(Archived) REQUEST: Note Links

[jandali 0]

Hi the Evernote's Team,

I love Evernote, but for me it lack a verry important feature : the ability to make internals links in a note.

eg : I have a note with all my films collection (and the description of each film), on the top I want to make a table of content whith the list of films.

Intenals links can have many applications.

I hope to find this feature in a future version of evernote.

Thank you in advance !

[engberg 89]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[mdave 1]

Yes. I would paste these links into tasks in Remember the Milk. I would see it as selectable from the notebook or note contextual menu as "copy link".

[LarryEitel 1]

Yes, I totally agree with this feature request. PLEASE provide a means to link to other EN notes. Perhaps a mechanism to do a Search of notes. This could be either an existing saved Search or a custom search. Without exposing a Note GUI or ID number, I suppose something like notebook.title would be great. Granted, if the Note was moved or Title was changed, it would break the link. Even then (dreaming here) a quick lookup of any internal links to the note about to be moved/renamed/deleted would generate a warning message.

WHAT EVER IS DONE PLEASE GIVE US a way to link to INTERNAL EN Notes.

Thank You for an otherwise useful tool.

[EN_Lover 0]

+100 Please please please - I run into this feature need daily. If EN is to be your other brain, then hyperlinking internal notes are the synapses!! Would LOVE LOVE LOVE this feature. I currently get around this by finding the link on the web version, but it's very cumbersome.

I saw a suggestion for an alternative to this solution which I also think would be terrific - a 'search within EN' feature - highlight the text to be searched, right click, voila!

Interconnected notes would be terrific leverage over the content.

Thanks!

[dhawkins1234 0]

Will it ever be possible to add hyperlinks/pointers to other notes? I still don't understand why that isn't an obvious extension of functionality. I feel like sometimes the people at Evernote have a hard time seeing that different users may have very different needs. I use Evernote all the time, and it's great for unstructured data that I just need to stick somewhere. That use case seems to be the main focus. But I'm also a student, and materials for a specific course are very structured, yet at the same time interconnected. And Evernote is bad at allowing me to access it in the ways I need to.

I put each lecture/assignment/reading/exam in a separate note, but I also make notes to record my thoughts about a particular concept, or to make reviews of the material before a test. It would incredibly useful if, while I was reviewing, I could write down a concept with a brief description, then include a link to the lecture note it was in, to the homework assignment that covered it, or to a note where I wrote down my thoughts about it in more detail. That's just one specific example, but not a week goes by where I don't find another possible use for inter-note links that makes me wonder, "why aren't they working on this?"

[jefito 5,598]

Dave Engberg has said on a number of occasions that note links are in their plans (forum search on "note links" can give you some of the threads, if you're interested). No delivery date specified as far as I know.

~Jeff

[ajg23 22]

Ability to create links to notes is essential for me if I were to completely give up OneNote...

[helix 10]

Linking notes one to the other is one of the most requested features. EN 2.2 used to have it but since then it is gone.

Tag is also kind of a link. So In the meantime you can use the next trick (appeared in this forum a couple of times):

Once you want to make a link between 2 notes, close your eyes and click four letters and digits at random. Add this 4 letter\digit "link" as a tag to both notes. Add it later to every note that you want to "link" to them. When you want to get the "linked” notes just put the "link" above in the search box and get them all. And you do not have to remember or write down this linking tag. Think intuitively, search for one of the notes including this tag by a lecture title, lecturer name, year of exam, etc., or any combination among them, get that note, find the tag there and then get the rest of the group. :shock:

It's sounds a little bit like a clumsy solution but EN is amazingly fast on searches. It takes just 2-3 seconds to execute. And right now you do not have a better way, do you.. Good luck!

[jbenson2 2,149]

Yes, links would help. But there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Expanding on Helix's comment...

I bought a new convection stove / micro wave combo recently - involving lots of on-line research, comparisons, visits to stores, schedules for delivery and carpenter installation, warranty details, carpenter receipt, cashed check, etc.

I linked all these notes together with "Reference Search Code PS45E536" pasted to each of the notes.

• The PS45E536 is an automatically generated by my password manager Roboform. The alpha/number generator is in the toolbar at the top, so I always have quick access to it. I could change the parameters to with a higher bit strength (Bs*4bDS2 or 4!D8p8$5@nJu), but 6 capital letters/numbers is fine for my application.
  

Of course there is no way to remember this code number, so I have Evernote search for "Code" and the subject. (In this case "Code" "Oven".) Then I copy the code number into search and find all notes pertaining to my oven purchase.

To make the Reference Search Code look different, I place it close to the top of the page, change the font for the Reference Search Code to a smaller size (10) and use a different font (Courier New).

This system is also helpful for future appointments. I have the annual fall sprinkler shut-down scheduled with a reference search code for next year, as well as the past service calls. This is helpful if I change the service company. I can quickly see what the service charges were in the past.

Yes, this involves a few more steps than just a link, but it works today, not sometime in the future.

And if links become available in the future, I will be one step ahead of everyone else in locating all my associated notes.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

close your eyes and click four letters and digits at random.

