http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ Forums for Useful Fruit Software en-US Thu, 17 May 2012 10:48:49 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/search.php http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=122#post-507 Wed, 02 May 2012 16:52:52 +0000 zoragon 507@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hey useful fruit software I'd like to start by stating that I love your software! I have both the mac and iPad versions of the app and I love them! However, there are a few draw backs that I would like to comment on in hopes of making the software even better. Please do not worry, these are minor points and a little more of annoyances than anything. </p> <p>First of all, I love how in the iPad app the bold, italics, underline etc. are all visible on the main keyboard and right there. However, once you go on the Mac side of things they don't even appear to be part of the software. Of course command + B bolds and using keyboard shortcuts is preferred as it doesn't take away from typing but finding some of the other functions such as changing the font size were a little more convoluted to find. As a result, I suggest that like in the iPad app where all the main functions are at your fingertips, that you add all the formatting options along beside the highlighting and list box. This will make them easier to find and if you hover over them, they could possibly tell you the keyboard shortcut. Also it would be cool to arrange (or remove) the icons in a order that makes sense to the customer especially if there will be the bold, italics, change font size boxes all to the main bar. A good example of an app that does this well is pages by apple. Their implantation of showing the options that the customer wants/needs is perfect and I suggest something similar could be done.</p> <p>Secondly involves the web-player. While these are minor annoyances, why is the title (at the center in the gradient area) so small? Would it be possible to make it a bigger font to have it appear as it is a title? *the author size is perfect). </p> <p>Also, if you ever need some basic graphic design creation, for the bold, italics, etc. icons or whatever else, do not hesitate to ask. I'll gladly do them free of charge. I have my exams till the 18th but after I'm free :)</p> <p>Again thanks for the awesome software. Every student I know that has a mac is told about this software. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=59#post-255 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:08:14 +0000 docMD 255@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Is there a way (or will there be a way) to add a custom spelling dictionary? I'm a medical student and being able to add terms and foreign language support would be very helpful. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-501 Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:00:55 +0000 Leviar 501@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I absolutely love Pear Note for my MacBook Pro but obviously there're situations where it's preferable to use my iPad. I was wondering about how likely it is that certain features from the Mac version would make the jump to the iPad:</p> <p>- Table support! My professor often makes tables, but unfortunately I have not been able to create these on the iPad<br /> - Video support! I would really appreciate it if I could either record the video or take pictures and have these inside of my Pear Note. I feel like video for the iPad makes a lot of sense, since it has a forward and back camera.<br /> - Bullet multi-line support! I love the bullet in pear note, but unfortunately I noticed that when your document extends to multiple lines, the document does not continue spacing the line from where the bullet started, and instead the line will start from the beginning of the document. This would make looking through my notes so much easier if you could implement it!<br /> - More syncing support! There've been several new options lately, such as Microsoft sky drive and Google drive back give far more storage space than dropbox. And looking ahead, since iCloud will be far more integrated into the new Mac OS, iCloud support for syncing between the iPad and Mac apps would be fabulous as well</p> <p>I also have a feature that applies to the iPad as well as the Mac app. I would really appreciate it if you could add drawings support! Drawing is often done on the chalkboard in my class, and unfortunately without the ability to record video on my iPad I have been unable to incorporate them into my notes. </p> <p>I was especially curious about the drawings support, since you had previously mentioned that you were looking into this feature, but perhaps sometime after improving compatibility with Lion and creating an iPhone app. Since updating to 3.0 on the Mac, I was wondering what would be in the development pipeline for the future. </p> <p>Thank you very much for making such an excellent product, and for listening to these suggestions! </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=120#post-498 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:26:34 +0000 lanmoiling 498@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Sometimes the teacher point at somewhere important on the maps or pictures in the slides but there's no way for us to mark it. : ) Hope this function would be added~ </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=119#post-496 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:27:06 +0000 heikkipekka 496@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hello. Pear Note for iPad lets me save to Dropbox folder but it's on the root folder of Dropbox "Dropbox/Pear Note". On Mac my default folder is "Dropbox/Apps/Pear Note" which I'd like to choose on iPad as well.