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how do you use import folders


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I just learned about this feature recently from an Evernote Youtube video (h/t vladcampos), which I am shocked by since I have been using Evernote since 2010! On the surface it seems very intriguing, especially since my job is very research/writing/pdf heavy. I have seen some users like @PinkElephantand @agsteelepost about it when troubleshooting or answering questions on the forums. But, I would be curious to hear how how do you all use this feature to improve your work? Does this provide, like, a Dropbox-level of sync-ability? Or do you just use it to get a big batch of files into Evernote to work with them there? What are your use cases? 

Just curious to learn what others do so I can figure out how it could work for me. Anyway, thanks for reading! 

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Basically you link a folder to an EN notebook. Which means you can have several import folders, each one dropping anything pushed into it into a different notebook.

This leads to interesting options, especially when you use these notebooks as entry inboxes, and tag the content there before moving it further.

One specific use case is with my ix500 scanner and the ScanSnap Manager Software. I send the scan into ScanSnap Manager, and have it OCRed there. Then I modify the file name to something that meets my filing rules. 

And then I save it directly into my Scan Import Folder. The note carries the file name as title - which means no title rework any more. The Import folder has completely replaced the „Scan to Evernote“ option. First because I prefer to have my OCR done by my software, not by EN, and second, because I get a good note title instead of the coded garbage the scanner produces.

BTW import folders on legacy were a Windows client feature only, it never made it to the Mac. To have a unified import folder feature only came with v10.

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Hi.  Like @PinkElephant I mainly use my Import Folder for scanning - although in my case I use another desktop folder as the initial target and do my editing / renaming / merging and splitting there.  When I finish a scanning session I bulk move the completed files into the Import Folder so Evernote can eat them in one operation. 

Bear in mind that the file in that folder has been copied into your Evernote database,  so you have duplicate copies - if you're short on storage space you can delete the folder copies.  

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Oh, one more thing …

Import folders (or better their functionality app-side) can be chocked by throwing too many files into them at once. There is no exact limit, but I wouldn’t go beyond 10 files at a time, then waiting until the notes have been created. 

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It's perhaps worth mentioning that import folders should be seen in the context of all the different methods of getting an attachment into EN, when you are not working within EN on a particular note. @JDCis doesn't mention which version of EN he is using, but on Windows desktop the methods I find most useful are:

  • Import folders
  • Right click the file and choose Send to  -> Evernote
  • Dragging the file directly into the note list - a new note is then created containing the file as an attachment
  • The pdf capture option within the EN webclipper
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Thank you all, this is interesting. What I am getting is really this is more of a tool for bulk importing items into Evernote. (To @Mike P's question, I am using all version of Evernote - Mac desktop, iOS, Web (on a PC)...). I don't really do a lot of scanning like @PinkElephantor @gazumped. Most of my PDFs are downloaded from research databases, so they are OCRed. I will experiment with setting up downloads into an import folder so they are automatically put into Evernote. However, I usually have to annotate my PDFs in another app (Preview on Mac, GoodReader on iOS), so that is why I asked about the syncing function -- like do the files continually sync from the folder into Evernote or is just a single upload and then that's it? 

(A separate but related topic is, I would really love to do more with PDF files in Evernote, but I have not found a good way to make use of them. IMO the annotation tools in Evernote are not really usable. My ideal scenario would be to do everything in one place - upload the PDF, annotate it in Evernote, and then write up summaries, etc. Anyway, I can only dream one day they fix the PDF annotation tools...)

Thanks! 

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4 minutes ago, JDCis said:

so that is why I asked about the syncing function -- like do the files continually sync from the folder into Evernote or is just a single upload and then that's it? 

pdf files work the same as any other attachment. If you open the file in an external editor, make changes and then save the file, you are changing the actual attachment. Open the attachment again and the changes are still there. So you are not limited to using EN's own annotation tool. If you double click the pdf it will open in whatever app pdfs normally open in on your system.

I just added a note to a pdf using Adobe Acrobat Reader. For some reason you need to overwrite the file rather thn just save it, but if you persist it works fine. 

The key is to experiment and see how it goes. Make sure the changes are still there a few days later, for example, and build up confidence that it works as you expect.

 

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16 hours ago, Mike P said:

The key is to experiment and see how it goes. Make sure the changes are still there a few days later, for example, and build up confidence that it works as you expect.

That's a good advice! For any reason, EN does not recognize new versions of attachments in really all cases. But I've the feeling that this got better with EN10 (uses a file watchdog instead of lingering for foreign program's death in Legacy).

But if it fails in really rare cases - don't panic! There is a note history available that carries older versions of attachments also (see here - requires a Premium, Personal, Professional, or Teams subscription).

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