I've used jbenson's method a few times as well. But rather than closing your eyes & attempting to randomly click four letters & digits, I prefer to use a password generator for ~10 numbers/letters. Like jbenson, I use Roboform (awesome app!), so I use the one provided with it. But I know there are some online ones.

[helix 10]

Well I do not really close my eyes while clicking the 4 digits\letters on the keyboard... :?

I do use Roboform, and I was thinking too to use its password generator, but than I figured out that the chance to repeat 4 random clicks on 36 available digits and letters is 1:1,700,000. So a 4-digit code is quite unique.. Actually even 3 random clicks are sufficient - 1:50,000. The advantage of a short code is that once you see it you can write it directly in the search box saving the copy+paste of a long code.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Well I do not really close my eyes while clicking the 4 digits\letters on the keyboard... :?

I do use Roboform, and I was thinking too to use its password generator, but than I figured out that the chance to repeat 4 random clicks on 36 available digits and letters is 1:1,700,000. So a 4-digit code is quite unique.. Actually even 3 random clicks are sufficient - 1:50,000. The advantage of a short code is that once you see it you can write it directly in the search box saving the copy+paste of a long code.

Excellent points. I bow to your statistical analysis - it is spot on. A short code is ideal for these types of situations. I'm going to change to a 3 alpha/digit code. 54A, 63F, P74, etc are much easier to remember.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Well I do not really close my eyes while clicking the 4 digits\letters on the keyboard... :?

I do use Roboform, and I was thinking too to use its password generator, but than I figured out that the chance to repeat 4 random clicks on 36 available digits and letters is 1:1,700,000. So a 4-digit code is quite unique.. Actually even 3 random clicks are sufficient - 1:50,000. The advantage of a short code is that once you see it you can write it directly in the search box saving the copy+paste of a long code.

Whatever floats your boat. But with the Roboform password generator, I just click 'copy' & it's done. And I'm lazy.

[jefito 5,598]

I'm so lazy, I am going to wait until note links are supported...

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'm so lazy, I am going to wait until note links are supported...

Maybe that's the real reason you don't turn the EN ads off. :shock:

[jefito 5,598]

I'm so lazy, I am going to wait until note links are supported...

Maybe that's the real reason you don't turn the EN ads off. :shock:

*** busted ***

~Jeff

[MartinPacker 2]

Maybe this is already here but I don't know how to do it if it is...

Yesterday I wanted to point to one note from another. The idea being you click on the link in Note A (like a URL) and it takes you to Note B.

Thoughts?

Martin

[jefito 5,598]

As far as I know, Evernote is still planning on offering this feature, but it's not in place at this time. You should be able to find other threads that discuss this by searching the forum on 'links' or 'hylerlinks'. There are other systems that other people use to simulate them, but nothing as transparent as the links you're talking about.

~Jeff

[mdave 1]

IDEA (perhaps this has been suggested before):

We have an web URL for each note.

1) I want to a way to access (to copy and search) the web URL for each note, for reference in other apps (email, GTD, calendar, etc.).

2) I want to be able to search my client for the local Note using the web URL.

Since, EN knows what the URL refers to on the client, we should be able to find the local Note by inputting the web URL into a client interface.

[jbenson2 2,149]

IDEA (perhaps this has been suggested before):

We have an web URL for each note.

1) I want to a way to access (to copy and search) the web URL for each note, for reference in other apps (email, GTD, calendar, etc.).

2) I want to be able to search my client for the local Note using the web URL.

Since, EN knows what the URL refers to on the client, we should be able to find the local Note by inputting the web URL into a client interface.

I don't understand question #1

For #2

If you want to find all notes that were pulled from the Drudge Report, just enter in the search field:

sourceURL:http://www.drudgereport.com/*

Some website do not require the www

sourceURL:http://hotair.com/*

[mdave 1]

IDEA (perhaps this has been suggested before):

We have an web URL for each note.

1) I want to a way to access (to copy and search) the web URL for each note, for reference in other apps (email, GTD, calendar, etc.).

2) I want to be able to search my client for the local Note using the web URL.

Since, EN knows what the URL refers to on the client, we should be able to find the local Note by inputting the web URL into a client interface.

I don't understand question #1

I want to link a specific Note to my GTD app, or to iCal. I know that I can reference the web URL for the Note, but I don't work from the web interface. I want EN client to parse the web URL (which is the only global reference for the Note that I know of), and to make it available to me in the client so that I don't have to go out to the web for it. I will then paste that into a task in my GTD app, or into an event in iCal.

For #2

If you want to find all notes that were pulled from the Drudge Report, just enter in the search field:

sourceURL:http://www.drudgereport.com/*

I don't want to search on a web site. I may not even know the name of the website I am referring to. It may not be a website, but only an EN text note. When the task is due, I want to be able to copy the URL from the GTD app and to paste it into a search interface in EN and find the original Note.

Currently, we can only reference the web URL for a note. I want EN to do the work to relate the web URL with the ID of the note on the local client. I'm sure this can be done.

[jbenson2 2,149]

When you get into computer code automation, I'm sorry, but I have to bail out.

Maybe someone else can take a stab at this.

Good luck, sounds like a fun project.

