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Sharing from Notes as .vnt doesn't work [fixed, kind of]; please add plain text support! [released]

asked 2014-01-28 09:02:51 +0300

ssahla gravatar image

updated 2016-04-04 15:58:06 +0300

Rolfa gravatar image

Edit, Sep 25 '15: To vote for sharing towards Jolla or between Jollas vote here.

Edit, Sep 9 '15: It's always nice to get to close a feature request as "released in a software update". This works now 1.1.9.28. Thanks, sailors!

Edit, May 10 '15: In 1.1.4, the attachment filename bug is fixed, and the vnt is plain-text encoded. Still, the vnt file isn't widely recognized or readable, so there is need for a plain text or rtf option.

I shared a note to myself from the Notes app by email. A [filename].vnt file was attached, where [filename] is the beginning of the note text.

However, when I received the mail on my mac, the attachment was a share_J11475.vcf. By default, OS X opens it in the Contacts app, but it says that no importable contacts where found. When looking at the contents of the file, it starts with BEGIN:VNOTE, so I guess it is a vnt file. The body part begins

BODY;CHARSET=UTF-8;ENCODING=BASE64:WW91IHNob3VsZCBrbm93...

The note text is not there in plain text so I could copy it.

Firstly, I wonder why the attachment is in a different format? (I received the email to my Jolla too, and also there the attachment is a vcf and opens in the People app.)

Secondly, I wouldn't know what to do with a vnt file on my computer, so I think there should be an option to share the note as plain text or rtf. You should be able to share a note in the most common format, so you can share to anyone and be sure that he/she will be able to open it. (If you share a note as vnt to another Jolla, even that Jolla doesn't show the contents of the file!)

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The question has been closed for the following reason "released in a software update" by ssahla
close date 2015-09-09 21:16:09.684831

Comments

According to this link it should be possible to view .vnt files in any text editor. I don't know why it gets changed from vnt to vcf when you email it though. Maybe a stupid question but have you tried changing the file extension from .vcf to .vnt?

nthn ( 2014-01-28 22:23:57 +0300 )edit

@nthn, I don't think that's a stupid question :) I did change the extension. It seems that .vnt isn't (by default) associated to any application in OS X, so it sees the file as a generic document and doesn't know what to do with it.

Of course I can manually open the file in a text editor, and so I did – that's how I got to see what the file contains. But as I said, the note text isn't there in a readable form. (The page you linked also says that the text may be encoded and thus not readable without a decoder.)

ssahla ( 2014-01-28 22:39:20 +0300 )edit

This is also a problem with Windows 7, Windows Mail Client and Jolla-Notes - when received by my mail client the attachment is recognised but as a .vcf file, Windows offers to open it and then says it is 'not a valid .vcf' (lol, we know that!, it's a .vnt!) So I wouldn't say the problem is specific to Windows or OS X. I'm also not able to bluetooth notes from Jolla-notes. voted up {smh}

Spam Hunter ( 2014-02-13 17:17:12 +0300 )edit

I wonder, is there any device / software that can open a note shared from Jolla Notes? :)

ssahla ( 2014-02-13 17:21:14 +0300 )edit
1

I agree, the idea is exactly the same as the function was in Symbian :) should be a PLAINTEXT

Rusnak-COBRA ( 2014-03-21 17:32:55 +0300 )edit

3 Answers

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1

answered 2014-02-06 21:14:01 +0300

Deonith gravatar image

updated 2014-02-13 17:14:43 +0300

There are ways to convert vnt-files to txt-files.

I am using Linux so I hoped this script will bring the solution: https://bitbucket.org/eug48/vnote2txt/downloads. This is how it's used: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?59935-A-Kubu-script-for-opening-vnt-Vnote-files. It seems to work fine until the actual conversion, where it fails to produce a txt-file for me. Maybe it works for others, worth trying.

For Windows users this should be easier. There is this program to download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vntconverter/ and also the script above seems to work well these users report: http://androidforums.com/android-applications/177990-open-vnt-vnote-files-computer.html

I am not sure about Mac though.

