Reading / handwriting on a PDF

etienne · 01-31-2011, 09:34 PM

Hello,

I am pondering getting an Edge. My hope is that I could use it to read, on the eInk screen, and hand-annotate some PDFs, preferably in landscape mode (I tipically read two-column articles). But from this (and other) forums and from the website of Entourage, it seems I would have problems.

Question 1: Does the Edge really not rotate PDFs to landscape orientation on the eInk screen? As a workaround, has anyone tried to rotate (i.e. modify) the PDF itself and open the resulting wide-but-not-high PDF (which should then be readable when I rotate the Edge 90degrees, resulting in what looks like landscape mode).

Question 2: When exporting handwritten annotations to PDF, is the resulting file always a pixmap-based PDF, i.e. not searchable? In comparison, the Sony readers don't export to PDF: the PDF is left untouched and there are some XML and SVG files that describe the handwriting. In theory, one could merge the PDF and SVG into one PDF from the command-line (I use mostly Linux). Could anyone tell me how the handwritten annotations are represented on the Edge?

Cheers,

Etienne

tjdean256 · 02-04-2011, 08:32 AM

Hi Entienne;

Much more information is available on the forums at the Entourage Edge site.

(1)I know that the Edge currently does not have a landscape mode on the e-ink side. (2) Someone on the Edge forums has written a .NET program that can translate the Edge scribbles into a OneNote page. That's about all I know.

td

sarah11918 · 02-05-2011, 06:50 AM

tjdean is right, the Entourage Edge forums do have a lot about this topic.

1. Someone just posted about a pdf editing tool that allows the pdf to be rotated 90 degrees at the source. Then, it can be viewed in landscape mode, not because the edge supports landscape but because the original pdf has been changed to landscape. The poster also commented that functions like highlighting text still work in this situation.

2. The pdf is simply a graphic form (ie not searchable) however lots of people have posted workarounds to this such as using a tool to convert your Journal notes into something that can be read by Evernote, for example. I don't know specifically if anyone has talked about making the annotations on a text-based pdf searchable, but there are things like table of content entries that can be generated by highlighting text. So some people will highlight text where they want to make an annotation, thereby creating some meta data in the pdf that there is something at that spot. You can then edit the table of content entry to include the keywords you'd probably expect to search for to find that note.

Lots more at http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/forum.php

etienne · 02-06-2011, 09:29 PM

Thanks Td, thanks Sarah, I just joined the entourage (slightly broken, but no adds) forum and saw the post.

paula-t · 04-04-2011, 06:29 AM

Hi, Etienne. The new Android 2.2 upgrade for Entourage Edge and Pocket Edge (called Ermine 0.9, which is a beta just released) allows rotation in the Reader side.
Have a fine day.

etienne · 04-10-2011, 12:52 AM

Hi Paula,

thanks for pointing this feature out to me. That decided me to try the beta. Indeed, it rotates the e-reader. I would have preferred if it rotated counter-clockwise :-(. The update seems to work well otherwise.

Thanks again,

Etienne

STL Droid · 04-14-2011, 05:29 PM

Just a slightly off-topic note. I loaded DioPen last night onto my Ermine equipped PE.
Handwriting recognition in all LCD side applications! It really works. Not for the eInk side, but boy it's a lot nicer to take notes printing rather than typing.

http://www.androlib.com/android.appl...open-iDip.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1eFRfBojY

Works very well with English.

janhall_us · 05-20-2011, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STL Droid

Just a slightly off-topic note. I loaded DioPen last night onto my Ermine equipped PE

Did you find DioPen slowed down your PE? Mine got so slow I had to uninstall DioPen and then the PC reverted to normal. DioPen does do an amazing job at handwriting recognition though.

turntherage · 07-21-2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janhall_us

Did you find DioPen slowed down your PE? Mine got so slow I had to uninstall DioPen and then the PC reverted to normal. DioPen does do an amazing job at handwriting recognition though.