[mdave 1]

Fun? This is supposed to be fun? :shock:

But I think it would be useful to those wishing compress the steps in any workflow they are using to manually connect EN with other apps.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Fun? This is supposed to be fun? :shock:

But I think it would be useful to those wishing compress the steps in any workflow they are using to manually connect EN with other apps.

Yeah, anytime you can replace tedious manual cut and paste activity with automation, it is a challenge but worth the effort.

[flaneige 13]

I'd like EN allows us

- to define some kind of "keyword" (WikiWord, or #&Word, or ...)

- to automatically perform a Search intitle:"keyword", when you tap (ou click) such a "keyword" within a note

[logandb 229]

You could simulate a keyword field by putting a line in the note, like #keyword, #recipe, etc. and then simply search on the string. The hash helps avoid confusion with plain text.

David.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Here is my work-around solution for linking notes.

(Since I wrote it, I have reduced my search code to a 4 digit alpha-numeric code.)

http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=20897&p=88631#p88631

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

You could simulate a keyword field by putting a line in the note, like #keyword, #recipe, etc. and then simply search on the string. The hash helps avoid confusion with plain text.

David.

This will not work, since you cannot search on the hash or any other special characters, since they are delimiters. The exception is the underscore. So you'd need to use _recipe.

[josemalonso 0]

Just want to support this feature request.

[riw777 0]

I'm currently using OneNote --I would have switched to Evernote a long long time ago if this feature were available. The primary use I have for this is:

http://thinkinginchrist.com/linking-to-logos-4/

But of course I could think of many others --any time you're doing research you really want the ability to link a note into a document. As you build the document, you link to the notes you used to support the specific section of the document you're working on. Of course, you take these notes out when you're finishing the document, but while writing it, this is such a useful thing to be able to do.

I know the Evernote folks say this is really really hard to do, but given the search engine and the ability of the designer to add hidden fields, it just doesn't seem all that hard to me. It would be as as simple as finding a unique number on every machine the software runs on (the MAC address, perhaps? Most machines have some unique number on them someplace), and adding a unique semi-random number to a hidden filed in each note. The link would just be a link into the search engine so it searches on just this one hidden field...

Don't understand why this one hasn't been done.

Russ

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

It would be as as simple as finding a unique number on every machine the software runs on (the MAC address, perhaps? Most machines have some unique number on them someplace), and adding a unique semi-random number to a hidden filed in each note.

That may work...if you only use EN on one machine. Many of us use it on multiple machines (work computer/home computer/netbook, phone, etc.) Plus, if your old computer took a dive & you got a new one, that could be problematic as well.

(Actually, I don't understand how using a unique machine number would be helpful, anyway.)

If you've read any of Dave Engberg's posts where he describes the problem they have to overcome in order to add links, I think you'd see it's not as easy as you think.

[riw777 0]

(Actually, I don't understand how using a unique machine number would be helpful, anyway.)

Because it solves this problem:

That may work...if you only use EN on one machine.

If you combine some unique number from the local machine with a unique number within the note program instance on a given machine, you have a globally unique number. In fact, if you want to be really fancy, you could:

1. Find the MAC address on this machine. This is globally unique anyway.

2. Take a timestamp at the time of the note's first save. It's pretty unlikely that the timestamps on two notes would precisely, to the millisecond, collide.

3. Combine the MAC address with the timestamp. This is almost certainly a globally unique number within the user's note space.

Now this globally unique number could be embedded in a hidden field someplace or another. When you get a link for the note, what you really get is a link to the search engine (already available) with this number prefilled in. Something like this:

evernote://search/xxxxxxxxxxxxx

When you click on this link, it launches evernote (already done on most platforms), kicks over to the search, and enters the field noted. Although you can't see the field, it pops in the search --it's the only note with this number across all your installations, no matter where you synch it-- and you have your note on screen.

I've read the other posts on how hard this is to do --and it all revolves around having unique numbers on multiple synchronizing machines. The timestamp+mac address is a really simple solution to that problem --almost guaranteed to be globally unique in time and logical space. You can gussy it up with some MD5 passes across a key randomly generated when the software is installed, or make it bigger by adding more machine variables (the operating system serial number, which should also be globally unique), but... The unique key isn't all that hard to solve --it's something we deal with in the networking world all the time.

Russ

[jefito 5,598]

The unique key isn't all that hard to solve --it's something we deal with in the networking world all the time.

This is a correct statement, but it's not thee whole story; actually each note already has a globally unique identifier.

Here's a relevant post: http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12465&p=68244&hilit=note+links#p68244.

~Jeff

[mehuge 10]

> 1. Find the MAC address on this machine. This is globally unique anyway.

It's not.

But +1 to being able to link notes together please.

[riw777 0]

This is a correct statement, but it's not thee whole story; actually each note already has a globally unique identifier.

On the service --in other words, things that have been synch'd. But if you keep notes on a single machine, and never synch them, they won't have a unique identifier. Identifiers of notes on multiple machines would/could overlap. Hence the need to munge the unique identifier per note with something that's unique per machine.

> 1. Find the MAC address on this machine. This is globally unique anyway.

It's not.

