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Notes is just impossible
#32342 12/29/14 11:21 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Just got my first iphone ever a month ago, the iphone 6.

Was so happy with notes, now I don't have to keep that little pencil in my wallet.

But it turns out notes kept vanishing at the end of the day. From discussion groups and Apple I was told to maybe disconnect them from my email accounts. So I did that and a week went by, but at the end of the week, one day, a note, full of good notes vanished at the end of the day.

(I never have gotten a good explanation yet as to how email accounts tie into notes) IN any case, I untied emails from Notes and they still vanish!

Ok, so I just tried a 3rd party app called Textpad. It was going ok for a few days except every time I use it is says cellular data is turned off, a nuisance alert every time (why would cellular data be needed for a simple notepad?). I emailed the developer no answer yet. But today, even weirder, the battery usage said, this little app, which I opened only once to write one sentence took up 47% of battery usage, (way more that Instagram, Camera, and Phone, which I used way more)

Lost and frustrated. thanks.

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32344 12/30/14 01:04 AM
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I have been using Notes since the first iPhone and t the best of my knowledge I have never lost a note that I did not intentionally delete. In an effort to zero in on some possible candidates for creating loss and/or confusion…
  1. Since you have an iPhone 6 I assume you are running iOS 8.1.2. — correct?
  2. I probably should remember this, but I don't and I am too lazy to look it up — what version(s) of OS X are you running on your Mac(s)?
  3. Do you have an iCloud account and are you using it?
    1. If yes, is anyone else using the same iCloud account or ID.
    2. On your iPhone ➢ Settings ➢ Notes — what setting do you have for the default account?
    3. If you have Mavericks or Yosemite on your Mac, in System Preferences ➢ iCloud — is Notes checked?
  4. How many Notes do you typically have?
  5. You said you had disconnected Notes from association with your email account, have you done so on both your OS X and iOS devices?
  6. By any chance have you associated Notes with Exchange, Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Aol, vimeo, flickr, or any other internet account on either OS X or iOS?
  7. Do you use Reminders, Calendar, or Contacts and if so have you lost any data associated with one of those apps?
  8. If you are using an older version of OS X do you have Notes appearing in Calendar/iCal and if so is that Calendar shared with another user?


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
joemikeb #32345 12/30/14 02:28 AM
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Thanks Joe:
1 yes
2 10.10.1
No one else on icloud
The notes app -- i put it in extras, and now it disappeared! I Can I add it again? You think I should try? It caused more grief than any app I've ever owned.

I only keep one note. that's it. And I don't even type that much on it, but that last day I went to it about 6 times.

Yes, I disconnected mail with notes after our talk on a related thread. It worked for about a week.

Still I don't know why or even the upside of tying a mail account with notes. What's the point? Why do they do this? I don't see notes in my emails, where are notes in an email account? I've never seen it.

I don't know if notes was associated with those things. I do have 2 emails accounts that ATT ties to Yahoo, again, why the nightmare? Vanishing act?

I use Calendar and Contacts, they seem to be stable so far.

Again my OSX on laptop and desktop are both 10.10.1

Thanks Joe for helping, always appreciate it. this one really has made my blood boil. It's just a simple nice app, it's called notes and vanishes...

Also, any idea why today, this little app Text Pad took 47% of battery power when I only used it once, and cellular data was turned off?


Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32347 12/30/14 04:04 PM
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I was looking for possible unexpected cross linkages that might be "updating" Notes without your being aware of it, but from your reply I don't see anything that looks suspicious.

The links with email accounts are because some services such as Google, etc. also have address books, calendars, and even notes that are tied to their email accounts. It enables synching all these different services. If you don't use the other provider's services the linkage is superfluous. Personally I don't want my address book, calendar, notes, reminders, etc. scattered all over the internet. It makes me feel too vulnerable to exploitation. I do have all of those items linked to my iCloud account for backup and sharing with my iOS devices however.

