Organizing Notes

[ahmedmorad 0]

I'm a big fan of this tool! I love it and feel that I will keep using it for quite some time.

 

One draw back I see in the app and software is the limitation to how one can organize his/her notes and notebooks. The sorting feature limits the user to ascending and descending sorting with respect to certain parameters (Alphabets,  Date, etc.)

Being able to organize things freely, move up/move down a note "within a notebook" or notebook "within the notebooks section" would be an awesome plus in addition to the current sorting features. 

 

The other thins is to be able to pin a certain note to the top of a notebook, if the above freedom is not a possibility for whatever reason!

 

I hope this gets received and considered.

Best wishes,

Ahmed

 

[PinkElephant 8,729]

The main organizing feature in EN is not the notebook - it is through tags.

You don’t mention them, and you ask some questions that would answer themselves if you would apply tags instead of trying to set everything up through notebooks.

[ahmedmorad 0]

I dont use tags, at the moment at least. 

until then why isnt it an option to organize through notebooks! i think its an easy add on and might be useful for some. 

[PinkElephant 8,729]

You will run out of notebooks, but before you will loose oversight.

Working notebook only (or even primarily) is against the organizational concept of EN. As always it can be done, but it is neither efficient nor safe for the future, with growing volume and complexity of your data.

Maybe search in the web for GTD Getting Things Done to get some ideas.

If you feel better by notebooks, just go ahead, try how far it takes you. There is always a rainy weekend to reorganize.

[agsteele 3,056]

@ahmedmorad The debate between notebooks and tags has been going on for as long as Evernote has existed. You'll find proponents of both - I am with @PinkElephant and prefer tags but if we wait long enough or you search in the forums you will find dozens of discussions saying that notebooks are more efficient.

You may even find a few saying tell your brain that tags are really just notebooks by another name.

There are also many who find that Evernote's great strength is its ability to search. Some of these folk have a single notebook and place everything there and just search when they need something. This is an extreme approach.  If you share notes with others then sharing a whole notebook makes the process easier. Pop a note in a shared notebook and it is automatically shared with the participants in that notebook. Move it out and the share stops.

A notebook structure works well enough for those who think in a physical filing mode. Tags are better once you get your head around having the same note in multiple places. Instead of having to copy the note it just appears under tag1, tag2 and tag49 or whatever. Tags add more flexibility. It isn't either/or. You have to have at least one notebook. In my view tags just add extra versatility and capacity.

[DTLow 5,744]

1 hour ago, agsteele said:

If you share notes with others then sharing a whole notebook makes the process easier

Evernote uses notebooks to identify notes as:   
- shared  
- offline   
- local (Evernote Legacy)

[agsteele 3,056]

Just now, DTLow said:

Evernote uses notebooks for:   
- shared notes   
- offline notes

The concept of offline notes is, in reality, dead.  Those who still use the Legacy application have that option but we are told that they are gone in v10 so once Legacy ceases, so will offline notes. So my view is that it isn't wise to base a workflow around offline/local notes.

[DTLow 5,744]

28 minutes ago, agsteele said:

The concept of offline notes is, in reality, dead.

I edited my post to add local (Evernote Legacy)   
Offline notes is a different concept and is still alive   

[agsteele 3,056]

You are, of course correct. I was thinking only with my desktop application head on. With mobile offline is, of course, by notebook and only for paying users. In the desktop apps all notes are available offline. Thanks for the nudge.