It's unique enough that when two machines show up with the same MAC address it kicks off a thread on NANOG about why. There were network protocols, like CLNS, that somewhat required you to manage your EUI64 addresses manually, but they're all pretty much gone the way of a snow drift in NC in July. The instances now where there are duplicates are generally mistakes --and adding the local timestamp should resolve even those problems. It would be really, really unlikely to have two machines with an identical MAC address, identical times (even if synchronized, at least until TICTOC is really implemented in all devices --which will never happen), and have a note saved on both machines at the very same moment in time. I suppose it's possible, but the odds seem pretty low in the real world.

(I just edited to note that IPv6 pretty much counts on the EUI64 address being unique per machine. Mobile devices --smart phones, for instance-- do as well).

BTW, if evernote did something like this, it would actually push it ahead on onenote on this front --the url's onenote uses are based on the physical location of the file. That's a nice easy thing to do, but it blows up when synching, or when just moving things around any at all. A unique id per note, globally, would be a much better idea.

Russ

[jefito 5,598]

On the service --in other words, things that have been synch'd. But if you keep notes on a single machine, and never synch them, they won't have a unique identifier. Identifiers of notes on multiple machines would/could overlap. Hence the need to munge the unique identifier per note with something that's unique per machine.

What's your guess at the odds of your 'would/could' in Evernote's usage?

~Jeff

[engberg 89]

Yes, these are the sorts of considerations that we're discussing for a good, durable URL scheme to point to a note. There's also questions about whether to have a special protocol handler (e.g. "evernote:...") which would allow our local app to intercept the URL and handle it directly even when offline, or "http:" that routes back and forth to our server so that the links also work if you happen to access them on another computer with no local software (but then they don't work offline on ones that do)?

We do want to get these questions right, because once people start using any "links" we create, we'll need to support that sequence of characters for the rest of time or else risk a lot of sadness.

[fgaudet 0]

I just started using Evernote, and absolutely love it! Congrats on a great product!

And then I got stumped by the problem of not being able to link notes to each other. Doh.

The tag/search workarounds seems to be 'operational', but clumsy and heavy handed at best...

I know it's been massively requested and is considered, but Is there an actual ETA for this feature? Is there a release schedule?

I'm not talking about linking Evernotes in other software/docs, just links in Evernotes, between notes, for a given account. I really can't see how this can be very complicated, as each note is obviously uniquely identifiable (as they are already listed, sortable, and synchronized).

Having this feature would certainly make me more inclined to become a Premium user... (Ok, Premium is actually overkill for my needs: but a "Basic" account @ $20/year would be just right...)

[jefito 5,598]

I know it's been massively requested and is considered, but Is there an actual ETA for this feature? Is there a release schedule?

There is no known release schedule for this or any other Evernote features. There rarely is; if anything, we might get an indication of relative priority for particular features, but no date specifics.

~Jeff

[msufreeman 0]

This is the first thread that popped up in my search results for "link notes" and it seems to been active recently so I'll add my two cents here.

I found out about Evernote a while back and loved the idea. I installed it, started working with it then found no way to create any links between my notes. This basically caused me to quite using the product altogether.

So, recently I see more press about the product and see there's a nice new version to play with. Same story: install, love it, can't figure out how to link notes, see the feature isn't there.

It just seems like such a natural use of the product to me so I can't understand why it hasn't been added or least mentioned. I understand the development life cycle and also that you want to add big splashy features to garner press and drive usage up, but this is just hard for me to swallow.

I've decided to try and use the workarounds and give the product more of a shot because I honestly love the idea, but this one feature is preventing me from giving any money over. I would honestly become a paying customer if this functionallity were added. For now it's the free version though.

[toddm 0]

Dave,

I've been using Evernote since the beta of 1.0 and I'm still using version 2.2 primarily because of the note link feature. Unfortunately I'm one of the users that will experience the sadness you describe since it's already been made clear that there's no upgrade path for note links.

Despite all the talk about how difficult this problem is I just don't see how it's been this challenging for so long. You have a bunch of server gurus there so maybe you should look at how to avoid auto id conflicts with master-master replication. I've been synchronizing my Evernote 2.2 database between 3 computers for years now and note links are consistent between them. Or at least if there's an inconsistency I've never noticed it.

Todd

[fgaudet 0]

Perhaps the goal of having 'super-universal' URIs for notes is over-engineering the solution?

Here's the way I see it:

- The basic need is to be able to put a link to a note, from a given account, within another note of the same account.

- This should appear as a link, perhaps in evernote's green, or with a small elephant icon, to clearly identify it as a link to a note.

- The way to add it should be either with the right-click context menu, as for Hyperlinks, or with a button on the editor's toolbar. Said button or context menu could pop-up a selection/search screen to pick a note.

- Showing the linked note title in a tool tip on mouse-over would be just grand.

- Linking of notes could be limited to notes that are synchronized to the web, and the actual nomenclature of the link actually need not be known or shown in our notes, leaving the possibility for any future changes to the protocol/nomenclature...

- Internally, and/or temporarily, a simple "evn://account-id/notebook-id/note-id" should be able to track down any notes, no? I really don't see the need to combine MACs & timestamps to generate GUIDs...

Just my $0.02....

Of course, we can conjure as many plans as we want, it's all pretty much in vain as we haven't a clue how everything is actually built and everything always seems so simple from a user's perspective!

