Have Boxes piled in storage or attic? Yeah, know where it all is

[David Lozzi 8]

My 3rd post today, gosh I love Evernote...

I recently bought a house and we moved in a couple of months ago. As we were unpacking we found a lot of stuff we weren't ready to unpack (seasonal stuff, keepsakes, etc) so those boxes go into the attic. Before I did, I took a snap shot of the contents and the outside of the box (most of them had an identifying mark) and then entered the contents as text into the note.

Now in the Spring when I need to find shorts or my sandals, Evernote I go! Search for my item, look at the pics to make sure that's what I really want, then go up to the attic and find the box. Sigh... what a relief!

Ok, back to work for me.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

You may find this thread (on using QR codes) interesting, if you've not stumbled across it already.

[David Lozzi 8]

I did!

[rtoledo 16]

Very cool. We actually put together a blog post about this a long time ago. Let me know what you think? http://blog.evernote.com/2009/08/26/unclutter-with-evernote-and-rubbermaid-in-4-steps/

[gtuckerkellogg 33]

You may find this thread (on using QR codes) interesting, if you've not stumbled across it already.

Coincidentally, this is exactly one of the things we do with QR codes. We have a stairwell storage closet, and post note links (as QR codes) to the contents of the boxes on the inside of the closet door.

[gtuckerkellogg 33]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good portable label printer for QR codes? Ideal would be cross platform and not requiring any special software. We're going to be dealing with some long term storage in the US over the holidays, and plan to implement this same strategy on our boxes in storage, so we can use the QR codes to index the box contents. We'll need to be able to print the labels on the spot.

There are a lot of good reviews of the Brother QL-570 hardware, but it requires software that, according to the reviews, is primitive and cumbersome. I don't know anything about the DYMO label printers.

[Brandie 6]

Couldn't you print the QR codes on mailing labels? You'd just need a word processor. Most everyone already has that.

[gtuckerkellogg 33]

The printer needs to be very portable. We'll be bringing it to the storage center to do the inventory and make the labels.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good portable label printer for QR codes? Ideal would be cross platform and not requiring any special software. We're going to be dealing with some long term storage in the US over the holidays, and plan to implement this same strategy on our boxes in storage, so we can use the QR codes to index the box contents. We'll need to be able to print the labels on the spot.

There are a lot of good reviews of the Brother QL-570 hardware, but it requires software that, according to the reviews, is primitive and cumbersome. I don't know anything about the DYMO label printers.

What I'm playing with is going the other direction. I have a personal website & created a section for QR codes. I created several blank/template pages. IE MyDomainName/QR0001.htm, MyDomainName/QR0002.htm, MyDomainName/QR0003.htm, MyDomainName/QR0004.htm, etc. I then printed labels with the QR code for each page & manually printed what the sequence number was on the label. (So I know this QR code is for QR0004.htm). If you have the software/skill set to create/modify web pages, you could then take a netbook/laptop with you. Stick a sticker (with a "pre-assigned" QR code) on a box & on the netbook/laptop, modify the page for that QR code. Hope this makes sense.

[gtuckerkellogg 33]

Thanks BnF,

For my situation, I'd really like to avoid preprinting labels with codes. These codes will need to be linked directly to my Evernote account. That is "evernote://" links, so each note will have to be synced in advance. I don't want them to be dependent on my web page configuration, though I don't mind them being dependent on having an evernote account. I don't know how many boxes we'll have to inventory. I could just create a big list of pre-synced notes, and QR codes for all of them, but that will be very error prone, almost trivially easy to get the wrong label on a box. I really don't want to be dependent on having pre-arranged everything correctly. So for a lot of reasons, I'd really like that not to be the solution. What we will do instead is to travel around the world, set up temporary wireless access through a pre-paid SIM card with data access, do the inventory, get the photos and lists into evernote, print stickers and put them on the boxes. I know several portable label printers will work for the job. I just don't know if they will be a hassle.