Same issue here with the speed although the functionality has led me to push through and not take it off. I wonder if this is a general problem. Hopefully a fix is on the horizon, because this kind oif change in speed really effects the timeliness of the email marketing campaigns which I have been considering. Have you guys heard of exacttarget?

01-31-2011, 09:34 PM	#1
etienne Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Entourage Edge	Reading / handwriting on a PDF Hello, I am pondering getting an Edge. My hope is that I could use it to read, on the eInk screen, and hand-annotate some PDFs, preferably in landscape mode (I tipically read two-column articles). But from this (and other) forums and from the website of Entourage, it seems I would have problems. Question 1: Does the Edge really not rotate PDFs to landscape orientation on the eInk screen? As a workaround, has anyone tried to rotate (i.e. modify) the PDF itself and open the resulting wide-but-not-high PDF (which should then be readable when I rotate the Edge 90degrees, resulting in what looks like landscape mode). Question 2: When exporting handwritten annotations to PDF, is the resulting file always a pixmap-based PDF, i.e. not searchable? In comparison, the Sony readers don't export to PDF: the PDF is left untouched and there are some XML and SVG files that describe the handwriting. In theory, one could merge the PDF and SVG into one PDF from the command-line (I use mostly Linux). Could anyone tell me how the handwritten annotations are represented on the Edge? Cheers, Etienne

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02-04-2011, 08:32 AM	#2
tjdean256 Zealot Posts: 138 Karma: 70 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Louisiana Device: irex dr1000s; Pocket edge	Hi Entienne; Much more information is available on the forums at the Entourage Edge site. (1)I know that the Edge currently does not have a landscape mode on the e-ink side. (2) Someone on the Edge forums has written a .NET program that can translate the Edge scribbles into a OneNote page. That's about all I know. td

02-05-2011, 06:50 AM	#3
sarah11918 Tablet Enthusiast Posts: 335 Karma: 30400 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Aura One (formerly: Asus Eee Note, enTourage eDGe EE, Nokia N810)	tjdean is right, the Entourage Edge forums do have a lot about this topic. 1. Someone just posted about a pdf editing tool that allows the pdf to be rotated 90 degrees at the source. Then, it can be viewed in landscape mode, not because the edge supports landscape but because the original pdf has been changed to landscape. The poster also commented that functions like highlighting text still work in this situation. 2. The pdf is simply a graphic form (ie not searchable) however lots of people have posted workarounds to this such as using a tool to convert your Journal notes into something that can be read by Evernote, for example. I don't know specifically if anyone has talked about making the annotations on a text-based pdf searchable, but there are things like table of content entries that can be generated by highlighting text. So some people will highlight text where they want to make an annotation, thereby creating some meta data in the pdf that there is something at that spot. You can then edit the table of content entry to include the keywords you'd probably expect to search for to find that note. Lots more at http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/forum.php

02-06-2011, 09:29 PM	#4
etienne Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Entourage Edge	Thanks Td, thanks Sarah, I just joined the entourage (slightly broken, but no adds) forum and saw the post.

04-04-2011, 06:29 AM	#5
paula-t Member Posts: 21 Karma: 14 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Entourage Edge	Hi, Etienne. The new Android 2.2 upgrade for Entourage Edge and Pocket Edge (called Ermine 0.9, which is a beta just released) allows rotation in the Reader side. Have a fine day.

04-10-2011, 12:52 AM	#6
etienne Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Entourage Edge	Hi Paula, thanks for pointing this feature out to me. That decided me to try the beta. Indeed, it rotates the e-reader. I would have preferred if it rotated counter-clockwise :-(. The update seems to work well otherwise. Thanks again, Etienne

04-14-2011, 05:29 PM	#7
STL Droid Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Entourage Pocket Edge	Just a slightly off-topic note. I loaded DioPen last night onto my Ermine equipped PE. Handwriting recognition in all LCD side applications! It really works. Not for the eInk side, but boy it's a lot nicer to take notes printing rather than typing. http://www.androlib.com/android.appl...open-iDip.aspx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1eFRfBojY Works very well with English.

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