How to create the note structure as per OneNote?

[Keennntttt 2]

Hi, 

I have been using Evernote for storing document and repository purpose. I don't find it user-friendly in terms of making notes for study as well as for work as it doesn't have the flexibility of positioning the notes. I search from net, some suggested to build TOC (table of contents)  and use Tag for the notes, ya doable but extra effort. 

I enjoyed using OneNote for taking notes because the notes can be arranged in a more structured way. It has 4 levels.

1.) Notebook.

2.) Section in notebook.

3.) Page in the section.

4.) Sub page from the main page. 

 

Lately I revisit the capability of Evernote and to see whether I can build the similar note structure in Evernote. 

 

Option 1

1 Notebook = Stack

2 Section = Notebook

3 Page = Notes

4 Sub Page = ?? (cannot be done in Evernote)

OR

Option 2

1 Notebook = Notebook

2 Section = Tags

3 Page = Notes

4 Sub page = ?? (cannot be done in Evernote)

 

It seems that sub-page can never be mimicked in Evernote. And If I were to use Option1, I would need to create many Notebooks, I just check the limits of Evernote, it can only provide 1000 notebooks.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005247-Evernote-system-limits

 

Kindly share your thought and your experience in managing your notes. Thanks.

 

 

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, Keennntttt said:

I enjoyed using OneNote for taking notes because the notes can be arranged in a more structured way. It has 4 levels.

Evernote Structure is Stacks > Notebooks > Notes   
                                   alternatively         Tags > Notes   
I have minimal notebooks; Tags are my solution for organization    
Tags have a parent/child hierarchy for unlimited levels; maximum 100,000 tags

There is no Notebook > Sections     
       and no Note > sub-Note (Page > subPage)

I can simulate additional levels using prefix naming    
For example:  aaaaa > aaaaa-bbbbb > aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc > aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc-ddddd

>>build TOC (table of contents)

This is my solution    
It doesn't have to be a separate ToC note, just links in the notes

[Keennntttt 2]

1 hour ago, DTLow said:

Evernote Structure is Stacks > Notebooks > Notes   
                                   alternatively         Tags > Notes   
I have minimal notebooks; Tags are my solution for organization    
Tags have a parent/child hierarchy for unlimited levels; maximum 100,000 tags

There is no Notebook > Sections     
       and no Note > sub-Note (Page > subPage)

I can simulate additional levels using prefix naming    
For example:  aaaaa > aaaaa-bbbbb > aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc > aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc-ddddd

>>build TOC (table of contents)

This is my solution    
It doesn't have to be a separate ToC note, just links in the notes

Thanks for your sharing. And also about the usage of sub-tags. I need to explore further how to make use of it to design the structure of my notes. 

Being able to put page and sub-page in OneNote gives me the visibility and the relationship of the notes to each other in a glance, something missing in Evernote.

 

[Keennntttt 2]

I find this useful how to make use of the tags with minimum numbers of Notebooks

 

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/organize-evernote-tags/

 

 

[PinkElephant 8,073]

A simple hint: Don’t try to mimic something in one tool that was the design conception another. What works nicely in one will never feel natural in another, and will most likely not work. The main organizing concept of EN IMHO could be described as „few notebooks, many tags“ (although others may see this differently).

Get yourself a Basic account, create a limited number of notes (for example for a project) and try what works for your use cases.

[ArjenC 124]

Beware that the use of tags is different on version 10. In pervious versions you could search notes by tags in 2 modes. ANY or ALL. In v10 only the ALL mode is available. This is a real problem when you use tags for organizational purposes. Because a tag search with multiple tags assumes ALL tags should be on a note, not one or two of the multiple tags.

This ANY and ALL feature is not on the list of features to return in the near future...Beware of this issue. This makes EV less organisation friendly...

Also the whole Tag feature in V10 is buggy (mildly put), doesn't work well and seems to be of a lower priority to the dev-team(s). It is improved but when use it extensively in V10 ... frustration will be your friend. Legacy version is fine, but no guarantees in the future (+many workstation management tools will prompt you about out-of-date software and the possible risks out-dated software brings... and they are 100% correct)

[PinkElephant 8,073]

ALL (a logical AND) is the default. You can always use the search language:

-tag:tagname           excludes a tag

By this you can find ALL except a specific tag, like „-tag:ArchiveTag“ to exclude all notes that are marked as archived.

any: tag1 tag2         is a logical OR (here with a space behind the „:“)

if you don’t remember exactly which Tag was applied.

etc.

Not included to the GUI, but good to focus a search. Yes, it would be nice if we could build it without knowing the search syntax. 