Lastly there is this online solution: https://sites.google.com/site/vnotetotextconverter/ I wanted to avoid any online scenarios so this is not really an option for me. On top of that, with the Jolla vnt-files it didn't even work. Maybe others are more lucky.

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2

Thanks for this answer! Still, I think the Notes app shouldn't be sending .vnt files in the first place if opening them is this difficult – at least not by default...

ssahla ( 2014-02-06 21:17:29 +0300 )edit
2

Couldn't agree more, so far I haven't even managed to convert it with Linux! Therefore also posted this (https://together.jolla.com/question/15917/i-want-a-text-editor/#25285) for developers to see hopefully :)

Deonith ( 2014-02-06 21:20:44 +0300 )edit
4

I don't believe it, why are we struggling with obscure file formats when everything i wanted to do was to share a simple text file with my wife. Freaking unbelievable.

Larswad ( 2014-11-10 10:35:23 +0300 )edit
2

answered 2014-02-13 15:59:42 +0300

Blizzz gravatar image

The Python script did not work for me either, BUT:

This is how to convert a .vnt (VNOTE) file to text on Linux (and probably MacOS, I assume it should work there as well).

  1. Open the .vnt file in a text editor
  2. Copy the stuff between "BODY;CHARSET=UTF-8;ENCODING=BASE64:" and END:VNOTE (The selection should end with ==)
  3. Open a Terminal and execute "base64 -d" (without quotation marks)
  4. Paste (usually Ctrl+Shif+V) and press Enter
  5. Quit by pressing Ctrl+D

The output will be the decoded plain text.

Alternatively, you can have it output into a file using the command ""base64 -d > myfile.txt"

However, I agree that a more convenient format would be used, though this is quite robust and avoid transmitting stuff in plain text (though it's not an obstacle).

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Oh, this is a great method! I just tried it on my Linux system converting into a TXT-file and it works as described. Thanks a lot, now the native Jolla Notes app will be in better use!

Deonith ( 2014-02-13 17:28:12 +0300 )edit
2

thats a pretty nice method and im glad that there is a simple solution to this. nevertheless ther should be a simple plain text export option in the notes app. shouldn't be too hard to implement, i'd guess...

laubblaeser ( 2014-10-24 16:26:45 +0300 )edit
1

answered 2015-05-10 00:41:28 +0300

JoHe gravatar image

Released in a software update 1.1.4.

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You're right, the shared file is now .vnt like it should. Still no plain text support though... I'll update the question.

ssahla ( 2015-05-10 10:25:29 +0300 )edit

What version of jolla-notes do you have? devel-su -p pkcon get-details jolla-notes should tell you. Plain-text encoding is supported in version 0.8.41 and higher. If the note you're sharing has only Latin1 characters, no encoding will be specified for it, and it will be 7-bit ascii; otherwise, it will be UTF8 encoded.

chris.adams ( 2015-05-11 11:04:24 +0300 )edit

Yes @chris.adams, as I said 34 hours ago, in SailFish OS 1.1.4 plain text has been introduced (earlier it was base64 encoded).

Edit: jolla-notes version can be checked by opening Jolla Store > Jolla > Notes > look at the end of the description text (push the text / ellipsis), 0.8.46.

JoHe ( 2015-05-11 11:30:24 +0300 )edit

I interpret that the original question has now been answered in update 1.1.4.

But if you reformat this question to concern Jolla–Jolla sharing, it is duplicate.

JoHe ( 2015-05-11 11:50:04 +0300 )edit

I have Notes version 0.8.46.

The encoding is now plain-text, but there is no option to share as txt or rtf. Even though the vnt is plain-text encoded, a Jolla receiving it doesn't know how to open it (it opens it in Documents, but doesn't show the contents); neither does my mac or my pc. This question is about being able to share in a common format that is understood everywhere, so in my opinion neither solved nor duplicate.

ssahla ( 2015-05-11 12:30:18 +0300 )edit

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Asked: 2014-01-28 09:02:51 +0300

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Last updated: Apr 04 '16