Please excuse me if this is way too obvious, but I have on occasion thought I had lost something on an iOS device only to find the app was working in an unexpected manner. just to be sure I am going to describe what I see in Notes on my iPhone 6 Plus.
  • There are multiple windows or screens in Notes, typically when I open Notes it will show the last Note I was working on. At the top of the window there is
    Quote:

    < Back

    a date time stamp of the note

    the note text
  • If I touch < Back I see a window that looks something like this
    Quote:

    < Folders New

    First line of note 3
    date time stamp

    First line of note 2
    date time stamp

    First line of note 1
    date time stamp
  • If I touch New I am taken to a blank Note page
  • If I touch Folders I am take to a screen where I see
    Quote:

    ICLOUD

    All iCloud >

    New Folder >

    Notes >
  • If I touch either All iCloud or Notes I am taken back to the previous window
  • Is it possible your Notes are still there, but buried in another folder?
As to Text Pad, I am unfamiliar with the app, but it sounds like it is "phoning home" and/or attempting to connect with a remote database/cloud service. (A lot of third part app developers choose not to use iCloud because they do not like Apple's rigorous constraints for using iCloud. Personally Apple's constraints give me a warm fuzzy feeling of security and reliability.) I would contact the developer and if they do not respond in a reasonable length of time I would find another app.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32348 12/30/14 05:10 PM
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Notes is a fine app, but I too found that it didn't always behave the way I expected (although I never lost any notes).

Consequently I switched to Evernotes and have never looked back. It is free, it automatically syncs across all devices (iDevices, computers) and has an organizational scheme (notebooks containing individual notes or just piles of notes; a stack that contains multiple notebooks) that is clear and clean. It is easy to add photos to notes and with the web clipping Safari extension you can add some or all of a web page to a note, annotate it, etc. Way cool. cool

You do need to create a free Evernote account (that's the medium for synchronization), but I have not found Evernote to be intrusive.


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Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Notes is just impossible
Ira L #32349 12/30/14 05:46 PM
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Thanks Ira and Joe,

For the life of me get my head around why notes have anything to do with email accounts.

That said, Joe, I can't check anything because I was so livid, I put the Notes app into my extras folder. But I really searched hard and could not find my one note before I did that. Now, the app is vanished, it's not even in the extra folder where I put it.

Do you recommend I try again with notes?

Ira, I read about Evernote, it well known, but had a lot of reviews from folks saying they loved it and it's now unstable. But I could give it a go. Like Notes, you can have it on laptop/ desktop? I heard it's complex and you should get an ebook on it. You don't think my notes will vanish?

Amazing all this complex grief, and all I want is to jot down some thought and notes during the day like I used to do manually with pen and paper.

On my iphone when you search for an app called notes Text Pad comes up first. It nice and simple, but if you click ok, cellular date is turned off, why would it ask each and every single time you use the app. Once is enough no? And it has this battery problem, even with off Text Pad is the #`1 battery hog. What is that about?? Not that you can answer that, but weird no?

I'm open to trying notes again, but scared of Mac Notes a bit, and Im open to trying everynote too....

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32359 12/31/14 02:37 AM
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I also use Evernote and after five updates Evernote 6.0.5 is now stable and working once again as it should. But comparing Evernote to Note is a bit like comparing a $250,000 motor home to a Smart for Two car. Just as the Smart for Two or the Motor Home will get you from point A to point B, either will store your notes and share them between OS X and iOS devices, but Evernote will organize, store, sort, and find, almost anything in your life that can be put on a computer, share it with OS X, iOS, Windows, Unix, and if desired the internet. Additionally it interfaces directly with my ScanSnap scanner, track where you were when notes were created, offer to sell you a variety of tempting and expensive merchandise, and organize your notes into a slideshow on demand. Evernote is an App Store "essential".

