I have given a lot of thought lately to what features are missing in MyInfo and how important they may be to me. My conclusion is that while programs like Evernote and OneNote offer a stupefying abundance of features, there are really only two things of consequence to me that are still missing in MyInfo.
First, both Evernote and OneNote are available in iOS (and other) varieties, so that it is easy to consult or modify one of their files on a phone. Petko reports that MyInfo is gradually moving in that direction, and I also worry about this less than I used to, because it's not difficult to create a temporary Word or PDF file that I can transfer over to my phone. For that matter, I am nowadays using a Surface Pro 4, so that if, for example, I want to bring a list of references with me when I venture into the stacks, I simply fold the keyboard back and can then easily carry my laptop with me to other parts of the library — and using its touch screen, I sometimes even modify a note while I'm on my feet. In other words, this limitation of MyInfo seems less worrisome than it used to.
The second capability that both Evernote and OneNote offer is a more awkward problem with no obvious solution: the ability to OCR text in images inserted in the notes. I find this immensely useful, mainly because of the kind of historical research that I do; often nowadays I just pop a clipping of a few paragraphs from a digital newspaper or book directly into a note. Unfortunately in MyInfo it is not possible to do word searches within that clipping. I then have a choice of either typing a brief summary of its contents or doing OCR with a third-party tool like ABBYY Screenshot Reader. Either of these procedures is time-consuming -- and annoying.
I'm wondering how other users have tackled these two limitations of MyInfo.
Two limitations of MyInfo
I don't tackle the second 'problem' I sidestep it.
The written notes which I take on my tablet are pasted into MyInfo documents as bitmaps. My eyes and brain do the OCR for me.
The written notes which I take on my tablet are pasted into MyInfo documents as bitmaps. My eyes and brain do the OCR for me.
That's what we all used to do. But digital note-taking is supposed to make life easier for us.
I still vividly remember accumulating great piles of slips of paper and notebooks for a big book I was working on many years ago (in the pre-computer world), and I then had to devote an entire summer to creating an index to all that material before I could organize an outline of what I wanted to write -- a beastly task. I don't have to do that sort of thing nowadays, I'm happy to say, but if substantial chunks of my notes now consist of pasted images from articles and books, I still need to be able to do searches of the text in those images.
That is why it seems to me to be a serious deficiency in MyInfo. But I recognize that OCR of images in notes represents a complex, no doubt expensive technology that it might be difficult for Petko to introduce into a future version of MyInfo. Hence I was just inquiring about workarounds that other users might have discovered.
I still vividly remember accumulating great piles of slips of paper and notebooks for a big book I was working on many years ago (in the pre-computer world), and I then had to devote an entire summer to creating an index to all that material before I could organize an outline of what I wanted to write -- a beastly task. I don't have to do that sort of thing nowadays, I'm happy to say, but if substantial chunks of my notes now consist of pasted images from articles and books, I still need to be able to do searches of the text in those images.
That is why it seems to me to be a serious deficiency in MyInfo. But I recognize that OCR of images in notes represents a complex, no doubt expensive technology that it might be difficult for Petko to introduce into a future version of MyInfo. Hence I was just inquiring about workarounds that other users might have discovered.
Bill
PaperPort 14 Pro is a great product for this purpose. The OCR has an excellent recognition factor.
All you have to do is scan your document or image containing text and select the option to "Copy Text."
An OCR file is created with the appropriate formatting. Great product!
Gary
All you have to do is scan your document or image containing text and select the option to "Copy Text."
An OCR file is created with the appropriate formatting. Great product!
Gary
Gary, thanks for the suggestion. I assume I could do something like this in PDF-Xchange, which I use regularly.
I have also copied text from images in OneNote.
I have also copied text from images in OneNote.
Bill