[4evanote 0]

As far as I'm concerned, this is a must have feature. I subscribe to the premium, which I find this to be incredibly valuable; the lack of this feature, however, is becoming a real roadblock to the effectiveness of the software. I will give the evernote folks a bit of time to add this feature, but if it takes too long, I'll probably have to move on. Please, please, implement this feature evernote folks.

[Ataraxia 0]

I agree, linking is a "must have" feature.

It would be especially useful if it could be done using something like wiki words.

Please add linking soon!

[Ataraxia 0]

I just use the date & time stamp feature to create a searchable index reference.

Evernote inserts it by hitting Control-; (semi-colon). It's always there and is even easier/quicker than using an external program like roboform, etc.

Bam! Instant reference!

The date and time makes an instantly accessible accession number that is always unique and which you can pull "out of the air" at any time by simply glancing at your watch (or using control-; in Evernote).

It also has the added advantage of having some intrinsic meaning, as well. It specifies the exact moment you created the index reference. Knowing this may help you recall it from memory later.

I use it for other things besides Evernote, too.

Try it. You'll like it!

[CalS 5,311]

Editorial to be clear.

Remarkable amount of passion around this one, to the point of threatening with a $45 club and/or the padding of feet to the exit. What percentage of the 6MM does that represent? It's their product folks, make suggestions, but threats?

Amazing.

[jbenson2 2,149]

If Evernote does add links to notes, this forum will be decimated. Probably cut down to half its size.

The remaining half will be continuing requests for indented bullet-point outlines in user-adjustable-width tables.

[MartinPacker 2]

So there's a "support cost" business case to be made? :-)

[dan7000 26]

On the service --in other words, things that have been synch'd. But if you keep notes on a single machine, and never synch them, they won't have a unique identifier. Identifiers of notes on multiple machines would/could overlap. Hence the need to munge the unique identifier per note with something that's unique per machine.

What's your guess at the odds of your 'would/could' in Evernote's usage?

Perhaps the goal of having 'super-universal' URIs for notes is over-engineering the solution?

But this problem has been solved numerous times. What the heck do you think a GUID is? It's a Globally Unique Identifier. Geez. Why do we all think this problem is so hard?? It just baffles me that note links are being held up by a technical issue that was solved decades ago.

See, for instance, this Wikipedia article:

A globally unique identifier or GUID (pronounced /ˈɡuːɪd/ or the preferred pronuciation /ˈɡwɪd/) is a special type of identifier used in software applications to provide a unique reference number. The value is represented as a 32-character hexadecimal string, such as {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} and usually stored as a 128-bit integer. The term GUID also is used for Microsoft's implementation of the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) standard.

The primary purpose of the GUID is to have a totally unique number. Ideally, a GUID will never be generated twice by any computer or group of computers in existence. The total number of unique keys is 2128 or 3.4×1038 - roughly 2 trillion per cubic millimeter of the entire volume of the Earth. This number is so large that the probability of the same number being generated twice is extremely small, and certain techniques have been developed to help ensure that numbers are not duplicated. See the algorithm section below for more on this subject.

Again: geez.

[crispinb 8]

But this problem has been solved numerous times. What the heck do you think a GUID is? It's a Globally Unique Identifier. Geez. Why do we all think this problem is so hard?? It just baffles me that note links are being held up by a technical issue that was solved decades ago.

Again: geez.

But Evernote (a) already exists in a form without links (and contains some notes without GUIDs), ( already has a complex and pretty robust syncing system, © syncs between clients on multiple platforms and (d) has a huge user-base. These pre-existing facts make the problem harder than designing links in from scratch (see viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12465&p=65019&hilit=uri#p55835).

Personally, I think they were daft not building links in from the start (it's fundamental to any contemporary text handling). But given the starting point, I can see that it might be harder than with a virgin app.

Links are going to happen (for another recent indication, see http://vyou.com/a/76673). I'm sometimes impatient about it too. But I think it would be fair-minded to interpret the delay as resulting from the technical care needed to handle millions of users on multiple clients, rather than some kind of wilful stupidity.

[fgaudet 0]

Perhaps the goal of having 'super-universal' URIs for notes is over-engineering the solution?

But this problem has been solved numerous times. What the heck do you think a GUID is? It's a Globally Unique Identifier. Geez. Why do we all think this problem is so hard?? It just baffles me that note links are being held up by a technical issue that was solved decades ago.

See, for instance, this Wikipedia article:

Again: geez.

Geez Dan, thanks for that definition! How could I not have ever known what a GUID is!

Generating GUIDs is not a problem. However, matching/cataloging/indexing a GUID to every single note created by every single user, is probably not a menial task, but more importantly, this whole very specific technical discussion is IRRELEVANT: HOW cross-note linking is implemented is IRRELEVANT and NONE OF OUR BUSINESS!

WHEN is what we're really interested in!

So any bets as to when?

(But to digress just a bit more: I can't see how something like "protocol://userID/NotebookID/NoteID" is any less unique than a GUID, with the advantages of actually being human readable, each term already being known, and not needing to generate, catalog and index GUIDs for every single note out there... just saying...)

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Generating GUIDs is not a problem. However, matching/cataloging/indexing a GUID to every single note created by every single user, is probably not a menial task, but more importantly, this whole very specific technical discussion is IRRELEVANT: HOW cross-note linking is implemented is IRRELEVANT and NONE OF OUR BUSINESS!

