload of information. Having it available EVERYWHERE in a searchable and organised fashion is very useful to me.
Recently I noticed that PDFs that I had created (of useful pamphlets or contracts) were not text searchable. I presume this is some side effect of my changing from a free to a premium subscriber and some switch was not properly set for my account. I love the product, but want to be sure that others are aware of this issue in case they are depending upon this functionality as well.
Following is my email exchange with the Evernote folks.
The initial communication from me:
I’ve been noticing this for a couple of months now but I have just now found the time to contact you.
I am finding that none of the PDFs that I create (usually from scanning printed documents) are being made text searchable.
The little searchable icon at the right hand side of the “Note Info” panel is always grey and I do not ever see the “Save as Searchable PDF” option when clicking on these PDFs.
The only ones that are searchable are ones that were created that way originally and that I have just imported wholesale. Any that I create remain unsearchable.
Please let me know if there are some settings that I should be exploring or if there is perhaps a glitch with my account (I was originally a free account holder but have been a premium subscriber for several months now).
Regards,
Marc
And the email chain that ensued:
Hi Sam,
It appears that my new test PDF note was made text searchable so it looks like I’m good on that front.
Since NONE of my PDF notes is showing the magnifying glass icon properly, it sounds like you are telling me that Evernote’s PDF indexer does not properly set this indicator. Either that or all of my PDFs are not completely indexed.
I believe there is a bug here.
Thanks for whatever was done to activate my PDF indexing as it appears to be working now, I can probably live without the indicator since it is not reliable. I’ll keep an eye on the release notes to see if that issue is addressed in future updates.
You can close this ticket.
Marc
On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 8:10 AM, Evernote Support <en-support@evernote.com> wrote:
Hi Marc,
If the magnifying glass is greyed out, there could be a portion of the PDF that was not able to be indexed. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Sam
Evernote Support
—–Original Message—–
From: “Marc Bourassa” <Marc@Marc-Bourassa.com>
Reply-To: “Marc Bourassa” <Marc@Marc-Bourassa.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:48:15 -0400
To: “Evernote Support” <en-support@evernote.com>
Subject: Re: (Case 256009) [Premium] PDFs are not being made text searchable
>Hi,
>
>I can see that you did something to update my PDFs, my local backup
>indicates that pretty much every one of my personally created PDFs has been
>updated.
>
>Also, I can now see “Save as Searchable PDF…” as an option for these.
>
>The only thing outstanding is the little search icon (magnifying glass over
>a document at the right side in the “Note Info” section) is still greyed out
>for the PDFs. Am I correct in understanding that, once a note has been made
>Text searchable, this icon should be colored? It is correctly colored for my
>OCRed JPG notes.
>
>As a test, I’ve created a new note (Test pdf text searching) in the Evernote
>folder and have synced it as of this email. I’ll check tonight to see if it
>has become searchable to ensure that whatever fix is in place is ongoing as
>well as retroactive.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Marc
>
>On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Evernote Support
><en-support@evernote.com>wrote:
>
>> Hi Marc,
>>
>> When I am searching for these terms, I am able to find the note that
>> contains the term. Are you not able to find the note? Please let us know.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Evernote Support
>>
>>
—
Marc