Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

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Frizzell9
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by Frizzell9 »

Inline like Evernote does, but either way would be the biggest new added feature for EPIM to come along in a long time, and it makes me giddy that your even looking into it. I'll be giving up Evernote the moment I see this feature in EPIM.

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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by Argenthos »

For me would be in the attatchments tab. In the left side would be a vertical list of all attachments, small icons with names or just names, and on the right side a big preview, with zoom controls of possible. In list mode, click to open pop up window with the document, like when i double click in the notes where you can maximize the window and zoom if needed.
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by admin »

Frizzell, thanks for your input! Although, as you know there could be a number of leafs in a note. Which of the leafs we should show a preview on? The one that was active when a user added the PDF file? If so, how would a user remember which of the leafs he would need to switch to see a preview?

Argenthos, in this case we likely need to show previews not only for PDFs but for other types of files, as well. And this will complicate the feature a bit (thus longer development). Also, for some users attachments are shown as a list, therefore your suggested method wouldn't be universal. We have to come up with something else. Close to inline method, although it has its own drawbacks as mentioned above..
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by Keldi »

If I go around fantasizing how could it be, I see it as an addition to the current attachments feature.

Let's say, we have a note with different files attached to it.
epim-pdf-preview1.png
 
When the attachment are shown as a list, they are shown below the note's content, no matter what note's leaf we are at.
We can drag the border up to see all the file names.
epim-pdf-preview2.png
 
So my suggestion is to add the preview below that list.
epim-pdf-preview3.png
It can show the preview of all attached PDFs, one after another as you scroll down (and if you click on 2.pdf in the list, it'll just scroll down to that file's preview)
{list of files here}
___1.pdf_____________

(preview)

___2.pdf_____________

(preview)
___3.pdf_____________

(preview)
or just the one which name you click on in the list of attachments
{list of files here, 2.pdf is selected}
(preview of 2.pdf)
You can drag the attachment area by the upper border down to hide the previews when you don't need them, or drag it up to give it more space (the same as it's with the list of attachments now to hide/show files names).

When the attachments are shown as a separate tab, there could be another radio button for the previews view.
epim-pdf-preview4.png
And when you select this view of attachments, it'll be something like this
epim-pdf-preview5.png
epim-pdf-preview5.png (10.58 KiB) Viewed 1649 times
When clicking on document.rtf or image.jpeg, it can just show 'Preview isn't available' at the right.
I was too lazy to paint it in, but I'd like the zoom somewhere for previews too. :D

As the attachment feature is the same throughout all modules, not only the notes would have the previews of attached files this way but the appointments/tasks/so on.

It can start with PDFs and then later over the time add previews of some other popular formats (jpeg, png...), or not. :mrgreen:
And as an option somewhere in the settings, it might even have "Show the previews of attached as links files when possible" (when the file isn't added into the database, but attached as a link to a file on the local drive).

That was my suggestion, but any way you add the preview of PDFs would be great.
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by admin »

Keldi, thanks, these are actually very good ideas! They seem to be the best option for implementation at the moment. There's only one drawback that I see. Say, there's just a single line for attachments like on your very first screenshot. What happens if a user clicks on the attachment - should the line be expanded by couple of lines up in order to at least partially accommodate a preview? What if a user didn't want it to move up, should the preview still be there below, although hidden at the moment?

Maybe there should be another section introduced for when the attachments are shown as list, that will only show previews above the files when clicked on them..
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by Keldi »

Yes, previews in a section above the list are probably better. And this way the information from the PDF will be closer to the what in the note itself.
epim-pdf-preview6.png
 
The list's height can be adjusted by dragging its the upper border, so it doesn't take too much space (or back up to show more of file names)
epim-pdf-preview7.png
 
And the height of the preview section could be adjusted by dragging its upper border, up to give it more space, down to show less. And if it dragged down to hide the area altogether, there can be some button to show the preview area again.
epim-pdf-preview8.png
Or the button can be constantly there to switch between hide/show previews. Or maybe there is no need for a button (I personally like how in the table view of appointments I can drag down the appointment's build-in viewer/editor by the upper border into nothingness, and then get it back by just dragging the border up). Or maybe, just clicking on the PDF's filename should bring the preview area back...

