WHY YOU SHOULDN'T ORGANIZE YOR NOTES BY NOTEBOOKS AND PILE OF NOTEBOOKS

[FigueiredoLuis 2]

I was used to complain about evernote in why we can only have to levels of organization as "pile of notebooks > notebooks > notes" and today i descovered why.

 

THATS BECAUSE YOU SHOULD ORGANIZE THIS WAY →→→→→ ORGANIZE BY TAGS

 

I descovered this this week after using evernote since 2012 and this changed the way i organize my stuff. Please check those links.

 

https://michaelhyatt.com/evernote-tags/

https://medium.com/@thomashoneyman/using-evernote-the-right-way-ef61f530d1ad#.om2cofoe5

 

Thanks Michael and Thomas.

[DTLow 5,749]

Tags are Evernote's primary tool for organization   
Evernote uses notebooks to identify notes as private/shared, sync'd/local, offline, default notebook

My main concern with using notebooks is that a note can only be assigned a single notebook   
I want the option to assign multiple categories

Number of levels isn't a priority for me, although it does add dimension in my tag organization   
Evernote supports a tag hierarchy for unlimited levels

[gazumped 12,229]

I'm sure we've had this discussion multiple times - I went from being a kind've tag-centric person primarily using Titles (with dates & Keywords) rather than Evernote's tag system.  I've recently changed to a more notebook intensive model which replaces one element of my keyword/ tag process with a notebook name. 

My view - try both (all??} options and see which works best for you.

[CalS 5,311]

5 hours ago, gazumped said:

I've recently changed to a more notebook intensive model

Still hard to believe you went to the dark side.  

[gazumped 12,229]

5 hours ago, CalS said:

Still hard to believe you went to the dark side.  

Two things: 1) It's just a try-out,  grass is greener type thing,  and 2) It's actually working quite well.  The notebooks are my contacts / clients / major projects,  each with notes stored in created date order.  So if Project X comes along and say "We spoke yesterday..." I find that name in my list of notebooks (it's a -relatively- short list,  so eyeballing usually works),  and find the top 10 notes usually contain the one  I want.  Two clicks (ish) and I'm there...

There are exceptions - I'm collecting notes for possible trips / holidays forinstance in a 'RoadTrips' notebook - with locations identified by tags.  (And yes,  I know - leaving the house!  Ah... the Good Old Days...)

[CalS 5,311]

Good to hear and as always Horses for Courses.  

Though I must say I would probably tag the notes with project and/or customer.  Have most recent in the shortcuts bar for easy access.  Old habits.  🤷‍♂️  Beauty of EN though, multiple ways to solve a problem and whichever feels best.

Your good old days triggered a thought on some recent tinkering on my end.  I have had a !LM tag forever, represents left messages for follow up, tag is in the shortcuts bar.  With the recent changes to life I have been ordering even more on-line.  Tracking can be an issue as shipping times have changed.  I have some PhraseExpress hotkeys that forward receipt emails to EN with appropriate tags.  I added !LM to those hotkeys and now I have one click access to open orders.  Remove the !LM tag when the item arrives.  Again flex of EN and tags..

[DTLow 5,749]

13 minutes ago, CalS said:

With the recent changes to life I have been ordering even more on-line.  Tracking can be an issue as shipping times have changed...Remove the !LM tag when the item arrives.

I record the purchase and emails as a single receipt note (tag !Type-Receipt)
and use the reminder feature to track a delivery date   
I flag the reminder as completed when the item arrives

[CalS 5,311]

20 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I record the purchase and emails as a single receipt note (tag !Type-Receipt)
and use the reminder feature to track a delivery date   
I flag the reminder as completed when the item arrives

Yeah, a good way.  I thought of it but I didn't want this stuff messing up my to do lists.  I just wanted to know what I had not received as yet.  And I don't have to add a reminder, !LM is automatically added with PE hotkey.  FWIW.