</p> <p>This is currently not possible since on iPad I can't choose the folder. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=114#post-489 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:02:01 +0000 lanmoiling 489@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>My teachers always play Youtube videos during the classes. It's awkward that I can only record the sound when I am watching the videos... Why not add this function? At least allow me to link it on my timeline and play it with my notes like sound does. It will be even more excellent if you have a special pause recording bottom for both sound recording and linked video so that I could pause the sound recording, link the video and continue recording whenever my teacher has an explanation to the video or continue the class. : ) I truly love this app! </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=107#post-465 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:18:36 +0000 c-had 465@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Pear Note 3.0 is now in beta, marking the third major release of Pear Note for Mac. New features include:</p> <p>- Support for Auto Save and Versions in Lion, meaning you don't have to worry about losing your work.<br /> - Support for full-screen mode in Lion.<br /> - New recording/playback engine improving efficiency and enabling new settings including HD video recording in Lion (HD video recording requires a capable camera).<br /> - Integration with Call Recorder for Skype from Ecamm for taking notes on Skype calls.<br /> - Updated interface and application icon.<br /> - Updated QuickLook plugin to include slides.</p> <p>Also, a couple of things were removed in version 3.0:<br /> - Support for Mac OS X Leopard has been removed, meaning 3.0 will only run on Snow Leopard or later. If you're running Mac OS X Leopard, feel free to continue using Pear Note 2.<br /> - The in-app search feature which allowed you to search your entire hard drive for Pear Note documents has been removed. This feature was created in the days of Leopard when Spotlight was not very good, but Spotlight has improved a lot since then. Today, Spotlight is much more powerful than Pear Note's built-in search, making the feature redundant. Also, the in-app search caused a number of problems, including placing load on the computer when updating its search index. Lastly, the feature is not allowed within a sandbox. So, it has been removed. Please use Spotlight directly instead.</p> <p>If you're interested in testing the beta, you can update to it from within Pear Note for Mac 2. To get the latest beta:</p> <p>Launch Pear Note, go to Preferences, and select the following options:<br /> - Check for updates automatically<br /> - Include beta releases<br /> Then select "Check For Updates" from the Pear Note menu to install the latest beta.</p> <p>After doing this, you'll get automatic updates to the latest beta. If you don't want to continue updating to beta releases, just go back and uncheck "Include beta releases" after you're done testing.</p> <p>Please send me bug reports ( <a href="mailto:bugs@usefulfruit.com">bugs@usefulfruit.com</a> ) and other feedback ( <a href="mailto:support@usefulfruit.com">support@usefulfruit.com</a> ). Also, feel free to discuss Pear Note 3 here if you like.</p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Chad </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=81#post-325 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:08:41 +0000 HFKodakUser 325@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>So I've done a lot of Sharing recently and so far they have all worked perfectly. Creating the flash, video/audio, and style sheets. But the most recent one that I did is only creating a plain HTML page without all the bells and whistles.</p> <p>Has anyone else have this problem or know why this is happening? How can I fix this? </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=113#post-483 Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:12:28 +0000 Marcelvk 483@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I saw al these posts about the ipad, but i would love to have my iphone as external mic. When i interview and i am at the other side of the table, my typing (i am trying to type gently) is sometimes louder than the voice of the other person.</p> <p>I hope this make sense to you, i love pear note! </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=112#post-478 Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:38:35 +0000 RobLewis 478@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Some things I've wished for while using Pear Note (they're pretty much all related to annotating existing recordings): </p> <p>1. A "skip silence" button. Some recordings have lengthy quiet passages. It would be great to be able to skip over these easily. Extra credit: have an option to snip out the silence from the recorded file (double extra credit: do it non-destructively). </p> <p>2. Audio leveling and filtering. Often the recorded level is all over the map and hard to understand. How about the option of an audio limiter to equalize the level, and a filter to boost voice frequencies while reducing extraneous noise and garbage? I'm an audio engineer