Q: Import folders use case?

[ViktorN 15]

Hello,

can you please share with me a use case for "import folders" functionality?

I am aware what it does and I also recall it from the 6.x version of EN. I have never used it and I just can't think of any useful usage pattern for me. It seems, however, that it is "the most required feature" and I am wondering what I am missing.

You can drag and drop files directly to the notes. Why would I want an import folder which doesn't sync?

What are the best practices?

Thank you

V.

[PinkElephant 8,103]

Some ideas:

- Setup a scanner, to send files into a folder. The files are send there, EN grabs them and creates notes. The files stay in the folder, maybe for another use.

- You share a folder over the network. Others can place files there. EN will make notes out of them, without a need to give EN access to anybody, or make people learn another program.

- You have a stick with a bunch of files. You don’t want to hassle with creating notes. Simply put them into the import folder, notes are created.

- Since you can link more than one folder, and each to a different notebook, you can create simple „if file in here, process it there“ logic.

- Because you can include subfolders, you can move a complete folder tree (like a project documentation) into EN.

Enough ? I am sure there are more ideas.

[DTLow 5,736]

39 minutes ago, ViktorN said:

You can drag and drop files directly to the notes. Why would I want an import folder ...

Use Case;  
I'm using my Mac, but don't have the Evernote app open   
I have a file to be imported (scanner, web download, ...)    
It's easy to direct the file to the import folder

>>which doesn't sync?

Can you explain this.   
When I open the Evernote app, the files are imported and the sync process runs

[gazumped 11,664]

As @PinkElephant - I'm an 'old school' scanner - my ScanSnap saves scans to a folder where I can retitle the file,  catch any issues,  occasionally split or merge pages,  OCR locally in bulk,  then copy / paste the content to an Import folder which will convert 40-50 files into individual notes within Evernote.  Filterize then takes over,  and based on keywords will allocate those notes into their correct notebooks.  I have my current folder set to delete files after they're imported to avoid duplicate records,  but I can see situations where having a growing list of saved files in that folder would be a welcome backup.

As with lots of other requests - it's fine if you don't see an immediate need for this feature;  it is easy to set up - or you can just ignore it and continue with your current processes,

 

[Mike McGowan 36]

My use case is simple.  I added this to the my Quick Access in Windows Explorer / Favorites in Mac Finder.  Drag & drop a file and presto - it's in Evernote.

This feature was always lacking on the Mac Version. IMO this is yet another example of the wisdom of rebuilding the clients for a consistent UX across all platforms. Now if I could just get EN10 on my aging Kindle device...

 

[lost_gweedo 73]

To add the lazy man workflow....I might know that I want to keep a file in evernote, but don't want to deal with it now.  Drag it to the import folder and come back later to organize when I'm sitting in my truck waiting for next appointment.

[dbvirago 502]

What everyone else said, I scan directly to that folder, it's where I save email attachments where I don't want to forward the email to EN, and several other functions.

 

Then, the act of moving or scanning the file to my import folder, places a copy there, my Evernote, my external drive(s) and my cloud backup without me having to do anything else.