Feature request: Inline PDF

Features
1

I would like to propose the ‘inline PDF’ feature.

When using Evernote, I often ‘scan’ documents into PDF to archive them digitally. When using their GUI based applications, it would show my scanned document inline.

Given:

  • There is only one attachment
  • The markdown is empty except the link to this attachment
  • The attachment is of type application/pdf (or .pdf)

Then:

  • In rendered view, show the PDF instead of the rendered markdown.
34 Likes
2

There is a PDF viewer for React Native so that should be possible - https://github.com/wonday/react-native-pdf

8 Likes
3

I also use Evernote like a digital filing cabinet, and scan to PDFs extensively. I would love to see this feature implemented!

4 Likes
4

I am also highly interested in inline PDF support. Having used Evernote with loads of scanned PDFs this would be an enormous step ahead!
Although the links work well in both desktop app and mobile app, it would be great to at least have the first page rendered and open the PDF externally when clicked.

3 Likes
5

I registered to cast another 2 cents; this feature would be invaluable for me.

1 Like
6

If Joplin could show PDFs in-line like Evernote does, I would be able to switch everything across - that’s the only thing holding me back because I scan a lot of documents into Evernote.

1 Like
7

There's a react-pdf package that we could use. But I see 3 issues with this:

  1. react-native does not allow to use external js, which means it has to be injected
  2. support for non-latin characters is an extra step (I do not know how much resources this requires)
  3. the pdf has to be copied to a temporary location, which might be an issue on mobile

But hey, PRs are welcome! :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

I too would really like this feature.

One alternative, if rendering the PDF would be problematic as tessus mentions, might be to instead generate a thumbnail image on the fly and treat it like an image link (and clicking the image would open the PDF like the resource link does right now). Of course then the text wouldn’t be select-able or searchable by ctrl+F, but it would be better than nothing.

1 Like
9

I wrote the uploader app to solve this exact problem if you wanna check it out!

10

First of all, I love Joplin... it does everything I need in a note keeping app and then some. In fact I'm in the process of replacing Evernote. Already imported my notes and will probably maintain both apps for a while (adding new notes, web clipping, etc).

I found that I really miss the inline PDF a lot... it's so nice to browse through notes and see the content of PDFs in one glance.

Another feature I miss a lot is the thumbnails in the note list. It's certainly not perfect in Evernote since the app grabs some seemingly random image from the note to display as a thumb, but it's definitely better than nothing.

Neither of these are deal breakers, but if it were at all possible to implement (or even consider), you'd make one user really really happy :smile:

3 Likes
11

For problems 1 and 3, perhaps we could start with only supporting this in the desktop version then later extending it to support mobile too (since that’s more complicated)? Seems better to at least have the inline rendering for desktop, unless @laurent would prefer the desktop and mobile clients to have parallel behavior.

@laurent if you give the thumbs up, I’d be happy to take a stab at the desktop implementation.

7 Likes
12

I’d love to see this implemented as well.

I also scan / archives a lot of documents, all in PDF (90% of my notes are basically composed of PDFs only) and having the possibility to see the content of PDFs in one glance would make my daily work a little bit easier.

However, I don’t think this is really necessary on mobile tho. Evernote does have some kind of thumbnails in the preview section and, given the size of the screen, I’ve always felt like a Markdown link (such as I Joplin) would do better.

Best,

SSR852

1 Like
13

For OCR, there’s a project for it for GSoC: https://joplinapp.org/gsoc2020/ideas.html#5-ocr-support

3 Likes
14

I have this on my queue of projects, but it may be a while until I take it up. If anyone else is interested in taking it, go for it! Just lmk so we don't duplicate effort. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
15

Another vote for this feature! I, like many many others, use Evernote like a digital filing cabinet and this feature is critical, at least on the desktop app. The mobile Evernote app doesn’t do this actually, although you don’t have to leave the app to view the PDF.

2 Likes
16

This would be a nice feature to have.

17

This would (will be) awesome! :+1:t3:

18

Yes, I’d like to add a +1 from me. This would really make Joplin perfect for me.

Thanks already for a great application.

1 Like
19

I’d like to see this also

1 Like
20

Just having a play around with the app - and yes, opening pdfs would be great. Would it not be possible to just open them in an external editor for the time being?