I am constantly trying to keep my desk clear of miscellaneous scraps of paper. Anything ranging from receipts to business cards to post-its that manage to accumulate in piles around my keyboard or in the pockets of my jacket and backpack. As these piles grow larger, more unmanageable, and completely unsearchable, I decided to find an effective way to dump everything into Evernote.
On my desk, behind a pile of notes, sits a scanner. After a bit of fiddling, I think I found a pretty nice way to scan directly into Evernote that will work for a majority of scanners. I am currently using a Mac, but there are similar methods that could be used on Windows as well.
The setup is quite simple:
- Start ‘Image Capture’ – it is a free application that comes with OS X (/Applications/Image Capture)
- If your scanner is supported (and turned on) you will see a window similar to the one in the screenshot below
- Select the area you want to scan by dragging a rectangle around the preview of the scan
- Set the quality of the scan to either B/W or Color Photo (depending on what you are scanning)
- Give your scan a title
- Choose PNG, JPEG as the format. If you would rather scan to PDF, keep in mind that images in PDFs will not be recognized by our image recognition
- Select ‘Evernote’ as the Automatic Task – this is the key step in this process
- And click ‘Scan’ – that’s all
For the subsequent scans, all you have to do is adjust the selected area and enter a different title. All the other settings will be remembered as defaults.
Now, everything you scan will go directly to Evernote with the title you assign. And, all your notes will be searchable thanks to Evernote’s image recognition.
I hope this process helps others clear their desks.
92 Comments
Threegs
So will Evernote Pro now OCR PDF files?
Andrew Sinkov
Yes, Evernote Premium will make PDFs searchable.
tshfkym
My printer (Canon MP950) supports image capture and I’m seeing everything but the Automatic Task menu.. What’s the trick?
Simon Browne
@tshfkym same problem – until I chose Scan to : and selected Evernote.app, My Notes , PNG ( other formats may work too.) png of scan drops into automatically created My Notes – very cool.
Using Epson Perfection V30 = perfection ( you can say that again ). Snow Leopard10.6.3 , Evernote Version 1.9.0 (83438) , Image Capture Version 6.0.1 (428)
Brett Michaels
Simon,
Are you able to can multiple pages in to Evernote?
Jay
Thanks Simon. Works with Lion also.
I can attach multiple pages as a PDF file. Select “Combine into single document” in ImageCapture, and keep clicking the Paper Clip in Evernote for each new image.
It works on windows
I have a Dell AIO Photo 926 – all i do is select evernote.exe as the application and *.png as the file extension. I’m about to try pdf…wish me luck
M
This is one of the few times that I ever comment on a posting But I had to say THANK YOU. We are forever brothers bonded on the journey of Non-clutter.
My very best regards,
Muriithi
Dale Gardner
Using Simon’s approach – scan to Evernote – have to say I agree with Muriithi. We’re brothers now. Thanks!
AceSi
How can I tell if my printer is compatible with Image capture? I have a Xerox phaser 6110MFP but Image Capture locks-up when I try to use it..any ideas please?
AceSi
does anybody know if I can directly scan into Evernote from a networked printer/scanner. Usually I have to scan to my email address and then c&p into Evernote..any help appreciated. Thanks
Lisa
There is an email address that Evernote assigns to you if you want to email things to your Evernote account. If you enter that address into your network printer/scanner, it will send it to Evernote instead of your personal email and eliminate that extra step. To find your Evernote email address, log in to the website and click the Settings link at the top of the page.
Until I read your note, I had never thought of doing this. I email things to myself at work all the time, and will do this in the future! Good luck!
Theresa Mesa
I scanned a copy of my savings statement into Evernote as a *PNG* using the Mac’s Image Capture app, as described above, using my Epson Workforce 600. It transfers into my Evernote account (I see it, it’s there), I’ve run it through Sync, but it is not searchable. If I do a search for “Savings,” Evernote doesn’t see the statement. What am I doing wrong?
Eric Ohde
I just got a Fujitsu ScanSnap 1500M for my iMac. I am in the financial coaching/investment advisor business and am trying to go paperless or at least paper friendly at a minimum! Can I scan pdf’s( ie: client files) with confidential info onto an encrypted cloud server using evernote or should I look for another cloud server system? I am a rookie at this so if someone wants to take a crack at teaching me I would be most grateful!!! Thanks
Joe
Same problem as tshfkym I have an epson NX420, and i have image capture running, but no “automatic task” I can send to Evernote, but the AT is not showing up. Also, is there anyway to pre designate which notebook the scans go into? and also, any way to amend or combine two scans before they come into the program, meaning, not manually (I can merge them, but its also an extra step)
Thanks!
Alex P
HP Officejet 6500 E709n
I can scan anything fine, but same deal .. I have no option for AUTOMATIC TASK
My printer is set up WiFi, however I have all of the proper software set up on my Max (OSX 10.6.4).
How do I scan directly to evernote?