and could help with the specification of these. </p> <p>3. A bookmarking feature. I'd love to be able to mark points in the recording and easily jump to them (maybe with the option of a special keystroke). One special bookmark should be dynamically maintained at the farthest point yet reached in the recording. </p> <p>4. A button to instantly rewind 15 seconds or so. Invaluable for re-listening to things you missed. </p> <p>5. A way to import audio/video by reference rather than making a disk-wasting copy of it. I know there could be issues if the user moves the source file, but isn't it true that Mac OS "alias" files keep track of their parent even if it's moved? </p> <p>Anybody else like these ideas? </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=86#post-404 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:16:45 +0000 dlangendorf 404@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I was glad to see Pear Note come to the iPad. I was wondering what some early user thoughts are on it. Can I use an external microphone with it to improve the recording, or just the internal mic? I sometimes use a Blue Snowflake with the camera kit adapter and it works pretty good for what I want to do.</p> <p>Lastly, I know that this is NOT what the app is all about, but bear with me. I'm just curious. Sometimes it's faster and more convenient to take hand-written notes on the iPad instead of tapping or using an external keyboard. Just wondering: Would the folks at Useful Fruit ever consider adding this functionality, or does it take you away from your core product? (Probably.) I have been using Twisted Wave on the iPad and either Upad or Noteshelf to take quality hand-written notes. I realize this defeats the purpose of Pear Note -- take notes, see where you are in the recording -- but sometimes I just want to jot down thoughts and have the recording as a backup, or maybe share it with someone else. One iPad app, Notes Plus, provides this functionality and even keeps track of which page you are on and where you are in the recording, but the handwriting is so clunky and slow the app is not useful.</p> <p>Anyway, any thoughts are appreciated.</p> <p>Keep up the great work. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=111#post-472 Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:12:35 +0000 alainca 472@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>If this isn't already possible. If it is, could you share how to do it? Thanks </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=110#post-471 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:26:08 +0000 alainca 471@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Not sure if this was suggested before. But a possibly hidden time stamping so that I could go to "1:31 PM" during a recording. I often know what time something was said, and when I am reviewing, I often find myself time tagging in the notes themselves. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=109#post-468 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:23:57 +0000 crimsonite2099 468@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Do you plan on allowing the external camera to take a picture into pearnote for the iPad version? It would be cool if it could take pictures using the external camera since the camera is already pointed outwards. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=108#post-467 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:56:31 +0000 squeegeeie 467@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I find Pear Note very useful, and use it for most of my note taking in my classes. There's one issue I've been running into. in some classes (mostly in chemistry,) I need to use a lot of subscripts and superscripts. Pear Note has these in the menu, but going into the menu constantly to change these settings is very slow while recording and trying to keep up with the lecture. I was wondering if you could add the keyboard shortcuts that Pages and Numbers uses for them. (ctrl)-(command)-(-) for subscripts and (ctrl)-(command)-(shift)-(=) for superscripts. Also, would it be possible to lower the font size a level while a baseline mode is turned on? </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=106#post-463 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:37:49 +0000 crimsonite2099 463@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>It would be great to have a menu item to increase or decrease the play back speed (by 1/10 speed) using the keyboard rather than having to move the slider with the mouse all the time. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=105#post-462 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:03:18 +0000 jrh 462@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I often work with a group of people and a whiteboard. It is useful to take notes with Pear Note and then take photos of the whiteboard at the end. I'd like to find a more manageable way of adding them to the notes than pasting them in the middle of my notes.</p> <p>Two Requests:<br /> * Could you make it easy to create links to photos (e.g. support a drag 'n drop to create link) so I can keep them in iPhoto?<br /> * OR support adding several photos in lieu of a slide deck? </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=104#post-459 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:25:41 +0000 RobLewis 459@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I have some lengthy lectures from iTunes U. I would like to annotate them with Pear Note, but I presume importing them would create redundant copies of these big files, eating a lot of disk space. </p> <p>Would it be possible to store Pear Note's information in a small "sidecar" file linked to the original lecture? </p> <p>If I've misunderstood how Pear Note works, please clarify or point me to the relevant manual section. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=23#post-73 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:04:20 +0000 celsee 73@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hello:</p> <p>I stumbled across Pear Note while reading Macworld's RSS feed. The idea is great, especially for taking notes during a lecture. However, there are a couple of shortcomings that make be balk at purchasing the software.</p> <p>1. Lack of robust outlining support (I know this is on the horizon, though, so I won't belabor the point!).</p> <p>2. Keyboard clicking is way too loud on the recording</p> <p>I wonder whether there's any way to get rid of and/or substantially reduce this being picked up in the recording? I'm not a keyboard banger by any stretch of the imagination, but if I were I think it'd make the recordings unbearable to listen to! I could see this easily being circumvented by an external mic source, but that completely removes the convenience and ability to use the software (for me); one can't walk into class and pull out a laptop and mic equipment to set up on the desk!</p> <p>I have no clue how this might be fixed, but I certainly hope there's a way... I'd really love to fully deploy it in my note taking, and would if the typing noise was substantially reduced. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=50#post-200 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:43:35 +0000 joinfh2s 200@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hello,</p> <p>I'm in my test period for that great piece of software and I'm having a problem : in some of the courses I'm following, teachers give their slides to students only after the course is finished, but I would be pleased to let Pear Note record slide changes even if there isn't any slides at the moment. Then, when the slides are made available, I could integrate them into the corresponding Pear Note document.<br /> At the moment I am testing a way to do such a thing involving a dummy slides I will change in the future. So I hope when the slides will be released Pear Note would be able to keep the recorded slide changes.<br /> But this is a tricky way, so what about including this in your software ?</p> <p>Thanks ! </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=103#post-450 Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:59:29 +0000 Sue_l 450@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Okay... I'm new to Pear Notes and I'm wondering what I've done wrong here. Although I hit the "record" button while taking notes on my iPad, and I was no more than 2 or 3 feet (max) from the speaker, I can't seem to play back any audio. Looking at the notes taken, it indicates that there is approximately 37 minutes of audio associated with the file; however, when I hit "play" nothing happens. What the heck am I doing wrong? </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=91#post-419 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:00:59 +0000 blueshoes 419@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hi, </p> <p>Thank's for Pear Note for iPad!!! Amazing!!</p> <p>Do you have plans for other Sync methods than via Dropbox?<br /> I would like to use it to take along and edit (add and edit text) video lectures and patient interview recordings that are about 2 to 3 hour recordings which are 300MB to 1GB in size. Since it takes too long to upload and download those files via Dropbox, it would be great to be able to sync via USB. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=98#post-443 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:11:39 +0000 crimsonite2099 443@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>My pearnote keeps crashing when trying to close a previous pearnote file. This keeps happening. Every time I open pearnote, it resumes previously opened pearnote files that had crashed. If I try to exit out of the previously crashed pearnote file, the whole application crashes. When I reopen a pearnote file (doesn't matter which one) it resumes the said previously crashed pearnote file. If I exit out of the ones that crashed again, it will yet again crash the program. This leads to a vicious cycle in which there is no way for me to get rid of the crash pearnote files because it automatically resumes the ones that crash. Checking the box labeled "Do not auto-recover documents after a crash" in the preferences doesn't work either-- it auto recovers them anyways.</p> <p>any help? I tried sending this through the crash report-- didn't seem to go through. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=46#post-189 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:21:58 +0000 tomsocal 189@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hi, not a user yet, but seriously considering Pear Notes. My question - can I have a pre-typed agenda already in the text/note portion of Pear Notes - i.e. before I go to my meeting and begin recording and taking notes?</p> <p> I'm secretary of an organization and usually I have the agenda up on the screen in Word or whatever - and then type notes in between outlined agenda items. </p> <p>So I'd like to have my agenda in the notes screen of Pear Notes, go to my meeting, start audio recording, and still have the ability to "jump" around the pre-typed agenda, make notes, and have those "live" notes audio time stamped.