If you need a highly useful tool for keeping lots of notes, documents, images, recordings, scans, PDFs, etc, etc. the by all means get Evernote. But if all you want is something to keep a shopping list or a couple of reminder notes, Evernote is overkill.

Reminders that is part of OS X is handy for shopping lists, to do lists, chore lists, and you can assign due dates to items. Like Note and Evernote it also syncs with iOS and OS X devices. I use Reminders all the time.

If you have data you want to keep secure, Keychain and Keychain access do a good job there but although the keychain can sync with your iOS devices, I have not found a way to directly access it on iOS. I find 1Password does a good job with secure data synched between OS X and iOS.

Notability is another app you might look at for light duty notes. I works with keyboard, voice recording, and handwriting (with your finger on the screen). Notability is an App Store "editor's choice".

There are a lot of other App Store offerings that are OS X and iOS compatible so you might find something to your taste there.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32361 12/31/14 05:48 AM
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If an app seems to have vanished, try searching for it. From the launchpad (the screen full of app icons and/or folders), swipe down from the middle of the screen. Type in "Notes". The Notes app cannot be deleted, so it must be there somewhere. When it's found it'll be listed in the "APPLICATIONS" section. Not only can you jump straight into the app from there, but just as an FYI it'll tell you what folder it's in, if it's in a folder.

If you know an app should be in a folder, but you don't see it there, remember that folders can now be multiple pages. Maybe it's hiding on one of the other pages. (Or, it could be hiding in plain sight. Apple keeps changing app icons, and more than once I've been unable to see an app that's right there, because I'm looking for its old icon.)


Tying a note to an email account allows it to be synchronized across devices. The association between a note and an email account is established when the note is created, and cannot be changed. (Although you can, of course, copy a note and paste it into a new note associated with a different account.)

On an iOS device there is an artificial account called "On My iPhone" (or "iPad") that is for notes that are not associated with any email account and therefore are not shared across devices. There ought to be an equivalent on the Mac, but I can't seem to find it.

On each device, you can configure which of your email accounts will play this note-passing game. On an iOS device, go to Settings→Mail, Contacts, Calendars. On a Mac, go to System Preferences→Internet accounts. In either place, select one of your accounts and turn "Notes" on or off. All devices that turn on "Notes" for a given account will automatically share all notes associated with that account.

The email account is only a conduit for passing the notes. They actually show up in the Notes app on the various devices.

In Notes on iOS, if you keep moving left, you'll come to the top-level menu, which is a list that looks like:
  • All Notes
  • On My iPhone
  • one of your email accounts
  • another of your email accounts
  • ... and so on

Selecting "All Notes" does just that: it leads to a list of all of your notes no matter which email account they're associated with. Each of the other entries leads to a list of only those notes associated with the chosen account.

If you're looking at one of these lists of notes and tap "New" in the upper right, you will create a new note associated with that email address. If you tap "New" while looking at "All Notes" the account for the new note is whatever you selected under Settings→Notes→Default Account.

If you created a note and it disappeared mysteriously, one of three things happened. The most likely is that it was created with one account but you're looking at the list for a different account. Almost as likely is that when you finished editing the note you neglected to tap "Done". That leaves the text vulnerable to an accidental deletion. Think of "Done" as a synonym for "Save"; if the battery dies before you tap "Done" you may lose your work. The third possibility is that you deleted the note on one of the other devices it's synched with.

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32364 12/31/14 04:51 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Thanks Ira and Joe,
…but had a lot of reviews from folks saying they loved it and it's now unstable. But I could give it a go. Like Notes, you can have it on laptop/ desktop? I heard it's complex and you should get an ebook on it. You don't think my notes will vanish?


I find the interface of Evernotes very intuitive and self-evident. If you read their brief introduction that comes as a Welcome note in the downloaded app, you can pretty much hit the ground running. And no, I don't think your notes will vanish, but then I'm not clairvoyant. I will say that even if you trash something in Evernote, it remains until you then empty the "Trash notebook".