Yes. It's very easy for people to toss out what they think the (very easy) solution to a particular problem/issue should be. But anyone who's ever done coding & plumbing knows they are similar in that when you fix or add one thing here, there is very likely going to be a problem down the line. We are not always privy (nor should we be) to the problems EN encounters on say, the iPad app when "Feature A" is added to the Windows client. AND...if it were so darned easy...why isn't there a comparable competitor...???

Dave has mentioned this is on their list & is not a simple thing to integrate. Then there is the issue of balancing all the other bug fixes/enhancements on their plate. I do wish I could link to other notes. Until then, I use a workaround. NBD.

WHEN is what we're really interested in!

EN typically does not announce ETAs for newly added features.

[engberg 89]

Thanks for the general feedback about note linking implementation details. This discussion correctly reflects the considerations that we're working with to make a good solution that will satisfy most users in the future.

Thanks

[jacquesrenatus 13]

+1

If Evernote wants to be my brain, (and assuming each note is a thought,) it must store thoughts the way my brain does; allowing arbitrary associations (i.e. links between notes) and the use of (ability to click on) arbitrary pictures to retrieve information.

[jacquesrenatus 13]

+1

[lianghq 0]

Hi, I want to refer to one note from any of my notebook, in another note or in any external webpage. How can I do? Seems I need a unique link for this note item.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Internal click-able URL links from one note to another are not available yet. It is something Evernote is working on.

[jefito 5,598]

Neither are external links, for that matter.

~Jeff

[mdave 1]

Workaround:

http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13137&p=52337&hilit=random.org#p52337

[jefito 5,598]

Painful, but workarounds often are. Thanks for that.

~Jeff

[jbenson2 2,149]

Workaround:

http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13137&p=52337&hilit=random.org#p52337

I use a similar workaround with a 6 alpha/numeric code randomly pulled from Roboform in my toolbar. I find it more powerful than just a simple link. Instead of just finding one additional note, the use of a unique code allows me to find all the notes that use that code (example: a new car: research, negotiation, purchase, license and registration notes). And it helps limit the number of tags I use.

[evermullah 8]

support++

anyways, some testing was done by me:

I just use the date & time stamp feature to create a searchable index reference.

Evernote inserts it by hitting Control-; (semi-colon).

that would be a fast&easy solution, but unfortunately, on EN3.5 and EN4 for windows (german XP/WIN7 EN in english), the shortcut does not work here.

CTRL+; gives me...nothing. I didnt even found an entry in the Menus. (Edit, Format, Tools, etc)

Well I do not really close my eyes while clicking the 4 digits\letters on the keyboard... :?

I do use Roboform, and I was thinking too to use its password generator, but than I figured out that the chance to repeat 4 random clicks on 36 available digits and letters is 1:1,700,000. So a 4-digit code is quite unique.. Actually even 3 random clicks are sufficient - 1:50,000. The advantage of a short code is that once you see it you can write it directly in the search box saving the copy+paste of a long code.

Excellent points. I bow to your statistical analysis - it is spot on. A short code is ideal for these types of situations. I'm going to change to a 3 alpha/digit code. 54A, 63F, P74, etc are much easier to remember.

also, this is a good idea. but the shorter the link/code, the more false "positives" i get here.

thats because, i have a lot of OCR'ed/scanned images *and* PDF files.

i tested just randomly some "codes" like

CH3r,

k11l,

PE7,

5AD,

D13,

and i got notes with PDFs inside or images as well as the notes, i created for testing.

(guess, i was not random enough with my typing...)

anyway, thats a good idea, and i would only need to take a 6-digit code to make it perfect.

but

I'm so lazy, I am going to wait until note links are supported...

thats true for me too

still i'd like to be able to *just* link to another note via drag&drop or something easy like that.

cheers,

[ThatAdamGuy 15]

To my great surprise and pleasure, I stumbled upon the feature in Evernote for Android that enables users to link to create a shortcut (on the phone desktop) to a specific note. NICE! I wonder how long this has been there and I didn't notice.

Now if we could just get the same functionality in the Windows version... even if it just started with the ability to drag a note from EN to the Windows Desktop and subsequently load that note with a doubleclick

[cpchang 12]

Well I do not really close my eyes while clicking the 4 digits\letters on the keyboard... :?

I do use Roboform, and I was thinking too to use its password generator, but than I figured out that the chance to repeat 4 random clicks on 36 available digits and letters is 1:1,700,000. So a 4-digit code is quite unique.. Actually even 3 random clicks are sufficient - 1:50,000. The advantage of a short code is that once you see it you can write it directly in the search box saving the copy+paste of a long code.

Excellent points. I bow to your statistical analysis - it is spot on. A short code is ideal for these types of situations. I'm going to change to a 3 alpha/digit code. 54A, 63F, P74, etc are much easier to remember.

I have a lot of flight itineraries in Evernote (several trips a month plus archived over the years). 54A and 63F are B747 and A380 seat numbers.

