Make a specific note shortcut-able and standalone open-able without running the main software

[Hung Nguyen 1]

Hi Evernote develoment team and all users,

This is the situation:
I have a note that needs long time to upgrade, for example, a note that summaries all main points from a book.
Every time I want to open that note, I have to:
Step 1: open the main Evernote program
Step 2: wait for all notes, notebooks, tags, .... loaded.
Step 3: search for the note that I want to upgrade
Step 4: double click that note to open it in a separated window
Step 5: go back to the main Evernote program screen and minimize it or close it with hope to reduce the work load from my CPU

After all above steps, I can be able to start making change to my desired note.
I am sure that many people have the same problem like me: they have to open a whole bunch of notes and notebooks, spend a long time to wait for them to be loaded, but at the end just to open a single note to work on, everyday, for many weeks, even months.

Now this is my suggestion: it would be great if Evernote allow me to create a shortcut to that note, and place it any where like inside desktop screen or some folder, so that, when I double click it, the note will be opened in a window right away without passing the steps 1, 2, 3 and 5 above, this can save our time a lot.
If Evernote actually allows a single note to be opened in a seperate window after closing the main program, why don't you allow it to be opened separately like PSD files in Photoshop or XLSX files in MS Excel?

Thank you for reading this post.
Please upvote if you find it useful.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Hung Nguyen
Make my points clearer

[PinkElephant 8,103]

If you open the desired note in a separate window, and have it open when quitting the app, I think it should open that note in that extra window right on opening the app again. You will probably not do this with a lot of notes, for getting visual clutter all over, but for an important single note this should work.

[gazumped 11,664]

I get this problem with lots of software.  I have to open my email client and view all my emails before being able to send the one email I need to send.  I have to open my word processing software with all its options and links to previous documents before being able to create that one new document I wanted to create.  I don't need all the extra options in either case.  Why oh why do we have to keep on opening software to do things that we want to accomplish?

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,958]

@Hung Nguyen, thank you! I just came here to request this specific thing. With deepest respect for the venerable @gazumped, with Evernote in particular this is a very desirable option, and one that used to exist in v. 6 and earlier, at least in Windows. The key point is that the note is not a new one to be created but one that already exists.

I raised this question in another forum. In yet another thread, @PinkElephant pointed out that there may be technical reasons why such a thing is no longer possible in Evernote v. 10, given the Electron framework. So I have upvoted the request here, but I doubt that it will be implemented.

On 1/14/2022 at 6:41 PM, PinkElephant said:

If you open the desired note in a separate window, and have it open when quitting the app, I think it should open that note in that extra window right on opening the app again. You will probably not do this with a lot of notes, for getting visual clutter all over, but for an important single note this should work.

Yes, this does in fact work--I just checked it out with Evernote. But it requires that I shut down Evernote completely (File > Quit Evernote), and how often is that likely to happen? 😄

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,958]

Well, here's an interesting development. If a note has a reminder, Evernote will pop up a notification in the bottom right of the screen. When you click that notification, the note in question opens up in its own separate window!! So it is technically possible.

[Boot17 1,449]

On 1/14/2022 at 12:33 PM, Hung Nguyen said:

Now this is my suggestion: it would be great if Evernote allow me to create a shortcut to that note, and place it any where like inside desktop screen or some folder, so that, when I double click it, the note will be opened in a window right away without passing the steps 1, 2, 3 and 5 above, this can save our time a lot.

You can almost do this now, except for the part of it opening a note in a new window.

This is on Windows 10.

From Windows explorer - right click and select New -> Shortcut

Paste in the Evernote note link:

Name your shortcut:

Now I can copy and paste that shortcut anywhere. Double-clicking on it will open Evernote and take me to that specific note (but not in a new window)

You still have to wait for the whole Evernote program to open, but even on my 2013 era Windows PC, this only takes a couple of seconds.

(Note that for some reason, the icon of the shortcut is the gray legacy icon, but it does open v10 for me.)

[PinkElephant 8,103]

Probably the grey icon is some leftover of a former legacy install in the registry. It seems the system sometimes gets mixed up on the icons - happens to me on the Mac as well.

The main question here remains to what use the "separate" note should be there: If read only, one of the export formats can be used (for example HTML for a more dynamic content presentation, or as a pdf).

But if it should be editable, I think it will not do without opening the main app. First I need the editor - the new app was build around it. And then I expect any change to sync with the server - and this is a core function of the main app as well.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,958]

4 hours ago, Boot17 said:

You can almost do this now, except for the part of it opening a note in a new window.

But that is the part that is wanted!

50 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

But if it should be editable, I think it will not do without opening the main app. First I need the editor - the new app was build around it. And then I expect any change to sync with the server - and this is a core function of the main app as well.

Of course, any note can be opened in a separate window by double-clicking on it in the Note List (or by clicking on a reminder notification). Edits made in that window sync automatically, just as in the main editor. In the old Evernote v. 6 on Windows (maybe not on Mac?) the process that @Boot17 describes actually did create a link that would open the note in question in its own window. That's what we're looking for in the new app. If it can be done from a reminder notification, I hope it can be done from a desktop shortcut. But of course I don't know the technicalities.

[PinkElephant 8,103]

There are 3 elements here:

1. the note (asked to be a standalone entity)
2. the app needed to open and edit it
3. the framework into which the app is embedded - necessary to execute the device independent app code on a specific device

 No, a note can not be opened without launching the app, and with it the underlying framework. This is by design, no easy way around it.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,958]

And yet, I'm telling you, it could be done easily in Evernote v. 6 and before, on Windows at least. Yes, the underlying framework has to be launched (if not already running). But that doesn't prevent opening a note in a separate window. In v. 6, the main window pops open in front of the separate window with the particular note in it, something that a number of users requested be changed; but by that time v. 10 was already in the works. My point is that even if the underlying app must be launched if not already running, the desired note can still be opened in a separate window. Or at least could previously, and can be in v. 10 if the note is called from a reminder notification--and in that case the note actually appears on top of the running main window, if it is present.

[PinkElephant 8,103]

The thread owner asked to open a note "... without running the main software".

Legacy was not able to do this - it was based on a local database. To interpret this database, it needed to start the main application. You can check by looking it up in the Windows Task Manager.

The only difference was the little helper - in legacy it could be started without launching the main program. In v10 it will only show when the main app is running - could be in the background. But this little program could only grab something, and add it to the database. It could not display content from EN.

[Boot17 1,449]

On 1/14/2022 at 12:33 PM, Hung Nguyen said:

If Evernote actually allows a single note to be opened in a seperate window after closing the main program

I think some of what OP was posting was based on this assumption that is probably wrong -- or at least not stated totally correct. The main program is not closed, the main window is just hidden - so the whole program is still loaded in memory. (similar to what @gazumped was stating)

Here are the processes running on my Windows computer when the main window and a single note in another window are open:

Here are the processes running on my computer 10 seconds after I "close" the main program (really just hiding the main window -- the whole program is still running):

From the single note window, you can open the main window by pressing a shortcut such as 'Alt-Ctrl-2' which will open the note list -- the main window pops open instantaneously because it was only hidden, not closed.