</p> <p>Clear as mud?? :) Thanks in advance for help!</p> <p>Tom </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=89#post-412 Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:50:17 +0000 mug3n 412@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Hi, loving the software and thanks for keeping up the development work with it.</p> <p>One request I'd like is that the popup slide window should be always on top (or at least the choice should be given for the slides popup window for that), so I can see the typed notes I have while having the slides to reference side by side. If you click it back to the text window the slide popup box automatically goes to the background which means I have to press cmd+tilde to get it back in front.</p> <p>Just my 2 cents, thanks! </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=95#post-432 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:06:22 +0000 davidogren 432@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I've been having some problems with ejecting disks while Pear Note for Mac is running. I'm curious if Pear Note might also be causing some issues that I'm having with Time Machine.</p> <p>Example:</p> <ol> <li>Insert a USB Drive. </li> <li>Start a new Pear Note Document. </li> <li>Start recording. </li> <li>Try to eject the USB drive. It fails stating "the disk 'corsair' couldn't be ejected because Pear Note is using it." </li> <li>Use Activity Monitor to look at the open files. I see that there are a number of files open on in .TemporaryFiles on every volume!<br /> <blockquote><p>/Volumes/BLACX WD2B/.TemporaryItems/folders.501/TemporaryItems/342136809.355313003063.mov<br /> /Volumes/CORSAIR/.TemporaryItems/folders.501/TemporaryItems/342136809.359831988811.mov<br /> /Volumes/CORSAIR/.TemporaryItems/folders.501/TemporaryItems/342136809.361756980419.mov<br /> /private/var/folders/9_/jvnhvvmx6lsg3648gh_vqvt00000gn/T/TemporaryItems/342136809.679503023624.mov</p> </blockquote> </li> </ol> <p>This seems odd. Any ideas on why these files exist? Any ways to avoid it? Anyone else having Time Machine problems? I suspect that I might be having them because of the locks being held on my Time Machine disk.</p> <p>David </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=94#post-428 Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:23:54 +0000 davidogren 428@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>Background: I am a Pear Notes for iPad user, and I also have a trial for Pear Note for Mac. So answers for either app would be appropriate.</p> <p>Sometimes I find that I forget to turn off the recording at the end of a meeting. This is not a huge deal, especially if it's only a few minutes. I do worry about the space it wastes in DropBox and on my iPad (which is fairly space constrained). But mostly I worry because I've occasionally recorded something I don't want recorded, like a confidential 1:1 discussion.</p> <p>I don't want to make Pear Note a complicated audio editor. But a simple function to cut chunks of the recording, or even just trim the end would be nice. (I've wondered if I could just open the MOV file and trim it directly, but I worry about what effect that would have on the Pear Note.)</p> <p>Anyone have an existing workaround for this? Or would anyone else appreciate this as a feature?</p> <p>David </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=93#post-425 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:01:22 +0000 jfahim 425@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I use Pear Note for Mac's amazing quick indent change function (not sure exactly what to call it) by hitting return to decrease indent/bullet level and tab to increase the indent/bullet level. Is this going to be implemented on Pear Note for iPad? </p> <p>Also, I use TextExpander to expand words that I use frequently in taking notes in class. I know TextExpander Touch works in other iOS apps, so I was just curious if you were planning on implementing TextExpander in Pear Note for iPad. </p> <p>Thanks!</p> <p>EDIT:<br /> I guess I should clarify that I'm using the Apple Wireless Keyboard, the indent level definitely works when I tap the indent buttons on-screen. </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=92#post-422 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:43:10 +0000 cts 422@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>I just messed up the recording of a phone interview because, while I had the Mac set to use the line input, the Pear preference was set to built-in mic. </p> <p>Will the Pear preference override the Mac's preference, or do you have to change both to line input, or both to built-in mic?</p> <p>I'll be switching from one to the other frequently .... </p> http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/topic.php?id=37#post-122 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:41:18 +0000 charlau 122@http://www.usefulfruit.com/forums/ <p>It would be usefull to be able to change the speed of the playback. Sometimes we have to rely a bit more on the audio than the text. But it's a bit anoying to listen to a slow speaker when you're looking for information... I've actually got into this habit from when I worked to digitize academic books for blind people. They usually "read" the books quite fast! It's surprising at first, but with a bit of practice it grows on us... </p>