And one feature I like about Evernote is how everything in it seamlessly synchronizes across all devices and computers.

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
If you need a highly useful tool for keeping lots of notes, documents, images, recordings, scans, PDFs, etc, etc. the by all means get Evernote. But if all you want is something to keep a shopping list or a couple of reminder notes, Evernote is overkill.


Many people use a high-powered computer just for e-mail and web surfing, so is Evernote overkill? It can certainly do more, but just because it can be easy to do simple things with a complex machine does not mean you shouldn't use that particular machine.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Notes is just impossible
Ira L #32367 12/31/14 11:51 PM
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Thanks Ira, and Gan, of of course Joe.

Gan, still don't get this:
The email account is only a conduit for passing the notes.

Why? Why would notes have to be tied to email? Email is for e emailing...? Still don't get that.

I did find the app, it was on 2nd page of extras even though the first page was not full.

I did a test note and don't see any levels. OH,where do you think my vanished note is? I never deleted it to my knowledge (happened twice) and battery did not run out.

I started testing reminders, and after one day it seems stable. Its not tied to anything and it comes up on the laptop and desktop. Only weird thing is that I don't think text wraps on dektop.

I may take a peek at Evernote and Joe's Notability. 80% of my notes are quick one liners.

Joe you really use reminders? Example, it beeps when you need to go to the bank? I can't ever see using it in that way but who knows. I also can't see using all that stuff you mentioned in Evernote. I guess I keep my life simple. I don't even use the iphone yet too much for internet and email. I'm so used to the nice screen and keyboards of laptops/ desktops. I am enjoying it with Instagram, phone calls, texting a bit... stuff that is not too typing heaving

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32368 01/01/15 01:25 AM
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Originally Posted By: keys
Joe you really use reminders? Example, it beeps when you need to go to the bank? I can't ever see using it in that way but who knows. I also can't see using all that stuff you mentioned in Evernote. I guess I keep my life simple. I don't even use the iphone yet too much for internet and email. I'm so used to the nice screen and keyboards of laptops/ desktops. I am enjoying it with Instagram, phone calls, texting a bit... stuff that is not too typing heaving

I use Reminder for shopping and To Do lists and yes I set due dates on at least some To Do items — otherwise I might forget t get it done on time.

I use Evernote to manage all my legal, medical, and similar records. A young friend who just completed a four year degree in 3½ years and graduated cum laude gives a lot of credit for her success to using Evernote to keep all her study materials organized. I think it is one of those tools you cannot really imagine how you would use it until you get our hands on it and give it a try.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32369 01/01/15 08:32 AM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Why would notes have to be tied to email? Email is for e emailing...? Still don't get that.

Notes do not have to be tied to email. But if you want to synchronize notes across devices, you need to have some way to pass the changes back and forth. That means you have to have a server somewhere that all the devices talk to, and everyone needs to set up a secure account on that server so that my notes and your notes don't get intermixed.

Email is for emailing, but what is emailing? Emailing is a way to send messages from one place to another. And what's a message? Just data.

Email is ubiquitous. Pretty much everyone already has one or more email accounts, already all set up. That means everyone already has a secure personal account, probably more than one, that can be used to exchange data. That's exactly what we need in order to synchronize notes. Why re-create a system that's already in place?

What happens is that if you make a change in a note on one device, as soon as you tap "Done" the changes are sent as a specially formatted email message to your IMAP account. All other devices that can access that IMAP account will notice the message, and use it to update their copy of the note.

I don't know the details, but I assume part of the "special formatting" is that they're placed in a mailbox that Mail.app knows is for notes. Either it passes the messages along to the Notes app, or more likely ignores them and lets Notes.app access the IMAP account directly. Either way, you will never see these messages in your INBOX.

Apple has complete control of your iCloud email account, and can do this very efficiently there. That lets them use this mechanism to synchronize much more than just Notes.