Alex P
used SIMONS’s approach.. works well.
Still really work evernote came out with folders/sub-folders and allowed us to scan directly into one of them!
Iza
I use IPhone for scanning papers. My favorite application is DocScanner as it has a quickscan option.
After scanning you just name it and send to Evernote.
The plus is that you can merge a few scans in one EN note.
I checked a few tools and this is works for me the best.
Rosaura
Hi there!
I have a Mac, running ‘Image Capture’ and have my CanoScan 8800F on. I’ve selected ‘Evernote’ for my ‘Scan to’ section.
It worked beautifully! Thank you sooooo much!
~r
Dan
How can I scan to a specific notebook within Evernote?
DemoGeek
Will this work with Canon printers? I’m about to buy a Lexmark for the SmartSolutions feature but would prefer a Canon printer instead. My basic requirement is there should be a clear Evernote integration. Will a Canon printer be a good choice for Evernote integration?
Brett Michaels
Is anyone able to scan multiple pages into a single evernote?
Ken Freeman
The only way I’ve been able to scan multiple page documents into Evernote is to scan each page and instead of keeping each page, I copy and paste the second page to the end of the first Evernote page, then delete the second scanned page. A bit labor intensive, but it works.
Guus
You can merge notes: https://www.evernote.com/about/kb/article/merge-notes?lang=en
ChrisL
I just got a new Panasonic all-in-one printer with a document feeder specifically for scanning items into Evernote. When using the document feeder, my image capture program on my iMac has an option to allow all pages scanned through the feeder to be part of a single document. Never saw this option before when I didn’t have a document feeder. That’s one way.
Only other way is to merge notes once in Evernote (as far as I can tell).
Stu
I haven’t tried scanning into EverNote yet, but in reply to Brett and Ken. Wouldn’t it be easy to scan the two separate documents in one after the other and then hold shift and select the two notes, then right click “Merge Notes”. Not sure if this achieves what your after?
Tasra Dawson
This is fantastic. Now that I’ve got it set up to scan directly into Evernote, I’m wondering where we should save the file. In the ScanSnap setting tab, you have to select a place to save the document but since Evernote already saves a copy in the data file, it’s duplication to have it save another place as well. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I’m on a Mac.
Also, wondering if you could direct me to FAQ or tutorial about how/where all the local and online Evernote data gets saved. Right now my Evernote data file on my computer is over 1 GB. As I start scanning and saving everything to Evernote, it’s going to start eating up space. Any suggestions on the best practices for that as well?
Thanks!
Force2Reckon
Does anyone know why the Automatic Task does not show up for some people? I am running 10.6.6 and I can select the app to scan to (thanks for the suggestion guys) but the automatic task option is not showing on my image capture.
Kevin
I am having the same problem with image capture not showing an automatic task option. In addition to why this isn’t showing, is the script something that comes with evernote or do you need to make a task yourself?
Thanks for the help!
Kevin
Eddy
Same issue for me. Any resolve?
Darryl
Works perfectly with Epson Workforce 500. Chose Evernote in the “Scan To” Field. Thanks for the great software!
Ron Earnest
I have Evernote and a ScanSnap S1300. It does not show Scan to Evernote as an option. Nor does it have a way of adding Scan to Evernote as an option (I checked profile management). The fujitsu site only has instructions on adding evernote in a Windows environment.
I am using a MacBook Air with OS X 10.6.7.
Thanks, Ron
Ron Earnest
I should have added that Image Capture does not show the ScanSnap S1300 even though it is plugged in and on.
Ron
raj
Can you use multiple users accounts for the fujitsu scanner, ie. me and my wife ?
Justin Blake
For the people who don’t see a “Automatic Task” option, choose “Scan To” and select the Evernote application. That worked great for me on OS X 10.6.8.
Daniel
Works also mit Lion.
Dan
To scan to Evernote Desktop on Mac make sure you have downloaded and installed Evernote for Mac OS X. Then open the ScanSnap Manager (in \Applications\ScanSnap\). In ScanSnap Manager go to Application tab. In Application window select Add or Remove. Navigate to Evernote and Add. The rest is self-evident per the ScanSnap user guide.
Tony
Thank you for the insight! Just scanned my first document directly into Evernote from my NeatDesk for Mac! This will be great for increased productivity!
Russell
Just had to select Evernote in applications for the folder option and it worked perfectly. Great tool. Scanned with an Epson wireless printer without a problem.
Donald
Hello there all you sick people (your sick economic terror system, I mean), trying to be ever so “productive”
.
It is also possible to simply right-click within a new note window and then select “import image” (from camera or scanner).
Olev
This works great with my HP Photosmart C309a. I just followed what Simon suggested in his comment.
nhc105
To answer the question about Image Capture and the Automated Task line not showing up. I’m running mac os 10.6.7 and do not show the AT option. I selected Scan To: option. Navigate to Applications and select Evernote. All worked perfectly.