--------------
And another thought: a place, where it'd be nice to have previews too, is the Attachment Manager.
epim-pdf-preview09.png
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by admin »

Agree, implementing the feature along these lines should do it. Thanks for your input, Keldi!
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by peter999 »

I am a lifetime user and have been using essentialpim since 2007.
It is an amazing program for use as a database manager for all stored files (PDFs videos music files images youtubelinks etc.)
However If all files are held as embedded attachments then the essentialpim database quickly becomes huge and unmanageable.
The fix I use is to store all files as a hyperlink text link in notes with a text description that then allows searching info on any of my text descriptions using the notes search.
The essentialpim database is quick and slimmed down as it only contains text and text links (perfect for searching in notes).
I have copies of defunct websites in pdf format thousands of pages long and can open them with any pdf viewer using a hyperlink in essentialpim notes.

I can also open the pdf at a set page with a hyperlink but it involves setting up bookmark links in windows for (say) each chapter reference within these pdfs.
an example of a windows .lnk file (bookmark file) would be

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "C:\Program Files (x86)\Foxit Software\Foxit Reader\FoxitReader.exe" /A page=1000 C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\RexResearchArchivesHomePage.pdf

essential pim can reference these .lnk files with the following hyperlink
This notes hyperlink will open the pdf at page 1000.
C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\Links to PDF Pages\Rex Research Archives Home Page.lnk

It would be so much simpler to be able to open a pdf with a page number from a hyperlink in essentialpim notes.
eg C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\RexResearchArchivesHomePage.pdf -page 1000
if your PDF viewer would allow this it would mean that PDF hyperlinks in notes would become much more functional and simpler than at present.

The MuPDF viewer (public domain) has this function as well as many command line options that would allow easy incorporation into essentialpim (windows) and essentialpim (android).

other options that could be incorporated as hyperlink options would be open pdf with :
open as new window
pagefrom pageto options
open and search pdf with "findthis"
mobile link prefix in essentialpim pdf settings in android and windows - this would allow only needing filename not long path each time.

This would well be worth $100 to me and even though I am a Lifetime user I would be happy to pay you to do this.
thanks Peter999
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by peter999 »

I have found that by passing parameters to a windows .bat file, it is possible to use an essentialpim notes hyperlink to open a PDF file at a specific page! The Batch file consists of 1 line calling the PDF and passing parameters as below
=============== batch file REXRESEARCHALLbat ==========================
D:\Sumatrapdf.exe %1 %2 "C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\Rexresearch\REXRESEARCHALL.pdf"
======================================================================

The essentialpim notes Hyperlink needed to open this pdf at line 153 is
C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\LinkstoPDFPages\rexresearchall.bat -page 153
(to make this a hyperlink select it, cut and paste it to your notes page , right click and select the insert hyperlink menu option, and paste it into the "text to display" and "File or folder name" and click ok)

This is much easier than the last fix i suggested, and only one batch file per PDF is needed!
Each hyperlink you insert into the notes can be duplicated as many times as needed and edited with the hyperlink editor to change the page number.

This is still not as good a fix as an integrated PDF editor but it should hold you over until this is implemented.
the windows Sumatrapdf.exe pdf editor called by the batch file is free (no ads) and can be found on google search.
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by peter999 »

Nothing is ever easy.
EPIM notes hyperlinks allow and disallow parameters on a PDF hyperlink.

THE hyperlink
C:\Users\actpc\OneDrive\EPIM\INFOSTORE\LinkstoPDFPages\rexresearchall.bat -page 153
EPIM 996 initially worked for a full day and after I updated to EPIM 997 it no longer worked and the hyperlink goes red showing that is invalid.
I tried going back to the earlier version but no luck.

Please allow the notes hyperlink to pass 2 or more parameters to a batch file or program - this allows many pdf viewers to be used.
I would suggest that allowing 8 or 9 parameters would give more options with different called windows programs.
This would allow one-click viewing of 1 or more pages in a huge pdf file from a hyperlink with a descriptive sentence in a notes file.
Also, this would allow one-click viewing of all or a small portion of a youtube video from a hyperlink with a descriptive sentence in a notes file.
Similarly, it would allow one-click viewing of all or a small portion of a sound file from a hyperlink with a descriptive sentence in a notes file.
Finally, it would allow one-click viewing of a picture file from a hyperlink with a descriptive sentence in a notes file.

This would allow an amazing searchable database with a text-based search enabling all sorts of files. With EPIMS tree structure and tags this
is a huge addition of functionality with little programming. Finally, by not having all these media files embedded in notes, and using hyperlinks instead, the EPIM database becomes very zippy and lean and mean.

Having said this, an inbuilt pdf viewer would still have its uses.
Thanks, Peter999
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Re: Display PDF attachments in 'Notes'

Post by admin »

peter999, thanks for the detailed info about your use case scenario and for the proposed workaround solution.

Will check if we're able to implement your initial suggestion about passing on the parameters for the hyperlinks.
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