The advantage of being able to use a non-iCloud account is that you can then share the notes with a wider circle of other people. You can create a shopping list note that all members of your household can edit, and the changes are immediately visible to whomever is at the store doing the actual shopping.

Or a small business can set up an email account just for this purpose, and give everyone in the company access to it. Then they all see the same notes, updated in more-or-less real time. They can even configure the email account so that it's used only for notes, and never for ordinary mail. (In Settings→Mail, Contacts, Calendars, turn on Notes but turn off Mail for that account.)

In both cases, the devices that share the note are not limited to devices that share the same AppleID. You can easily configure the extent of the sharing as narrowly or as broadly as you want.

The narrowest sharing is notes you that don't want to share at all. Associate them with the artificial account named "On My iPhone". For those notes, there is no email involved.

Re: Notes is just impossible
ganbustein #32371 01/01/15 11:11 PM
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Joe thanks, how does an iphone app manage legal and other documents? You scan stuff in a scanner and then bring it into your iphone? Wow, I don't get it. Maybe I'm too new. I still have things in filing cabinets and then I put them scan some things and place them on an external hard drive, as I transition to paperless. Don't get the need for the iphone for legal, medical, or other documents. Fill me in.

Gan, " you have to have a server somewhere ", but that's what the icloud does for contacts and reminders. Well at least you explained why email can come into play for notes, ie.e for companies. Do you agree for an individual like me who just wants to JOT SOMETHING DOWN, which then vanishes, that it's this issue that Notes has so many email complications I should just use something else?

(of course I could be wrong, as I don't know 100% why the notes vanish)

Last edited by kevs; 01/01/15 11:11 PM.
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32372 01/02/15 01:26 AM
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Scanning on the iPhone or iPad is just taking a picture that in turn is uploaded to a server, converted to PDF and OCRed. Alternatively I scan and OCR the document on my Mac and save it in Evernote which is synched with Evernote on with my iOS devices. Either way it works out the same. FWIW there are several scanning apps for iOS devices.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32373 01/02/15 02:17 AM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Gan, " you have to have a server somewhere ", but that's what the icloud does for contacts and reminders.

and for notes and for email. Same account.

Originally Posted By: kevs
Do you agree for an individual like me who just wants to JOT SOMETHING DOWN, which then vanishes, that it's this issue that Notes has so many email complications I should just use something else?

No, I don't agree with that. If you select "On My iPhone" as your "account", there are no email complications. None. (Also no synching.)

I don't know why you can't find your notes. (Have you looked under "All Notes"?) I agree that that's a bummer.

But whatever the culprit is, it isn't email. Stop obsessing about the email. The only reason it came up in the first place is the remote possibility that you ARE sharing the note with another device, and deleted it there. The deletion is an update that would have worked its way back to you.

BTW: when you look at your list of notes, each note shows only its first non-blank line. If the first such line contains only an innocuous character, like a period or hyphen, you might not realize there's a note there.

Re: Notes is just impossible
ganbustein #32374 01/02/15 02:59 AM
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Thanks Gan, so you would go back and try notes again.
I did have Notes enabled, syncing, if you will on my desktop and laptop. I like to take notes on the iphone, and later look at them on my lap or desktop. And I did notice that the notes I was making was not on the laptop/ dektop. is this the culprit. I had notes selected in icloud on all three devices and shut off for all emails. So why was it not reflecting on the other devices. maybe there lies the issue, not the email issue?

thanks Joe, so you use the phone as a scanner, just snap photo? You say there are scanning apps for iphone, are they better than taking a picture? Where does this all reside? in the new icloud drive? And as far as that goes, how to you backup. I emailed Dave at Super Duper and he says if you have something on the idrive yuo are on your own. No backup to hardrive. I'm used to having everything on two hardrives at home and one at the back security deposit. Those are my digial filing cabinets. Why change to Ever-note? I'm open to hearing have to ask. Never have used OCR device. When does that come in handy, is it rare?