[sdipaola 0]

As usual - I check in every 6 months for years now - I will move my stuff over to evernote ( seems to have everything else I want) when there are hyperlinks to other notes ( with that evernote will huge expanded possibilities - that search and tags make possible but in a very non-cognitive way). I need it.

See ya in 6 months. (have my stuff now on google docs now which can do a simple form of internote linking).

-steve

[SteveTheOcean 0]

Evernote and internal hyperlinks:

I've discovered some interesting facts (bugs? features?) with the way evernote handles internal hyperlinks (links to a place on the same page).

If I clip a page to evernote using the Sharaholic web clipper, not the evernote web clipper, the internal hyperlinks are preserved. Clicking on a link in the evernote takes me to its destination.

The link does not work in the web version of evernote. Clicking on the link takes me to a blank page.

If I then subsequently edit the page in web-based evernote this behavior is preserved.

If I edit the page in desktop evernote the links not longer function.

I have not tried this with external hyperlinks - I expect they work as expected in all cases.

My experiments were done with the Chrome browser and Windows evernote.

The hyperlink behavior within evernote is nice and, as many people have said, cross-linking within evernote notes would be even better. "Back" and "Forward" buttons should probably be added, though.

[charlali 6]

Just wanted to add another vote to requests for hyperlinking text in one note with another note... I, too, really miss this feature.

Alison

+1

If Evernote wants to be my brain, (and assuming each note is a thought,) it must store thoughts the way my brain does; allowing arbitrary associations (i.e. links between notes) and the use of (ability to click on) arbitrary pictures to retrieve information.

[arguvant 28]

Ditto. Signing in and googling to see if this often requested feature has been addressed.

Meanwhile they continue to add all sorts of (to me) functionally useless *****.

I subscribed to premium because I'd really like to support the development of this feature.

I'm very interested to hear any alternatives people are using. Will probably migrate in a few months if there's no update on this.

[AgentDaleCooper 0]

Hi

First, i don´t know if this has already been suggested. I found out that it is actually possible to create links between notes in Evernote by doing the following:

- Search for the title of the note you want to link to in the Spotlight prompt (cmd+space).

- Click on "Show all" to open up the Spotlight results inside a Finder window

- Select the note in the result window. Look at the directory path in the bottom of the Finder window or right click "Get Info". Notice the filename of the note file - for example my note called "To do-list" has a filename called "p2666.evernote".

- Open the note you want to link from. Select the link text (for example: "My To do-liste") and press cmd+k (create hyperlink).

- Insert a (local) hyperlink to the note file by typing "file:///" followed by the local path to the note file. In my case the path to the note "To do-list" is: file:///Users/Christian/Library/Caches/Metadata/com.evernote.Evernote/p2666.evernote

You can now click on the link inside the note and the linked note should open in a new Evernote window. I´m interested in hearing from Evernote crew or other users, whether or not this approach is safe or has any disadvantages (besides that it is limited to work on my local mac client).

[felix 0]

Now that the much discussed links have appeared in the Mac beta 8) - how are you planning to use them?

I've thought in general terms about having a master page when, for example, I'm reading a book, and linking to exerpts/photos of pages/definitions/relevant articles/background information &c. But I can see the whole thing getting out of hand when I start doing it. (Not to mention that it's a bit daunting to think of tracking back to retro-fit it.)

Thank you very much for adding this - I think that once I've settled into a routine it's going to make Evernote even more useful.

[Metrodon 2,188]

I'm concerned if people can't complain about the absence of links that the forum might die

[felix 0]

If they add password protection as well, it's doomed .

[Metrodon 2,188]

I'd have to do some proper work, my boss won't know what's hit him.

I haven't downloaded it yet as I'm actually doing some real work, so what's it like? How do you create the link?

Damn proper employment....

[felix 0]

Damn proper employment....

It's such a nuisance :roll:

To link notes, right click (I'm new to Macs, so I still speak Windows - I actually tap my laptop's touchpad with two fingers) on the note you want to link to, and "copy note link" is one of the options. If you choose that, then you can paste the link in another document. The text that displays is the title of the original note, in green, underlined.

Right clicking gives you the option to edit the link target, just like a normal hyper link. Editing the text that displays is a bit strange. You can delete part of it, and the link still works; you can add to it, and the link still works; highlighting the whole lot and typing a new name seems to result in just the first character being linked, so if you want to change the title that's displayed, you need to type in your new title somewhere in the link text, then delete the old stuff. I like my note titles to be descriptive enough to help me identify what's in the note, but might want the link text to be more succinct.

You need to get away from the salt mines and play with it.

[Metrodon 2,188]

OK, you convinced me (it didn't take much did it?).

Really pretty slick for a first cut/beta.

Now, about that password/PIN code thing.......

[felix 0]

I've been starting to try to incorporate this in some of my notes. A "back" button becomes much more important as soon as you start using links to navigate. I hope it will be on the list to add at some point…

This link thing is really good – but it's going to take me ages to build it in to the notes I already have!

[Metrodon 2,188]

Have you tried linking from a local notebook? I like what they've done.

The editing of the link is a little flakey - I guess you should be able to highlight the link, right click and edit the link directly (although I'm not sure why you would want to) and also edit the complete displayed text.

What do you reckon?

[felix 0]

I haven't tried it in local notebooks yet.

