View/open PDFs inline within note (no separate download)

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• 26 Aug, '22
  Alyssa

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  Being able to open, highlight, and even write on a pdf in a note would be amazing!

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• 19 Mar, '24
  Bill Admin Pinned

  This is now live in the PWA, and will be live in the desktop app as of next release: https://public.amplenote.com/xsHH4VfcrQcvwSCkV413NbWX
  
  We will probably continue to tinker with the dimensions some, but it is no longer necessary to open a PDF in a separate window.

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• 01 Jan, '21
  Spencer Ogden

  This is the main feature of Evernote preventing me from moving fully to AmpleNote or Roam. I use Evernote to go paperless, so everything gets scanned there. Then, being able to search PDFs using OCR is the killer feature.

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• 01 Dec, '21
  Adam Parmer

  Agree with Spencer. This is a feature I realize I miss heavily while in AmpleNote.

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• 22 Jan, '22
  Easton B

  I also agree with Spencer and Adam. I love being able to scan things as a PDF into Evernote and then view it there for quick reference within the note. Having a separate attachment that opens in a different window is cumbersome and interrupts the flow I have with Evernote. This would be a killer AmpleNote feature!

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• 22 Feb, '22
  Bill System

  "Opening PDF attachments is slow" (suggested by William on 2022-02-13), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

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• 03 Mar, '22
  Andrew Savikas

  The way that KeepIt handles PDFs is a good model

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• 28 Apr, '22
  Jose

  The tool that has implemented pdf reading best (by a landmile) is logseq.
  See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDyXyEj_FI
  There's nothing in the market that comes close, and I've searched high and low.
  If the Gods of oneone are listening my prayers, please just copy this exact way of dealing with pdfs. Save a ton of user research. They nailed it

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• 23 Jun, '22
  April

  PDFs inline display/OCR and highlighted search terms are crucial features to win over Evernote users.

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• 19 Feb, '23
  CynthiaS

  Oh, no... I thought this was already implemented. Now that I've imported all my notes from Evernote, I finally see that all my attached docs are not viewable without opening them. This is a huge problem. I think there are two things being discussed in this thread - one is simply being able to view/read the PDF in the note, the other is the ability to do more with the PDF (annotation, highlighting, etc.). I think first you should focus on at least letting us see our attached PDFs in Amplenote. Once that works, you can think about adding more functionality. I hate for the more simple viewing to be held up by the more complex part 2. Thanks!

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• 11 Mar, '23
  bobjones

  yeah, bummer this isn't standard. I really want to love Amplenote but basic functionality like this makes it a bit of a pain to use at times.

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• 10 May, '23
  Vincent Noel

  Being able to see at least the first page of a PDF document within a note is quite essential.
  Personally if I need to go beyond the first page I open the document in another app. But seeing the first page is often key.

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• 15 May, '23
  Shawn

  For me, I a preview window would be sufficient. Often first page reveals the nature of the document at a blink of a second.

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• 17 Jun, '23
  Jürg

  This is one of the features in Evernote which I really love. I can see at a glance if it is the PDF I am looking for and then I can quickly leave through the PDF without leaving the current page at all.
  This feature missing is almost a deal-breaker for me. I am quite undecided if I should switch just yet...

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• 01 Jul, '23
  Hugo

  Completely agree with the sentiment here. I can’t move from Evernote until this feature is available

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• 13 Jul, '23
  Joe

  Coming from Evernote this functionality is a needed /

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• 23 Jul, '23
  vitali57

  Like many users, I really want to switch to AN, but this is a show stopper. Such a shame as I embrace the idea execution funnel principle & have spent hours watching Shu Omi's excellent vids.

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• 10 Aug, '23
  Julian

  I feel the same. I would like to be able to store (import via email) and see the pdf like we can with an image and then be able to annotate it. Preferably by stylus but beggars can't be choosers. Lets get the basics first.

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• 03 Sep, '23
  The_Badjer

  Would also love this feature as well. If PDFs were to be integrated with AN would love if things could be linked up like RemNote, Logseq, etc. That is, where you can highlight the text/ image within the PDF & paste the link else where within AN so you would be brought back to the specific spot within the PDF
  
  Obviously the basics listed by others would come first

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• 08 Oct, '23
  Richard

  What happened here?
  This feature was added in 2020. It's now 2023.
  I would really love this feature too -)

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• 09 Nov, '23
  Cynthia

  I really need this functionality to move over and use AN instead of Evernote.

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• 04 Dec, '23
  Jordan

  Would also love to see this. I'm trying to spend less time messing with these apps so I'm trying to just buy in with Amplenote. Currently in Obsidian but I think every other notes app I've used supports PDFs inline. Search is a plus, seems like it might not be a huge lift given the OCR for images is already in place?

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• 08 Dec, '23
  Jordan

  This is a huge need for me as I'm migrating data from other systems. I've heavily relied on PDFs for their portability, not having support for them inline adds a lot of relearning muscle memory (especially for my handwritten notes I import).
  
  I did notice you can annotate pictures on the iPad once they are inline, being able to do that with the PDFs would also be nice if this feature get's built.

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• 11 Dec, '23
  Jordan

  In my experience with Amplenote, its efficient design greatly aids my productivity. However, I often work with diagrams that need to be exported as PDFs.
  
  Currently, I have to export these PDFs to my computer and then use Inkscape to convert them into PNGs. This step is necessary for viewing and utilizing OCR search capabilities within Amplenote.
  
  Integrating this feature in Amplenote to handle PDFs directly inline would be a game-changer for me and would lock me in nice in tight for the long haul with this app.

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• 15 Jan, '24
  joe

  I also would love to jump ship from evernote, but find not being at least able to preview a pdf in the note to be an issue. Loving a lot of the work done here, but this feature would get all my notes exported.

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• 30 Jan, '24
  Rupen

  Waiting with baited breadth for this one.

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• 04 Feb, '24
  Jon

  Yes, this would be amazing! I am moving thousands of notes over from Evernote right now. In Amplenote, I will need to download the pdf back to view it. My goal is to quickly delete old notes (PDFs). This would be easier in Evernote, since I do not need to open them. I am loving everything else - and moving over from EN, but hope this feature comes soon.

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• 05 Feb, '24
  Jerry Coleman

  I would love this. This is a bit of a potential show stopper for me too. I would also like that when a note is encrypted, the contents of the note are encrypted too. EN does not encrypt PDF files in a note. First things first though. Ability to view attachments in line in the note.

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• 05 Mar, '24
  Rachel

  This is the one item I'd love to see! I moved over from upbase. I like many of the features in AmpleNote better, but I loved that I could view google docs/sheets directly within their app instead of leaving, which was great when working with multiple clients.

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• 20 Mar, '24
  Jonathan

  Awesome! Them you for adding it!

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• 06 Apr, '24
  Andre Robitaille

  This feature needs work. It needs to have options to resize/zoom, and it needs to have an option to open in a different window/app. As it is currently implemented I think it’s actually worse than before from a mobile/iPad perspective.

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• 10 Feb, '25
  Mark

  We now have the ability to view PDFs inline... now the issue is that all PDFs in a note try to render simultaneous - the result is not good particularly when multiple large PDFs are present. We simply need better controls here that can manage if, how and where PDFs are rendered. Please upvote my suggestion here: https://amplenote.featureupvote.com/suggestions/613671/control-inline-viewing-of-pdfs-for-better-ux-performance

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