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32378 01/02/15 05:03 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
. Why change to Ever-note? I'm open to hearing have to ask.


I get that old habits die hard. As jmb said, a photo is your scanner on an iDevice and Evernote integrates with this really well.

What I like about Evernote is that it gives me many options in one place: jot a note, voice record a note, make a collection of similar notes, make a collection of similar collections (like a file cabinet containing multiple notebooks, each notebook containing multiple notes), include images and photos in my notes (e.g., warranties, insurance, parking claim checks), annotate my notes, share my notes with myself (across devices and computers) or with other people, easily take web page selections and create a new note or insert them into an existing notebook, etc., etc.

It's free. Try it. Don't like it, don't use it.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32379 01/02/15 05:16 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
thanks Joe, so you use the phone as a scanner, just snap photo? You say there are scanning apps for iphone, are they better than taking a picture? Where does this all reside? in the new iCloud drive?

The scanning apps on iOS work from a photograph, but they convert the image to PDF and optionally run Optical Character Recognition which makes them searchable, editable, cut and pasteable (is that a word?). In other words they become text and not an image. As long as you keep the document open in the app it remains on your iOS device and/or iCloud or some other third party cloud server.

Originally Posted By: keys
And as far as that goes, how to you backup. I emailed Dave at Super Duper and he says if you have something on the idrive yuo are on your own. No backup to hardrive. I'm used to having everything on two hardrives at home and one at the back security deposit. Those are my digial filing cabinets.

As far as backing up the iCloud, Apple has spent hundreds of millions of dollars ensuring the integrity and reliability of iCloud and that includes storing everything on RAID disk arrays as well as backing up in other Apple data centers across the American continent. Certainly more backup protection than any individual user can afford.

Originally Posted By: keys
Why change to Ever-note? I'm open to hearing have to ask.

I don't know that you want to change to Evernote. You may not need the additional complexity, but then again you might find it invaluable once you start using it. The basic Evernote is free and can be downloaded from the App Store for OS X or iOS. They are counting on you liking it and wanting to upgrade to the "Premium" features. So you can download and try it. If you don't like it delete it. Warning, there are several apps that work with Evernote such as Scanbot and PDF Pro Scan+ that are not free and you may find you want after working with Evernote. So you wind up spending some money even if Evernote is free and you never upgrade to the Premium level.

Originally Posted By: keys
Never have used OCR device. When does that come in handy, is it rare?

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is not a device, it is a software application. The software reads the image, typically PDF, and makes it into actual text. With iOS devices the actual conversion will often be passed via the internet to servers that perform the actual character recognition, and sometimes the OCR is performed on the iOS device. It all depends on the individual app.

As to whether or not it comes in handy, I routinely OCR everything I scan whether it is on one of my iOS devices or either of the scanners attached to my Mac mini (I have a dedicated ScanSnap page scanner on my desk and a flatbed scanner built into my multi-function printer). OCR makes it possible for me to search the document text for words or phrases, cut and paste text from a scanned document, and to a limited extent edit PDF documents. I even have an app that will take a PDF and convert it into a form that can be filled out. I don't use that feature often, but when I need it it is invaluable.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
joemikeb #32384 01/03/15 12:42 AM
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Thanks Ira, will definitely give it a go after I finish the missing manual for iphone book. I'm on page 60 of 600.

Joe, cool. What are the OCR software you use at home or on the iphone? Same question for the pdf software.

So, I asked to same thing to a guy in an Apple store, and he said not to worry about files in the icloud. It's hard for me to get my head around that as I've religiously used Super Duper for so many years, and before that backed up in other ways. (on site and off site). So you are saying that files in the icloud don't need to be backed up? They are backed up?

