Semi-automatic sync reMarkable drawings with almost anything
I have a reMarkable and sometimes I want to use the sketches in an email, presentation or some of the online services I use. For now you can synchronise it through it’s own app. From there (not on the phone, only desktop/laptop) you can save images as PNG files and upload to where you want to use them.
Edit: I made a little cartoon in the hopes of convincing reMarkable that better integration is needed:
But there is a better way with Zapier. The reMarkable has the possibility to send your notebooks as attachments to an email. Zapier is an automation/integration tool that has triggers and actions for different online services. It can trigger when something happens in one service and do an action in some other service.
What you need
- Obviously a reMarkable
- A Zapier account
- A Gmail account
- A Google Drive space
The Google Drive can be swapped with any service that is a storage space you can upload to from a Zapier action.
Set up the ZAP at Zapier
Log in or create an account on Zapier, click “Make a ZAP!” and choose Gmail as your trigger. Connect to the Gmail account you want to use. Choose the “New Attachment” as the actual trigger. Add a search string “from:my@remarkable.com” to not catch all the attachments you’re getting in your inbox.
Then you select Google Drive as your action and connect to the Google account you want to use for this. Choose folder you want to store the attachments to and select “Attachment” in the file input box. If you have several attachments the upload action will iterate through each attachment giving you files 0.png, 1.png, 2.png etc. To make a little order in that chaos you can add the subject of the email, which is the notebook name from the reMarkable, as part of the file name. In addition you would then want to add “Attachment Details Filename”.
On the reMarkable
Find the notebook you want to sync, click on the three dots next to it and click “Share”.
Choose PNG as file format and type your Gmail address. Next time you’ll only need to click on the email address under “Recent”. Press send and wait.
The time you have to wait depends on your Zapier account. I have a “Starter plan” and it takes up to 15 minutes before the photos show in my Google Drive.
Your PNGs are good to go!
What about IFTTT, would that work?
Yes and no. With IFTTT (If This Then That) you will get the first attachment stored, but not all of them.
Services with email integration, like Flickr?
With some services you can send images to a secret email account. On Flickr you need to set up that email and then you’re good to go.
Want to be advanced?
Zapier supports webhooks actions, and then you can connect to almost anything online. It just take some time tinkering. Let me know what you manage to roll yourself!
