How to create a "matrix" of data?

[JohnTee 0]

Hi.  Is there a way to use Evernote that would allow the following:

I have multiple apartments that I manage.  I want to store data about what square footage the apartment is, date it was painted, the color paint, furnace make/model/size, a floorplan image, etc.

How would i set things up in Evernote so that i could easily pull up all the specific info on a particular apartment, but also have the option of printing a specific item of data for ALL the various apartments (like a list of all the furnace filter sizes i should buy at the start of the winter).  Here's a simplified example of my data (I actually track many more data items):

APT-1 : 500 sq, ft.  Trane CB400 furnace, 14x12 filter, serviced 12/2017, [link].

APT-2:  720 sq. Ft.  Gibson RS60 furnace, 16x14 filter, serviced 10/2017, [link].

APT-3:  850 sq. Ft.  Gibson TL40  13x13 filter, serviced 1/2018, [link].

So when we're working on one apartment, i want to pull up ALL the above data on that one apartment.  But other times i want to pull a specific bit of data (like furnace filter size), but for ALL the apartments.  Without all the other data in the way, just show Apartment and filter size, for all apartments.

Any suggestions?  Or is this more a task for a relational database rather than Evernote?

Thanks!

[gazumped 12,227]

Hi.  If you're willing to break your data down in very specific ways - as in: 

• Note: "500 s ft" tag: "APT-1"
• Note:"Trane CB400 furnace" tag: "APT-1"
• Note:"14x12 filter" tag: "APT-1"
• Note:"serviced 12/2017" tag: "APT-1"

etc...

So 4 (at least) separate notes for each apartment.

Then a search for

• APT-1 will give you its full specs
• "filter" or "furnace" will give you all appartment specs for that item

Or you could look at https://airtable.com/ - which is a spreadsheet with delusions of database relationability.  Seriously - go look...

 

 

[DTLow 5,749]

On 2018-01-05 at 8:43 AM, JohnTee said:

So when we're working on one apartment, i want to pull up ALL the above data on that one apartment.  But other times i want to pull a specific bit of data (like furnace filter size), but for ALL the apartments.  Without all the other data in the way, just show Apartment and filter size, for all apartments.

My approach would be with  tags    Apt-1, Apt-2, Apt-3....
and tags    Size, Furnace, Service, Filter, ...

Sample notes would be     

• Size: 500 sq, ft.                                  tag:Size  tag:Apt-1  tag:Apt-4
• Furnace: Trane CB400                      tag:Furnace  tag:Apt-1  tag:Apt-3
• Furnace: Gibson RS60                      tag:Furnace  tag:Apt-2  tag:Apt-4
• Service 12/2017  14x12 filter          tag:Service  tag:Apt-1  tag:Filter

Pulling up data involves setting the tags for your search

• a search for tag:Apt-1 will give you all notes for Apt-1
• a search for tag:Furnace will give you all the furnace notes

[CalS 5,311]

On 1/5/2018 at 9:43 AM, JohnTee said:

Hi.  Is there a way to use Evernote that would allow the following:

I have multiple apartments that I manage.  I want to store data about what square footage the apartment is, date it was painted, the color paint, furnace make/model/size, a floorplan image, etc.

How would i set things up in Evernote so that i could easily pull up all the specific info on a particular apartment, but also have the option of printing a specific item of data for ALL the various apartments (like a list of all the furnace filter sizes i should buy at the start of the winter).  Here's a simplified example of my data (I actually track many more data items):

APT-1 : 500 sq, ft.  Trane CB400 furnace, 14x12 filter, serviced 12/2017, [link].

APT-2:  720 sq. Ft.  Gibson RS60 furnace, 16x14 filter, serviced 10/2017, [link].

APT-3:  850 sq. Ft.  Gibson TL40  13x13 filter, serviced 1/2018, [link].

So when we're working on one apartment, i want to pull up ALL the above data on that one apartment.  But other times i want to pull a specific bit of data (like furnace filter size), but for ALL the apartments.  Without all the other data in the way, just show Apartment and filter size, for all apartments.

Any suggestions?  Or is this more a task for a relational database rather than Evernote?

Thanks!

Depending upon the number of apartments and bits of data, an apartments as rows x data as columns table might work.  Easy to scan across for data or down for data by department.  

[TK0047 424]

The first thing I thought of was tagging however when I think about how I deal with similar "filtering" I think this can be handled by Excel or Access in a more convenient and a customizable way.

You can still have the file in Evernote so I would create an Excel spreadsheet and put it in Evernote so I can access it anywhere.

Then I would use the columns with filter option. So I can easily filter by Apartment or the furnace type or paint day before a certain date etc.

Filter by Furnace brand example

Two filters, Brand Gibson and Filter size 15x12