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Make new notes go to default notebook (at least have a config option for it)


Aron555

Idea

Context
I use Evernote as a productivity support tool and for keeping all sort of reference and project support material. 
An essential component of any good productivity system is that you can quickly jot down notes while you're working, and then get to processing / sorting those thoughts/ideas/tasks later. Evernote used to work perfectly for this because whatever I'm doing, I could just hit CTRL+ALT+N, write a line of text, hit ALT+F4 and done, the note safely saved in my default notebook (called INBOX) to be processed later. Worked perfectly. Now it seems this is no longer possible.

 

Request

I would like to ask that at the very least we could have a configuration screen option that allows us to have all new notes go to the default notebook instead of the notebook last used in the application. 

Note: An Evernote employee apparently responded to a related request of another user that because of OS level restrictions in Windows 10, CTRL+N and CTRL+ALT+N both need to have the same behavior (send to same notebook). However, in that case I STILL would prefer to have a config option that lets me send them both to the default notebook for reasons detailed below.

 

Reasoning

First off, the global keyboard shortcut saving to default notebook is the default behavior on Mac, indicating you're yourself aware that this is a more logical behavior.

Now the choice was made to have CTRL+ALT+N save notes to the last used notebook. But that's just bonkers.. It might have been hours since I last used Evernote and what are the odds that that is the notebook I now want to save something in? 
In fact, oftentimes I will be IN Evernote, e.g. doing a search in an Python dev notebook and think 'oh yeah, I still need to get food for the cat'. It used to not be a problem: Just hit CTRL+ALT+N to open up a separate new note window, type 'get catfood', ALT+F4 and I'm right back to where I was. Simple and easy. But now, it's gonna save the 'cat food' note among the Python dev notes. Evernote might as well have simply deleted it at that point because the odds that I'll see it in time are slim. Having to remember to check every time if the right notebook is selected, selecting it if it isn't and the usage of the mouse involved all just drastically reduce the speed and ease-of-use that were the exact reasons I started using Evernote for this in the first place.

 

About the OS Level restriction limitation

As mentioned before, EVEN IF CTRL+N and CTRL+ALT+N need to have the same behavior, I would STILL prefer the possibility to set both to the default notebook because
1) When I'm working IN Evernote, I'm more aware that I'm working with a specific folder and more likely to think about setting it.
2) The number of times I create notes using the global shortcut is much greater than the times I create new notes in a specific folder in Evernote itself.
3) Last but not least: If I do accidently create a note in my default folder that should have been in another, I will notice it when I clear the default folder a few days later, so no big deal. But with the current behavior, I'm saving notes that should have gone to default folder across random other folders in Evernote. With thousands of notes in 100+ folders, it might as well have swallowed them, I won't find them back.

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This really bugs me as well. When using the hotkey to create a new note from anywhere I always have to check that the right default notebook is selected for it. Net notes should always have the default notebook in use unless I create a note by right-clicking inside a notebook.

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I agree.  This is VERY annoying.  And the new notes can getting buried in the wrong notebook, if you are not careful.  I generally have an Inbox where my notes get created. And review it when I get a chance to file them appropriately.

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I am new to EN, am trying set it up so all my scanned notes go to my default notebook "inbox".  But the newly scanned notes always seem to go to the last notebook I had opened.  Can't EN be set up to always put newly scanned notes into the default notebook?

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  • Level 5*

Hi.  This has been raised before,  and it's a known fault.  The intention is that you set a folder as default,  and that any scans not directed elsewhere will go to that folder.  I hadn't realised that this even came up,  because I scan to a folder on my hard drive,  edit,  merge and OCR files as necessary,  then drag and drop the folder content into an Import Folder which is 'hard wired' into my default account.  I currently have four such folders to dump some scans into other locations.  They're all working fine.

 

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To my mind, it has to be a configuration option.
Here's why:

  1. When you create a new note, it opens a new window (Windows 10, at least).
    That's great, because there is lots of room to edit.
  2. When you double-click a note, it opens in a new window. (Also great.)
  3. It's handy to have multiple windows open, so you're not constantly navigating
    back and forth to different notebooks.
  4. Now then, open a note in notebook A. Then open one in notebook B.
    Finally, revisit the window for the note in notebook A.
  5. As you're editing that note, realize that you want to break in two. Hit Ctrl+N,
    and copy stuff into it. Terrific.
  6. HOWEVER: The new note does not get saved in notebook A (the one that 
    contains the notebook you were editing). Instead, it gets saved in notebook B
    (wrong notebook!).

I can see the utility of a working style that says all new notes go to a default "inbox"-style
folder, where you sort them later.

But personally, I'd like to see new notes "follow" the current note, the same way new files
in NotePad++ follow the currently open file into the folder the contains it. 

The only behavior that doesn't make sense to me, is the "last opened folder", because if
you have notes opened from several folders, you may not recall which folder that was.
But I admit that it may work well for people who don't open many windows.

The only reasonable solution I see is a configuration option that allows for all three behaviors.

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  • Level 5*

I don't know if it as much last opened "folder"/notebook as it is the current Notebook context, that is to say the notebook in your current view.  If All Notes context, then the note is created in your default notebook.  

So if your current view is in the notebook of choice you should be okay, but it doesn't sound like that is the case for you in mostly.  Looks like that to me anyway.  Sort of a workaround managing the context, but changing context isn't much different than changing the notebook.  

This would be a different request than this thread for some sort of dynamic notebook assignment based upon where last one was?

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I just tested this because I thought it happened to me (a new note getting put into the wrong stack), but I think I clicked New Note while evernote was open to a non-inbox stack at the time and that is where my new notes went. If evernote is minimized to the notification area and you right-click and choose new note or use the ctrl-alt n keyboard shortcut the new note is put into the inbox. I'm pretty sure you can also change the default "inbox" stack to be anything you want in the options screen.

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For what it's worth, here's an AHK script to open a new note window and move it to the default inbox. It's a bit slow but for quicker captures the default Alt+S shortcut (open evernote helper) works fine.

;create new note in default window global shortcut
;shift-alt-n
+!n::
Send ^!n ;default "create new note" shortcut, global
Sleep 500
Send !+m ;"move note" shortcut
Sleep 1000
SendInput {Raw}Inbox
Send {Down}
Send {Enter}

 

Feel free to tinker with the Sleep numbers depending on how quick your PC is. Really a shame that there isn't a better way.

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  • Level 5*
3 hours ago, NikolayBPetrov said:

Really a shame that there isn't a better way.

There wasn't 4 years ago (that's how old this thread is...) but AFAIK Evernote Legacy (which I still use daily) is pretty consistent.  If a notebook is open onscreen,  a new note goes to that notebook.  Otherwise a generic new note goes to the default notebook.  There are settings in Clipper to enforce this too...

I also use Filterize to check for keywords in my new notes and reassign them automatically to different notebooks - no AHK required.  And Filterize can add Tags,  dates and keywords to new notes as required.

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