Create a Desktop Link/Shortcut Directly to a Note or File

[hexatronn 2]

Is it possible to create a link to a note on your desktop? What about to a file in a note? I have an excel file I access regularly and right now I open Evernote, navigate to the note from my Evernote shortcuts and open the file in Excel by clicking on the file in my Evernote note. 

I'm wondering if there's a way to create a desktop shortcut that will directly open the note (from which I can open the excel file) or even better, if I can create a desktop shortcut that will open the excel file from Evernote directly in Excel?

[gazumped 12,230]

Hi.  Find the note containing your file. Click the three dots menu in the note body and choose 'copy note link'.  Create a desktop shortcut.

Create internal note links

 

[DTLow 5,749]

On 7/18/2021 at 11:41 AM, hexatronn said:

if I can create a desktop shortcut that will open the excel file from Evernote directly in Excel?

As per @gazumped, use the copy in-app link and create a desktop shortcut to open the note

No, the excel file can not be opened directly by the shortcut   
The spreadsheet exists as a note attachment in the Evernote database    
- it has to be exported as a OS file to be opened by Excel

[gazumped 12,230]

13 minutes ago, DTLow said:

No, the excel file can not be opened directly by the shortcut

Oops! missed that bit.  ...Although if quick/ frequent access to that file is important you could consider saving it to a cloud server (Google Docs,  et al) and adding a link to that file to your desktop.  It'll open up immediately.

You can still have a link in your notes too,  which will work from other locations;  but the desktop link will be quick and easy from that device.  (Evernote isn't always the best home for your files...)  

[CalS 5,311]

2 hours ago, gazumped said:

Oops! missed that bit.  ...Although if quick/ frequent access to that file is important you could consider saving it to a cloud server (Google Docs,  et al) and adding a link to that file to your desktop.  It'll open up immediately.

You can still have a link in your notes too,  which will work from other locations;  but the desktop link will be quick and easy from that device.  (Evernote isn't always the best home for your files...)  

Most of my important Excel files are on cloud storage (OneDrive in my case, it's an IQ test what with the 1TB included  if you are an office user).  I have links to files in notes in EN. Reasons for all on cloud for me are I like a guaranteed backup after changes and there were some issues with corrupted Excel files containing pivot tables in the past within EN.

I use @gazumped's desktop link for one very often used spreadsheet.  The rest I access via the notes.  Not that much trouble as I always have EN open on the right monitor of a two monitor set up so they are all a shortcut click away.  FWIW.

Edit.  Full picture I use a 2 TB SSD USB drive and a 128 GB thumb drive as a D: drive for OneDrive.  2 TB attached to my main PC and 128 GB on my backup.  That way the links work from within EN no matter the machine I am using.  Obviously I don't fully sync OneDrive on the backup PC.  Again, FWIW.

[DTLow 5,749]

Storing the spreadsheet externally, with a file link in the note is a good solution   
I use file links in the Evernote Legacy product   
Unfortunately, file links are not supported in Evernote's v10 product

[CalS 5,311]

1 hour ago, DTLow said:

Storing the spreadsheet externally, with a file link in the note is a good solution   
I use file links in the Evernote Legacy product   
Unfortunately, file links are not supported in Evernote's v10 product

For sure  I removed V10 from my backup PC for just this reason.  Not only does it not support links it kills any links in a note you visit.

[hexatronn 2]

Thanks for all of the tips. I explored the Google drive option, but found it isn't trivial to create a desktop shortcut that will open an excel file in Excel from Google drive without installing their backup and sync software that is a heavier solution that what I'm looking for. (or using the web-based Google sheets). I like how Evernote seamlessly lets you open an Excel file and save changes to it directly to the note. I haven't come across any issues with file corruption yet. 

I opted to create Classic Note Links (right-click note to get menu & hold option for classic link to open the note in the application rather than the web client) and created an automator script to run a /bin/bash script like so: 'open evernote:///view/1234...' (replacing 1234 with the classic note link). I tried to take it a step further and write a script that would open the excel file, but had no luck, but this works for now.