Templates should retain tags

[SeniorShizzle 16]

I love the new templates feature—I've been looking forward to it for a while!

When creating a new note from a template, metadata is not retained. Specifically, tags saved onto the template are not added to the new note.

This seems like an oversight to me, since templated notes are likely to have many tags in common. 

[CalS 5,280]

And title. 

[CrossHare 5]

On 9/25/2018 at 12:39 PM, DTLow said:

Personally, I manage my templates using a collection of notes and the duplicate note feature.  Tags and title are maintained.

I used to do this, but unfortunately notes created by duplicate note feature retain the original creation date. Duplicated notes should have their own creation date.

[CrossHare 5]

On 9/25/2018 at 12:36 PM, SeniorShizzle said:

I love the new templates feature—I've been looking forward to it for a while!

When creating a new note from a template, metadata is not retained. Specifically, tags saved onto the template are not added to the new note.

This seems like an oversight to me, since templated notes are likely to have many tags in common. 

Strongly agree as well. Also need to retain Notebook as well as tags.

[DTLow 5,736]

Personally, I manage my templates using a collection of notes and the duplicate note feature.  Tags and title are maintained.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

1 hour ago, SeniorShizzle said:

since templated notes are likely to have many tags in common. 

I strongly agree.  Tags assigned to a template should be also assigned to the note created from the template.

[CalS 5,280]

Conversation also exists here

 

[kevinassemi 2]

I agree tags need to be retained on templates. Also, you should be able to have certain templates be the default notes for specific notebooks. Lastly, it would be nice if we could summarize all incomplete (i.e. unchecked checkbox) on any given note from the same notebook or across notebooks- like OneNote has. 

[wonkgonewild 2]

Agree. I currently use the duplicate note method instead of templates and it works ok. I'd love a way to do it with fewer clicks or using keyboard only. I'd like to see both note name and tags saved with the template, and a keyboard shortcut available to apply a template to a note.

[Peter-T 0]

I agree completely that a template should retain the tags that were in the note used to create the template.

[G1234554321 0]

Yes, templates should include Tags and likely Titles.  Workaround for Titles is to just make sure your template has a first line that is the title you would like, and EN will copy it in for you.  Tags I've got no workaround for, so like others will likely go back to using Duplicate Note.  Would probably have been an idea to use Duplicate Note behaviour as the template for Templates to be honest...

[jefito 5,589]

7 hours ago, G1234554321 said:

Yes, templates should include Tags and likely Titles.  Workaround for Titles is to just make sure your template has a first line that is the title you would like, and EN will copy it in for you.  Tags I've got no workaround for, so like others will likely go back to using Duplicate Note.  Would probably have been an idea to use Duplicate Note behaviour as the template for Templates to be honest...

Yes, tags, titles, etc., should be retained for templates. However:

Using Duplicate Note on the Windows client is exactly what I do; seems even easier than using the Templates facility, to tell the truth. First thing every Monday morning, duplicate my previous weekly journal note (tags, title and reminder date all retained), change a few dates, clear out the daily table cells, move completed to-do items to a new cell for reporting in a standard Tuesday meeting,  and change the reminder date to next Monday. 5 minutes to a fresh start for the week.

[CalS 5,280]

Yeah, but for oft used things like phone log notes the template function would be improved if one could click on new note and select a template which kept the title "Phone Call -" and the tag !Phone.  Not biggie for sure, just makes sense, to me anyway, that title/tags are a part of a template.  Workaround is to double click a saved ENEX on the desktop, but then one has to navigate to default notebook if not already there.  Maybe I will PhraseExpress it....

[jefito 5,589]

1 hour ago, CalS said:

Workaround is to double click a saved ENEX on the desktop, but then one has to navigate to default notebook if not already there.

Other workaround is to just use Copy Note on an existing note (stored in a Templates notebook in my case), and send it to the desired notebook. I don't do this often enough -- nor do I have enough notebooks -- to make this much bother. Improving the Templates functionality would be desirable, too, but I'd probably not use it anyways.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, CalS said:

Maybe I will PhraseExpress it....

I use a script on my Mac (Applescript)

• Displaying a list of template notes
• Using export/import
• Assigning title, notebook, tags, ...

My template notes are identified by tag:!Type-Template

[CalS 5,280]

48 minutes ago, jefito said:

Other workaround is to just use Copy Note on an existing note (stored in a Templates notebook in my case), and send it to the desired notebook. I don't do this often enough -- nor do I have enough notebooks -- to make this much bother. Improving the Templates functionality would be desirable, too, but I'd probably not use it anyways.

Is fine for the one offs, not so much for those frequently used.  IAC, added a PE hotkey to add title and tag when creating a note from the template option in a new note.  Should have done it sooner, duh ...  

[PinkElephant 8,088]

2 hours ago, CalS said:

Is fine for the one offs, not so much for those frequently used.  IAC, added a PE hotkey to add title and tag when creating a note from the template option in a new note.  Should have done it sooner, duh ...  

???

@CalSYou’ve lost me with this sentence. Could you please give some more details ?

[CalS 5,280]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

???

@CalSYou’ve lost me with this sentence. Could you please give some more details ?

The current template function does not keep title nor tags.  So I have added a PhraseExpress (text expander software) hotkey to perform the task.  I select the template from add new note and then Alt+-(minus sign) adds the title and tag.  Clip of the before and after, the hotkey being a simple way to get there.  PhraseExpress helps with redundant tasks, which this is.  Hence the opinion it would be better if templates maintained title and tags.