Often for editing hyperlinks, you get a dialogue box that has separate fields for the link itself, and for the text. That would be one way to do it. At the moment, as you say, there'd not be much reason for most users to edit the actual link. I kept trying to put the cursor in the middle of the text to edit it, but that just clicks on the link. I had to put the cursor just before or after the link, then use the cursor keys to move into the text to edit it. Still, Those things aren't hard to work out - it's just nice to have the links available. I'm sure the refinements will follow.

[felix 0]

It would be nice to see the link destination - maybe as floating text (is that the right term - the little box of alt text that sometimes appears when you mouseover a link or image) so that it's easy to see which are internal links to other notes, and which are external links to internet sites. I can see that the internal links are green, and external ones blue, but, well, sometimes people change the formatting. Not me, of course, but some people might do that sort of thing… :oops:

On the links I've set up so far, I've got one page as an index, and have put a link back to it on each of the pages I've linked from it. That way the lack of a "back" button doesn't matter. It seems to have worked for what I've done so far. And I've added an "Index" tag for those pages to help me find them again.

[Pitamakan 2]

So I assume the link leads you to the local copy of the note, not the web copy? If there's no local copy of your Evernote database, does it link to the web?

[felix 0]

The link has the form: evernote:///view/… so it looks local. When you click on a link from within the web version, it loads the local app. When I tried it on a machine that didn't have EverNote installed, I got a message that no application was associated with that file type.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that the way those things work at the moment is the way it's going to stay though - this is a feature that's only a day old in the beta, so presumably it will still be evolving for a while.

[Metrodon 2,188]

Yup, it's only supported in beta form on the Mac version, so it's not going to work on the web or any mobile device.

Agree with you Felix about being able to edit the link text.

[Pitamakan 2]

Yep, with that file format the link is probably going to always be limited to the apps ... which is really OK by me.

But when I paste the provided link somewhere outside of Evernote, it's non-functional. So either I'm doing something wrong, or the links aren't intended for use anywhere outside the app ... and if that's true the feature's lost most of its usefulness for me.

So maybe we'll still be able to complain, after all.

[barrymcbride 10]

I was able to get the link to open via Things on the Mac. This is fantastic.

The next question is whether there will be Applescript support to pull the link URL so you can automate setting up links in other apps.

- Barry

[Pitamakan 2]

I tried it in Word, and it appeared as a link ... but clicking on it results in an error message.

I also experimented with it using a couple of online task managers -- which is where I'd want to use the feature the most. In both Todoist and Nirvana, the paste inserted the raw link destination (without the label), and the result wasn't clickable.

[barrymcbride 10]

If there is Applescript support for it yet, I can't find it. It doesn't look like the Note object has any new attributes.

[emilyobyrn 0]

I can copy the note & paste it into Things, and then open the URL & that's okay.

However, I was hoping for 'drag to link' - like I can drag a doc from Finder, or an email from Mac Mail for Lotus Notes. Ideally of course I'd like to drag the note to the Things Icon so it creates a to do as well.

Though the copy Note Link feature is a great start and much appreciated.

[shekala 58]

I read something indicating that note links should work in programs outside of Evernote. Is this true? I can't seem to get it to work as the links don't look like normal url links.

[emerick 155]

Yes, that should work. When you install 4.4, it installs a system-wide handler that understands Evernote links, so that would be available for any application to use.

[JohnLockwood 0]

One more vote guys, from another customer of the paying variety. Checking out Springpad to see if they have it. This feature would make the product vastly more useful.

[jefito 5,598]

One more vote guys, from another customer of the paying variety. Checking out Springpad to see if they have it. This feature would make the product vastly more useful.

Check out Evernote again. It has note linking on the Windows and Mac desktop clients, at least in beta/prerelease (all publicly available).

[shekala 58]

Unfortunately, it's not working. Anything I can do to troubleshoot?

[jefito 5,598]

Hmmm, I've seen this work. If I click on a link in say, the Evernote web client, the note opens up in the Evernote desktop.

[shekala 58]

I have now tried it in various places and it works in Word, Rememberthemilk website (although NOT the Gmail extension as it seems to add "http:" to the link, thus making it inoperable. Would love to use it in things like Google Calendar, for example. Any suggestions?

Great feature, by the way!

[Pitamakan 2]

I also experimented with it using a couple of online task managers -- which is where I'd want to use the feature the most. In both Todoist and Nirvana, the paste inserted the raw link destination (without the label), and the result wasn't clickable.

Just an update on this -- I sent Todoist a request for support of Evernote linking, and the developer happily added it. Works perfectly now.

So major kudos to Todoist, and a word of broader advice: if the new Evernote links don't work in your preferred app or service, ask for it!

[AntBrown 0]

Cool, I was hoping this would work with Evernote... Kudos!

However, I am finding that when I have Evernote open in Full Screen on OS X Lion, and try to open a link that I've pasted into an OmniFocus Note that it doesn't take me to the Evernote Full Screen App but instead shows the Evernote Toolbar at the top of my Main Desktop, if I Command+Tab to another App and back to Evernote I can see that the correct note has been opened, it just doesn't take me to the Full Screen view by default.

Is this a bug that I should report, or expected behavior, or on the to-do list?

Cheers

Ant