Inbox Zero using Evernote

[lamborghini 3]

I have a quick question about Mails and Evernote.

When I get important email I forward it to Evernote. Should I delete that email then since it's already stored (for long) in EN?

If I archive that email it takes space in two places then and I can forget what's already forwarded. Not perfect.
When I delete, it might be harder to reply (if needed).

How you do it?

[DTLow 5,749]

1 hour ago, lamborghini said:

I have a quick question about Mails and Evernote.

If I want to archive anything; Evernote is my filing cabinet

I use a script on my Mac to transfer the email to Evernote;
both as a PDF file and native format (eml)
I also include a link back to the email message

I trash the original email (inbox zero) but I'm not concerned about cleaning up my email folders.  I'd give it some thought if space was tight

[lamborghini 3]

9 minutes ago, DTLow said:

If I want to archive anything; Evernote is my filing cabinet

You store everything in Evernote? Whatever you want to find you go to Evernote? (If not stored then referenced)

Could you tell me more about your script how it works and how can I do the same?

[DTLow 5,749]

 

22 minutes ago, lamborghini said:

You store everything in Evernote? Whatever you want to find you go to Evernote? (If not stored then referenced)

Could you tell me more about your script how it works and how can I do the same?

Correct, I store everything in Evernote
- exception, music in the iTunes app
- exception photos in the Photos app
- there are files that have to remain in the file system; in Evernote I included a link reference
The Evernote note editor/format is adequate for a simple note; I use attached files for more complex documents

My mail-to-evernote script runs on my Mac and is documented here https://www.evernote.com/l/AAoum50-o0dKQaabTlhz5w8aY8A68g75m1I

[CalS 5,311]

48 minutes ago, lamborghini said:

I have a quick question about Mails and Evernote.

When I get important email I forward it to Evernote. Should I delete that email then since it's already stored (for long) in EN?

If I archive that email it takes space in two places then and I can forget what's already forwarded. Not perfect.
When I delete, it might be harder to reply (if needed).

How you do it?

I try to keep everything in EN so I have one place to search, so I forward important emails to EN.  

1. If I have replied to the email, I forward the reply to EN and delete the original.  
2. If I do not reply, I forward the original to EN and delete that original.  I keep about a year's worth of sent mail so I can always access the original from there if I need to respond at some point.  

YMMV.

[gazumped 12,227]

Hmmn.  My (Windows) archiving is limited to using the Outlook clipper to copy content into Evernote,  backed up with a drag and drop of the original email (DnD to desktop,  then to clipped email in the note).  If I then need to respond to the email I can double-click the embedded email (eml) icon which opens it in Outlook.  I delete the original emails (inbox zero,  right?) 

[lamborghini 3]

On 06/07/2017 at 10:56 PM, gazumped said:

Hmmn.  My (Windows) archiving is limited to using the Outlook clipper to copy content into Evernote,  backed up with a drag and drop of the original email (DnD to desktop,  then to clipped email in the note).  If I then need to respond to the email I can double-click the embedded email (eml) icon which opens it in Outlook.  I delete the original emails (inbox zero,  right?) 

Do you archive all your emails to Evernote? Even stuff like apple invoices, payment confirmations, receipts (something that you may use in future, to find transaction details for example)? One mail in one note?

I have about 3-5k mails to archive. Currently 2k notes so it will be about 7k notes, do you think performance will decrease?

[CalS 5,311]

1 hour ago, lamborghini said:

One mail in one note?

I have about 3-5k mails to archive. Currently 2k notes so it will be about 7k notes, do you think performance will decrease?

Yes.

Hard to say on performance, depends upon overall size of data base, machine and the like.  I currently have 9,589 email notes of 33,618 total in a 15 GB data base running on a 4 year old 8 GB laptop with an SSD and don't have any performance issues.  YMMV.

[lamborghini 3]

20 minutes ago, csihilling said:

Yes.

Hard to say on performance, depends upon overall size of data base, machine and the like.  I currently have 9,589 email notes of 33,618 total in a 15 GB data base running on a 4 year old 8 GB laptop with an SSD and don't have any performance issues.  YMMV.

I'm on new machine so it should be ok then. So in your Mail app you just have mails from today? And inbox zero process is to archive it to EN?

[DTLow 5,749]

3 hours ago, lamborghini said:

So in your Mail app you just have mails from today? And inbox zero process is to archive it to EN?

A lot email goes to my Junk and Trash folder;  I only archive the important mail

Its not just archiving;  Inbox Zero is about not using your Inbox for storage and actionable tasks

Once I have the email in Evernote, I apply tags for organization and task management

[CalS 5,311]

56 minutes ago, lamborghini said:

I'm on new machine so it should be ok then. So in your Mail app you just have mails from today? And inbox zero process is to archive it to EN?

Occasionally I will leave an email in the inbox if I know I will be responding in short order.  Other than that my inbox in my mail app is empty when I am done processing emails.  I send emails to EN for those emails that I want to save or those I want to act upon at a later date (I use the !yyyymmdd option in the subject when I forward to automatically create the reminder).  Other than that I delete emails.  No folders on my email app, either, other than I use Sent on occasion.  

Also, FYI, I use PhraseExpress to create hotkeys to format the forwards for me.  These phrases do three things - 1) add my EN email address, 2) add notebook, tags and sometimes a title date to the subject line, and 3) clean up the top of the body of the email.  I use these hotkeys for receipts, bank stuff, Amazon stuff, distribution lists and the like.  So click on forward, hit the hotkey, click on send.  PhraseExpress is great for repetitive tasks.

[gazumped 12,227]

On 7/15/2017 at 2:46 PM, lamborghini said:

Do you archive all your emails to Evernote? Even stuff like apple invoices, payment confirmations, receipts (something that you may use in future, to find transaction details for example)? One mail in one note?

This is one of those 'YMMV' situations - I don't archive all emails - I'd prefer to forget about 80% of it anyway.  I'll weed through and delete the unwanted stuff,  copy all or part of any information that looks interesting,  and  the "even stuff like this" - invoices confirmations and the like - go into notes;  I'll get all the order confirmations, receipts and delivery notes into one note per transaction if I can - just as a record in case I have a query down the line,  and to check off against my bank account later.  At some point I may choose all the transactions for a particular year and archive them away from daily searches.