[PinkElephant 8,088]

Thanks for elaborating. Maybe because I do not use templates much, I have not felt the need to automate this.

In general I agree that templates should come pre-loaded with as much information as possible. Tags and title elements seem to be a logical extension of note content, which at the moment is what templates will carry along.

[CalS 5,280]

1 minute ago, PinkElephant said:

Thanks for elaborating. Maybe because I do not use templates much, I have not felt the need to automate this.

You are welcome.  PhraseExpress is in my MacGyver toolkit for frequent repetitive tasks.  Examples are

1. marking a bill paid - _Paid 06/13/2019 05:06 pm
2. marking something complete -  _Completed 06/13/2019 05:06 pm
3. automating reminder creation and editing
4. some searches
5. cleaning up and notebook assigning/tagging emails as they are forwarded

Basically anything that is an oft repeated set of steps or text.  Others use AutoHotkey or the like.  

[PinkElephant 8,088]

Maybe I have less use for it because my active stuff is in Things, not in Evernote. If I want to follow up on a Evernote note, I create a link and create a Things task via sharing. Things has more options than EN, like repetitive tasks, a separation between start date and deadline, setting up a project structure for a group of tasks etc.

Sure this leads to some double information content, but IMHO it works better than try to emulate everything in EN.  

[CalS 5,280]

15 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Maybe I have less use for it because my active stuff is in Things, not in Evernote. If I want to follow up on a Evernote note, I create a link and create a Things task via sharing. Things has more options than EN, like repetitive tasks, a separation between start date and deadline, setting up a project structure for a group of tasks etc.

Sure this leads to some double information content, but IMHO it works better than try to emulate everything in EN.  

Horses for courses on this stuff.  I opted to keep everything in one place in EN and accept any limitations that might arise.  Fortunately there haven't been that many for my use case, recurring reminders being the only one of note.  With a group of saved searches I can quickly get done what I need to get done with two clicks.  And all I have to do is add a reminder to a note to get it in the workflow.  FWIW.

[s2sailor 2,186]

16 hours ago, CalS said:

The current template function does not keep title nor tags.  

Nor can you directly edit the template.  You basically have to create a new copy, make the changes you want and then post as the new template and delete the old.  A PITA, at least for me.  I really struggle to see how anyone finds value in the template feature.  Creating a note, giving it a template tag and then just copying the note when needed works far better for me than the new feature ... my 2 cents.

[CalS 5,280]

18 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

Nor can you directly edit the template.  You basically have to create a new copy, make the changes you want and then post as the new template and delete the old.  A PITA, at least for me.  I really struggle to see how anyone finds value in the template feature.  Creating a note, giving it a template tag and then just copying the note when needed works far better for me than the new feature ... my 2 cents.

Yeah, only works for me with the PhraseExpress hack.

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, s2sailor said:

I really struggle to see how anyone finds value in the template feature.  

Likewise, I've always found more value in template notes, and scripting.

Regardless, there is a significant mass of users who do find the template feature valuable.  I have no concerns with providing the option.

[s2sailor 2,186]

1 hour ago, DTLow said:

I have no concerns with providing the option.

Nor do it, I'm just providing my opinion and feedback on the feature.

1 hour ago, DTLow said:

Regardless, there is a significant mass of users who do find the template feature valuable. 

That is speculative ... none of us users can really know that.  If you tend to have just static templates then most won't mind this limitation.  I have a travel packing list (as an example) that I'm constantly updating, so the lack of template editing is very noticeable.

[Trialia 1]

On 6/14/2019 at 7:00 PM, s2sailor said:

Nor do it, I'm just providing my opinion and feedback on the feature.

That is speculative ... none of us users can really know that.  If you tend to have just static templates then most won't mind this limitation.  I have a travel packing list (as an example) that I'm constantly updating, so the lack of template editing is very noticeable.

I completely agree. I keep a template for my medical log - I have multiple chronic illnesses, and have to track sleep, frequency of medication & when I take it, pain, etc., all on a daily basis. I have one template that I use for each new month's file, with a paragraph that I copy for each new day within the new file.

However, I can't edit the original template, which gets annoying when I need to add new fields to it (such as on getting a personal O2 & heart rate monitor, or as I will need to when I find my blood pressure cuff). Not to mention the complication of having to create a whole new file before I can even view the templates, which can also be frustrating if you'd like to combine a template with an existing file.

Static templates are one thing, but the current functionality isn't great for templates that aren't static.

[s2sailor 2,186]

7 hours ago, Trialia said:

I completely agree. I keep a template for my medical log - I have multiple chronic illnesses, and have to track sleep, frequency of medication & when I take it, pain, etc., all on a daily basis. I have one template that I use for each new month's file, with a paragraph that I copy for each new day within the new file.

However, I can't edit the original template, which gets annoying when I need to add new fields to it (such as on getting a personal O2 & heart rate monitor, or as I will need to when I find my blood pressure cuff). Not to mention the complication of having to create a whole new file before I can even view the templates, which can also be frustrating if you'd like to combine a template with an existing file.

Static templates are one thing, but the current functionality isn't great for templates that aren't static.

Until they improve this feature, I would suggest going old school.  Create a Template tag and attach it to the note you want to use as a template.  When it comes time to use a template note, just search on this note (the Template tag helps greatly here) and use the Copy Note function to create a new note from the template note.  When you need to edit the template note, just search for your original note and edit as needed.