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313828-How-to-use-Evernote-s-advanced-search-syntax

 

https://dev.evernote.com/doc/articles/search_grammar.php

[Keennntttt 2]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

A simple hint: Don’t try to mimic something in one tool that was the design conception another. What works nicely in one will never feel natural in another, and will most likely not work. The main organizing concept of EN IMHO could be described as „few notebooks, many tags“ (although others may see this differently).

Get yourself a Basic account, create a limited number of notes (for example for a project) and try what works for your use cases.

Ok noted. "few notebooks with many tags"

I have been using Evernote for years, I'm on Premium account with total 13000 notes now, mainly used to keep personal document/bills/statement and information. 

Lately due to work, I'm exposed to OneNote, I find the structure is easy on organizing the pages/notes. At work when I'm picking up new skills, I use OneNote to structure the course contents, it gives me the visibility that I want. 

That's why I'm revisiting Evernote functions, see how I can make full use of it, since it is a paid subscription   

 

[ArjenC 124]

@PinkElephant I know the search syntax. The V10 version in compare with legacy is totally different in user friendliness.
To illustrate:
Legacy: To search all note with a tag in a stack you simply select the root tag of the stack.
Let's say you have a stack called STATUS with sub tags ACTIVE, ARCHIVE. When selecting (left panel) STATUS tag you get:

In this screen you can alter the matching mode to ALL, only notes with ALL 3 tags will be shown (in test case: 0). Or apply some filters / extra search criteria. 

V10:
When you select STATUS in the left panel you don't see any results, because it is searching for the STATUS tag, but notes don't have them because it is a root STACK tag.

Searching from the Tag module and applying filter with subtags, same results:

To get the same results you need to write: any: tag:ACTIVE tag:ARCHIVE in the search box (left top box):

So it is possible to get same results, but imagine you have 30+ subtags in a stack.....

My point to this all: searching and organising based on tags is broken. You need to remember the tag(s) you assigned it to. It isn't point and click, it is typing complex any: all: tag:bbb -tag:bbb syntax strings. Searching on content is quicker... when i type: NOTE in the search box i have them in one go.

Organizing with tags is time spent which doesn't payback. Just type in title of note your search trigger (ACTIVE, ARCHIVE) and search in one go... 

And support notified me that the legacy ONE CLICK and find all notes in stack isn't coming soon. Tags are not a priority at this stage of the product... so you know..

[PinkElephant 8,073]

Sure it could be solved in an easier, more user friendly way - I have tried to mention this in my post.

On the other side it is not really impossible even for a user out of the no-nerd fraction to use these simple commands as a workaround. Who does not remember can use saved searches to store the search syntax frequently needed.

[ArjenC 124]

True... from a productivity perspective the V10 implementation of tags is....@#$%@$#%@ (filtered):

Example TAG: STACK NOTEBOOKS -  STACK CONTACTS - STACK KEYWORDS
You want to find all note from person A, in Notebook A B and C, with the Keyword Z

In Legacy it is a matter of;
- CLICK person A tag within the STACK
- crtl+click the notebook tags A B C
- ctrl+click tag keyword Z.
5 Mouse clicks.. and have the notes

If i want to search within these notes (select from all) a can refine my search easily

In V10:

You need (not possible to multi select tags) to type: tag:"Person A" tag:"Notebook A" tag:"Notebook B" tag:"Notebook C" tag:"Keyword z"
Don't make a mistake in naming, else you need to reset your filters and start over again. 

With these note a can limited refine my search by opening the filter menu.

For me this is unproductive as @$#%@#$% (filtered).

So yes you can get same results but to cost (time)  are huge and not workable for me. Cannot imagine that somebody that uses tags as organizational and productivity purposes is happy with the v10 implementation of the tag feature...

[gazumped 11,652]

Without getting into the weeds on tag philosophy,  there are (at least) two other ways to structure notes which can accommodate infinite nesting.

1:  Use a Dashboard / header note / executive summary - which is a 'table of contents' note listing

• Main topic
  • sub topic
    • sub-sub topic
      • etc...
• - each level being a link to a new note on that topic.  Easy(ish) to do on desktop by keeping the dash board open in a separate window and drag/ dropping new note links from the main database.

2:  Use an external app - I use Workflowy - which can nest links to notes*.  This forinstance is a list of events I'm collating for a calendar.  The title of each event will become a link to an Evernote containing any details,  images or comms related to that event.  Blue shaded dots mean there's a drop-down with more details.  Orange dots mean the entry appears elsewhere.  (These event entries are mirrored** in alpha lists under 'venue' and 'managed by')  A shaded orange dot means more drop-downs.  The top 'new event' entry is a template that generates the layout and headings for each entry.

* it takes some fumbling to get the notes to open reliably in the app rather than a browser window...

** means wherever the entry appears I can edit the content and it will update all instances of that item.