Web Clipping With Apple Notes

Sometimes when changing the applications we use to do things, our workflows must change. Such is the case with web clipping in Evernote. To clip a webpage to Evernote all you had to do was click on the clipper extension in the web browser and follow you nose to create a new note or add to an existing note. This created a static note with the information from the web page, not just a link to the page. It also stripped out ads and other cruft you didn’t want in the note.

Using iPad OS or iOS and Notes this experience can be largely replicated and pretty much just as simply. First you must know that if you are in Safari and use the share sheet to send a web page to notes, what you will get is a note with a link to the web page. This is not generally what I want because pages can change or disappear over time.

Instead the following work flow will produce a note with a clean PDF of the web site in it.

  1. Display the reader view of the website this cleans up the ads and other cruft. This will not work on a website without a reader view, but my experience is that most have a reader view.
  2. Use the share sheet to send the website to Markup, this will create a PDF of the page.
  3. Use the share sheet to send the created PDF to Notes. Select to create a new note and which folder or add to an existing note.

That’s really it. The only difference in clipping pages this way is that the links internal to the page are note live in the new note.