Evernote launches new scanning app and it rocks

Evernote has one more way to keep you on task

Evernote is a great productivity tool, from keeping a journal and memos, to cataloging receipts and business cards, Evernote keeps you organized. However, when you need to catalog information on-the-go, it’s difficult to ensure you capture what you need through your camera app. It takes time for the camera to auto-focus and time for the information to save, then you have to upload it to Evernote. Instead of going through these steps, Evernote has launched a new app to simplify scanning. The new app Scannable, can instantly upload everything you take photos of to Evernote.

Evernote has always been able to take pictures, but what it scans was only available withing Evernote; if you use Scannable, you can use the information across the board on iOS. Scannable automatically focuses and captures anything it “sees” through the app, no need to even press the shutter button. After taking a picture, if the image was a business card, Scannable gives you the option of adding the contact into LinkedIn.

The Scannable interface is very basic. When you launch the app for the first time, there’s a brief tutorial, but it’s really not necessary because it’s so easy. When you get ready to scan, the app will show a blue overlay on top of the document on the screen and then a circle will “count down;” this allows you to readjust the image so that all of it is in the blue portion. It sounds like it would take a lot of time to adjust, but it’s actually quite fast once you try it out.

The scan will only be as good as the quality of your cell phone camera, as that’s the main part of the app, but most iPhones are pretty decent at scanning documents.

Great option when going paperless

You can toggle between auto-recognition and manual in case the scan is not being recognized properly in the app. You can also crop and rotate an image as needed. If you already use the Evernote ScanSnap scanner, Scannable works seamlessly with the device to help you manage multi-page scans and get rid of your physical paper stacks. This is a great scanning option if you’re looking to take your paper piles digital, keep up with your business contacts more efficiently, or simply to try out a new scanner.

The only downside of Scannable I found, was that it will not scan into a .pdf form. Hopefully this will become a feature of a future release.

#scannable