Having Trouble with Basic Functionality

[Bobbi H 1]

After scanning through the Forums, it is obvious to me that I am miles behind most of the EverNote users.  I have been trying out EverNote to use simply as a Windows Desktop app for creating/storing/retrieving Notes I want to make easily accessible, but I am stumbling through trying to use it that way because (in my case) it has so many advanced features which I'm sure are wonderful for people who use them but which are way beyond what I need.  I am not finding the You Tube videos or the "Getting Started" screens very helpful, even though I have gone through them all.  So here is my first and foremost question....if I can get this answered then I will try to keep going and figure some of the rest of it out.

Every time I open the program by clicking on the desktop icon, I discover that I have just created a new Note, which is a duplicate of one I have already written and saved except that the "Title" is my email address.  I don't want or intend to do this.  I don't know why it is happening.  I don't know where to go to turn it off.  When I first discovered this, I found I had 25 or 30 Notes that I didn't realize I had created, and had to go through and Delete them individually.  But even though I am now on the alert, and whenever I open the program I just automatically delete the unwanted newly created Note before I exit, I'm getting very frustrated trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.  

Can anyone help me with this??

[DTLow 5,736]

9 hours ago, Bobbi H said:

Every time I open the program by clicking on the desktop icon, I discover that I have just created a new Note, which is a duplicate of one I have already written and saved except that the "Title" is my email address.  I don't want or intend to do this.  I don't know why it is happening.  I don't know where to go to turn it off.  When I first discovered this, I found I had 25 or 30 Notes that I didn't realize I had created, and had to go through and Delete them individually.  But even though I am now on the alert, and whenever I open the program I just automatically delete the unwanted newly created Note before I exit, I'm getting very frustrated trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.

That is unexpected behaviour - I'm not seeing it in my installation

My resolution would be:  

1. Reboot the device; this often solves the problem
2. Delete the app and database; Reinstall the app and let the database be reinstalled from the server
   Warning: The reinstall will not include local notebooks or unsynced notes

>>I have been trying out EverNote to use simply as a Windows Desktop app for creating/storing/retrieving Notes I want to make easily accessible, but I am stumbling through trying to use it that way because (in my case) it has so many advanced features which I'm sure are wonderful for people who use them but which are way beyond what I need.

I wouldn't worry about all the features to begin with.
Just dump your info into Evernote.
Search works well and then you can think about the organization features.

I have a caution.
You will notice that Evernote has abandoned the typical folder/sub-folder method
Don't fall in the trap of thinking Notebooks=Folders
The key to organization in Evernote is Tags although some people don't use them.  You can get by with just the search feature and structuring your titles

[Bobbi H 1]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

That is unexpected behaviour - I'm not seeing it in my installation

My resolution would be:  

1. Reboot the device; this often solves the problem
2. Delete the app and database; Reinstall the app and let the database be reinstalled from the server
   Warning: The reinstall will not include local notebooks or unsynced notes

 

Hello Guru and thanks for responding.  I think I have figured out the problem, or at least how to get around it.  This issue occurs when I place a specific Note on my Desktop and then re-open what I think is that Note alone.  If I open the Evernote program itself, it doesn't occur.  Apparently there actually *is* no way to place a single Note on the Desktop, since when you think you have done that and then open the Note, you see not just that Note but the entire program.  And when you close it and then open it again, the phantom Notes are created.  Not sure why this is so, but apparently I can prevent it by simply using the program as a whole to access a specific Note (actually it turns out I have no choice in the matter).   I have therefore deleted the desktop icon I created using the path to the title of a single Note (which evidently was what was causing the problem) and from now on I will just click on the icon for Evernote and then search for a specific Note.

Thanks for your help.  If I keep struggling with this, perhaps one day I will even understand what "local Notebooks" are (as opposed to foreign Notebooks?)   Either that or someone will eventually publish "Evernote for Dummies".  :-)

[jefito 5,589]

10 minutes ago, Bobbi H said:

This issue occurs when I place a specific Note on my Desktop and then re-open what I think is that Note alone.

If you drag a note from Evernote onto your desktop, then what you're really doing is exporting that note to a separate file.Then when you double-click on it from the desktop, it imports it in as a new note. Sounds like that's your main difficulty.

There is a way to put notes on the desktop as a shortcut, I believe. See: 

 

19 minutes ago, Bobbi H said:

Thanks for your help.  If I keep struggling with this, perhaps one day I will even understand what "local Notebooks" are (as opposed to foreign Notebooks?) 

Local notebooks are notebooks that are never synced to the Evernote servers. Notebooks are synced by default; you need to designate a notebook as local to change that.

[Bobbi H 1]

Hi Jefito and thanks for the explanation of local Notebooks.  I hadn't thought about the fact that the Notes themselves would actually need to go to an Evernote server in order to be synced to multiple devices, but it makes sense.

The link you referred me to is indeed from someone who wanted to do exactly what I was trying to do.  After reading through the possible solutions, all of which are, for me, more complicated and more trouble than they're worth, I will just stick with using the Evernote icon, since it's relatively easy to pull up an individual Note from that interface.  But it's good to know in general that there are so many users willing to provide helpful responses so thanks again.

[jefito 5,589]

46 minutes ago, Bobbi H said:

The link you referred me to is indeed from someone who wanted to do exactly what I was trying to do.  After reading through the possible solutions, all of which are, for me, more complicated and more trouble than they're worth, I will just stick with using the Evernote icon, since it's relatively easy to pull up an individual Note from that interface.

Yep; too much trouble for me, too, and my desktop is usually too covered with application windows to make interacting with it worth my while, anyways. One of those windows is the Evernote window, of course.  As you learn more about Evernote and accumulate more and more notes, you'll find ways to organize your notes so that they stay easy to find.

48 minutes ago, Bobbi H said:

But it's good to know in general that there are so many users willing to provide helpful responses so thanks again.

You're welcome. There are a number of people who are very knowledgeable about Evernote and its various clients (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, etc.) and are active in helping other users. Feel free to ask anything.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, Bobbi H said:

The link you referred me to is indeed from someone who wanted to do exactly what I was trying to do.  After reading through the possible solutions, all of which are, for me, more complicated and more trouble than they're worth, I will just stick with using the Evernote icon, since it's relatively easy to pull up an individual Note from that interface.  But it's good to know in general that there are so many users willing to provide helpful responses so thanks again.

I wouldn't have thought it was that difficult to post a desktop link to a note; easier in Windows than Mac

You might also look at sticking a link in your shortcuts area

[jefito 5,589]

1 minute ago, DTLow said:

I wouldn't have thought it was that difficult to post a desktop link to a note; easier in Windows than Mac

I gotta say that the choice of exporting a note to ENEX format when dragging it out of Evernote into the shell seems a little strange and surprising. Making a shortcut to the note seems more natural...