MyWrite Nebo and PDF Annotation

[Quoth]

Nebo is the application used on the Kobo Sage and Elipsa for notes. I think that reMarkable have also recently added it.

However the Android version (and probably the iOS version) does a lot more.
It's maybe ranked 3rd in Productivity and €9.95, not a subscription on the Android Playstore. There is no free version on the Playstore.

The iOS Appstore has a free version, but that it more like the Kobo version, you need to buy it for PDF support
https://www.nebo.app/ Needs recent browser.

I don't yet know what the MS store has. But the Nebo FAQ has this about Windows:

Note that Wacom Pen tablets (Intuos) or Pen computers (Mobile Studio Pro or Cintiq or Cintiq pro) are NOT compatible With Nebo.

Note that graphics tablets are NOT compatible with Nebo

It seems an X86-64 MS Surface would work (it's the same pen tech as a Kobo).
https://app-support.myscript.com/en/...es/16000094750

No trial version on Windows or Android.


The PDF annotation is impressive, see below!

Obviously Nebo is best with a tablet (some Android and all current iPads) that has digitiser and smart active pen such as Wacom (any kind), MS NTrig/MPP, S-Pen, Apple Pencil, USI etc. I used a TCL NxtPaper 11 tablet with T-Pen. This tablet works well with BT, USB or GBoard for a keyboard and with 2000 x 1200 pixels is suitable for most PDFs.


Far better than MS One Note, which is very clunky on Android though free, and has no offline handwriting conversion other than Gboard input to a text box.
Major differences from Nebo on Kobo (Advanced Notebooks on Sage or Elipsa)

• Preview of handwriting as computer text as you write.
• No temporary drop outs
• Copy and paste works properly
• Drag and resize is instant and easy
• Conversion to text is much faster with double tap.
• Conversion of sketched boxes & lines to chart works better and faster
• Export and save as docx dramatically faster
• Share export to other apps
• Import PDF for markup/annotation (not tried it yet)
• Add and change language without changing system language (on Kobo it follows main system choice)
• Any colour. More flexible sketch insertions
• Imports PDFs

There may be other better enhancements. There are Mac & Windows viewers and an iOS app. I know you can't import iPad Nebo file on Kobo. I will see can Android app use Kobo Nebo file later.

The advantage of Nebo on Kobo Elipsa and Sage is that it's free. It's hampered by eink and CPU performance. It's certainly better on Kobo than reMarkable's Notepad application.

No WiFi or server or cloud service needed (See Kindle Scribe).


PDF Annotation
Add a new page/notebook and select PDF.

You can handwrite or type using the system keyboard (Gboard text or handwriting, USB or BT etc).

Handwriting can be lassoed and converted to text.

Then you can export as Nebo (Likely other Android, iOS, Mac or Windows, unlikely to be Kobo or reMarkable) or PDF. If you disable "flatten" and then "share" to Xodo (or email etc) it's exported.

Open in Xodo and you see the Annotated PDF, the entire book/magasine. Pick "Reader mode" and you see the annotations (keyboard entered and converted handwriting) as the text layer. The Kobo PDF annotation can't do this. The PDF view has any unconverted handwriting, sketches, etc.

So if you copy that file to PC, any text extraction program or copy/paste text in most PDF viewers gives real text.

[Quoth]

Yes, you can import nebo files from Kobo Sage or Elipsa
Connect Kobo and copy any files with <anything>.nebo to PC
eject
Connect iOS or Android tablet.
Copy files to a new folder on the SD card

In Nebo: make a suitable Collection and import Notebooks.

It's likely that I can do it direct with a suitable OTG adaptor and the Android File manager.

The actual Nebo files used in the application are not exposed on MTP.

[Quoth]

Curiously if you read the Nebo FAQ online it suggests using the keyboard for accented / foreign words in English. A bit of a snag in Ireland. You can't put accented words in the Dictionary either according to that.

But the actual application, under Settings -> Writing -> Languages, points out that it always recognises English when another language is selected. So I've added Deutsch (German), English UK, Español, Français, and Gaeilge (Irish) as well as default English USA, though I really only know English properly.
Indeed picking Gaeilge (Irish) for a Document allows English with accented letters as is common in Ireland for people, places and prefixes or suffixes.

Because there is a live real time preview you can scribble a word (to erase) incorrectly recognised (possibly as Irish) and write it more clearly.

[Quoth]

Yesterday 2024-02-29 there was an update to Nebo.
* Shape manipulation improved
* Improved writing conversion
* webp image format added

I find that the option to use K9 Mail (real email app not using Google's servers) and send myself an email when I export a docx is very handy.

Export is dramatically faster on the TCL Nxtpaper 11 than on the Kobo Sage or Elipsa Advanced Notebooks (which use a cut down Nebo). I don't use the Sage or Elipsa now for notes and I was able to import all the Nebo files from both. I can wake the TCL Nxtpaper 11 and load the requisite Nebo page faster than I can leave my novel on the Sage and open an Advanced Notebook.
After nearly three weeks I only did an initial charge on the TCL T-Pen which works as well or better than the Apple Pencil on Nebo on an iPad.