I guess the worry then is file corruption or if one deletes accidentally. Is there a scenario where you might have to ask Apple for a back up copy? You would fully trust your files there? If you are working on a word or excel file, and you want it on the icloud drive, you should only have one copy there. There should only be one main copy. But then I would have to get used to there being no backed up copy in my control.


Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32398 01/05/15 12:47 AM
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For OCR on the Mac I use Evernote and the OCR that comes with the Scansnap scanner and PDF Pen Pro for PDF annotation, editing, etc. On iOS I use Scanbot and PDF Pen Scan+ and PDF Pen for editing, but there are lots of options in the App Store for OS X and iOS.

As you say iCloud IS backed up better and more thoroughly than anyone I know can afford. As far as file corruption there really is no iCloud equivalent to Time Machine but then CCC or SuperDuper are of little help there either.

The security risk of cloud storage is finite, but if you are storing sensitive data in the cloud you coiuld encrypt it before putting it in the cloud, but in reality once data is committed to a computer on the internet, the best anyone can do is make it harder and more expensive to access than the data is worth.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
joemikeb #32400 01/05/15 04:30 PM
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Thanks Joe.

Gan if you are here:

I went back to notes, I'm happy but: Today I deleted a few sentences off my main note called kevs off the desktop.

I rode my bike around later, and on the iphone that text was still there, I clicked back, then arrow ahead still there.

So I just added what I needed to add, later, I saw kevs and kevs from yesterday -- 2 versions of kevs. I deleted the sparser one from yesterday. What is all this? thanks.

Last edited by kevs; 01/05/15 10:36 PM.
Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32404 01/06/15 05:24 AM
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New news for Joe and others, if want to put this on a new thread ok.

Been using icould drive for a month or so.

An excel file I usually open on the laptop, I made some changes to on the deskop.

Hours later, I mean 4-5 hours later, I open it on the laptop and none of the changes are there. Good thing I saw and eyeballed that. Otherwise would have kept on working on an old file.

I went back to the desktop clicked on the file and a brand new box came up and said conflict, two version pick one, very confusing. Picked one but now, don't ask me why, maybe from going back and forth, between the machines, the same error message comes up, but only offers the latop version. Yet it wont open up or drag to the desktop on either machine. Fortunately it's not urgent, but the file is unusable currently, not accessible for use. Crazy.

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32410 01/06/15 09:32 PM
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Have you looked to see if there is a small black storm cloud hovering in your immediate vicinity? laugh


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Notes is just impossible
joemikeb #32417 01/07/15 06:58 AM
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Sunny skies here in CA, will be talking to a senior Apple tech tomorrow...did recover the excel file by doing a file, recent files. There are threads out there on this sync problem with icloud drive.

Re: Notes is just impossible
kevs #32503 01/16/15 04:51 PM
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throwing my hat in the ring

I've used a number of note-taking apps on my iPods and iPhones. I currently use Apple's Notes because of how seamlessly it syncs to my computer. Here are my problems:

1 - it likes to change a leading "- " (hyphen followed by a space) into a bigger ---, and that annoys me. there are workarounds but they are inconvenient and there's no way to disable any of its automatic substitutions

2 - every now and then it duplicates my notes. I'll suddenly have ten of my notes duplicated on the computer, or on the phone or both. no data is lost, it's just inconvenient to verify nothing is new in any of them and to get rid of the dups. It's happened to me numerous times, the most recent was last Tuesday.

3 - can't move a note into a different folder from the phone. inconvenient

4 - I have notes from four different sources and so I have a somewhat unintuitive main notes screen as I have Notes, Notes, Notes, and Notes.

5 - the most recently edited note bubbles immediately to the top of the list. MAYBE I WANT TO KEEP MY NOTES IN A SPECIFIC ORDER EH???? too bad. that one really annoys me. I used to just prefix my notes in each folder with a number so they were sorted alphabetically by the first line. but that doesn't work anymore. There's simply no excuse for preventing a person from sorting their list of notes as they see fit.


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